The Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended approval earlier this month of a development option for 70 townhomes on a 3.5-acre site on the western fringe of the Wiehle-Reston East Transit Station Area.
Expected to be considered by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 25, the comprehensive plan amendment requested by developer Stewart Investment Partners would allow the townhouses to replace a five-story office building at 1850 Roland Clarke Place that dates to the early 1980s
Mostly occupied by surface parking, the parcel is about a half-mile west of the Wiehle Metro station and approximately the same distance east of the Reston Town Center Metro station to the west.
The developer already has an option under the county’s comprehensive plan to convert the site into mixed-use development with 75% apartment or condominium housing and 25% retail or commercial spaces.
The townhouse alternative would cut development density on the site by about two-thirds compared to the mixed-use option, from a 3.55 floor-area ratio (FAR) to 1.15 FAR.
Townhouses represent “a more appropriate intensity for this site — compatible with and really adding to the neighboring communities,” Amanda Williams, a land use attorney representing the property owner, said at a public hearing on July 8.
The parcel abuts the Dulles Toll Road to the north and on other sides is surrounded by townhouses, apartments and the Westin Reston Heights Hotel.
The proposal for townhomes, rather than mixed-use development, came after conversations with those living around the site, Williams told Planning Commission members at their July 8 meeting.
The proposed amendment is a precursor to an eventual rezoning application likely to be filed for the site that will flesh out details of any redevelopment with more specificity. It may come later in the year, Williams told the planning commission.
“The property owner is taking this project in stages,” she said. “We are really only at the highest level [of planning]. We do not have a concurrent, detailed rezoning plan.”
Not all neighbors were happy about a plan that would substitute multifamily units with townhouses that likely would sell for $1 million or more.
“I believe we can do better,” said Joshua Webb, who lives at the nearby The Point at Reston Apartments and voiced concern about housing affordability.
“This site sits between two Silver Line Metro stations, exactly the kind of location where we in Fairfax County should be embracing transit-oriented development,” Webb said.
He proposed a middle ground — a project of about 200 residential units, plus neighborhood-serving retail.
Planning Commission Chair Phil Niedzielski-Eichner had similar concerns about reducing the amount of housing allowed on the site. He called it a “dramatic change in intensity.”
“We need to be optimizing density around Metro stations,” Niedzielski-Eichner said. “This is a place where I think more could have been accomplished without detrimental impacts.”
Residents of the Valley & Park townhome community to the south, however, have concerns about adding too much density in a neighborhood with only one option — Roland Park Place — for entering and exiting.
Attorney Williams said the site is on the “extreme edge” of the Wiehle-Reston East Transit Station Area. County planning staff agreed that, given its location, townhouses are a reasonable land use for the site.
Hunter Mill District Commissioner John Carter said it’s a judgment call to get the right development mix in that part of Reston.
“There’s always a question of what’s appropriate to the area,” he said. “The question, really, is if this is appropriate for the area.”
Getting to a consensus on that question has not been quick or easy.
“Resolving this has been a seven-year, I think, process,” said Carter, who departed the planning commission last week after nine years of service.
The planning commission ultimately voted 10-0 to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve adding the option for townhouses on the site.
But they first added a recommendation that deviated from the staff proposal, opting to remove language that would have provided the developer the option of providing required park space off-site rather than on the parcel.
Earlier in the hearing, Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said allowing developers to get out of commitments for on-site park space is a disservice to residents.
“I really feel sometimes like we are getting bilked,” she said. “Every time we push [a decision] back for somebody else to take care of in the future, we really end up empty-handed.”
Cortina also expressed concerns about potential noise from the Dulles Toll Road. Staff said mitigation efforts would be addressed during the rezoning process.
