Current proposals for Lake Anne revitalization call for the historic core, Washington Plaza and most buildings on it, to remain untouched during any possible redevelopment. The Lake Anne Condo Association owns much of the property that leads into the plaza, making its land a potentially valuable leverage in future negotiations with developers.
About 15 condo owners at Lake Anne attended the Lake Anne Condo Association meeting on Monday night, discussing what the association’s interests in the area’s revitalization may be. They discussed their likes and dislikes of the consultant-recommended language for the plan text and design guidelines for any future development. A question arose of whether drawings of possible outcomes would be useful for the general population to get acquainted with the language.
Howard Green argued that generating renderings could allow an average citizen to understand the language in the plan text. “I think these renderings would be very valuable,” said Green. He said the renderings could depict the heights of new buildings and their proximity to the Heron House, so the citizens could get a general feel of what any future redevelopment might look like. Green added that as an engineer he finds it difficult to understand a rendering provided in the back of the consultant-issued report on the recommendations for plan text. The rendering portrays a number of high rise towers in the area, but makes it hard to define the distances between the towers and the existing Heron House. “Renderings can make an understanding that does not exist now,” he said.
John Lovaas supported Green’s argument. “Have a couple of versions of what [the new development] might look like,” he said.
Maggie Ulmer disagreed with the idea of developing conceptual renderings. “I hesitate to think it’s a good idea to give more speculative information. More information for people to get upset about,” she said.
Alan Hines also argued against the drawings, but for different reasons than Ulmer. He said the consultant-issued plan text recommendations are parameters for development, and do not constitute a development plan. “It is way way premature to expect any renderings, as much as I’d like to see them,” he said. Hines added that a low-density development would produce a completely different set of buildings than a high-density development might. “We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of different possibilities,” said Hines.
“If we start painting pictures of buildings, I don’t know that that is going to serve anyone,” said Tom O’Brien. He said that what the renderings could show, and what eventually would be built, would most likely differ a lot. O’Brien suggested that the condo association develop its own guidelines on how its property ought to be developed, thus protecting itself to some extent from the politics of decision-making at the county level.
ALTHOUGH HE HAD BEEN absent from the country, and therefore public discussions on revitalization, Bob Simon advised on what the condo association ought to do. He said that current plans call for the association-owned parking lot to become an extended part of the Washington Plaza with underground parking. The association should concentrate on three areas in which the association could benefit from future development, said Simon. One would be to acquire a proffer from a developer to relieve the condo association from some of the charges of maintaining the plaza. Two, the association would benefit from the increased traffic at the plaza. Three, the plaza is a valuable piece of land. However, said Simon, “We are fool-hearted if we think our land will be part of [major] development,” he said. The Crescent Apartments and Fairway Apartments, said Simon, would be the primary property for major development.
“Our land is not destined for high density development,” agreed Rick Thompson, the president of the condo association. Thompson added that although the association’s property would probably not be the first to be redeveloped, the association could expect to be approached from a developer.
O’Brien said that even though the association’s property might not be the place of much future density, the plaza itself creates value for other places. “We are creating value for them even if the developer is developing property that is not ours,” said O’Brien. He added the association needed to create a mechanism to ensure that some of the money from the development of other properties comes back to the association.
Also, argued O’Brien, any redevelopment of Crescent Apartments — a county-owned property consisting of 180 affordable housing units — might take some time to do. He said the county would probably depend on market rate units to subsidize the affordable housing. Redeveloping the property might have to wait until the condo market rebounded and people started buying units again.
THE OWNERS at the meeting came up with a list of likes and dislikes of the current proposal for the plan text. “I personally love the idea of extending the walking plaza,” said Ulmer. She also liked the idea of more density, which could be used to create a modern urban setting at Lake Anne.
Simon liked that any new development would bring with it more affordable housing, as it is the county’s goal to ensure that 12 percent of any new units are affordable units. He also thought that the current plan would improve access to the village center and provides an opportunity for distinguished architecture, which is a part of the Lake Anne history.
Lovaas thought that the possible development on the site is too much. He said the possible residential development is overdone, and that there would be three times as much office and three times as much retail space at Lake Anne. According to his math, the possible net number of units at Lake Anne after redevelopment equals 34 Heron Houses. His suggestion is that the condo association tells the county and the consultants, “This is too much, we want you to scale it back.”
Green is alarmed that all of the sudden — after years of stalemate — things are moving too fast with revitalization efforts. The county is planning to have public hearings at the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors this summer. “We’re moving at the speed of light. You don’t want to go so fast that you don’t know what you’re doing,” said Green.