Swapocalypse Now: RA Approves Lake Anne Land Trade Following Star Wars Reference (Updated)

After roughly two hours of public comments and a Star Wars reference that shockingly didn't involve Ewoks, the Reston Association voted last night to approve a land swap that will allow the construction of a parking garage for Lake Anne Village Center on a vacant, tree-filled lot as part of the broader redevelopment proposed by Republic Land Development. Republic made some additional concessions late in the game, including setting aside funds for "canopy enhancement," which, we dunno, maybe means some trees, or some sweet umbrellas and stuff for the Cheesecake Factory or whatever midscale chain eatery will someday adorn the new retail space to be built.

The proposed deal had not exactly garnered an overwhelmingly positive reception from the Reston community, and one RA board member actually said -- and we quote -- "I wish it was a chance to vote for Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader, because I would vote for Luke Skywalker." SRSLY. Having normed on the whole good vs. evil question, the RA board then voted 6-2, with one abstention, to move forward with the swap, with some caveats and conditions and whatnot, but yay, parking.

In a rare example of, whazzitcalled, "journalism" on our part, your Restonian listened on and off to the public comments before the vote via a minimized YouTube window, and it's safe to say the audience was largely opposed to the swap (with the possible exception of one "D. Vader.") Here are a few random quotes we gleaned as our fancy 300-baud modem kept the livestream trickling into Restonian World Headquarters:

"Lake Anne is the mother of Reston"

"24 inch or greater diameter"

"Many of the birds I know many of you like"

"Information stored in the soils"

"Every day I think of the sound the of trees coming down. They cried. They literally cried."

"I have to unlock my screen."

Don't we all. Don't we all.

Board members talked about how the decision involved weighing two competing interests -- preservation and redevelopment. Unfortunately, the real world isn't as clean cut as Star Wars, and there really wasn't a way to address both issues -- Republic's proposal is a good one, and we also like our trees. We'd like to go back in time to keep Jar Jar Binks out of The Phantom Menace make sure that the land swap suggestion was never put on the table in the first place, but now that a potentially dangerous precedent involving open space has been set, we hope that the RA is more careful about deals in the future.



Gluttons for punishment can watch the four-hour-long meeting footage, which is neither as long nor as painful as Episodes 1-3, the end:



Update: Our BFFs at Reston 2020 are not amused, and the chair of the Reston Sustainability Committee has resigned over the issue. Her explanation is here.

Republic's Lake Anne Development Partners issued a statement following the swap, thanking the RA for a "balanced process" and pledging to preserve trees on 30 percent of the property with the help of an arboicultural consulting firm.