Reston Master Plan Meeting Tonight; Inspires 'Web Logs' and 'Communiqués' (Whatever That Means)

The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force -- say that three times fast! -- meets tonight at 7 p.m. at the Jo Ann Rose Gallery in Lake Anne.

The special task force appointed by Supervisor Cathy Hudgins will meet the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month to develop a set of recommendations on amendments to the Reston Master Plan.  These recommendations will be presented to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors later in the year.  Meetings are open to the public.

This filthy "web log" has been joined by others who are starting to pay attention to the impact the master plan will have on our beige community. A new group has taken the first and most important step to tackling a complex planning document: starting its own filthy "web log":

The Reston 2020 Committee, an open committee of Reston citizens created by the Reston Citizens Association (RCA), in partnership with Reston Association (RA) and the Association of Reston Clusters and Homeowners (ARCH), is pleased to announce the launch of its blog, Reston 2020: Citizens Shaping Reston's Future.

The blog reflects the Reston 2020 Committee's view that Reston's citizens ought to have the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to efforts to re-think the future of Reston. The Committee has created this blog to keep Restonians and others interested in Reston informed about what the recently launched, County-created Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force is doing. The task force is charged with re-thinking development in Reston as reflected in the County's current Comprehensive Plan.

At present, the Task Force is beginning to look at proposed modifications of the Plan for the Dulles Corridor area. Over the next two years, it will re-evaluate planning for all of Reston, including Reston Town Center, Village Centers, and residential areas. The intent of this blog is to provide timely accounts of schedules, agendas, and events as well as reports by Reston 2020 and other Reston civic organizations in a way that encourages citizen participation. The blog will include responsible posts and comments of all viewpoints by individuals and organizations who wish to contribute. The Committee's belief is that a broad-based community dialogue and other participation in the county's planning effort will lead to more informed and wiser decisions consistent with Reston's role as a model for a 21st century planned community.

The blog may be at this link: http://reston2020.blogspot.com/

We can definitively say it more than "may be at this link." It's actually there.

Meanwhile, ARCH has developed its own draft principles to guide the work of the task force. They include:

ARCH acknowledges that increased commercial and residential development in the greater Reston area may be inevitable. But that development must be well planned and supported by all necessary infrastructure (public facilities and transportation - vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian), lest it degrade Reston's quality of life and its world-renowned special character. Fundamentally the task force should distinguish between how much additional commercial and residential development might be possible versus how much would be appropriate, define the latter as the limit, and then identify what infrastructure improvements need to be undertaken to support that level of development.

The task force should update the facilities and transportation exhibits to the Reston Master Plan (including adopting the unfunded recommendations of the Reston Metrorail Access Group [RMAG, April 2008 Study]). The Reston planning documents should then be amended to require that what have been identified as necessary infrastructure improvements to support specific new development must be put in place before or concurrently with that new development.

Reston's open space and recreational amenities are vital to Reston's quality of life. With increased growth comes demand for additional open space and, potentially, recreational amenities that must be identified and incorporated in the Reston planning documents. We accept that innovative solutions may be required (such as elevated parks or plazas).

In addition to open space and recreational amenities, Reston's world-renowned and unique character rests in part on its encouragement of environmentally sensitive development, public art and affordable housing for our teachers, nurses, police, firefighters, service industry and professional support staff, and others essential to the Reston work force. Accommodating these interests should remain important in defining the future growth of our community.

Reston's existing residential neighborhoods outside the RCIG (Reston Center for Industry and Government), Town Center, and Lake Anne (per its approved redevelopment plan) should essentially remain stable at their as-built densities.

The task force should promote innovative architectural designs for the Reston Metro stations - especially for the Reston Town Center station. These are critical gateways into this unique community and they should reflect that uniqueness.

Because the task force must deal with many issues in a short time, it must be efficient and focused. Nonetheless, it should provide for a suitable level of transparency and opportunity for broad community awareness and input.

ARCH will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Hunters Woods Reston Community Center to "take further input and finalize the communiqué." No word on whether the first point of business will be to define what exactly a "communiqué" is.