Comstock Companies has received a green light from Fairfax County to install new signs around its mostly completed Reston Row project near the Wiehle Metro station.
However, the Board of Supervisors’ vote on March 17 to approve revisions to a sign plan for the development might not spell the end of discussions about what kinds of signs should be permitted, as the county seeks to balance the needs of its growing commercial centers with more traditionally suburban neighborhoods.
“This has been a pretty challenging case, particularly for a comprehensive sign plan,” acknowledged Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who represents Reston. “This is not something that usually is quite this contentious.”
Comstock sought a special exception from the county to allow a number of signs identifying and promoting Reston Row — a 1.45-million-square-foot expansion of its Reston Station development — and its office and retail tenants. But community members and local officials mostly reserved their scrutiny for the size and brightness of two electronic signs.
As part of its modified plan, the developer proposed replacing five tenant advertising signs on a connector between the 1800 and 1870 Reston Row office buildings with a single digital sign that would display up to five logos at one time.
The digital panel will make it easier for Comstock to update the sign as its tenants change, and it was a key perk that helped Reston Row lure federal contractor Booz Allen Hamilton away from its longtime headquarters in Tysons, according to Ballard Spahr land use attorney Jill Parks, who was representing Comstock.
Booz Allen Hamilton is slated to occupy the entirety of 1870 Reston Row Plaza and “multiple floors” of 1800 Reston Row Plaza, starting in fall 2027. The company also requested that Comstock build an elevated pedestrian bridge to link the two office buildings.
“It is critical to note that the neighborhood sign plan is incredibly important for the global headquarters of Booz, one of Fairfax County’s major employers, and the digitization of the connector is key to its branding,” Parks told the Board of Supervisors at last week’s public hearing. “Booz sees it as critical to its ability to engage with its customers, stakeholders and the community in the face of current headwinds.”
According to Parks, the 1,800-square-foot digital sign will be only briefly visible to passing drivers heading west on the Dulles Toll Road, though concerns about its size and the amount of illumination kept the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee from endorsing the change.
Fairfax County staff and the planning commission gave their support to the sign after Comstock agreed to meet a number of conditions, including a size limit of 200 square feet for each of the five individual logos, a ban on flashing or rolling imagery, and a brightness limit of 93 nits — well under the 300-nit maximum allowed by the county’s zoning ordinance, as of November 2023.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission imposed similar restrictions, including the 93-nit limit, on a pair of LED signs illuminating the roofline of the JW Marriott Hotel and Residences that staff admitted had been permitted “in error.”
Installed before the hotel and condominiums opened last fall, the existing panels allow a maximum brightness of 300 nits, but Comstock voluntarily reduced the lighting to 118 nits in response to complaints from residents and county staff, who initially proposed a maximum of 155 nits.
In anticipation of the reduced ceiling of 93 nits, Comstock has already complied and submitted updated permits for review, Parks told the Board of Supervisors. A consultant certified that the sign is meeting the 93-nit limit on March 6.
“The applicant trusts that the county now has sufficient assurances as to the sign’s digital capability, the applicant’s compliance and implementation and the staff’s enforcement rights,” Parks said. “It thanks staff for facilitating a resolution, about which all stakeholders can feel heard and be satisfied.”
Alcorn noted that he once flew into Dulles International Airport at night and could see the JW Marriott sign from the airplane.
“So, I understand where the community was coming from, and I agreed that was really not acceptable,” he said, adding that the dimmer sign has now been on display for “the last several weeks or so.”
The supervisor suggested that the county board might need to revisit the brightness levels allowed by its zoning ordinance. Members of the planning commission also raised that possibility at its Feb. 25 meeting before recommending that the board approve Comstock’s revised sign plan.
“It’s an awful lot,” Alcorn said of the 300-nit limit.
He then concluded he would “hold my nose a little bit — but not literally, just metaphorically — and make a motion to approve” the special exception request.
