Tysons Corner Redevelopment: A Glimpse of What's To Come?

One of the most lively discussions we've seen on this filthy "web log" has cropped up over the whole issue of redevelopment. Will Reston become "another Manhattan"? Will the county raze existing developments near the proposed Metro stations and replace them with giant mixed-use monstrosities featuring rad '80s art, and bus kids from their Blade Runner-like schools to distant playgrounds for recess? Or is this NIMBYism taken to town hall-style extremes?

Frankly, we haven't a clue. But recent news about plans for "Fairfax County's Downtown," assuming you can call randomly arranged buildings filled with generic office space surrounded by auto malls a "downtown," makes us wonder:

Fairfax County planners on Wednesday will propose rules for builders in Tysons Corner that retreat from the vision local officials approved last fall, a shift some civic leaders worry will jeopardize the blueprint to remake the area into a walkable urban center.

The task force envisioned eight mini-cities springing up with a dense mix of housing, offices and stores within a half mile of four Metrorail stations under construction in Tysons, the tallest buildings located closest to the stops... But planners charged with translating the vision into zoning rules reviewed it and came to a different conclusion:

The proposed city is too urban.

"We're looking for an urban feel and urban experience," said Jim Zook, the county's planning director. "But there are cities across this country that work very well at lesser densities" than the task force proposed.

Zook and his staff have concluded that the density of what the task force envisions could be built when Tysons is fully redeveloped in about 40 years would overwhelm traffic. Planners say that would be about five times the 44 million square feet of offices, malls, condos and townhouses there now. Before developers can build high-rises, even near the Metrorail stations, planners say, the area's already clogged road network will need to expand to accommodate the extra development because many of the new residents and office workers will drive. That would require three new interchanges on the Dulles Toll Road; another lane on the Beltway between Interstate 66 and Route 7, in addition to the high-occupancy toll lanes now under construction; and wider lanes on other local roads.

So planners have devised rules that reduce by as much as one-third the building recommended by the task force... "It comes down to a difference over timing," said Walter L. Alcorn, the planning commission chairman who is leading efforts to reconcile the conflicting visions. "The staff's perspective is that we have to look at the constraints of the transportation infrastructure and how much it can take. Based on that, the densities that were recommended by the task force were too high."

From an urban planning standpoint, pretty much anything would be better than the array of dreck that makes up present-day Tysons Corner. By comparison, Reston's incredibly well planned -- if only because there actually was a master plan guiding its development, albeit one that's about to be revised. But if there's pushback on redeveloping craptastic Tysons, what does that mean for Reston's future? Discuss amongst yourselves.