A draft of an Historic Resources Survey of Reston has been completed and is available for community review and input. Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn is hosting a virtual community meeting Jan. 5, 2021 at 7 p.m. to provide residents with the opportunity to ask questions and provide comments on the draft survey, following a presentation by the consultant hired by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
The virtual meeting will be on the Webex platform; use this link to attend and participate. You will be prompted to register with your email address and ZIP code before logging into meeting. If you prefer to listen to the meeting on your phone, you may call 1-844-621-3956 and use access code: 179 469 1739. This is also the number to use if accessing TTY 711. You can watch a live stream of the meeting on YouTube Live.
By way of background, the state hired Hanbury Preservation Consulting to conduct the survey work. Fairfax County was selected to participate in the state’s Survey and Planning Cost Share Program in 2019. This program assists local governments in surveying their community to identify cultural and historic resources. Preservationists began surveying Reston last winter following a public information meeting held on Dec. 17, 2019 and completed their work in June. The survey covered all of Reston, with the exception of the existing Lake Anne Historic Overlay District. The Lake Anne Village Center was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register in 2017 and has been thoroughly documented.
The survey included buildings constructed between 1961 and 1978, which were prime development years in Reston’s history. The buildings and neighborhoods were evaluated for architectural or historic significance. Inclusion in an historic resource survey is only a step toward documenting historic value and does not predetermine a property’s future use. These districts or buildings, if significant, could be nominated to be included in Fairfax County’s Inventory of Historic Sites, the Virginia Landmarks Register or the National Register of Historic Places.
“The Reston community is very proud of our history and our landmarks and we appreciate this opportunity to document our historic resources within an established standard,” said Supervisor Alcorn. “This inventory is an important step toward identifying buildings and places in Reston that should be noted in the Fairfax County comprehensive plan as worthy for their historic value.”
Comments on the draft may be submitted by Jan. 10 to Architectural Survey Manager Blake McDonald, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, at blake.mcdonald@dhr.virginia.gov. For information on the Jan. 5 community meeting, email the Hunter Mill District Office.