Notes from Herndon-Monroe Committee Meeting, September 13, 2010, Dick Rogers

The Herndon-Monroe Committee met today, 13 September. It turns out they are to deliver a preliminary report to the Reston Task Force on 14 September; they had not expected this. Since they will report then, I will minimize substantive comments and offer some impressions. (This is the first meeting I attended.)

The committee is relatively well along in its work. It has a relatively small area to cover, and is relatively conservative in what it wants to accomplish.

There was a strong "let us not rock the boat" attitude present, particularly among the developers-property owners (Mike Cooper--Brandywine REIT Gregg Riegle--WARD), who seemed leading forces on the group. "Let us not do anything that would compromise already successful commercial development" was the tone. They tend toward commercial re-development and protecting the existing property owners in A-1, C-2/3/4.

Arthur Hill strongly argued that no one would ever want to live in the Herndon-Monroe area, there is nothing there and it is "isolated". I had commented that the draft report seems to strongly suggest the sub com favors continued commercial development in the area rather than Transit-Oriented Development (TOD).

This led to some discussion--it seems that mixed-use TOD development was only supported in the areas immediate to the station (C-2 and a-1). There were comments that residential development would mean lower tax returns for the county and increased expenses for social services like schools and fire protection.

The committee seemed to recognize that development on the Herndon side would have a major impact. After discussion, it seemed the Committee will employ stronger language to urge the county to monitor this process and perhaps reconsider the south side when Herndon gets its act together. Some thought Herndon deliberately will not get its act together.

Joe Stowers, who sat in, called the attention of the committee to the section of his Vision Committee transportation paper which urges conversion of the existing bus access to the garage to a direct link to Herndon. There was no particular reaction and the draft paper only alludes to the issue of access from the North side.

The committee has decided at this point not to address floor-area ratios (FARs), density or the specific balance between commercial and residential. Some said that "let the market take its course" on these matters should be the policy.

John Carter (Co-Chair of the Vision Committee) attended, apparently to get a better feel for the Committee. He commented that so far the numbers being generated by the various station-area committees seem to be twice those of the proposed Tyson's redevelopment.

The committee has a number of other important points in its draft:
--It seems to endorse the idea of east-West connectivity from FCP and Monroe to the station, but in a disjointed and underemphasized way.
--Don't expand the parking garage and if possible use the existing garage for TOD.
--Protect the wetlands
--Turn Sunrise Valley into a "grand green boulevard".
--Protect Polo Fields residential area south of Sunrise Valley Drive.
--Put higher density and taller structures long the Dulles Toll Road.