A controversial policy change that could allow thousands of new homes to sprout in Reston is set to come before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Monday.
Critics frame the proposition basically as a circuitous building density increasethat would needlessly open the doors to additional construction in the planned community. Fairfax County staff proposes to alter Reston’s population estimates by drawing down the number of people assumed to live in each home, town house and apartment, thereby allowing more room under the 80,000 person population cap that limits development.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Catherine Hudgins, a proponent of the change, likened it a census review. She said the 3.5-residents-per-house calculation hasn’t been examined in decades and is no longer accurate.
“The assumption is there is going to be a limit hit [on development],” Hudgins said. “We need to be clear as to where we hit that limit.”
By the county’s estimates, the measure would allow about 3,000 new dwellings to be built. Reston’s estimated population would drop from 72,000 to 64,277, thus allowing more room for new homes.
Such an influx — at least all at once — would be unlikely in today’s slumping housing market, which has some developers rethinking large-scale proposals. Nevertheless, opponents want greater layers of review and worry that unchecked growth could overtax local infrastructure.
“The county sees this as requiring urgent action, but their numbers do not seem to support the urgency,” Reston Citizens Association President Mike Corrigan wrote in a resolution late last year. “Let’s take the time to do it right, and replace the current obsolete process and documents.”
