Reston Town Center Paid Parking

Reston Town Center ParkingReston Town Center is planning to convert ALL of their parking spaces, including street side and garages to a PAID system on August 1st, 2016, charging as much as $2.00 per hour.

A Community Forum is being held at the Hyatt Regency Ballroom on Thursday, March 31st, from 6:30pm to 8:00pm.

More information at the Reston Town Center website.

There is a Change.org petition and a Facebook page was set up by opponents to paid parking.

#RTCParkingFee

Urgent! Two Upcoming Meetings on Tall Oaks Village Center Development

Please attend one or both meetings:

• The Reston Planning and Zoning Committee is meeting on October 19th at 7:30pm at the South Lakes High School cafeteria
• The Design Review Board meeting is on October 20th at 7:00pm at the Reston Association

Jefferson Apartments Group (JAG) has submitted their redevelopment plan for 154 residences in the Tall Oaks Village Center to the county.  Tall Oaks Village Center is just seven acres in size.

Their plan is not consistent with the Reston Master Plan guidance on Village Centers nor does it satisfactorily address community concerns expressed by the RA Board of Directors and the Tall Oaks community. Shortly before his death Robert Simon came to some of the public meetings and to express his unhappiness with JAG’s plan.

In a letter to Supervisor Hudgins concerning JAG’s plan, the RA Board made a straightforward declaration: JAG’s plan “falls woefully short of meeting even minimum standards sought for a village center.” In fact the submitted JAG plan falls short in just about all, if not all, of the areas of Tall Oaks community’s concerns as expressed at multiple meetings with the developer.

We need as many people as possible to attend the next two meetings to provide a united front and try and stop JAG’s current development plan for the Tall Oaks Village Center.

Please try to attend and bring as many supporters of the Village Center concept as you can. See you there.

Reston History Lesson

Excerpt from: “A Brutalist Wonderland in the South”

By Kris Casper

washington plaza 1969

The Lake Anne Village Center of Reston, Virginia was the first town center in the early 1960s around which several others were planned and developed in coming decades. Named with its developer’s initials, Robert E. Simon, Reston was the first post-war, planned community in the United States. In 1960, Simon, who had owned Carnegie Hall, sold it to New York City. He used the funds to purchase approximately 7,000 acres of land in Fairfax County, Virginia about 30 miles outside of Washington, D.C. Inspired in part by the recent New Towns movement of urban planning in England, he had the idea to develop a new type of community not seen before in the states. He worked with Conklin & Rossant Architects to design and develop a master plan for the Lake Anne Village Center. The village of Lake Anne started around a reservoir and took cues from the way buildings were situated along the water in Portofino, Italy, but executed in a distinct Brutalist style. In May of 1963, construction of the town center began.

Continue reading more about Reston at DIS Magazine

Tall Oaks Petition

Retain Tall Oaks as a Village Center and protect our community

WE ALL WANT DEVELOPMENT – SMART and BALANCED

The current plan for the re-development of Tall Oaks is to basically create a new cluster.  The developers want to add 154 new homes with only 5,000 square feet of open space and 8,500 square feet of retail space (the equates to 2-3 small businesses). Currently, the occupied retail space (Fur Factory, Kumon, Paradise Nails, Pho 75, Mama Wok, Cleaners, Veterinarian, and Piasanos) is close to 20,000 square feet, according to Jefferson Apartment Group.

Tall Oaks community needs and deserves a Village Center with retail that we can walk to and green space where the community can gather.  A balance of residential and retail in a plaza-like setting would be a good compromise.

Let Reston Association know you are in support of a mixed use Village Center.  Ample retail on bottom and residential above.

Support this petition at Change.org

Reston Master Plan Special Study

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Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning
Reston Master Plan Special Study

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Event: Community Meeting to discuss Baron Cameron retail, pedestrian circulation and safety, Village Center and Community Spaces, and Tall Oaks Village Center

Location: Aldrin Elementary School, 11375 Center Harbor Road, Reston, VA 20194

Time: 8:45 am – 11:30 am. Doors will open at 8:30 am.

The Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning will be accepting comments on the Working Draft through December. You can find a digital copy of the Working Draft and draft Land Use map online. We look forward to receiving your comments.

Read all comments at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpz/reston/community_comment.htm

Please visit the Reston Master Plan Special Study website at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpz/reston.
Fairfax County Land Use Planning Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fairfaxlanduse.