News and notes from Reston (tm).

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Driscoll McKee Re-Elected President as the RA Seeks a Larger Role in the Master Planning Process

Following Tuesday's not-so-stunning election results, Kathleen Driscoll McKee was re-elected president by her fellow Reston Association Board members last night. Vice President Paul Thomas and Secretary Joe Leighton were also re-elected for another one-year term.

The not-so-new board has its work cut out for it going forward, and not just because of its glorious five-year plan. As the awesome county-led Reston Master Plan process continues, shifting from the areas around the upcoming Metro stations to the existing village centers, the board wants to be more involved in the Task Force We've Forgotten The Acronym For (TFWFTAF). That's an idea we'd like to think came from reading this filthy "web log", but it's really just common sense. A few weeks ago, the RA Board made this point more emphatically:

The Reston Association board will send a letter to Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, urgng her to let Reston Association be the lead community organization assisting the county as it undertakes Phase II of the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force.

Phase II will focus on Reston's residential areas and village centers, and what those areas need as Reston enters a new phase of development with the Metro Silver Line opening here in 2013.
There are other voices that need to be involved in the mix as well, including the Restons Citizens Association and its Reston 2020 offshoot. But we think it's clear that as the focus shifts from the new and the shiny to what to do with the established parts of Reston, the voices that need to be heard are those of the residents and the organizations that represent them. Because we know what can happen when that's not the case:

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8 comments:

  1. Eddie from North PointApril 14, 2011 at 2:20 PM

    I hope this same leadership accomplishes something this term. I can't think of one concrete accomplishment for Reston that was completed on their watch last term.

    Most long term residents around town agree that this was of the worst boards in recent history, and it looks like we are in for more of the same. I hope I'm wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eddie--Gotta disagree.

    The Board before last brought you the Brown's Chapel Rec Center and the spend-$10-Million-of-you-RA-fees-on-new-HQ-for-the-Board was, without question, the WORST in my three decades here.

    The notion that Reston's residents should pay for the hobby of a few to build an indoor tennis facility could make this one become a close second. If those tennis players are so hot to have one, then they should pay for it.

    I do hope they can constructively participate in the next phase of the XTSGLB TASK FORCE--you know what I'm talkin' about. That's RA Reston, and they should.

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  3. Peasant From Less Sought After South RestonApril 14, 2011 at 6:21 PM

    The XTSGLB Task Force -- is that the Extreme Trans-Sexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Task Force?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Many of the RA Board members who tried to shove the $69 million indoor rec center at Brown's Chapel down our throats are still sitting on this board.

    Cathy Hudgins selected a task force for Phase 1 that gave developers and their agents a voting majority. The current draft for Wiehle station area will allow additional development of 18 to 25 million square feet. That will be on ONE intersection. All the commercial space in the city of Boston adds up to 30 million square feet to give you a frame of reference. That's a whole city folks, not one intersection.

    Nobody is talking about the improvements to the roads in Reston that will be required to support this level of development. Not the task force, not the county.

    Cathy Hudgins has suggested that in the New Reston we will all walk. How will that work for you?

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  5. The Google machine found this document [http://www.bostonredevelopmentauthority.org/pdf/ResearchPublications//Rpt590.pdf] from 2003 stating the total Boston commercial space is/was 134 million square feet. That's on 9% of the land which seems pretty dense.

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  6. ?? 100 million square feet of development ??

    That about what the county wants to add to Reston.

    We'll go from small town to large Eastern metropolis in not so very many years. Why, we'll be twice as dense as the metropolis they are planning at Tysons.

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  7. The only people who would accept such idiocy must be twice as dense.

    The only Smart Growth is No Growth.

    ReplyDelete

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