Lessons From The Reston National Neighborhood Study Group: Opinion

RESTON, VA — The following is an opinion piece submitted to Patch by Greg Hamm, president of New City Enterprises. Since 2021, he has led the Reston National Neighborhood Study Group, which is financed by Weller Development Co. and War Horse Cities, the owners of Reston National Golf Course.

By Greg Hamm

Since launching the Reston National Neighborhood Study Group more than a year ago, we’ve kept in mind some advice from Supervisor Walter Alcorn: to make sure land-use debates are “fact-based and civil.” The aim of the Reston National Golf Course was to engage the best experts to assess conditions in the Neighborhood, so that solid information could serve as the basis for honest discussion among stakeholders.

I’ve had the good fortune of leading the Neighborhood Study Group and getting to know hundreds of residents. As my involvement concludes, here’s a review of our findings and recommendations.

We have completed thorough studies of environmental conditions, available services, and amenities in the community. We have a better grasp of how current conditions affect property values, and of what kind of changes might enhance property values. We’ve also listened to hundreds of our neighbors as we review the work and weigh options. Opinions vary, of course, but the basic issues are now well understood.

We’ve learned a lot, and all of it confirms the importance of Bob Simon’s guidelines as we address changes in Reston. Later this year, the Silver Line will connect to Dulles Airport through two new stations opening in Reston. Mr. Simon believed in Metro long before three stations in Reston seemed remotely feasible. The immanent completion of the Silver Line and the successful mixed-use planning in North Reston, have made that submarket the strongest office submarket in the United States over the last 36 months. These singular growth dynamics has put pressure on affordable housing, services, open space, walkability, and other essential features of the area. Many of our neighbors understand and this situation of growth and its challenges, and are open to ideas to manage the change in keeping with Reston values.

For all of the community’s many strengths, there is no getting around the obvious: The Neighborhood, and most of South Reston – particularly south of Sunrise Valley Drive – needs careful planning attention and, with that, economic revitalization.

Related: Patch's ongoing coverage of the Reston National Neighborhood Study Group

In the Study’s Group’s review, one reliable tool was an Amenity Gap Analysis conducted by Datastory. It shows clearly that while Town Center and North Wiehle Station have boomed, investment in most of South Reston ended about 40 years ago, with predictable outcomes for some neighborhoods. The result is aging housing stock, retail space, offices, parking areas, and overgrown vegetation, all of which have left much of the area with a distinctly 1970s feel.

This suggests that, across all these property types, South Reston’s structures are old relative to their economic life cycles. As retail and office properties age without reinvestment, they begin fading into obsolescence. With less competitive retail, amenities disappear, which in turn makes office space less valuable. Condominium prices and apartment rents begin to flatten, and eventually, single-family homes begin to underperform the market. The analysis reveals that much of South Reston is an amenity desert, and future developments near transit are not likely to add significant amenities of benefit to legacy neighborhoods.

Although Reston’s trail system is invaluable for recreational walking, the Gap Analysis shows that South Reston’s walkability is below average. A metric known as “Walk Score” is today’s standard test, measuring distances to key amenities for a typical resident; the score in Neighborhood clusters is just 32, compared to an average of 70 in North Reston. A single point in Walk Scores increases a home value by an estimated $4,386 in the DC metropolitan area. So even a modest increase in amenities in the Neighborhood, yielding an improved Walk Score of 55, would add more than $100,000 in value to a home. A lack of amenities in South Reston has left fewer people using the trails, while leaving the trails less safe for those who do use them – a serious security problem that South Reston must acknowledge.

The Gap Analysis also shows that South Reston needs to expand permanent and public open space, a theme we heard clearly from our neighbors as well. There is a common misperception that the golf course is open space. Reston National is a “daily fee” golf course, meaning that it is not a private club and the public is able to pay to play on it. Even so, the course is a privately- owned, for-profit property. On average, about 168 people per day, 1 person per acre, play the course. Of these, only some 20 percent or 34 daily users are Restonians. As a privately owned course, it is increasingly difficult to manage successfully as the larger community freely walks through it during play, bringing children, strollers, dogs, and cell phones. With the imminent opening of the Reston Town Center Silver Line Station, these conflicts will increase as more walkers try to. navigate to and from the Metro station.

Then there are the Neighborhood’s environmental challenges, as we described earlier on Patch. Studies by Biohabitats and Wetland Studies and Solutions (WSSI) show the consequences of decades of “disinvestment” or deferred maintenance throughout the Neighborhood, both on the golf course and on many of the adjacent properties. The tree canopy, an essential measure of ecological health, is rapidly disappearing because of its age, the impact of golf, deferred maintenance, and the extensive presence of invasive plant species. Among other impacts for the Neighborhood, tree canopy loss is accelerating stream-bed erosion as it adds siltation and diminishes water quality in Lake Thoreau. All of this affects community health and property. values for the worse. With advice from our neighbors, we designed and launched a Pilot Program as the first step in addressing these issues.

All of this points to the importance of ongoing investment in our environment and infrastructure. Golf alone cannot pay to fix our Neighborhood’s problems and prepare it for the future. Needed is significant private investment, in cooperation with government and all other stakeholders. Likewise, a development program for a portion of the golf course has to be carefully considered.

Its work completed, the Study Group has defined three broad objectives as a realistic outline for the Neighborhood:

1. From a portion of the golf course, create the largest permanent and protected public open space in Reston – an environmentally restored “conservancy” that is fully funded by the project and governed locally.
2. Add new services, amenities, and housing in a neighborhood-scale village near existing infrastructure. Create many miles of trails that make these amenities easy for walking and biking improving the legacy communities’ connectivity.
3. Upgrade Neighborhood infrastructure, vegetation, architecture, landscaping, views, and trails to ensure high standards and a durable investment. Set up a structure linking our legacy neighbors with the new village, as part of a cohesive “Conservancy District.”

The next step will be for the owners of the golf course to submit these ideas to the public, so that residents will be consulted at every new turn. Though there is always hardened opposition. to any change, I’m confident, based on my experience and conversations with so many residents, that the community will come together and see its way clear to safeguarding all that we love about Reston.

Greg Hamm is the Managing Partner of New City Enterprises, a real estate advisory and development company with 30 years of experience in Reston. He founded the Reston National Neighborhood Study Group and managed the process through the completion of the studies. He can be reached at: gfhamm@newcityenterprises.com