Residents listen to a presentation by the county Department of Planning and Zoning at the Phase II Master Plan meeting Saturday. Photo by Reena Singh.
By the next Phase II community meeting, the working draft will be completed.
The last Phase II master plan public comment meeting took place on Saturday, allowing community members to voice their opinions on their vision for the Baron Cameron convenience center and Tall Oaks Village Center.
“It’s been a very good process,” said Reston Association President Ken Knueven. “I think this is a good impetus to get things started.”
The last meeting was different from the first two. Rather than being separated into groups to talk about what they like and do not like about the area discussed by the topic, everyone got a sheet of dot stickers to mark on a series of boards what they wanted to see for the two areas.
One board asked residents to imagine the Tall Oaks Village Center of their dreams. Some people wrote that they wanted to see independent coffee shops, specialty grocers and a local food co-op.
DURING THE PRESENTATION, county Planning and Zoning representative Richard Lambert said he was told that the pedestrian and bicycle accessibility for Tall Oaks was good, but some people had safety concerns.
“Some people were also concerned that signage is a problem, visibility is a problem.”
He also wanted to see what residents wanted out of the Baron Cameron convenience center.
“Some are happy with Baron Cameron as is,” said Lambert. “Some people want it to be mixed use. Is it too car-centric? Could it be made into a possible plaza? We want to explore more ideas of what it could be.”
About 70 community members who came to the early morning meeting milled around Buzz Aldrin Elementary’s cafeteria to put their 16 dot stickers on the poster boards scattered towards the back of the room, telling the county Department of Planning and Zoning exactly what they wanted to see for those areas.
“I think overall, this has been helpful,” said Reston Citizens Association President Sridhar Ganesan. “Even though it has been a truncated process, it has been helpful.”
He felt that after the three meetings, transportation issues have not been addressed. With the opening of the Metro station comes the possibility of a growing population in the next 10 years, and Ganesan said the schools and roads as they are now will not be able to handle the influx of residents.
“This meeting is a little more of a public oriented process,” he said about the different structure of Saturday’s meeting. “For me, personally, it has been a good process.”
Although several people commented on the “truncated process” of the second phase of the Master Plan, Reston’s founder thought the process should be quicker.
“The major factor in all of this is speed,” said Robert Simon. “Everything takes much longer than it used to. What you get now is an eight to 10 year gap, like with Lake Anne, for example.”
He did, however, like the structure of the public meetings so far.
KNUEVEN said the that while the majority of the public comment meetings are done, Reston Association will still need to approve of anything being done within Reston’s boundaries. He assured that the residents will hear their voice in the Master Plan.
“It really pleases me how many people have turned out at these events,” he said. “We will be in the thick of things, as appropriate, in regards to the green space in the village centers and the connectivity. It will all be looked at.”
The working draft will be published on the county website in mid-December and additional public meetings will be scheduled for January to discuss it.