Joint With Chairman Jeff McKay
Background:
As the Board is aware, a community task force led by former Chairman Kate Hanley has begun meeting and is gathering information to make recommendations for community facilities on county property in Reston Town Center North (RTCN). As a reminder, RTCN is owned primarily by the county and INOVA, and a land swap has been long planned between the county and INOVA consistent with a site design approved and updated in 2021 by the Reston Association Design Review Board. There is a pressing need for new and updated public facilities and affordable housing, including a new regional library and emergency shelter for our homeless population, as those facilities are at or near the end of their functional life.
On the edge of RTCN is property owned by the county’s Redevelopment and Housing Authority, on which 30 RHA-owned townhomes were constructed in 1985. The RHA property, along with a portion of the parking lot of the North County Governmental Center, was the subject of an unsolicited proposal from Foulger-Pratt under the Public Private Educational Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002, or PPEA. The Foulger-Pratt proposal would have delivered up to 350 new affordable homes and a new Reston Regional Library. It should be noted that this Board, on my motion April 12, 2022, directed staff to initiate steps to formally authorize and schedule a public hearing to consider conveyance of approximately 1.6-acres of the Reston District Police Station site located at Tax Map Parcel 0171-01-0014B to the FCRHA. The purpose of the transfer is for the development of affordable housing with appropriate replacement of secure parking spaces dedicated to police use.
Although Foulger-Pratt withdrew their unsolicited proposal, it is critically important to keep the momentum going for the redevelopment of this vital part of Reston and the delivery of long-promised public facilities and affordable housing.
Motion:
Therefore, Mr. Chairman I move that the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (Capital Facilities) is directed to develop a strategy for the County’s Health and Human Services public facilities in RTCN, both existing or planned, that will best serve the Reston community for future needs. This strategy should be coordinated with the appropriate Deputy County Executives, along with the Chief Financial Officer, to be presented to the RTCN task force for discussion and feedback. I further move that the Board request that the FCRHA develop a procurement strategy for the redevelopment of the property that had previously been the subject of a PPEA process, to deliver new affordable housing and, if feasible and with input from the RTCN task force, a public facility which serves both the residents of the new housing and the surrounding community.