Comments on: Land Use College sessions scheduled http://www.goreston.com/reston-living/land-use-college/land-use-college-sessions-scheduled Reston Virginia’s Community Blog Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:14:58 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: BlokeFromCharterOak http://www.goreston.com/reston-living/land-use-college/land-use-college-sessions-scheduled/comment-page-1#comment-72 BlokeFromCharterOak Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:45:45 +0000 http://www.goreston.com/?p=307#comment-72 With all due respect Reston is already well on its way to becoming a "city." The 2010 U.S. Census will likely reflect a population of around 65,000 in Reston, making us the largest part of Northern Virginia outside the Beltway. Traffic emanating from our many large employers becomes very snarled on many community arterials during rush-hour, it is rather unpleasant to walk or bike in many parts of Reston due to the dearth of sidewalks or bike paths in numerous neighborhoods, the lack of streetlights in many areas has led to many close-calls with deer collisions, etc. These are all problems that need to be addressed. I'm entirely supportive of a higher density cap. I'd rather cram as many people as possible into as small of an area of Reston as possible to leave as much precious open space intact as humanly possible for our future generations to enjoy. One thing I've grown to love about Reston in my brief time here has been the lush vegetation---flora that will be much more threatened by numerous sprawling single-family home communities than by a few high-rises. What do you notice about Reston, which has a relatively DENSE population, as opposed to a good part of Loudoun County, where you have people spread out over a much larger area? We have MORE open space opportunities available, and we have MORE of an opportunity to become the "walkable" community that Bob Simon championed when he founded Reston so many years ago. Let's suppose you have ten acres of open space. There are several options available for development. One would be to subdivide that into twenty one-half acre parcels for single-family detached dwelling construction. Assuming each dwelling will house, on average, three people, that will mean that you are using these 10 acres to house 60 people. On the other hand you can also build an 11-story high-rise on just TWO ACRES of the parcel. This building would have underground parking, a ground-floor lobby, and perhaps ten apartments on each of the ten floors above the lobby for a total of 100 housing units. Let's assume floors alternate between 1-BR and 2-BR units (i.e. The 10 units in Floors 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 are 1-BR units and the 10 units in Floors 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 are 2-BR units). Let's assume each 1-BR unit will house just one person, and each 2-BR unit will house just two people. This building will then house at least 150 people on two acres of land as opposed to taking up all ten acres of land to house just 60 people via the low-density option. Eight acres would be left over for open space for all to enjoy; in the other scenario any green space would be privately-owned. I just fail to see how this is a "threat" for Reston. With higher density caps we can actually retain MORE of our open space! With all due respect Reston is already well on its way to becoming a “city.” The 2010 U.S. Census will likely reflect a population of around 65,000 in Reston, making us the largest part of Northern Virginia outside the Beltway. Traffic emanating from our many large employers becomes very snarled on many community arterials during rush-hour, it is rather unpleasant to walk or bike in many parts of Reston due to the dearth of sidewalks or bike paths in numerous neighborhoods, the lack of streetlights in many areas has led to many close-calls with deer collisions, etc. These are all problems that need to be addressed.

I’m entirely supportive of a higher density cap. I’d rather cram as many people as possible into as small of an area of Reston as possible to leave as much precious open space intact as humanly possible for our future generations to enjoy. One thing I’ve grown to love about Reston in my brief time here has been the lush vegetation—flora that will be much more threatened by numerous sprawling single-family home communities than by a few high-rises. What do you notice about Reston, which has a relatively DENSE population, as opposed to a good part of Loudoun County, where you have people spread out over a much larger area? We have MORE open space opportunities available, and we have MORE of an opportunity to become the “walkable” community that Bob Simon championed when he founded Reston so many years ago.

Let’s suppose you have ten acres of open space. There are several options available for development. One would be to subdivide that into twenty one-half acre parcels for single-family detached dwelling construction. Assuming each dwelling will house, on average, three people, that will mean that you are using these 10 acres to house 60 people. On the other hand you can also build an 11-story high-rise on just TWO ACRES of the parcel. This building would have underground parking, a ground-floor lobby, and perhaps ten apartments on each of the ten floors above the lobby for a total of 100 housing units. Let’s assume floors alternate between 1-BR and 2-BR units (i.e. The 10 units in Floors 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 are 1-BR units and the 10 units in Floors 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 are 2-BR units). Let’s assume each 1-BR unit will house just one person, and each 2-BR unit will house just two people. This building will then house at least 150 people on two acres of land as opposed to taking up all ten acres of land to house just 60 people via the low-density option. Eight acres would be left over for open space for all to enjoy; in the other scenario any green space would be privately-owned. I just fail to see how this is a “threat” for Reston. With higher density caps we can actually retain MORE of our open space!

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