RCA Concerned About Fairway Meeting

Design Review Board will discuss the proposal for redevelopment of Fairway Apartments at its regular meeting on Tuesday.

The late addition of JBG's proposal - after more than a year of discussion on several different submissions - has raised the attention of the Reston Citizens Association, which is urging citizens to speak their opinion at the 7 p.m. meeting at Reston Association headquarters.

"The DRB is being asked to give the JBG proposal 'conceptual approval' before it goes to the County Planning Commission," the RCA said in an e-mail to members.  "According to people within the DRB, the proposal remains essentially the same as presented to the DRB and Reston P&Z committees earlier this year.

The RCA Board of Directors last month opposing approval of JBG's current proposal for Fairway Apartments. 

"The JBG proposal violates a number of both new and long standing Fairfax County and Reston community standards," the resolution said.  "The proposed increase in density far exceeds that of the neighborhood and DPZ's own recommendations made last year and is not tied to any TOD area, village center, or other higher density area. " 

JBG's latest presentation - its fifth in the last two years - to the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee was approved in April. The current proposal consists of two five-story mid-rise buildings, one multifamily four-story building and 59 townhouses for a total of 804 units.Fairway currently has 328 garden-apartment style units.

An original proposal for 951 units and a high-rise building was rejected last summer, and a

In other Reston development news:

* A Reston Assocaition Planning and Zoning Committee meeting planned for Wednesday  to discuss a 23-story building planned for Reston Parkway and Bowman Greene Drive has been postponed.

* On July 18, the Planning and Zoning Committee will review a plan of the Spectrum shopping center near Reston Town Center. That idea has been discussed for at least five years

A plan was approved in 2008, but Reston Spectrum, a Lerner Enterprises affiliate, sued Fairfax County last year over the way the county allots density in the area just north of Reston Town Center.

Owners want to transform the 23-acre parcel, home toand others, into a 562 residential units and 406,000 square feet of retail or office use.

Reston Spectrum secured county approval of a finalized conceptual site plan in 2008 using extra density from the neighboring , which was deemed a park in 1992, allowing it to transfer density to nearby developers.

The latest plan will be presented by  Mark Looney, attorney with Cooley LLP. A second meeting on this subject will be held Sept. 19, and the FCDC will review it on Sept. 29. The Spectrum is owned by Lerner Enterprises.

* At a May 16 meeting, the P & Z Committee conditionally recommended approved the

The building is proposed for the block bounded by Explorer Street, Bluemont Way, Saint Francis Street, and Town Square.

P & Z members  said they would like to see any recommendations from Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and also a green roof incorporated into  the design.