The Connection

The Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning wants to amend the zoning ordinance for Reston, but it has been met with resistance from community members ever since it was proposed in May.

The proposed amendment would alter the zoning regulations by changing the density cap in Reston for areas that are zoned Planned Residential Community (PRC) District. The current cap for these areas, which the majority of Reston is zoned, is set to an average of 13 people per acre. The Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning is recommending raising the cap to an average of 16 people per acre.

The amendment would also increase the maximum number of dwelling units per acre for PRC zoned land. The maximum number is currently 50 dwelling units per acre.

Government officials were met with significant pushback from Restonians during the original three community meetings about the amendment earlier this summer on May 3 and May 15 at the North County Governmental Center and May 24 at Lake Anne Elementary School.

The latest act of resistance from community members was a meeting of the minds behind the resistance: The Reston 20/20 Committee, Rescue Reston, Reclaim Reston, the Reston Citizens Association and the Reston Association.

THE FORUM WAS HELD at the Reston Association’s Conference Center on Wednesday night, Sept. 20, where leaders of the groups made presentations to a standing-room-only crowd about why they should join in opposing the amendment.

“The best way probably to describe [the May community meetings] would be spirited, if that’s fair,” Sherri Hebert, Lake Anne/Tall Oaks District director and president of the RA Board, said at the meeting. “They were maybe a little unproductive, that we really didn’t get as a community what we needed out of that,” she added.

She then explained to the crowd that she and the RA asked Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, who represents the Hunter Mill District, for a fourth community meeting to discuss the amendment further.

“We are not against development — at all,” she said. “Development is important, but what we are for is a balanced and well-planned approach to development is I think what we’re all trying to get to.”

Deputy Zoning Administrator Cathy Belgin and her colleagues at the planning and zoning department are pushing for the amendment, saying it is required to implement Reston’s comprehensive plan.

The Reston Master Plan Special Study began in 2009 and concluded when the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted it on June 2, 2015. The document updated Fairfax County’s Comprehensive Plan to integrate changes to Reston, including residential neighborhoods, Village Centers, commercial areas and the Reston Transit Station Areas (TSAs).

But leaders of the citizen groups don’t like the county’s reasoning.

“Why are we having this discussion about the PRC?” Dennis Hays, president of the Reston Citizens Association, questioned the audience during the meeting. “Because the comprehensive plan says so,” he answered. “That was the one reason that was given for everything … it’s in the comprehensive plan and therefore we need to follow through on it.”

The county estimates that the population of Reston’s PRC District zoned land is currently 74,192. The county also estimates that it is at 11.88 people per acre. Under the 13 people per acre average maximum, the population could grow to 81,195. Lifting the cap to 16 people per acre, as county planning and zoning staff encourage, would allow the population of PRC District zoned land to grow to 99,932.

However, Terry Maynard, co-chair of the Reston 20/20 Committee, thinks these calculations are off because the county’s calculations exclude affordable and workforce dwelling units. Instead, Maynard alleges that the approval of the amendment could potentially allow a population of up to 139,906 in Reston’s PRC District.

The leaders in the room were also concerned about traffic congestion and infrastructure to support a growing density that the amendment would allow.

“Fairfax County is determined to meet its fiscal needs at the expense and the wellbeing and the property values of every person in this room, wherever you live in Reston,” Bruce Ramo of Reclaim Reston said during the meeting.

“There is no urgent need to change Reston zoning now,” he added. “The county’s population projections, if the zoning is changed, is underestimated and that development that would be facilitated by the zoning changes would far outpace infrastructure.”

He made a call for action to the crowd to challenge assumptions and ask hard questions at the next community meeting.

“I urge all of you: Attend the meeting with the county on Sept. 25 and remember what you learned tonight,” he said. “Ask why zoning changes are needed well in advance of definitive plans for roads, overpasses, schools and recreation facilities to handle the growth. Ask where and when the parks and schools will be built. Ask what is the oversight mechanism to assure Restonians that money promised by developers in their proffers will directly benefit Reston.”

Those in opposition were also encouraged to wear yellow to show a unified presence of resistance.

HUDGINS is well aware of the challenge she and the county are facing in introducing the proposal to the community.

“I realize that there’s a really big challenge in terms of people looking at change that’s occurring today and we have to be respectful of that,” Hudgins said. “I understand as they look at the proposal, they’re seeing it through the lens that they have to look at it.”

But she maintains that she is open minded.

“I always leave my mind open as much as I can,” she said. “I don’t go in with an absolute,” she added.

She also said she is aware of the growing opposition to the proposal, but wants another chance to discuss the reasoning behind the amendment.

“There has been a lot of opposition,” she admitted. “We need to understand the opposition and make sure the opposition is clear as to what’s trying to occur. We’re talking about the change in the comprehensive plan; a plan that has already been changed.”

The opposition’s disapproval of pointing to the comprehensive plan as reasoning does not phase her.

“If you like it and it’s in the comprehensive plan, it’s OK guidance,” she said. “If you don’t like it and it’s in the comprehensive plan, then it’s not OK.”

She knows there have been a lot of questions and concern over infrastructure.

“Yes, infrastructure in Virginia doesn’t come as quickly as we like, but it does come,” she said.

She pinned the current outcry on current congestion levels.

“I think there is a fear that because there is congestion, it will always be congested,” she said. “There may be a level of congestion, but we think we can relieve the level of congestion.”

She said relief will come when the county’s investment in the Silver Line of the metrorail comes to fruition, but she also said there are roadway improvements that are in the works.

A $2.2 billion Reston Transportation Funding Plan that was approved this year will construct roadway improvements, intersection improvements and new roadways in the Reston TSA road network to improve connectivity to, from and around the transit stations.

There are also ambitious crossings for the Dulles Toll Road: The Soapstone Connector, a four-lane bridge across the Dulles Toll Road from Sunset Hills to Sunrise Valley Drive approximately at Soapstone Drive; South Lakes Connector, a four-lane bridge across the Dulles Toll Road from Sunset Hills Road to Sunrise Valley Drive approximately at South Lakes Drive; and a Town Center Underpass, a four-lane tunnel from Town Center Parkway and Sunset Hills Road to Sunrise Valley Drive west of Edmund Halley Drive.

“The additional crosses that take you north to south are very critical,” she said.

So far, progress has been made on one of the projects. A public hearing about the environmental assessment for the Soapstone Connector is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 8, at Dogwood Elementary School.

Developers will also be responsible for contributing to improvements.

“As these applications come in, they have to make their contributions for the infrastructure needs of the future, as well as what they are impacting immediately,” she said. “There are internal roads they must commit to and build, and they also have to contribute to these larger infrastructure pieces.”

With the proposed development and density increase, Restonians are concerned about maintaining green and open spaces. Hudgins maintains that accounting for these spaces are also required by developers.

“When you ask for this density, you have to be able to answer that you have to accommodate it with these amenities,” she said.

What she wants her constituents to know is that she values Reston and lives there too.

“I try to be as much of a keeper of Bob Simon’s plan as I can be,” she said.

She says there is an anticipated shift in population, but only for designated areas: Lake Anne, Town Center North, and the South Lakes, Hunter Woods, Northpoint and Tall Oaks village centers.

Time will tell if opponents sway her vote when the proposal is brought before the board. The amendment is scheduled to be presented to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for authorization in November; Planning Commission public hearing in December; and Board hearing in January 2018.

THE COUNTY’S FOURTH community meeting to discuss the contentious zoning amendment was halted as hundreds gathered to hear from Supervisor Hudgins and the county’s department of planning and zoning on Monday night, Sept. 25. The culprit: Crowd size.

The meeting was to begin at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria of the Lake Anne Elementary School, but the room quickly became filled to standing room only and then some.

“We are going to simply try … We’ll have to dismiss tonight; find another location,” Hudgins said.

Her hesitation was apt, as the crowd broke out in uproarious booing and shouting while holding up red cards to visually express their irritation.

“Those are really nice cards and they really are impressive, but it is a safety issue and a code violation,” she said before being cut off by more booing.

“May I ask if you could kindly not shout out,” she replied. “We want to communicate and we’ll try and find a solution.”

The capacity in the cafeteria set by the Fire Marshal Code is 210 people with tables and chairs and 450 people with only chairs or standing. Tables and chairs were set up.

There was a total of 313 people who signed into the meeting on sheets provided at the door, but there were more people waiting outside who couldn’t get in. More people also avoided the lines to sign in, which made the crowd closer to 400 or 500 in size.

There was some angst in the room because people thought the county would move forward on the proposal without letting them voice their concerns, but Hudgins reassured them that they would have an opportunity.

“We are not moving anything in terms of approval of this action based on this,” she told the crowd. “We were to hear your input and our dates are tentatively set in November. We will reschedule or not schedule the authorization until we’ve had this meeting. We’ll get a facility that we can accommodate you.”

The crowd refused to disband and a woman stood up and pressed the supervisor to comment on whether she could “honestly say” that the amendment was not a “done deal.”

“It’s not a done deal, no,” Hudgins responded. “If it was a done deal, we could have stopped long ago. No, that’s not the issue. We’re back here to continue to learn from you.”

The county’s plan is to reschedule the meeting at another venue that can accommodate a larger crowd.

The Reston Association Board was going to take a formal position on the amendment during its upcoming meeting on Thursday, Sept. 28, but will now wait until after the meeting is rescheduled.

“The board is really anxious to find out what the county has to say,” RA CEO Cate Fulkerson said. “We asked for a community meeting and they still haven’t had it yet. I don’t think we’re going to be taking a position until the community meeting has been held.”

In the meantime, Reclaim Reston posted a “Reston Zoning Moratorium Petition” online on iPetitions that has gotten more than 1,000 signatures.