Res-TOWN: We're Not Dead Yet!

After being given the smackdown by every legislative, community, and association group, with the possible exception of the National Council of Churches and the Reston Combat Hang Gliding Club, you'd think the Res-TOWN folks would be down for the count, right? Not so much.

Despite some opposition from the county and other Reston-based groups, the plan to incorporate Reston as a town continues to move forward.

Saying the Res-TOWN initiative encountered "some" opposition is a bit like saying the Titanic encountered a spot of cold weather, but let's move on.

On Saturday at a hearing of the Fairfax County legislative delegation, the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Association plans to request that a task force form to "address the mechanical issues of how the self governance of Reston should be implemented, identify and analyze the options, and make recommendations as to the governance of the proposed town of Reston," according to Jeff Parnes, president of the Fairfax County Federation.

The Fairfax County legislative delegation includes local representatives in the General Assembly, and Parnes said his group plans to ask the delegation to establish the task force to include General Assembly members, Fairfax County government officials and representatives from Reston Citizens Association and other Reston-based organizations.

Sounds like a plan. So how'd that go?

Parnes said RCA, which is pushing the ResTown plan, asked the Federation to endorse its plan, but after discussion, the Federation decided additional review was needed. "We felt that the Reston Citizens Association was not the complete population of Reston and we need a more widespread input," Parnes said.

Additionally, he said, they were concerned that the "proposal by the Reston Citizens Association might not have been vetted sufficiently by the county and by residents," so it could be voted down if it were at a referendum because people did not like the charter, not because they opposed the idea of incorporation.

Hmmm. Sounds familiar. Meanwhile, state lawmakers are saying because of all this, it doesn't make sense to approach the idea this legislative session. But there's always next year, right?