New Task Force To Focus On Development In Reston Town Center North

RESTON, VA — With the Reston Comprehensive Plan Review entering its final stages, talks beginning on the Hunter Mill District's 13 nominations as part of the Site-Specific Plan Amendment process, a board matter coming soon on the Reston Performing Arts Center decision, the Bowman Towne Court Affordable Housing Project heating up, and the Lake Anne Visioning Plan on the horizon, you'd think Reston had enough on its plate when it came redevelopment. Apparently not.

The Reston Town Center North Task Force will meet for the first time on Monday, Jan. 30, to discuss redevelopment on several parcels of land north of Reston Town Center. The meeting, which is open to the public, will take place at 7 p.m. at the North County Government Center, 1801 Cameron Glen Drive, which happens to be within the scope of the task force's area of focus.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn introduced a motion at a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting last April calling for the formation of the task force.

"The time is right to move forward with a master plan with locations for critically needed community facilities in Reston Town Center North," Alcorn said at the board's May 24, 2022, meeting. "Most pressing is a new Embry Rucker Shelter, facilities for related services, and permanent supportive housing and a new Reston Regional Library."

The area of focus will be bound by Baron Cameron Avenue on the north, Fountain Drive to the east, the library property on Bowman Town Drive to the south, and Town Center Parkway to the west.

The Bowman Towne Court Affordable Housing Project, which encompasses a wedge-shaped property between Town Center Parkway and Bowman Towne Drive in the western corner of the task force's area of focus, provides a good example of how one project can affect the development and planning in the surrounding area.

• Related: Reston Town Center Residents Get First Look At Bowman Towne Court Plan

Foulger-Pratt Development, LLC included a new regional library as part of its proposal to redevelop the 4.45-acre project site consisting of a 2.89-acre parcel owned by the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the 1.56-acre parking lot of the Reston District Police Station. Their plan is to build a 350-unit affordable housing development on land owned by the board of supervisors and the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

If that project is approved with the new library as part of it, what happens to the existing library property? Will it be used for a new or expanded homeless shelter, more affordable housing, or some other public amenity? These are the types of questions with which the task force is expected to wrestle.

Last May, Alcorn told his fellow supervisors that former Fairfax County Board Chair Kate Hanley, who happens to be a Hunter Mill District resident, agreed to lead the new task force.

“The task force members are representatives of the residents most affected by redevelopment plans for RTCN," Alcorn told Patch in an email on Thursday. "I look forward to this task force getting going and ultimately providing recommendations on where the long list of public facilities should go in RTCN. The area of land available is limited.”

The task force will be made up of one person from each of the following communities that are located near RTCN:

• Avalon/Crystal Cove
• Edgewater at Town Center Condominium
• Court Cluster Association
• Oak Park Condominium
• The Paramount Condominium
• Midtown North
• Midtown North Condominium Association
• Signature
• West Market Community Association
• Stratford
• Bowman Towne Court
• Edgewater at Town Center Cluster and Cluster Association
• Savoy
• ParcReston