Fairfax County is seeking any and all ideas for facilities to incorporate into the future central green space planned for Reston Town Center North (RTC North).
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn’s office launched a community survey today (Tuesday) to gather input on how the 3.5-acre expanse once occupied by the Inova Cameron Glen Care Center should be utilized, including possible recreational amenities and events programming.
Alcorn’s office and LandDesign, a consulting firm for Inova that’s managing the survey process, held a kick-off meeting last night (Monday) at the North County Governmental Center (1801 Cameron Glen Drive). Open through July 10, the survey will be shared in Alcorn’s newsletter and on the Hunter Mill District website.
“I thought this was a great kick-off to start getting public input on what we should do with this central green,” Alcorn said after the meeting. “…Especially since the location of some of the public facilities has changed and the location of residential has now changed with the updated Reston Comprehensive Plan, it’s the right time to go back to the community, get feedback on how this should be used, and I’m pleased with the very engaged citizenry we have here in Reston.”
The history of RTC North
Plans to redevelop the approximately 47 acres of land between Baron Cameron Avenue, Fountain Drive, New Dominion Parkway and Town Center Parkway have been in the works for a decade now, though the only construction so far has been the North County Governmental Center, which was completed in 2016.
Anticipating a need to replace the aging Reston Regional Library and Embry Rucker Community Shelter, the county’s Board of Supervisors amended the comprehensive plan for Reston on Feb. 11, 2014 to allow mixed-use development, including a 2.3-acre central green, consistent with the existing Reston Town Center.
The county entered into an initial agreement with Inova in September 2015 committing them to a land swap and joint development, with Inova leading the rezoning effort. A conceptual design got approved by Reston Association’s Design Review Board in 2019, but in response to concerns about Reston’s growth since the 2014 comprehensive plan update, Alcorn called for a new review of the plan when he took office in 2020.
The county also received an unsolicited proposal for a new library and a 350-unit apartment building to replace the existing Bowman Towne Court townhomes from the developer Foulger-Pratt in 2022, but that project was scrapped in early 2023 due to rising costs.
A task force initially charged with recommending public facilities on the county-owned parcels in RTC North adjusted its scope to the entire development area in conjunction with the overall Reston Comprehensive Plan study.
The plan approved last November envisions RTC North as a civic center with a new library, a new Embry Rucker shelter with supportive housing, an elementary school, an expanded North County Human Services building and 10 acres of open space. It reduced the planned housing to 1,000 units, moving all market-rate units to Inova’s blocks, and limited the county’s blocks to 150,000 square feet of non-residential development.
Considerations for the central green
The plan included a revised design for the central green that expanded it to 3.5 acres. Other open spaces include an Edgewater Park near the Baron Cameron and Town Center Parkway intersection and an athletic field that the RTC North task force recommended pairing with a 90,000-square-foot recreation center.
Though it’s not on the conceptual maps, the central green and Edgewater Park will connect across Town Center Parkway through paths, crosswalks and other design elements, Inova’s consultants said at last night’s meeting.
A 23-foot elevation change within the central green could offer “unique opportunities,” perhaps making it a fitting location for an amphitheater, suggested LandDesign partner Stephanie Pankiewicz, who’s leading the planning process.
Reston Community Center Executive Director Leila Gordon urged the planning team to consider the infrastructure needed to support live performances, including power, loading access and accessible restrooms for both the audience and performers.
“All too often, those things are forgotten,” she said.
When considering what to do with the central green, community members should also keep the impacts of climate change in mind, Gordon said, describing RCC’s summer programming as a “disaster” last year due to wildfire smoke that blanketed the region and other weather-related issues. RCC is already having internal discussions about shifting its focus for outdoor events from mid-summer to the fall, she said.
However, RTC North won’t be getting indoor recreational facilities for a while. Hunter Mill District’s representative on the Fairfax County Park Authority board, William Bouie, confirmed that the future Reston recreation center likely won’t come up for bond funding until 2038.
Hunter Mill is the only magisterial district without a county-run rec center, but there are three other rec center projects coming up first in the park authority’s development schedule, which has been drawn out after the county shifted to a six-year bond cycle, according to Bouie.
“Unless we come up with a windfall or other funding strategy…the earliest that I see this coming…on a Bond Referendum is 2038 with the most positive estimate of realization of that goal would 2043 in the best case scenario,” Bouie told FFXnow. “…A lot can happen between now and then, but that is the status today.”
Alcorn says replacing the library and Embry Rucker shelter are his top priorities, since the existing buildings “are in rough shape,” but he’s hopeful that the ongoing RTC North planning will eventually lead to the long-awaited rec center.
“We’re finally poised to move forward with a viable approach for Reston Town Center North that will eventually get us a rec center, and it’ll be an asset to the community,” Alcorn said.
Inova’s consultants said they hope to have a final design for the central green in November, enabling them to file a new development plan for RTC North with the county in early January.
