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

Correction (Dec. 23, 2 p.m.): This story was updated to attribute the statement about the number of bedrooms and size of the units to be offered to Reston Town Center Apartments in the new development to Bovala Tengen.

RESTON, VA — Fairfax County housing officials and representatives from the developer behind the proposed Bowman Towne Court project met Nov. 30 with residents of the Reston Town Center Apartments.

Located on land owned by the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the neighborhood consists of 30 units of affordable housing adjacent to Town Center Parkway and the intersection of Bowman Towne Drive and Bowman Towne Court. This location makes the residents the most directly impacted by the proposed project.

This was the first public meeting held since the FCHRA board approved an interim agreement in October with Foulger-Pratt Development, LLC to build a new Reston Regional Library and adjacent affordable housing development in the Reston Town Center North area.

The 4.45-acre project site consists of a 2.89-acre parcel owned by FCHRA and the 1.56-acre parking lot of the Reston District Police Station. If the project is approved, FCRHA and the Board of Supervisors would transfer ownership of the two parcels to Foulger-Pratt.

The current proposal for the project sees the construction of 350 residential affordable housing units, serving residents earning 30-70 percent of the average median income. Rental units would be one, two, three and four-bedrooms.

The project would also include a 40,000-square-foot regional library and 825 total parking spaces, with 455 for residents, 240 for the library, and 130 for the police station.

Related: Interim Agreement On Bowman Towne Court Project Approved By FCHRA

Most of the questions raised by residents during the Nov. 30 meeting concerned the ultimate design of the new development and what would happen to them once work on the project began.

Anna Shapiro, deputy director for real estate finance and development at Fairfax County Housing and Community Development, told residents they would be relocated to temporary housing once construction work on the plan started. At completion of the project, they would be invited to move into one of the affordable housing units in the new 350-unit facility.

Several residents expressed their desire to move back into townhouses, similar to the ones they were currently living in. They wanted to know if there would be townhouse units available for them to move into.

"The requirements are to have a one-to-one replacement based on the size, so there will be 30 units between the two projects. That will always happen at the same square footage and bedrooms as the existing homes," said Bovala Tengen, a designer with Foulger-Pratt who was familiar with the solicitation. "They won't be in a townhome-oriented orientation, but the bedroom count and the size of the unit will be the same and that was a requirement of the solicitation."

Josh Etter, senior vice president of development at Foulger-Pratt, told residents the project was in its early stages and a final design configuration had not been proposed or agreed upon.

"There are certain elements that potentially could work," he said. "Maybe you could have a townhouse layout, right? We haven't designed these units. We've done a very high-level study that says we need approximately 350 units. It could be 275. It could be 325. Maybe there's two-story units on the ground floor. Maybe there's not."

Etter added that some townhouse features, such as a backyard, probably wouldn't work on a project like this.

"I'm not sure that that is feasible, because of all the additional density," he said. "But there is going to be outdoor space. That could be patio space on the ground floor. That's something that now we can put in our toolbox and think about as we're looking at the next iteration."

One issue that was raised at the meeting concerned how the affordable housing units in the new development would be divvied up.

The 30 units in the Reston Town Center Apartments serve households earning 30 percent or less of the annual median income, according to Tom Fleetwood, the county's director of housing and community development.

The average median household income in Fairfax County in 2017 was $119,320, according to U.S. Census.

"All of the existing units on site, the 30 units, will be replaced with the same income levels to be served, so those serving that 30 percent of the median income and below," he said. "Then beyond the replacement units, there'll be a mix of units going up to 70 percent (AMI)."

View: Bowman Town Court PPEA Community Residents Meeting Presentation

Fleetwood added the county had a need for additional affordable housing at all income levels. The average for the Bowman Towne Court project would be 60 percent AMI, according to Fleetwood.

Several residents at the meeting expressed surprise at hearing this information, saying they assumed all Bowman Towne Court residents would be at the 30 percent AMI level like them. Some said they preferred the proposed mix of income levels included in the new development.

The following timeline of the development process for the Bowman Towne Court project was presented at the Nov. 30 meeting:

Stakeholder Engagement to Finalize Program (2022-Early 2023)

• Implement Community Outreach Program
• Stakeholder dialogue, receive & analyze feedback, explore improvement opportunities, realize collaborative solutions.

Project Schematic Design and Negotiation (Spring 2023-Winter 2024)

• Land Use and Zoning Submission (additional engagement process)
• Project Negotiations
• Relocation Planning

Full Project Design and Finance (Spring 2024-Spring 2025)

• Financing Approval
• Design & Permitting
• Resident Relocation

Project Implementation (Spring 2025)

• Financial Closing and Construction Start

In a Dec. 2 letter sent to residents of Reston Town Center Apartments, Margaret Johnson, Fairfax County's director of rental housing, reiterated many of the points raised during the Nov. 30 meeting.

"Current residents will not lose their housing and will be provided an absolute right to return to the new community," she said in the letter. "If the proposed redevelopment proceeds, current residents will receive relocation assistance including a portable tenant-based voucher that can be used at any rental community anywhere in the county. The earliest potential relocation is no sooner than 2 years out."

Johnson also said that all Reston and Fairfax County residents would benefit from the project due to the access it provided to public transit, employment opportunities, and other amenities nearby.

"It will provide modern units with improved energy efficiency, lower utility costs and added amenities such as a brand-new Reston Library on site for direct access use by the residents and their families," Johnson said.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said the purpose of the Nov. 30 meeting was not only to answer residents' questions but to receive input from the community about the project. Additional meetings with stakeholders will take place in the coming months.

Alcorn told the audience he was seeking a resident from the Reston Town Center Apartments to serve as a member of the task force he was forming to oversee the project. The task force would also review redevelopment of the Embry Rucker Shelter, the Reston Regional Library, and the county human resources building.