Two Reston civic groups have issued a salvo of questions on a proposal by Fairfax County that could allow thousands more dwellings to be built in the planned community.
At the heart of the debate is how many people actually live in Reston, a carefully engineered suburban locale whose future is now being re-examined. County staff hold that fewer people live in each household than was first calculated when Reston was created decades ago. That means a density cap that governs the entire community, which hinges on that determination, could be reinterpreted to allow more construction.
The Reston Citizens Association and the Alliance of Reston Clusters and Homeowners late last month sent the county a bundle of questions related to why and how the rules are being changed.
“I haven’t found anybody that’s all that exited about random increases in density,” Reston Citizens Association President Mike Corrigan told The Examiner on Monday.
ARCH President Frank Pfeilmeier said his group isn’t opposed to the proposal, but wants its members to be fully informed.
They have not heard a reply yet from the county on the queries, which follow a number of community meetings.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Catherine Hudgins said the county is not “upping the density” of Reston, only re-examining factors to reflect the reality of what is already built.
Development is a pressing topic in Reston, especially with an extension of Metrorail set to run directly through the area. A few months ago, developer JBG proposed constructing four residential towers containing about 600 new residential units, as well as retail and office space on Sunrise Valley Drive, all of it geared toward a nearby rail station.
