Herndon-Monroe Metro: Will Sunrise Valley Drive Become a 'Grand Green Boulevard'? Also, Polo Fields HOA Would Like The Parking Somewhere Else, Please

And you thought our Google Map annotations were amateurish! As it did with the Wiehle Avenue and Reston Parkway stations, the Master Plan Task Force We're Tired of Abbreviating (MPTFWTA) issued its own report on future development around the Herndon-Monroe station. That subcommittee envisions that the area will become "less dense than Reston Parkway with more local serving retail" (translation: fewer cupcakeries, more 7-11s). The subcommittee's other recommendations are to capitalize on and complement the high-end office space currently in the area, preserve the designated wetlands and create a "grand green boulevard" along Sunrise Valley Drive (as opposed to fanciful concrete bollards?) and incorporate residential projects for a better residential-commercial balance. With that, of course, would come added density -- but again, not as dense as the Fake Downtown, which as we know, could become more dense than that urban-suburban nightmare model of transit-oriented development, the Ballston Metro corridor in Arlington.

Meanwhile, the Polo Fields homeowners association, which represents the westernmost corner of Reston's residential areas and is adjacent to the future Metro station, has written the airports authority a letter asking it to not add any additional parking on the Reston side of the Toll Road.

While we are strongly in support of a metro stop being located at Herndon Monroe P&R, by this letter we want officially record our opposition to the expansion of the parking facilities on the Reston side of the Herndon Monroe metro station.This will concentrate traffic congestion in an area that is already strained with passenger vehicles and contributing to an increasing level of vehicular accidents.

Calling the placement of the station "unfortunate," the HOA suggests, among other things, limiting future access to the station from Sunrise Valley Drive to buses, while getting the town of Herndon to focus on building its own fancy garage, assuming it can divert its attention from other more entertaining matters.

"That's all well and good," you're thinking to yourself, "but what exactly does a 'grand green boulevard' look like?" Glad you asked.

Hmm. Maybe a ginormous parking garage festooned with rad '80s art isn't such a bad idea after all.