Reston Association is working to update its capital improvement plan (CIP), which will prioritize facility maintenance, renovation and development projects over the next five years.
In a shift from previous years, projects in the 2025-2029 CIP will be ranked based on criteria identified through the recently adopted strategic plan, last year’s community survey and other sources of feedback, including a study of the condition of existing amenities that started on April 22, staff told the Board of Directors at a work session on May 9.
“When we come back to the board for the first time with a draft of the CIP, it’s not likely to include investment as much as it’s likely to look like here are the items we heard we should invest in based on all these criteria before we start to talk about the money piece,” RA CEO Peter Lusk said.
According to RA Capital Projects Director Chris Schumaker, the new “criteria-based” approach will ensure consistency in how projects are prioritized and help staff plan further in advance, turning the CIP from more of an internal planning document focused on the next one or two years into a formal five-year guide.
Project criteria initially proposed by staff include:
- Relevance to community needs, per the parks and recreation-focused survey conducted in May through June 2023
- Prioritization based on the condition assessment or reserve study, which was last undertaken in 2019 and will identify facilities scheduled for replacement and anticipated costs
- Environmental factors
- Connection to the 2024-2026 strategic plan adopted in February
- The amount of time needed for community input
- Permit and zoning considerations
- Equity considerations
In addition to ranking projects, the CIP will include cost estimates and potential funding sources.
Several board members expressed support for weighting the criteria to reflect their relative importance. Margaret Perry, who represents apartment owners, suggested facilities in need of repairs or other work should be “given a high priority.”
“Yes, we need to know how it affects the environment, we need to know all the other pieces, absolutely, no doubt about that, but we want to make sure those needs are certainly prioritized,” she said.
With the reserve study expected to be presented to RA’s fiscal committee on July 17, RA staff told the board that it will get a first look at a draft CIP on Aug. 21. The plan will be revised as part of the organization’s budget process, which typically takes place in September through November.
At-Large Director John Farrell cautioned that the draft CIP should make clear that any included projects still need to go through a public engagement process, including by getting input from RA’s parks and recreation advisory committee.
“I’m concerned that we’ve produced a capital improvement plan in September to November that preempts or tells the membership that we’ve already made these decisions. It’s a real problem,” Farrell said, pointing to the “resistance” that a planned renovation of the Barton Hill tennis courts encountered.
RA allocated $770,000 to that project in 2022 and last year, but it got tangled up in a conflict over whether Fairfax County needed to approve upgraded lights, and residents concerned about noise issues ultimately convinced the board to drop pickleball courts from its plans.
“It generated a whole lot of antagonism that we committed to that capital improvement before we went through the input process, and we need to avoid that,” Farrell said.
Lusk said his current intention is to schedule any project that costs more than $500,000 and isn’t “mission-critical” for at least 2025 in the CIP, rather than for next year, to make sure there’s time for a full public input process.
The RA board unanimously approved a motion directing staff to bring a revised list of CIP criteria to its meeting on June 27.
RA’s current capital projects include the Barton Hill renovation and pedestrian improvements for the Hook Road Recreation Area. The organization recently completed renovations of Lake Thoreau Pool and the Hunters Woods ballfield, and upgrades to Shadowood pool are expected to finish this summer.
