Fairway to Heaven: With More Faint Praise, Apartment Redevelopment Notches Yet Another Approval -- And Puts the DRB in a No-Win Situation

Following in the footsteps of such rave reviews as "a South Florida motel design" and "a reasonable use of the property -- not an outstanding one," JBG's plans to redevelop the Fairway Apartment complex continued slouching towards reality Thursday, when the Fairfax County Planning Commission approved the proposal with what sounded like a collective "meh" from its members.

"We are presented with a plan for redeveloping an aging property," Hunter Mill Planning Commission representative Frank de la Fe said. "I don't know that it is a perfect proposal. I don't know that there is any such thing."

We'll spare you the assertion that the existing roads can handle the new traffic in the continued absence of JBG's promised traffic study, plus the argument that the current apartments aren't workforce housing because they're privately operated. Now there's a bigger issue at play.

The proposal next goes to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Assuming it's approved there, it will go back to the Reston Design Review Board, which nearly rejected it last month, save for a last-minute bit of lawyerin' by JBG's attorney. Which presents a big problem for the board: If it rejects a development that has since been approved by two county boards and Reston's own planning and zoning committee, will that decision hold up in court?

Marion Stillson, former president of the Reston Citizens Association, thinks it may not, according to a letter she sent this week to planning commissioners urging them to reject the project.

If both the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors approve JBG’s proposal, only the DRB will stand in the way. JBG might sue and as a lawyer myself, I think the present legal climate favors them. The DRB has legal authority. If that legal authority is attenuated Reston will become less and less distinct from the rest of Fairfax County.

All of the sudden, JBG's push to have the DRB defer its decision on Fairways is starting to look like a stroke of genius. Given that they're unlikely to approve the project on its merits, the DRB will have to decide whether it's worth having its authority to make any decision about development in Reston undermined -- or obliterated -- by a court decision. Texas donut or not, that's a tough call to have to make.

We've mocked the DRB plenty of times on this fancy "web log," and at times its members don't exactly do themselves any favors in terms of managing how people perceive our favorite arbiter of color swatches and light fixtures. But a Reston where the DRB no longer has any authority to review or approve redevelopment projects could get ugly -- and get ugly fast. We're talking Dumfries ugly. And then who knows what might happen?

The horror.

Yet Another Reston Doppelganger Surfaces, This One in Old Blighty

Regular readers of this "web log" know of Reston's doppelgangers in Canada and Scotland. But our favorite correspondent, the Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, stumbled across yet another Reston -- this one in England. As befits the class-conscious Brits, it even has a "North Reston" and a "South Reston," bisected by a centuries-old Fake Downtown. No, really!

Having a heat-wave induced attack of the vapors worthy of Scarlett O'Hara, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston mindlessly slid down the black hole of the Internet the other day and, in his delirium, ended up on the "Wicked-pedia" site -- where, a few random key strokes later, he stumbled upon the most closely-guarded secret of the alternate reality all Restonians inhabit.  Previous leaps across the space-time continuum have produced evidence of our mirror image doppelgangers set amidst the windswept Manitoba prairie or the Scottish Borders region, but this latest revelation of a parallel universe Reston might well rival the Hubble space telescope one day discovering the Big Bang moment of creation.
 
In short, we have found the one Reston that can claim absolute primogeniture to our sacred name -- the civil parish of Reston, located in the East Lindsay district of Lincolnshire, part of the East Midlands region of England.  With Uncle Sam's looming default threatening The Peasant's financial solvency, we reluctantly realize we must forego an actual jaunt across the pond and instead settle for a cyberspace tour of our British brethren.  Our first impression is of the timelessly beautiful and bucolic English countryside; we half-expect to see John Steed and the lovely leather-clad Emma Peel zoom past us in Steed's vintage Bentley.
 
Upon approaching our destination, a millennium older than our own Reston and with a population of only 218, we note the first supporting proof of the alternate universe theory.  Just as in our beloved beige burb, there is one village called North Reston and another called South Reston (Eerie!)  In between lies a third village, Castle Carlton, which appears the equivalent of our own gritty urban core.  According to its Wicked-pedia entry, Castle Carlton "established itself by the 13th century, reputedly after Hugh Bardolph developed it as a 'new town' (Eerie!)...today it is considered a deserted medieval village."  RTC merchants, please learn from history -- your future as an urban hipster oasis is most assuredly not guaranteed.
 
It is unclear if the English North Reston is more sought after or not, but we do find it mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as containing 30 acres of meadows, 100 acres of woodland, two mills, and one church.  Continuing down the A-157 motorway, we arrive in nearby South Reston.  We are not sure how sought after it is, but do note that data from an 1831 census lists the occupational breakdown there as 17 "labourers and servants", six "middling sorts" and seven "employers and professionals."   With his natural affinity for the 17 riffraff, The Peasant is tempted to scoop up the one house he finds on the market there, a two-bedroom detached bungalow priced at 148,000 pounds, so that he might one day aspire to join the middling sort.
 
Before making such a momentous life-altering decision to swap one Reston for the other, however, The Peasant pulls into the local watering hole, The Waggon and Horses Pub, for much-needed sustenance.  As we peruse the menu of this charming establishment, we are racked with indecision on the menu choices.  Should we order the breakfast special of the Wag Belly Buster -- "2 rashers of bacon, 2 eggs, 2 sausages, tomato, beans, mushrooms, tea/coffee, and toast"?  Or a Besto Bun -- bacon, egg, sausage, tomato, and onion?  Or the chicken and bacon on a bed of leeks coated in cheese sauce? 
 
Somehow, we suspect Michelle Obama might be popping into The Waggon and Horses sometime soon to conduct a serious menu adjustment.  Given the laws of quantum physics that govern alternate universes, moreover, we likewise expect to find mushy peas, chips, and black pudding simultaneously materializing on the upgraded menu of the Macaroni Grill.  A win-win situation, if ever there was one, for both these fine dining establishments!

We think the Macaroni Grill could totally clean up on a "middling sorts special" of blood sausage and cheesy bread, the end.

This Fortnight in Crime: Mostly an Excuse to Use 'Butt Slasher' in a Headline, Plus Street Robberies Increase and a Local Newspaper Becomes Part of the Story

Unlike our vaguely satanic doppelganger in Maryland, Reston wasn't built around a shopping mall -- an enclosed shopping mall, anyway. Maybe that's a good thing, given the recent spate of butt slashings and whatnot. "Fairfax County is on high alert," the Action McNews anchor intones in the fancy video above, though they painstakingly avoid using the term "butt slasher" to describe the serial creep that has attacked five people in the hindquarters since February.

In Monday’s incident, an 18-year-old was browsing in the XXI Forever store in Fair Oaks Mall around 5:30 p.m. when she noticed a man behind her bending down to pick up clothes that had fallen off the rack, Caldwell said. She felt a sudden pain and thought that she might have been poked by a hanger, according to police. She then noticed she was bleeding. Her denim shorts had been slashed.

The woman suffered a 1.5-inch wound, police said.

Three of the five attacks took place at Fair Oaks, arguably the closest, and definitely the most 1980s-infused, mall.

Meanwhile, the publisher of the Reston Connection pleaded guilty of failing to pay nearly $1 million in employment taxes.

Peter Labovitz of Alexandria pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to pay employment taxes that were due to the Internal Revenue Service.

Federal court documents state tht Labovitz willfully failed to pay federal income taxes and Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes for employees of the Connection Newspapers during certain periods of time between 2002 and 2008.

Labovitz admitted that at times within that six-year period, he deducted and collected the federal taxes from Connection Newspaper employees, but failed pay the taxes to the federal government.

Court records list the total amount of taxes owed by Connection Newspapers as $944,538.

Labovitz faces as long as one year in prison, a $100,000 fine and one year of supervised release for each of the two counts.

In a statement, the papers' publisher blamed the implosion of the newspaper industry:

In a prepared statement published on the Connection Newspapers website, Labovitz said in recent years his newspaper company has faced technological and economic challenges.

“We have weathered repeated crises that killed or crippled many others in the news media,” he wrote. “After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when the country came to a virtual standstill, our revenues temporarily plummeted. And when the severe recession began in 2007, our revenues plunged again, often failing to cover our operating costs.”

As a member of the media, we can assure you that having nearly $1 million in salaries or revenue to fail to pay taxes on will never be a problem at Restonian Web Blogs and Extruded Pork Products Inc.

So, what else is new? Just that the number of robberies along Reston streets and paths have increased during the first half of the year, police say.

In his semiannnual "State of Reston" crime report, Fairfax County Police Lt. TJ Rodgers told the Reston Association that there has been a rise in street robberies when compared to this time last year.

The good news, most of the perpetrators have been caught, he said at Thursday's RA board meeting.

"There were 12 by this time last year," he said. "So far this year we have had 20. Most have been around Lake Anne and Hunters Woods. The majority have been late at night, between 11:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. There were two last week at 4 a.m."

Rodgers said there have been arrests of suspects in both the Lake Anne and Hunters Woods incidents, so those have stopped. Eleven of the cases have been closed.

Two similar incidents both happened exactly four minutes apart on July 6, though:

A 59-year-old man was assaulted and robbed by a group of males in the area of Colts Neck Road and Sunrise Valley Drive around 5:24 a.m. on Wednesday, July 6. The victim was taken to the hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Three men robbed a 58-year-old man in the 2200 block of Southgate Square around 5:28 a.m. on Wednesday, July 6. One suspect was described as white, between 18 and 20 years old, wearing a white shirt and the other two suspects were described as black, between 18 and 20 years old, both wearing blue shirts. The victim was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.

Also, there's been one more incident of racially motivated vandalism, this time at a pool.

Someone threw pool furniture into a community swimming pool and wrote racially and sexually biased slurs inside the office some time between 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 2 and 8:10 a.m. the following day. Police are investigating.

Finally, a gumball machine was stolen from a business on North Shore Drive. There are no words, etc., etc., but be thankful we don't live in Herndon, where the kids apparently beat up their parents at will, the end.

On The YouTubes: We Watch The Reston Association Videos So You Don't Have To

ZOMG WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP BREAKING NEWS ANDY SIGLE AND HIS DULCET TONES HAVE RETURNED! But fear not -- Melissa Knueven, who did a bang-up job in Sigle's lengthy absence from these fancy video news segments from the Reston Association, will apparently get a starring role in "a new program called Spotlight Reston," which sounds kind of like how Harry Morgan wound up starring in AfterMASH. But anyhoo! With the thank yous over, "now, let's see what's happening in Reston, today," Sigle intones, and we couldn't agree more. On with the show!

In this July edition of You Tubes Reston news, we learn how LightSquared volunteers helped eradicate Reston's greatest scourge, "invasive exotic plants," during a day of service held off Steeplechase Drive. Then Sigle sits on a bench and tells us how we can use the savings on our property taxes from the collapse of the real estate market a tax reduction to support a homeless initiative. We learn that a family needs to earn $19.75 an hour to live in a two-bedroom apartment, which means this "web log" will soon be collocating in a cardboard box connected to a T-1 line. Finally, we meet students from Langston Hughes Middle School's Earth Force club, which monitored the restored Snakeden stream by counting critters (though their powerpoint presentation used the scientific term "varmints.") And with that, another 5 minutes and 19 seconds of our lives have disappeared forever, never to be experienced again. Happy Tuesday!

Flashback Monday: Reston in 1969, The Summer of Mauve

Set the earth-toned Wayback Machine to 1969, where this exciting "photo graph" shows our beloved community rising from the primeval forest. This is one of our favorite aerial photos of Reston, as there's scads of stuff happening in it. (A ridiculously high-res version is here.)

Near the center of the photo, you can see Wiehle Avenue dead-ending at the intersection with Sunset Hills, way short of the Dulles Access Road (bottom left corner), a pristine field and a couple of trees standing where parallelograms will soon rise. In the upper left, you can see the water tower for the 'ole distillery, which would continue turning out hooch for U.Va. frat boys for another decade or so.

Almost at dead center is Isaac Newton Square, where the old RA headquarters building and the Ebola-tainted monkey lab proudly stood. A few other bomb-to-dolphin strapping outfits businesses are to the south of Sunset Hills in the lower left corner, while the townhouses of Golf Course Island (with an empty patch of land reserved for the Island Walk cooperative) are directly behind it. To its right, on the other side of Wiehle, is a stand of trees that would eventually become Tall Oaks.

And if you squint and look in the upper right-hand corner, you can see Heron House and the rest of the Lake Anne Village Center, still surrounded by trees and whatnot, with the fields of Hook Road already carved out on the other side of the lake. But most thrillingly of all, if you look at the white scar of denuded land on the east side of Wiehle near the center of the photo, you can almost smell the grease from Reston's once and future home of fast-food goodness: the McTacoHut, the end.

Sex Sells: Racy Store, Or Maybe Just Economic Development Trends in Retail Sector, Sends The Action McNews Van to Lake Anne Plaza

Who knew that a simple piece of lingerie hung in a store window would draw so much attention? The Action McNews Team rushed to Lake Anne Plaza to discuss the economic development issues involving differentiated retailing opportunities in a transitioning retail market. Oh, who are we kidding? They came to juxtapose images of naughty nighties with kids playing innocently in the nearby fountain. We smell a local Emmy!

Confidential Restonian Operatives tell us that there's some frantic behind-the-scenes scrambling to invalidate the lease for Maria’s Passion Paradise due to the way the property was subdivided or find some other loophole to keep the store from opening. Our BFFs at Patch managed to track down the store's owner, Tiana Coturro, who stresses that she's going for a tasteful retail experience.

"I want to have my own business and help people," Coturro said. "So I started thinking lingerie and candles, things that make you feel good. I originally thought about having workshops to help couples who are in committed relationships. I am not a licensed therapist or anything. This is more about entertainment, ways to get in a romantic mood."

Call us old-fashioned, but we prefer flipping through musty used copies of Looking For Mr. Goodbar whilst noshing on something delectable from a cupcakery. Apparently the Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association and the Lake Anne Merchants Association agree:

Lake Anne Merchants' Association president Eve Thompson says for her, the issue isn't adult merchandise - it is the quality of the merchandise.

"Our niche at Lake Anne has got to be 'small and boutique,' " says Eve Thompson. "We have to work hard at being excellent. Not everyone here is doing that.  We are trying hard to bring quality merchants here and also to get the merchants we have here to adapt a level of quality."

We'll leave it to you, faithful "web log" readers, to envision what "quality" might look like in this context, the end.

Millions Wise and Billions Foolish: Airport Authority Opts for Above-Ground Metro Station

As widely suspected as the pressure continued to mount, the airport authority voted Wednesday to reverse itself and build the Dulles Airport Metro station above ground, in the vague proximity of the parking lots airport.

The move is hardly surprising, given the airport authority's well-publicized trip to the woodshed, courtesy of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The writing was on the wall after the Loudoun County board of supervisors publicly signaled their willingness earlier in the week to foot more of the bill for developing stations in its particleboard wastelands -- with the above-ground station as a condition.

Bottom line? Barring catastrophe, Phase 2 of the Silver Line will be built. The Dulles station will be above-ground, ugly, and inconvenient to airport travelers. Toll Road tolls will continue to rise, but maybe a bit less than the worst-case scenario (keep clapping!) And the Silver Line, which was initially billed as a much-needed connection to the airport, will actually become a tool to fuel further development in the Dulles Corridor, especially with the public-private partnerships that will wind up building the remaining stations. The good news for us in Reston is that, with the threat of the Silver Line ending at Wiehle no longer an issue, all that development will get spread out along the Dulles Corridor a bit more, and not just end with a collection of parallelograms surrounded by Loudoun cut-through commuters sitting in perpetual gridlock on Wiehle Avenue, the end.

The Action McNews Van Returns to Reston, This Time for a Wacky Contracting Mishap

The Action McNews Van found its way to Reston yet again last week, this time to cover some wacky contractor shenanigans. Our favorite part?

Moore walked over next door and said she asked one of the workers what happened.
“He said, ‘Oh, ah, mistake. We fixed it,” said Moore.

We've heard that before.

'Commercial' Establishment Coming to Lake Anne (Wink Wink Nudge Nudge Say No More)

A Confidential Restonian Operative sent us this photo from Lake Anne Village Center, prompting us to wonder just what the nature of this "commercial" establishment will be.


Say no more.

Update: Our BFFs at Patch have more about the exciting new business that will soon grace Lake Anne. Maria's Passion Paradise? Maybe they'll sell smoothies or something.

Flashback Monday: Welcome to Reston!

This exciting photo is of the Reston Visitors Center, which was nestled on the shores of Lake Newport. Imagine the excitement of walking into the soaring atrium and receiving a series of informational brochures about the residential developments rising from the earth behind it.

The building is now home to a real estate company, which we guess it always was if you think about it.

More Fancy Drawrings of Reston Station, With Nary a 90-Degree Angle in Sight

Please to be enjoying these exciting architectural drawrings of various parallelogram-shaped buildings. You're not looking at plans for some futuristic postmodern development on a German airport service road, but rather our very own futuristic postmodern development on our very own airport service road: Reston Station, which is now our Facebook BFF.

These fancy Facebook pictures represent three of the buildings that will make up the 550,000 square feet of office space at the Metro development. Here they are again, from a different angle, and also as they will appear in the upcoming CGI movie: Tron: Design Review Board Investigators:

We'll give Comstock credit: When they promised "world class architecture," at least they don't appear to be delivering your typical blocky DC suburban midrise office shlock. But for those who prefer their buildings to join together at right angles, please to be enjoying this drawring of the planned residential complex at Reston Station:

Of course, this is what Reston Station looks like now:

"The hole gets bigger and bigger." "Rough terrain." You'd almost think they were alluding to the ongoing hilarity involving extending the Metro line being built right behind this giant dirt pit. But no worries! The Reston Association has decided to send a letter to the airport authority, urging it to finish building Phase 2 of the Silver Line, so all the recent unpleasantness is as good as solved. (The full text is here.)

So yay, pointy buildings and piles of dirt (viewable in real time via this fancy webcam). The only thing that gives us pause?

Brambleton likes this? What, are they going to clad the pedestrian walkway to the Metro station in vinyl siding or something?

Treepocalypse Now: Storms Do What Stream Restoration Couldn't, Plus A Scene of Horror at the Macaroni Grill

Reston loves it some trees, so it's with a heavy heart that we report that a part of Reston's largest tree, a tulip poplar in the Glade, fell during last week's heavy storms. John Clarke reports:

One of three trunks of Reston's largest tree fell over, probably initially in the thunderstorm on Friday, July 8, 2011. I observed it fallen half way to the ground on the evening of Saturday, July 9, 2011. It was slowly breaking up the trees that were holding up its immense weight, with occasional loud cracks as the wood broke. On Sunday evening, July 10, 2011, I found that the tree had broken through and fallen to the ground, taking the tops of three other trees with it. The attached photo was taken in the morning of July 11, 2011.

This Tulip Popular tree was the largest tree in Reston when the circumference was measured at the 4' height -- owing to the three trunks that grew out of a common base. The trunk that fell was the southwestern side of the tree.

The Save the Glade group worked to ensure that the tree would not be culled remediated during the 2009 stream deforestation restoration project at the Glade. "We were successful then, but gravity won in the end," Clarke writes.

Meanwhile, yesterday's torrential downpour led to another tragedy: nearly unthinkable flash flooding at the Macaroni Grill. A Restonian operative used the Twitter machine to "tweet" us this photo:

There are no words.

Oak Park, Michigan Gives Reston a Run for Its Money

Sure, we Restonians may face confusing and somewhat arbitrary rules involving such things as light fixtures, red mulch and white stone, but at least we don't run the risk of jail time for falling afoul of the rules.

That's what's happening in Oak Park, Michigan, where a woman is facing up to 93 days in prison for planting vegetables in her yard.

With organic produce prices on the rise, Julie Bass decided she'd take matters into her own hands and plant a vegetable garden in the front yard of her Oak Park home.

Unfortunately, her common-sense decision could cost her up to 93 days in jail.

Fox 2 reports that Oak Park officials warned Bass that her garden violated city code, gave her a ticket and eventually charged her with a misdemeanor, leading to a potential jury trial and possible jail time.

Now Bass and city officials are wrangling over the definition of "suitable," which sounds oddly familiar.

No one tell the DRB about the Victory Garden we're growing in our yard.

(Shout out to our favorite correspondent, The Peasant From Less Sought After South Reston, for the heads up.)

Ick: Reston Man Sentenced to Six Years in Upskirt Filming

A Reston man charged with "upskirt" videotaping at Dulles Airport has been sentenced to six years in prison by a Loudoun County court.

“Upskirting” is an innocuous-sounding word for a very serious crime. That’s what a Reston man learned July 8 when he was sentenced to six years in prison for two counts of unlawful filming of another.

The employee of the bookstore at Dulles International Airport was charged after a man noticed him following his fiancee through the airport in a manner described as “uncomfortably close.” The man later noticed that he was carrying a messenger bag with an open front flap and a protruding video lens.

A search of his home uncovered numerous photographs and videos, several of which were deemed child pornography by investigators. Two of his “upskirting” targets were identified from 2008 airport surveillance.

This was not his first legal troubles stemming from unlawful filming. He was convicted for three similar incidents in 2006 and 2007 while a student at the University of Virginia. He was also convicted of stalking a female student during this period.

He was sentenced to six years in prison and 10 years of supervised release when his term is completed. He will also be appearing in Fairfax County Circuit Court on Sept. 9 for sentencing on a possession of child pornography charge.

Can't wait to see what search terms bring people to this post.

For Three Minutes and Fifty-Six Seconds, Relive the Excitement of the Reston Festival (and some Ukuleles)

With more transitions than a preschool graduation, this fancy video captures the zeitgeist of this weekend's Reston Festival. SPOILER ALERT: Andy Sigle is back, with a rare walk-on cameo. There's also some fire breathing to an old Duran Duran song, plus a contortionist and a whip-wielding street performer that might have made Lenny Bruce blush.

The festival theme was "Reston through the Decades," so there's more character acting than in a 70s sitcom in this fancy video. We also get a look at the "Wheel of Reston," which festivalgoers could spin to win, wedunno, a vintage DRB citation from the 1960s or coupons for Memco or something.

Oh, and Lake Anne had its second annual Ukulele Festival. Our BFFs at Patch were far braver than us:


BTW, we tried to turn off the embed feature that automatically plays the twee uke music as soon as the page loads. YOU'RE WELCOME.

Fairway to Heaven: Fairfax Planners Defer Vote on Redevelopment After County Staff Recommends Approval

After a public hearing that ran past midnight, Fairfax County Planning Commission deferred a vote on approving JBG's awesome Fairway Apartments redevelopment proposal until July 20. Our BFFs at Reston 2020 seem to think they'll approve it then.

One big reason for the turn of fortunes: After recommending denial of JBG's original proposal in a strongly worded report, county planning staff is now recommending approval. In an addendum to their original report (PDF), planners said that "changes made to the PRC plan, along with the proposed development conditions, result in a development which is now in character and scale to the surrounding development. While the proposed density is higher than the medium density character of the area, the revised unit types and layout of those units does provide for a site design which is compatible with the character of the surrounding neighborhood."

That's not to say county staff love the revised plan, which reduces the number of housing units from 951 to 804, without reservations. Specifically, they want special development conditions to address a number of issues JBG still has not responded to.

In the initial report, county planners dinged JBG for not providing "sufficient architectural details" to make a decision about whether the development's architecture "would be in character with the surrounding existing development." You might think that JBG would have hired someone to do some fancy drawrings over the past year, but according to the latest county report, the developer still "has not provided the requested architectural details at this time." But no worries, they'll have to do it when they file building plans. What could possibly go wrong?

JBG also declined a request to conduct a traffic study of the intersection of Temporary and North Shore and install a traffic light if needed, because they claim that's the responsibility of the developers of Parc Reston, who are planning their own mauvescraper redevelopment of that garden apartment/condo complex. "Staff remains concerned that the proposed redevelopment of the Fairways site, which proposes significantly more density than currently" -- the planners actually wrote "correctly" in the report -- a Freudian slip? -- "exists could be completed... before the threshold is met for the developer of the Parc Reston development to install the traffic signal." Staff wants a development condition there, too.

On the bright side, county planners were satisfied by the 12 percent workforce dwelling units now proposed by JBG. Oh, and there will be a "tree preservation plan and narrative." The narrative, whatever that is, should make for lovely bedtime reading. ("Once upon a time, there was a mighty oak that towered over the ugly and dated garden apartments, which lacked a delicious Texas donut...")

During last night's planning commission meeting, speakers critical of the proposal pointed to the project's lack of conformity with the principles of transit-oriented development, given that it's not located near any present or future transit, as well as the precedent it may set as developers eye other chunks of aging Reston real estate.

"We welcome the arrival of rail in 2013 and the opportunity to develop a true Transit Oriented Development," said Diane Blust, president of the Fairfax Coalition for Smarter Growth. "Fairway is not a TOD development. This runs counter to the comprehensive plan. It will increase traffic, disrupt a stable neighborhood and create a loss of relatively affordable housing."

Tammi Petrine, co-chair of the Reston Citizen Association's Reston2020 group, also decried the reduction in affordable housing.

"Reston values its diversity," she said. "The loss of 348 affordable units would be devastating."

She urged JBG to rethink the development as one of the elderly and handicapped, as there "is a huge need for that."

The commission also heard from Barbara Byron, chair of the Reston Association's Design Review Board, which nearly voted to reject the proposal last month, and will get another crack at it before any dirt will be turned.

"We are universally opposed to components of design that do not respond well to surrounding buildings," said Byron.

Among the DRB's concerns: 50-foot townhouse heights; flat townhouse facades; little greenspace;five-story buildings that are really seven-stories in order to accommodate underground parking; the "Texas Donut" style that wraps a building around parking; and the increased density.

Reston Citizens Association president Marion Stillson pointed to the precedent that the project will set for future redevelopment in Reston:

"Why is Fairway so dangerous?" she said. "Because it breaks the rules at a time and in a manner that could spoil Reston. Fairway is the first residential neighborhood in Reston to seek development. If it gets the greenlight for this, what will stop the others?

Good question. Tree narratives maybe?

This and That: A Random Summer Stroll Through Reston News

• Please to be enjoying the "official video" of this weekend's Reston Festival. Accept no cheap promotional video substitutes.
  
  
• The writing is increasingly on the wall that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority will be pressured to build an above-ground Metro station at Dulles Airport, which still strikes us as penny millions-wise and pound billions-foolish. Meanwhile, our BFFs at Reston 2020 point out that another key bug feature of the proposed cost-saving measures being hammered out by the feds -- shifting responsibility for developing parking garages and stations for Phase II of the Silver Line to Fairfax and Loudoun Counties -- will almost certainly lead to more "public-private partnerships," and more dense development around the future stations. And with all problems with the Silver Line apparently squared away, Metro is looking ahead to the creation of a Brown Line. Shouldn't they have saved the earth tones for us?
  
  
• Good news, People of Reston: If you're a man in Fairfax County, you can expect to live to be 81, the highest male life expectancy in the country. Women get an additional two years, which means some of us might live long enough to see the aforementioned Silver Line pull triumphantly into the developments clone farms of Loudoun County.
  
  
• Plans to redevelop the big-box splendor of the Spectrum Center go before the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee next week. The spring-loaded minute hand of the Macaroni Grill Doomsday Clock (tm) is twitching in anticipation of what happens next.
  
  
• Seven people are seeking election for seats on the Reston Citizens Association board, including Colin Mills, Tammi Petrine, C.J. Basik, John Hanley, Gary N. Walker, Debra Eastham, and Diane M. Lewis. Best way to vote is during the aforementioned Reston Festival this weekend, so you can simultaneously enjoy democracy and funnel cakes.
  
  
• Someone should probably check Reston's water supply, as there are currently a freakish number of twins -- 14 pairs, to be exact -- at Langston Hughes Middle School. It could be a world record!
  
  
• While they may or may not build their own shiny fake downtown, Loudoun County officials currently consider its future urban core to be... a shopping mall, where future Sweet 16 parties will presumably be hosted. Maybe the Metro should stop at the Fairfax County line after all.
  
  
• Among Reston's "a-list" guests of late: Hank Aaron and Indian spiritual leader Amma, better known as the "hugging saint."
  
  
• Speaking of baseball, a Reston resident was excused as a potential juror from Roger Clemens' trial for lying to Congress about using performance-enhancing drugs. That's what those of us in the news web logging business call a "local angle."
  
  
• Yay, new theater owner Bowtie Cinemas is planning extensive renovations of the movie theater in the fake downtown gritty urban core. They've already undertaken an "extensive cleaning," which, um, ick.
  
  
• A petition to ban smoking in Reston common areas got attention from the usual suspects.
  
  
• Fairfax County plans to blow up the Massey Building, its own mauvescraper, real good.
  
  
• Just two decades after the Berlin Wall came down, a bridge linking Lake Fairfax Park and Reston has been opened, saving freedom seekers hikers from having to wade through a creek.
  
  
• Hans Olsen of Clyde's of Reston won the best restaurant manager award at this year's RAMMYs, an award ceremony for DC-area eateries. And yes, he wore his kilt.
  
  
• Finally, please to be enjoying this fancy public-access video interview with Frank Bensigner, who retired as principal of Forest Edge Elementary at the end of the school year. New principal Kim Price certainly has big shoes to fill.

This Fortnight in Crime: A Burglar With a Conscience, and Don't Count on a Getaway Bus

It's been a busy couple of weeks in Reston crime, though it's nice to know our liquor-stealing burglars are having pangs of conscience:

A 29-year-old homeowner awoke around 4:50 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21 and smelled cigarette smoke coming from his garage. He opened the unlocked door and heard someone running out of his garage. The victim closed the door to the home. Several minutes later he heard noises in the garage and again opened the door. He found a man returning liquor bottles. The suspect then fled. Officers determined the garage door had been left open all night and the door to the home was unlocked. The suspect was described as white, in his 20s. He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 160 pounds with a goatee. He was wearing a gray, sleeveless shirt and jeans.

Maybe he wanted to make sure the bottles got recycled. Our favorite correspondent, the Peasant from Less Sought After South Reston, wonders if the perpetrator had a getaway canoe, the conveyance of choice for past fans of forbidden liquor.

Memo to would-be-robbers: While a getaway canoe may not be the best plan, neither is a getaway bus:

Police were called to the 1800 block of Presidents Street for a fight around 3:58 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21. An investigation determined the victim, a 35-year-old man, had an exchange of words with the suspects. The suspects reportedly assaulted the victim and took his property, then tried to leave on a bus. Officers apprehended the two suspects at the bus stop. The victim did not require medical treatment.

Less funny were a series of honest-to-goodness robberies over the past few weeks, including a drug deal gone bad:

A 25-year-old man was robbed during an apparent narcotics transaction on Saturday, June 18, around 8:40 p.m. in the 2200 block of Colts Neck Road. The victim met the suspect to purchase marijuana. The suspect displayed a knife and demanded the victim’s money. The suspect fled on foot; the victim was not injured. The suspect was described as black, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and 225 pounds. He was wearing a white T-shirt and blue pants. His hair was pulled back in a pony tail.

A 20-year-old man reported he was robbed by two other men on Thursday, June 16. Around 9:30 p.m. the victim was grabbed and assaulted by the two suspects on a pathway between Southgate Square and Stonewheel Drive. They took property from the victim and fled. Police responded to Access of Reston to take the report; the victim was receiving medical treatment for non life-threatening injuries. The first suspect was described as black, 16 to 20 years old. He was about 6 feet tall with a light complexion. He was wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants. The second suspect was described as black, 16 to 20 years old. He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall and 150 pounds. He had short dreadlocks and was wearing a white T-shirt and red pajama pants.

Just in case you think we've got it bad, police reported the following horrific crime in the 13500 block of Martha Jefferson Place in Herndon:

Water stolen from vehicle.

There are no words, etc., etc.