Lake Anne's Aging Infrastructure Reviewed By Fairfax County

RESTON, VA — Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn briefed Lake Anne residents Wednesday night on Fairfax County's efforts to assess the aging infrastructure within the community, identify problem areas, and propose possible solutions.

Members of the Lake Anne Reston Condominium Association board had requested Alcorn's assistance when several significant infrastructure issues within the community came to light. The most notable of these was when the Quayside condominiums went without hot water for several months last winter.

"These issues have been coming up for years, but what happened in December, January and February, we lost hot water to 25 resident units," said Senzel Schaefer, who identified herself as the LARCA president. "And that was very shocking in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of winter, not to have hot water."

During Wednesday night's meeting at the Reston Community Center Lake Anne, Alcorn mentioned that Fairfax County had approved a permit on July 1 for the installation of a new hot water pipe at Quayside. Community members confirmed for him that the work was currently wrapping up.

"But it is one many infrastructure issues that come with basically a community that, like me, is getting into its mid-50s and a little older than that," Alcorn said. "Things do need attention, maybe need replacement, and upgrading, at some point in their lives."

Lake Anne Village Center was constructed in 1963 to 1967 by Reston founder Robert E. Simon. At the time, it was considered a showcase of modern community planning.

Acting on LARCA's request, the county hired a structural engineer to survey Lake Anne Village Center. One of the things the engineer very quickly identified was the decaying concrete on the balconies of the 15-story Heron House condominium building.

"There are some places where the concrete is deteriorated to the point that you can see the rebar," Alcorn said. "It creates a potential fall hazard."

Heron House residents were notified and asked to remove any plants in the planters on their balconies.

The structural engineers have completed their visual assessment of the center and are ready to move on to a more detailed examination of the center's infrastructure, possibly using sensing technology to look below the surface.

Alcorn said that he anticipates the county presenting its findings to LARCA in early September along with cost estimates for any repairs.

"One of the reasons that we're doing that is we want to see if there's a possibility of some arrangement where Fairfax County might be able to help LARCA address those needs, by understanding how much the needs are in order to somehow have Fairfax County help address those needs financially," he said.

The county's can't just go in and fix the infrastructure issues. While Lake Anne Village Center functions as a de facto public space, it is actually privately owned by the residents and commercial businesses in the center.

Alcorn said one way to finance the infrastructure improvements would be for Lake Anne property owners to agree to grant development rights on part of their property in exchange for the county's financial assistance.

"That's at least what could facilitate direct county assistance," he said. "In the meantime, we are continuing these engineering reviews and we are looking to see, first and foremost, is there anything that's a threat to safety, but then making sure that we've captured a complete picture."

Another possible scenario Alcorn mentioned was leveraging Lake Anne Village Center's historic status to secure financial assistance. In 2017, the center was designated a Virginia Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a Fairfax County revitalization area.

Jason Romano, co-owner of the Lake Anne Brew House who identified himself as the LARCA president, has been meeting with Alcorn for six to eight months about the decaying infrastructure in the community. He said there wasn't a lot of new information at Wednesday night's meeting.

"I'm very curious obviously to see what that number comes out as once we have kind of a line item breakdown of the different jobs that need to be done and what the associated cost is," he said. "The next step coming out of that is going to be the discussion about how does the county get involved and how does that deal basically work out as far as redevelopment, and what's the county's interest in doing this? I don't think we're there quite yet."