In the year ahead, Reston Association (RA) members will be asked to vote on changes to RA's governing documents. Delayed after the initial discussions drew opposition last summer, the changes would cover the deed, the articles of incorporation, and the bylaws.
The last time the Reston Association's governing documents were amended was in 1984. The RA's Web site lists changes needed to accommodate future issues, and laws enacted at county, state, and federal levels as factors for conducting a review. RA’s executive vice president, Milton Matthews, said that the referendum would be Reston’s biggest story of the year.
THE NEXT DECADE in Reston will be marked by continued high-density residential and commercial office space development.
A host of projects are scheduled to get underway or open in 2005, increasing Reston's population, changing its demographics and giving the traditionally suburban community a decidedly more urban feel.
"Reston is truly going nowhere but up from where it is today," said Joe Ritchey, a commercial real estate executive at a recent luncheon.
Much of the residential development slated to open will be centered around the Reston Town Center area and will cost as much as $1 million per unit. The commercial real estate development is largely being driven by the incoming Metro rail stops for Reston, as well as a booming economy spurred by federal defense and homeland security contract dollars.
THE LACK of affordable housing in the community is expected to continue through 2005. Towards the end of 2004 some community leaders showed an interest of working together to address the growing issue of homelessness in Reston.
The number of homeless persons is on the rise, and so is the cost of housing. Reston Interfaith began proposing the building of single room occupancies (SROs) in order to provide another level of affordable housing, that would better suit the needs of many individuals who are left without a home.
An estimated 2,000 people were homeless in Fairfax County in January 2004, while the five county shelters offer 261 beds. Marte Birnbaum, director of the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, said that she hopes a new system would replace one that is “bursting at the seams” to deal with homelessness. She said that she hoped the largest story in Reston in 2005 will be the breaking ground to building SROs.
RESIDENTS of Reston could be treated to a new multi-use center, replacing the Southgate Neighborhood Recreation Area. The new facility would feature a multi-purpose gymnasium, a large meeting room, two smaller meeting rooms, a kitchen and an office.
The new center would be fully funded by Fairfax County.
IN FEBRUARY, Dominion Power will start to cut down trees near the power lines along the W&OD Trail. While some Reston residents oppose the proposal, Dominion Power owns the right of way — and the right to trim — along the trail.
Other places in the county have already seen some of the tree cutting that went on in their neighborhoods along the trail. Robin Smyers, a member on the RA board of directors, said that what she witnessed in Vienna was “criminal.” She is proposing that those against the tree clearing in Reston do all they can to fight Dominion Power’s proposal. “It is absolutely horrific what they are doing to the environment,” she said.
The clear cutting will happen on 50 feet of land on each side of the trail. Smyers said that this is uncalled for as the current situation would not affect the power lines for the next 100 years.
RESTON ASSOCIATION (RA) asked its members to vote on a referendum to approve pursuing its own office building. RA asked its members for a permission to build or buy a 20,000-square-foot office space.
John Higgins, RA’s treasurer, said that the RA is doing very well financially, and that it has more than sufficient operating capital to pay for a downpayment for the new space. He added that the RA’s liquid assets are more than 20 times its liability.
The space the RA is leasing currently is expected to be demolished soon after RA’s lease there runs out in August 2006. RA estimates saving over $636,967 during the first decade of owning, rather than renting, its office space.
THE PROCESS to redevelop the area surrounding the proposed Wiehle Avenue Metro rail stop may begin as early as February.
County officials and developers envision the redevelopment around the transit station would include high-density housing, office space, retail offerings and restaurants. Fairfax County will ask developers to submit proposals on their plans on Feb. 1.
The $1.5 billion Silver Line extension of Metro rail is scheduled to arrive by 2009. Organizers want each stop along the line to feature mixed-use development like Reston Town Center, though on a smaller scale.
A few potential hitches may hinder the Wiehle Avenue redevelopment however. Not enough land owners have agreed to revise their covenants to allow residential development. And federal funding, which was expected during Congress' last session, was not forthcoming.
Despite those hurdles, Reston's elected officials and planners say they remain optimistic the project is on track.
IN DECEMBER of 2004 Sprint announced a merger of equals with Nextel Communications, located in Reston. The new company, Sprint Nextel, would have its corporate headquarters in Reston, and its operational office in Overland Park, Kansas.
Sprint Nextel would become the third largest telecommunications company with 35 million subscribers, behind Cingular Wireless (47.3 million) and Verizon Wireless (42 million). Nextel is the 11h largest employer in Fairfax County, and the county’s largest employer in the telecommunications industry.
Although both Sprint and Nextel said that they will at first be forced to make some job reductions, the competitive nature of the industry will force them to grow and therefore create more jobs. Jerry Gordon, president of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, said that the announcement of new company’s headquarters being in Reston is great news for Fairfax County, as it will show national and international companies that Fairfax County is a great place to do business. The merger is yet to go through a number of approvals, but it is likely that the new company will begin its operations out of Reston sometime in the second half of 2005.
BUSES OPERATING on the Dulles Corridor may see major technological improvements in the latter half of 2005. The technology, pioneered by Next Bus Information Systems, Inc., California, will allow bus riders to access their buses' real-time location through a number of media.
The commuters will be able to find out where their buses are, and how long it will take them to get to the bus stop via cell phones, Web sites, palm pilots, personal digital assistants (PDA’s), or message boards at the bus stops.
Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) secured a $750,000 technology grant for the transit improvement.
WHEN SOUTH LAKES High School opened its doors 25 years ago, students were taught in an "open model" school where classrooms were not separated by walls.
The idea was to break down physical and education barriers. The reality was that SLHS was too noisy for students to learn. So the high school put up drywall partitions and eventually hung curtains in place of doors.
Starting in 2005, those make-shift improvements should no longer be needed. The high school is about to undergo a six-year $57 million renovation.
The modernization, which will begin next fall, is hoped to remove South Lakes' unusual problems while maintaining the character of the school.
"Schools develop their own personality and we're trying to preserve that," said John McLeod, one of the lead architects on the project. "But hopefully we'll be able to give it a little less of a forbidding aspect."
Apart from basic improvements — such as working light switches, classroom doors, windows, and a functioning HVAC system — renovation plans call for significantly more classroom space, skylights, major landscaping and canopies on both sides of the building under which students can wait for the bus.