Politics & Government

DRB Hears Latest Plan for Fairway Apartments

Board defers decision on 804-unit campus off North Shore.

Developer JBG Companies went before Design Review Board on Tuesday with new plans to redevelop the aging complex.

The two teams have been here before. The project has morphed from 951 units in four towers to 804 units on a campus of five-story buildings and townhouses. The 40-year-old neighborhood currently has 348 units in 18-three story buildings.

Tuesday's concept-only meeting with the DRB was significant because the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee in April approved the latest plan. That decision would hold weight when JBG next goes to the Fairfax Planning Commission in July.

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After a lengthy discussion and perusal of a 48-page prospectus and traffic study, the DRB voted to defer a decision at the request of JBG. However, the DRB was leaning towards not approving the latest proposal.

Highlights of the newest plan include the development in two parts, Fairway East and Fairway West.

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JBG representatives said higher densities have always been part of Robert E. Simon's vision for Reston, and that increased density at Fairway will .

Fairway West would be built around a 37,00-square-foot Central Park and would feature three multifamily buildings and three townhouse clusters. Fairway East would have  one four-level multifamily building (179 units) and 59 townhouses.

JBG pointed out increased attention to open space, exisiting trees, walkability and workforce housing (12 percent) in the new proposal.

While most DRB members said the latest plan was an improvement from where JBG started two years ago, they still had many issues. Among them:

* Townhouses that are too tall and too urban in design.

* The "Texas doughnut" style of the multifamily buildings does not fit in with the architecture of Reston.

* Not enough green space.

* The traffic study predicts roads that are currently getting good grades for traffic flow could get failing grades when the density rises. The traffic impact study was also done in 2009, so it does not take into account the impact Metro's arrival in 2013 will have on traffic.

* Building heights that claim to be five stories but are actually closer to seven with underground parking.

"Everything is overdone," said DRB member Jennifer Byl. "The 50-foot height of the townhouses kills it for me. I am disappointed. I don't support this project. I think it is not there yet."

DRB member Richard Newlon said the townhouses were "very urban and not appropriate for Reston." He also called the Fairway East multiunit building, which has a pool at its center, "at best a South Florida motel design."

"I don't know of anywhere in Reston where you have apartments looking directly out on a pool," he said. "It is the Motel 6 approach. Absurd."

The DRB also heard input from several members of the community. Chief among residents concerns was traffic impact.

"This is going to dump out past Parc Reston, and I am pretty sure the accumulative effect is going to be extreme," said one resident.

But another resident is optimistic: "It is not a perfect plan, but we think it is going to be an improvement from what is there currently," said the president of Clubhouse Court, an adjacent cluster.

Reston Citizens Association President Marion Stillson

"A 135 percent increase in density would be very difficult to maintain the current character of the existing residential neighborhood," she said.

Other citizen concerns: the reduction in affordable and workforce housing, since nearly all of the current Fairway Apartments are in that category; architecture that does not fit in with the older section of Reston; and what higher density will do to the feel of the community, especially since Fairway is not that close to future Metro stations.

JBG is scheduled to meet with the county planning commission on July 7.


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