In the nearly 60 years since it was founded, Reston has become host to a variety of community and public entities with often blurred lines and responsibilities.

To provide clarity, Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn wants Fairfax County to develop an inventory of Reston’s community-level services and infrastructure, including who is responsible for what services and infrastructure and how they are funded.

The move was approved with no fanfare at a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting today (Tuesday).

Alcorn said it is important to ensure that community-level services and infrastructure are sustainable.

“Last year, the Board of Supervisors approved the Reston Comprehensive Plan Amendment that will help guide our community growth into the future,” Alcorn said in the board matter. “With that process now completed, the next step is Plan implementation, and a review of Reston’s community-level services and infrastructure is an important step in Plan implementation.”

In some cases, organizations have assumed responsibilities above and beyond state requirements, such as cutting grass in and along Virginia Department of Transportation-owned streets, Alcorn noted.

Organizations that will be part of the inventory include Reston Community Center, Reston Association, Reston Town Center Association and the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee.

“As you can imagine, roles and responsibilities of these organizations are not intuitive to many residents, even for residents who have lived in Reston for decades,” Alcorn said, describing the collection of groups serving Reston as an “alphabet soup.”

Below is the full directive from Alcorn, which was unanimously supported by the rest of the board.

Board Matter
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn
March 19, 2024

Inventory of Reston Community-Level Services and Infrastructure

Background:
As our community approaches the 60th anniversary of the founding of Reston, the time is right to take stock of the community infrastructure that by many accounts, including a recent article in The Economist, has created a very successful community within Fairfax County. Reston currently has several important community organizations that are dedicated to creating a cohesive community experience. These organizations perform essential community-level services such as maintaining the trails and open space, providing camps for our kids, operating recreation facilities of all types, and hosting places for the community to gather. And in some cases, these organizations have assumed additional responsibilities as the Commonwealth of Virginia has devolved some of their responsibilities such as keeping the grass cut in and along VDOT rights of way.

These organizations now form a veritable alphabet soup in Reston – nonprofits like RA, RTCA, the YMCA, and county operations like RCC, FCPA, and NCS. And this does not even include advocacy and advisory groups like RCA, Reston P&Z, and the CHCCAC. As you can imagine, roles and responsibilities of these organizations are not intuitive to many residents, even for residents who have lived in Reston for decades.

For Reston to be the success the next 60 years it has been in its first 60, these community-level services and infrastructure must be sustainable – including financially. Last year, the Board of Supervisors approved the Reston Comprehensive Plan Amendment that will help guide our community growth into the future. With that process now completed, the next step is Plan implementation, and a review of Reston’s community-level services and infrastructure is an important step in Plan implementation.

Motion:
Therefore, I move that the Board of Supervisors direct the County Executive’s office to coordinate with the Hunter Mill District office to develop an inventory of Reston community-level services and infrastructure including those noted above, and to include who is responsible for those services and infrastructure, and how they are funded.

Hundreds of residential units on two parcels on Association Drive could be on the horizon.

The plan by JLB Realty and Toll Brothers calls for a six-story, 400-unit building on the northern end of the horseshoe-shaped road, along with a 39-unit triplex on the southern end, according to Brian Winterhalter, land use attorney with DLA Piper.

The proposed development is the first of several that could come forward on Association Drive, which consists of 10 different office parcels owned by multiple owners near the Dulles Toll Road in Reston.

Winterhalter said it’s unlikely a consolidated plan will be proposed, but the development team will coordinate with other owners if and when opportunities for collaboration arise.

“We are hoping that it will be formally accepted for processing any time now,” Winterhalter said, referring to the county’s formal acceptance of the plan.

At a Reston Planning & Zoning Committee meeting on Monday (March 20), some members expressed concern about the density and overall design of the project.

Matt Stevison, a committee member, said he was concerned about the way the triplex units — which would be for sale — are designed without any architectural cohesiveness.

“The way the units are stacked from an architecture standpoint.” Stevison said. “It just doesn’t work for me.”

Committee member Tammi Petrine said she were concerned about the residential units’ close proximity to the Dulles Toll Road. She also said the impact of the applicant’s proposed grid of streets would have a detrimental impact on specimen trees on the property.

“Basically, this Association Drive area has some of the most beautiful trees in Reston and you all are talking about a grid of streets that has not taken into account where the specimen trees are,” Petrine said.

A total of 57 affordable units are planned on the property, along with a little over two acres of open space and 1.2 acres of urban parkland.

Winterhalter said the development plan includes a grid of streets that is in Reston’s comprehensive plan.

That grid is different from one suggested by a task force that recommended revisions to the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan for Reston last year. A draft of the new plan is currently under review by the county and slated for discussion by the Fairfax County Planning Commission later this month.

Winterhalter said seven of the 10 property owners on Association Drive are in support of the county’s current proposed grid of streets.

The proposal is moving alongside a Site-Specific Plan Amendment currently under review for Association Drive. That proposal calls for shifting the zoning from office uses to residential uses — including at 1900 and 1920 Association Drive.

“We can develop this property prior to the development of the other properties,” Winterhalter said.

The first few hundred of more than 2,000 residential units planned in Reston’s Isaac Newtown Square development are slated to come online.

At a Reston Planning and Zoning Committee meeting on Monday (March 20), APA Properties and Peter Lawrence Co. offered a glimpse of a final development plan for the apartment building.

Andrew Painter, a representative for the development team, noted that a previous plan for townhouses on another portion of the property was dropped due to rising mortgage rates and changes in the housing market. Amid ongoing negotiations, the team then shifted to the current development plan.

“It’s basically 10 pedestrian-friendly development blocks,” Painter said, referring to the entire development.

The first building will have a maximum of seven stories with up to 345 residential units, 47 of which will be set aside as workforce dwelling units. The site is currently in the process of being razed and cleared.

The development is bounded to the south by the Washington & Old Dominion Trail, the west by Hidden Creek Country Club, and the east by Wiehle Avenue.

The apartment building is part of a 32-acre development approved by the county in 2019. Once completed, the mixed-use neighborhood will include 2.8 million square feet of new construction, including 2,100 residential units, 300 hotel rooms, 260,000 square feet of office space and nearly 69,000 square feet of retail uses.

An on-road bicycle lane and 10-foot-wide shared-use path is proposed on the western side of Wiehle Avenue, along with an 8-foot trail as part of open space on the northern side of the building called Nature’s Edge Park. A 6-foot elevated sidewalk is proposed as part of Willow Oak Park — another park on the southern front of the building.

The conceptual development plan was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2019, followed by work with an arborist to find ways to maintain willow oak trees on the property. A final plan for road and infrastructure work was approved by the Fairfax County Planning Commission in October 2021.

The applicant is now working through the county review process on the final development plan for Block N2, which consists of the apartment building. Final development plans only require planning commission approval.

Planning and zoning committee memebers lauded the development team for the design of the buildings.

Mike Jennings, a committee member, said he was happy the architecture did not mirror what he called a “spreadsheet facade” that looks like an Excel spreadsheet with darkened areas.

“I really like this plan, this design…the amount of park and dog space and recreation…things that we commonly we don’t get any of,” Jennings said.

The redevelopment of Reston’s Vantage Hill condominiums (11619 Vantage Hill Road) is barreling towards approval.

At a meeting on Monday (Sept. 19), the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee unanimously approved the project, which will include 28 townhouses on 2.5 acres of land currently taken up by an abandoned swimming pool.

Revenue from the sale of the units will help the Vantage Hill condos — a 152-unit complex that was built in 1962 — complete a backlog of critical upgrades.

Tree perservation dominated the discussion, as committee members called on Craftmark Homes to preserve an additional three to four large canopy trees of the 11 it plans to save.

Committee member Richard Kennedy said that while the applicant made “reasonable progress,” more trees could be saved.

Robbie Malm, a partner with Craftmark Homes, said that many of the remaining large trees are already leaning over or are in areas where they will likely die. He also noted the development will be pushed north and west away from the trees to allow for their preservation.

“I don’t want to devalue what large mature trees can provide,” he said.

So far, the development propsal plans to remove seven large trees.

Creating more space in the alleyways between the residential unit continued to be a topic of discussion as well.

The developer plans to maintain 23-foot-wide alleyways in response to concerns voiced by Reston Association’s Design Review Board.

Still, some remain concerned about possible tight turns along units on one portion of the property.

“I have no clue how people would turn around in that space,” committee member Tammi Petrine said, referring to a turn around four units on a portion of the property.

Price for the townhouses — which have between three and four bedrooms — start in the $700,000’s.

Plans to redevelop the community have been brewing for years, as the boxy condominium homes continue on a steady decline in maintenance.

The townhome sales are expected to help finance $4.5 million in needed upgrades. Target items include new windows and doors, upgraded heating, new plumbing, a bigger playground, and metered electrical service for each unit.

The committee also encouraged the developer to consider installing stoves without natural gas, noting that alternatives are more environmentally friendly.

The plan heads to the Fairfax County Planning Commission next month.