Events

This project, which will come before the Plan Commission on Monday, Sept. 15, starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Second Floor meeting room of the City-County Building at 210 Martin Luther King Dr. If you want to weigh in, support or opposed, attend the meeting to share your thoughts. The impact of a live person taking time to speak is a bit greater than an e-mail or letter. Again, if your comments are positive, negative or you just want to suggest a change to the general project, you are welcome to come.

You will see in the attached document there have been some changes - fewer units, movement in building layout and some design upgrades. The project has passed the Urban Design Commission, which only deals with "the looks" of a project, not whether or not it is approved regarding the land use.

Plan Commission will review the project against the adopted neighborhood plan (reviewed at the meeting) and the review standards. If approved, it goes to the Common Council for approval. The project could be referred, meaning go back for some minor revisions, or placed or file or rejected, which usually means a wholesale redesign at either point.

This project meets the neighborhood plan objectives and likely the standards for review. You still have the opportunity to share your viewpoints, however. Please do!!

The following changes have been made to the proposed development plans for Lot 263 of Reston Heights. These changes have been made to accommodate the comments from the neighborhood meeting on June 11th, city planning staff or the Urban Design Commission:

1. Entry Drive Location: The location of Dulles Drive was adjusted on the plan to show it in the proper location. The original site plan had used a Dulles Drive location from a preliminary plat drawing that was no longer accurate. The vehicular entry drive on Littlemore was also adjusted to maintain the alignment with Dulles Drive. The location of the eastern most driveway on to Littlemore was also adjusted. The driveway was moved west to provide a larger natural buffer yard to the east and to align with an existing driveway across the street.
2. Density: Both the number of buildings and the number of units reduced. There are now a total of five buildings and 158 dwelling units, a reduction from 164 units. The unit mix was also revised to included 10 two bedroom apartments with a den.
3. Parking areas and sidewalks: The parking and pavement has been further designed and detailed to subdivide the parking and interior driveway. Walkways have been relocated to maximize the usable open space. A walk now provides a direct route from the public sidewalk on Littlemore to the public pedestrian-bike trail to the south.
4. Clubhouse building: The designs for the clubhouse and pool area are now illustrated. (But, I can't load them here because they are too big.)

The functional portion of the re-zoning is to gain approval for 158 apt. units at 6901 Littlemore Dr. This lot is part of a much larger parcel, that was approved per the neighborhood plan some 10 or more years back, as a general development plan (GDP)for multi-family housing that encompassed four lots for building, roughly bounded by Wyalusing, from Littlemore to Stockbridge, with the Stockbridge piece proceeding almost to the beginning of the bend on Bluff Point. On Littlemore, the lot 6901 extends east to a woodlot, with single family homes on the other side of the woods.

Part of the approval for 6901 involves shuffling approved numbers of units from one lot to another, technically changing the GDP. Some of the lots will never support the number of units initially approved at the GDP because of wetlands and other land issues. Since the numbers of units per lot on the approved GDP is changing, it needs a zoning amendment and a public hearing. Since there is also a Specific Implementation Plan (SIP) in this GDP for the apts. occurring now, it makes sense to do the alterations and the SIP, both called zoning changes, at one meeting.

When the other lots develop, they will also come for a public hearing as they pursue approval for their own SIPs.