County Planning Commission Recommends Approval For Fairway Application

The Fairfax County Planning Commission on Thursday recommended .

Ultimately, the Reston Association's Design Review Board has final say on the design of the complex, but Thursday's vote moves forward the process, which has been going on for over a year.

The proposal now moves on to the county Board of Supervisors, who must approva the application for it to proceed.  A date for review from the Board of Supervisors has not been announced.

"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."

De la Fe outlined the concerns residents expressed to both the DRB and the planning commission in hearings in the last month. Among them: density, traffic and affordable housing.

"There were comments to wait [to decide] after the Reston Master Plan revision," he said. "We, of course, must base our actions on the current recommendation of the master plan. The proposed development is in keeping with master plan."

De le Fe added that the principal roads can handle the traffic, and JBG will conduct a traffic study. Although the current Fairway complex contains "affordable housing" (rents generally from $1300-1900), none of it is government run, de le Fe pointed out.

A staff report in July 2010 recommended denial of the project. But that was when the JBG proposal was for a high rise tower featuring 951 units.

JBG went back to the drawing board, and this spring presented a plan featuring 804 units and 38 percent green space among five mid-rise buildings and 131 townhouses.

A staff report in June 2011 recommended approval. The DRB, meanwhile, was heading toward voting against the plan when JBG asked for a last-minute deferral.

Many residents appealed to both the DRB at a June meeting and the planning commission in early July to rethink the Fairway project.

"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."

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.

RCA president Marion Stillson says Fairway is extremely important because it will set a precedent for about two dozen other neighborhoods that may next be in line for redevelopment.

"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?

"This proposal is dense in scale, urban in design and does not belong next to a golf course," she said. "It is unacceptable and violates Reston's values. Please reject it."

Stillson reiterated her opposition to JBG's plan in a letter to de le Fe this week.