Task Force Ends Review Of Reston Comprehensive Plan After 58 Meetings

RESTON, VA — After nearly three years of work, the task force charged with studying and recommending changes to the plan that governs future development in Reston met for the last time Monday night to endorse the final draft of its report.

The public will now have an opportunity to provide feedback on the report before it heads to the Fairfax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for final approval and adoption later this year.

The draft report covers 14 topic areas: planning principles, heritage resources, transportation, public facilities, land use, affordable housing, parks, environmental stewardship, public art, economic development, community health and equity.

Even though Monday night was the Reston Comprehensive Plan Study Task Force's 58th meeting, it was not just a rubber-stamping of what had come before. Members debated and approved the final language to the community health; parks and open space; and transportation chapters of the report.

With the community health section, for example, task force members discussed provisions that encouraged developers to address the need for grocery stores in transit oriented development areas, as well as preserving and developing indoor and outdoor community gathering spaces for residents.

If the Board of Supervisors adopts the language approved Monday by the task force, it would be the first time community health was made part of the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan.

"It will be the first chapter on public health/community health that would be included in an area plan in any part of our comp plan," said Anna Ricklin, the health in all policies manager in the Fairfax County Health Department.

When Ricklin joined the health department four years ago, she did a search of the county's policy plan looking for the word "health." While"economic health" and "fiscal health" came up, she found nothing linking health to the county's planning process.

"I'm excited to bring it to the community and hear what they have to say and talk about this setting precedent for future planning that can be more health-oriented and consider health outcomes and health impacts of the planning process," Ricklin told the task force on Monday.

Back in January 2020, Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn proposed the formation of the task force and predicted the whole process would take 12-18 months. Of course, two months later, the county's focus shifted toward its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the task force review took much longer to complete.

"I'm not sure community health would be a chapter in the task force recommendation had it not been for the pandemic," Alcorn told Patch on Tuesday. "It did slow down the process, no doubt about it. But it also caused a lot of task force members to look at what do we learn from the pandemic that would suggest additional things we should be watching for in the future, particularly as it relates to community health?"

Likewise, the pandemic informed the task force's decision to add equity as a chapter in its report, something that hasn't been included in previous county planning documents, according to Alcorn.

"Given Reston's history as the first open community in Virginia back in the '60s, I'm not surprised," he said. "But, also I'm pleased that Reston is looking to continue that history of being at the forefront of social change and related issues."

Parks and Open Space

Task Force member Jennifer Jushchuk, who was unable to attend Monday's meeting, submitted a number of edits to the parks and open space chapter. These included adding references to the Reston Association, where applicable, and clarifying the need for open space, both privately and publicly owned, in future development.

At its July 11 meeting, the task force spent an hour debating whether language should be included to specify a funding source for the Performing and Visual Arts Center that is currently being considered for the Reston Town Center area.

The concern by some in the community was that to do so would place a financial burden on county taxpayers and residents of Small District 5, in particular, to maintain the center.

County staff and Alcorn noted in July that planning documents shouldn't contain language specifying financing. Eventually, the task force voted to defer the decision on the language until Monday's meeting.

In the interim, Boston Properties agreed to extend the deadline for the county to decide whether to use space at Reston Town Center for a performing arts center or not. This will most likely push the final decision to January, after the Reston Comprehensive Plan Review process is expected to be completed.

On Monday night, the task force approved the following language meant to encourage a developer to:

"Consider a Performing and Visual Arts Center that can support a large footprint, music, theater, and dance organizations on Block J north of Sunset Hills Road adjacent to the Town Center Metro Station. The facility is intended as a Fairfax County facility."

In the final language, the arts center was described as an "expected" facility, to reflect that a final decision has yet to be made about whether one will be built.

Transportation

In the transportation section of Monday's meeting, John Mooney introduced a motion to restore "levels of service" as the metric for determining street sizes both inside and outside the Reston Transit Station Areas. He proposed the following language:

"For areas of Reston outside the TSAs, at a minimum an overall intersection level of service (LOS) D should be provided, recognizing the social, environmental, and financial constraints associated with these diverse areas.

"For areas of Reston within the TSAs, an overall intersection LOS E or better is the goal. The purpose of the standard is to maintain a walkable environment and support implementation of the grid of streets, which is more typical of urban areas and improves mobility for pedestrians and bicyclists.

"LOS, along with other quantifiable metrics for motor vehicles, transit, pedestrians, and bicycles should be used to evaluate their performance and to ensure that the goals of the plan being met."

A majority of task force members voted at the June 13 meeting to remove LOS as a metic, but Mooney argued Monday night that the default level in the comprehensive plan is for an LOS D, which means that cars would have to be allocated more signal time and more travel space.

"This is an absolutely critical issue with the success of the TSAs," task force member William Penniman said.

The comprehensive plan contains more than a dozen instances where it stressed the importance of walkability to the vitality of the TSAs and Reston, according to Penniman. Substituting LOS D in the TSAS would undermine the success of those areas.

The LOS language was added back in to the transportation chapter. Once task force members agreed on other changes the chapter, they went on to approved the final draft.

The one other item on Monday's agenda concerned earned density, which has been a topic of conversation throughout the task force process. The idea is that a developer can earn more density for a project by agreeing to provide a particular amenity to the community.

The task force voted to table the earned density chapter and have a five-member subgroup work with the supervisor's office, planning commissioner, and county staff to come up with a formal proposal that will be presented later in the review process.

Alcorn said on Tuesday he was looking forward to receiving feedback on the recommendations from the community, including members of the task force and county staff, during the public comment period.

Although dates for the public engagement meetings have not been finalized, they will take place in September and October, before the recommendations are sent to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors to vote on in November and December.