Reston's Population Is About To Explode: Claim

RESTON, VA — One of the key issues Restonians have with a controversial proposed Reston zoning amendment that would increase the population density limit is that they fear a huge population boom will follow. Some are even claiming that Reston will triple in size by 2050. But what is this argument based on?

Fairfax County has rescheduled a community meeting on the proposed amendment -- which would raise the limit from 13 persons per acre to 16 -- to Oct. 23. Considering the fact that the last meeting on Sept. 25 was cancelled because of the huge turnout, expect a raucous meeting later this month as Restonians battle against the proposed amendment, which officials say is necessary to achieve the goals of the Reston Master Plan.

By increasing the population density limit from 13 to 16 per acre, the population cap in the Reston Planned Residential Community (PRC) would rise from 81,195 to 99,933 over 6,245.8 acres, an increase of 18,738 people. That's not that extreme of an increase overall, it would seem, but local activist Terry Maynard -- co-chair of the Reston 20/20 committee -- argues that this figure is deceptive.

Maynard argues in a detailed paper on the proposal that first of all, an exception to the amendment would exclude affordable housing, which he says could add another 20,000 people to that figure.

He further notes that the Reston Master Plan indicates the possibility of major development outside of the PRC-zoned area along transit station areas, which he says could add another 50,000 people to be added just outside the PRC but still in Reston.

That would bring the population to about 170,000 to 190,000 people, or about triple the current Reston population of just under 60,000. And considering the current infrastructure is only capable of supporting a fraction of that, it is an irresponsible amendment, Maynard argues.

"What Reston needs is more infrastructure to support the population we can expect under the current population cap generated by this County assessment," Maynard writes. "Given the proposed infrastructure expansions laid out in the plan, why hasn’t the County improved Reston’s infrastructure to meet its existing high-density development at 13 persons per acre? To the extent we are short in meeting County infrastructure standards at our current population cap set more than 50 years ago, what assurance do we have that the necessary improvements in infrastructure and amenities will be met for a higher cap in the next half century?"

Image via Payton Chung