Reston Citizen

Four boundary options have been prepared for the upcoming school boundary meeting on December 3rd. If you’re new to this situation, Fairfax County is looking to move new students to different high schools to alleviate overcrowding in some, and help fill others with open seats.

Option 1 would move students from McNair and Floris elementary schools to South Lakes and Herndon. The move would initially affect a little over 100 students. The west end of the McNair and Floris schools would move to Herndon, while the east end would move to South Lakes. Oak Hill students would be moved to Westfield High School. Lastly the “Madison Island” students would not be affected.

Option 2 moves Fox Mill and some McNair students to South Lakes. The other McNair students would attend Herndon. Oak Hill would then attend Oakton High. Students in Wolf Trap would move to South Lakes.

Option 3 moves students in Fox Mill, Wolf Trap, and parts of McNair to South Lakes. The other McNair students would attend Herndon. Navy is then moved to Oakton.

Option 4 moves the astronaut schools (Aldrin and Armstrong) to South Lakes, where as they previously attended Herndon. Wolf Trap also moves to South Lakes. Oak Hill would be moved to Westfields. Parts of McNair and Floris would attend Herndon. Read the rest of this entry »

The early 2008 completion of the South of Market project will bring several new dining options to the town center.

Boston Properties, which owns several buildings at the Town Center has confirmed they have signed three leases, and a fourth is almost completed. The Reston Times say the tenants are Mon Ami Gabi, Passion Food LLC and Great American Restaurants.

The newer western end of the Town Center has seen several new restaurants move in including Il Fornaio and IceBerry, a California yogurt “parlor.” There is also a rumored White Chocolate Grill which would occupy the space abandoned by Ruby Tuesday. The new restaurants have been selected to minimize cannibalization of the already crowed restaurant market.

The new menus will include a customizable burger restaurant, a seafood restaurant, and a French steakhouse.
The Reston Town Center has had a nearly continual retail occupancy of 100%, and according to John Asadoorian, manager of retail leasing, “Interest in the space was high.” The South of Market project, a brick and glass office building with ground level retail will open it’s doors sometime in early 2008. As the Town Center faces build-out this will probably be one of the last office projects.

A new non profit, created by a large anonymous donation, will be drafting a master plan for public arts in Reston. In the original 1960 master plan, public art was included, but was largely ignored.
The new organization seeks to join the efforts of Reston Association, RCC, Reston Town Center Association, GRACE, and more. The Reston Times even quotes Ann Rodriguez president of Initiative for Public Arts in Reston, as seeing this project as having national impact:

[They] will work on creating a master plan for the initiative, which may serve as a national model for other communities, according arts council President Ann Rodriguez. The effort has even attracted the attention of the national organization, Americans for the Arts.

“They have indicated they’re going to be watching the process in Reston with wide eyes,” Rodriguez said.

IPAR will initially have a small board including representatives from existing organizations and local organizations. Many details have not been released, but one of their first projects will be implementing public art in and around the two new metro stations.
Read the rest of this entry »

TysonsTunnel.org has sued several federal government agencies claiming many businesses will be adversely affected by the currently proposed aerial rail option. They’re seeking to prevent the rail from being constructed. Gairy Baise is their attorney, he also lost the race for Fairfax County chairman by a wide margin.

TysonsTunnel.org will be joined by Ratner Cos., the company actually claiming to be affected by the traffic congestion, and “unsightliness” of overhead rail.

The suit seeks to prevent the FTA from approving a full funding agreement, which would grant a necessary $900 million for the Silver Line’s extension. The group says they’re “Suing as a last option because political leaders have ignored them.” The FTA has not responded yet because they have no information regarding the suit.

Interestingly these companies will be even more adversely affected if rail is not built, and some companies might loose money in speculative land investments. Traffic congestion would be associated with an aerial or underground option, as both would require extensive infrastructure realignments. If their suit is successful it could possibly end the currently proposed rail plans.

Update 11/29/2007:

Ratner Cos has pulled out of the suit, after receiving word from their legal department. They also say “We don’t want to be viewed as blocking the rail extension.” It is probable that TysonsTunnel.org will be approached by other plaintiffs. If they can’t find anyone else the suit will be discarded. Thanks to John for updating us.

In this weekly column on the state of Reston’s local economy we explore what’s happening in the business scene.

ComScore, a firm that provides statistics and information about how people use the web has canceled another public stock offering. The company has cited unfavorable market conditions. When the ComScore first announced it would be underwriting it’s stock, the price dipped by fourteen points, and has kept falling.

The Congressional Bank has decided to use only wind energy for it’s electrical needs. The change affects all it’s branches and offices. Congressional Bank has a branch in Reston. This is the first such energy conversion of it’s kind in the DC area.

Enterra Solutions will open a new office in Iraq. The company provides business development solutions to emerging economies. The office will be located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and will serve the needs of the Iraqi government, the Kurdistan government, and the DoD. The Erbil based office will also serve as a hub for future expansion.

SAIC will be demonstrating it’s products in Florida’s Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference later this year. The simulation begins with an embedded reporter covering a story on a routine mission, when the unit stops to inspect a possible IED. Then insurgents fire a rocket on the group. The goal of the war games simulation is to show how SAIC solutions troops and people in 21st century war zones.

Rolls-Royce will be moving it headquarters from Chantilly, back to Reston in 2008. This move is part of it’s expansion in the Richmond, DC, and Baltimore area, and will include construction of jet engine manufacturing plant in Prince Georges County.

The Giant grocery store will be shutting it’s doors in less than a week. The general manager Tams Bauer has confirmed the closure. A simple sign alerts customers the pharmacy will close on November 16th, and that records will be transfered to the South Lakes Safeway.The majority of space in the shopping center will soon be empty. The Giant also brought in many customers, and without many citizens fear the center will be mostly empty. The Reston Connection reports some are wondering if property manager, Atlantic Realty Company, is hoping to the turn the center into a mixed use complex containing condos, and street level retail:

Some residents raised concerns of a hidden agenda on the property owner’s — Boston based Colony Realty Partners — part. Vacant space does not serve anyone — owners, residents or merchants — but some of the space has been vacant for years. It does not make sense “unless the owner is deliberately shutting this down,” said Mike Corrigan. He added that with the planned arrival of Metro to Wiehle Avenue, the center, located off of Wiehle, is a prime piece of land for redevelopment.

Others believe a store like Bloom (formerly known as Food Lion) would take up the empty space. The property owner says they have contacted over 30 people about leasing the space, but have no firm commitments.

Fairfax County has embraced the cool counties initiative, which aims to reduce carbon output in America’s counties. Part of the announcement was that the county would increase walkability around transit stations to reduce car use and pollution.

Transit oriented design itself is one way of reducing carbon output, the leading cause of global warming. But the County has taken this one step further by requiring that buildings in the Reston/Herndon Suburban Center (a region used in the Counties zoning guide) be built according the certain green standards.

The amendment would make all buildings in suburban centers, the Tysons Corner urban center, and apartments taller than 4 stories conform. But not all are happy about these green standards as reported by the Fairfax Times:

Several developers testified about the costs of building green during a public hearing on the amendment.

Donald Gibson, senior design manager of JPI, said, “Landowners and builders will spend the money, but will not reap the energy savings from that.”

He said it is costing his development company an additional $2.3 million to attain the LEED Silver certification on an apartment development in the Hunter Mill District. Considering the grim housing market, company officials are not “optimistic they can recuperate the costs,” Gibson said.

The new requirements would mean buildings would have to meet EngeryStar ratings and be certified by the LEED program, which is considered a leader in green building standards.

On Black Friday the Reston Town Center will be holding a series of family events to mark the start of the shopping season.

Race for the Kids: 7:30am
Alan Webb, U.S. record holder for the fastest mile and South Lakes graduate, will be in a race for children. Kids, toddlers, and teens can participate. Register at www.neediestkids.org

Reston Holiday Parade: 11am

This Thanksgiving you can celebrate Virginia’s 400th anniversary. A parade with Macy’s style balloons, dance, music, and community groups will particpate in this parade. Also present will be Mr and Mrs Claus in a horse-drawn carriage. From 12:30 to 4:30 you can visit Santa.

Holiday Tree Lighting & Sing Along: 6pm
Watch Santa and Mrs. Claus light up the Reston Town Center and the holiday tree, then sing with the Reston Chorale and brass quintet.

Horse Drawn Carriage Rides: 6:30 – 10pm

$5 per person, children 5 and under ride free. All proceeds benefit Volunteer Fairfax!

In the continuing saga of the metro rail extension to Wiehle Avenue, the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project has announced they will begin initial construction in a few weeks, despite the fact that $900 million in crucial federal funding still hasn’t come through.

One of the important steps is utility relocation in Tysons Corner. Gas lines, electricity, water and more must be removed from underneath Route 7. Most of the work will occur in the service roads, which will eventually be shut down and have a sidewalk put in their place. The work starts at the intersection of 7 and 123, and will head west, and then turn around. Work will not be done during peak holiday traffic hours.

This measure is seen by many as Fairfax County and Virginia strong arming their way to federal funding for the rail project.

In the ongoing debate about the west county school border realignment the WaPo features an article on South Lakes students standing up for their school. If you’re new to this, many parents are concerned that their students attending more affluent schools will be moved to South Lakes:

To persuade skeptics, students say they counter rumor with fact. The Reston campus is diverse, they say, not “ghetto.” Students don’t flash gang signs in the hallways, and they don’t have to walk through metal detectors to get to class.

“I think of this school as a family. When someone talks about South Lakes, I think, ‘You can’t talk about my family like that,’ ” senior Sierra Little said. She represented the school last week in a town hall meeting at Chantilly High packed with about 2,500 anxious residents.

South Lakes Principal Bruce Butler said his student body consists of “kids who come from million-dollar homes on lakes and kids who wear the same pair of pants to school every day.” The school has the largest concentration of students from poverty in the area, with one-third eligible for free and reduced-cost meals. The poverty rates for other schools in the boundary study range from 5 percent at Madison High to 19 percent at Herndon High.

Parents who oppose the boundary change cite many issues with the school. Some are concerned about their kids being removed from friends. Others feel South Lakes is a “social experiment” in diversity.

The plan aims to fill the 800 open seats in South Lakes by moving students from overcrowded schools such as Westfield, a school home to two nationally know murders including Seung-Hui Cho.

Oh and to those who think the principal doesn’t speak English, Bruce Butler is a white American.