August 2, 2002
It may be decades until significantly higher density development is seen along the future rail line in Reston, according to some local property owners and real estate brokers.
In May 2001 the county Board of Supervisors amended its comprehensive plan to allow higher density along the Dulles Toll Road, where the rail line is planned. To build at these higher densities, though, developers will have to mix residential units with retail and commercial units. This mixed-use development is meant to boost ridership on the planned rail line.
But several property owners have said that the area along the Dulles Toll Road, where rail is planned to pass through Reston, is so business-oriented that residential development will not be economically feasible.
"Until we have a much more urban area than we have today, I don’t think you will sell residential units overlooking the Toll Road," said Bob Howard, 33-year real estate broker and president of Wellborn Management.
And before residential buildings can be considered along the Toll Road, a set of covenants prohibiting residential development needs to be lifted. The covenants govern the Reston Center for Industry and Government, a strip of commercially zoned land running between Sunset Hills Road and Sunrise Valley Drive, from Hunter Mill Road to Reston Parkway. The zone also includes property west of Reston Parkway, to Monroe Street, but only between the Toll Road and Sunrise Valley Drive. There are more than 100 property owners in the 400-acre area. The owners of 90 percent of that property need to agree to change the covenants, in order to allow residential units and, in turn, higher density.
BUT IT IS NOT CLEAR who will organize the property owners in order to hold a vote regarding the covenant change. Although it is a homeowners association, Reston Association enforces the covenants on the Reston Center for Industry and Government. But the businesses in the center do not pay Reston Association dues. The homeowners association has identified most of the property owners in the center and, on Aug. 12, will be holding a preliminary meeting to discuss the covenants, along with other rail issues. At that meeting, to which some of the larger property owners have been invited, Reston Association officials will determine the role the homeowners association will play.
"We have knowledge and experience in conducting referendum votes," said Gerald Volloy, Reston Association executive vice president. "If they want us to play a role, I am going to assess how it will impact our staff. If we need additional contractual help — we do have limited staff, busy staff — if we would need additional resources we would ask the property owners for help."
Chris Walker, president of Walker and Company, which owns two Reston office parks, said the owners of 50 percent of the land in the Reston Center for Industry and Government should be at the upcoming meeting. Walker will be passing around a petition in favor of appealing the covenants.
"I’m hoping the process will be simple and non-controversial," Walker said. "I don’t know anyone who is against it. I’m hoping the main problem will be finding out who 90 percent of the land owners are."
Walker would like to build a hotel at one of his office parks, and will need the covenant lifted in order to do so. Even so, Walker said high rise condominiums probably wouldn’t make money.
"THE PROBLEM WITH residential buildings in urban areas is that it is very expensive to build," Walker said. "People want single family homes. Even if there are no impediments, you’re not going to find a huge amount of high rise condominiums. Most people will go farther out for single family homes."
He also said the infrastructure along the Dulles Toll Road will have trouble handling much more density.
"I don’t think the density bonuses will be all that valuable," Walker said. "Most buildings are parking-constrained, restricted by the amount of parking available. The bus system needs to be better organized. There needs to be private transit, things like carpooling and slug lines. These things are not part of the plan, unfortunately."
John Sullivan is president of Sunset Hills Professional Center Condominium Association, where he operates an accounting firm. The condominium association governs 30 condominium units, owned by between 22 and 24 businesses. Sullivan pointed out that neither small nor large businesses along the Toll Road should fear the density bonuses. He said owners of large complexes like Plaza America have no particular incentive to vote against the covenant change, because they are prosperous enough that they will not feel any pressure to redevelop.
And rail is so far off, projected to be finished by 2010 at the earliest, that the small businesses in his condominium unit feel a sense of security as well.
"The people who are here are comfortable here," Sullivan said. "They don’t want to go anywhere else. And if the people here wanted to get together to sell their units — getting 22 or 24 people to agree on something is not easy."
HOWARD IS PART OWNER of the SCS Engineers Building, just outside the Reston Center for Industry and Government, where the county’s mixed-use density bonuses would actually allow density below what is currently built.
"That doesn’t mean I would not vote to change the covenant," Howard said. "But I’m not going to get out and rally the forces."
Sullivan said that in order for the covenant to be changed, a group of motivated property owners will have to join together and organize their fellow owners. Sullivan has not yet seen that kind of motivation, though.
"We’ll all be a lot older before we see any of this [mixed use development] happen," Sullivan said.
When the county amended the comprehensive plan to include higher density mixed use along the Dulles Corridor, that amendment was said to be necessary in order to increase ridership and attract federal funding for rail. But Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) said the county will not help make sure the Reston Center for Industry and Government covenants are appealed.
"It’s their land," Hudgins said. "They have to make that decision. The opportunity to change to mixed use may be valuable, or it may not be. I assume that the landowners will see a market, and then move. When they see a value, an incentive, I think they’ll come together on this."