Reston's Got Sidewalk Fever!

Ha, ha, those hoity-toity Soapstone Drive folks aren't the only people in Reston who are getting fancy sidewalks! Only in North Reston, it's no mere sidewalk -- it's a walkway. Reston being Reston, though, this one's taken for-freaking-ever to be built, too.

After eight years of negotiations, Fairfax County will be able to start the work to complete the Wiehle Avenue walkway, the missing link to connecting points north of Baron Cameron Avenue to the rest of the Wiehle Avenue Trail. On Aug. 15, the Northgate Condominium Unit Owners Association committed to an easement for a 700-foot segment of the trail that will permit the walkway’s completion.

"There has been a long delay and we were fortunate to get cooperation from the Northgate owners," said Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill).

Saying there's been a "long delay" is sorta like saying that Reston has a "few regulations." But you know, if the condo association decided to make it nine years, then Fairfax County would have gotten really rough.

She said that new leadership in the condo association cooperated with the county, making it possible to work through an agreement without the use of eminent domain. "We are pleased to not have to go that way," said Hudgins about the government’s power to acquire private property for public use. She added that Reston Association played an important role in presenting the case to the Northgate Condo owners about how the easement would benefit the entire Reston community.

We can just imagine how the RA "presented the case": Nice condo association you've got there, pal. It sure would be a shame if something happened to the covenants governing placement of garbage cans in common areas.

In any event, now that everyone's had their kumbayah moment, construction will begin and work on the 700-foot sidewalk should be completed by 2035, the end.