The Metro Area Plan - Why Am I Urging A More Careful Approach?

I am mindful of the fact that the development of the Metro area is a singular opportunity for economic development; yet, I have refused to support the rush to approve any plan for the following reasons.

 
1.   Timing Of Our Decision: Metro is slated to come to Herndon in 2017 or 2018. None of the developers has ever indicated that they would be harmed in any way, if we take, say, 6 more months to develop a more thoughtful plan. None of the developers has ever complained about any actual or perceived delays in approving the plan. On the contrary, some have indicated that they do not plan to develop their parcels any time soon.

 
Further, if we compare the development of Phase I stations, the Town seems to have a lead-time of about 5 years. Even though Metro-rail will begin serving Reston in late 2013, the planning for development around the Whiele station in Reston has not yet been completed.  The two factors suggest that we in Herndon still have considerable time to make the right decisions and create the right plan.

 
2.  Ever Changing Size of the Plan Area: The Plan area over the last year or so has been reduced first from 180 acres to 110 acres, and then from 110 acres to 38 acres primarily because the Town rushed to create a plan, or rather, any plan.  Under the first plan, about 20,000 people would have lived and 32,000 people would have worked in the 180-acre area.  The plan would have doubled the size of Herndon; yet, many were not concerned about the traffic.  They were ready to just “move forward”.  Under the second plan, about 10,000 people would have lived and about 25,000 would have worked in the 110-acre area. Once again, there was not much concern about the traffic, density or Herndon small town values.  My calculations showing 4 hr. backups in the morning and evening were largely ignored by Councilmembers Lisa  Merkel, Bill Tirrell, Sheila Olem and Grace Wolf.  They were ready to approve the plan when what is now known as “the mistake” was discovered.  Shortly thereafter, the consultant reduced the plan area from 110 acres to 38 acres and revised its financial analysis completely.

 
Even though the proposed density did not change much, FARs lower than 4.5 became acceptable.  Still, the plan contemplated that 15-20 story buildings would line up along Herndon Pkwy.  The new plan would be at least 2.5 times as dense as the Reston Town Center core; yet, as in the past, Councilmembers Merkel, Olem and Wolf wanted to approve the plan, as is, without giving further consideration to many other important factors. 

3.  All Of The Potential Traffic Not Accounted: The 38-acre plan takes up all of the capacity of Herndon Parkway.  Yet, it has not accounted for two related factors.  The 142 acres that have been left out of the original 180 acres will inevitably be developed over the next 20-30 years with or without rezoning.   The owners of the Fairbrook Property, currently excluded from the 38-acre plan, have already requested that they be allowed to have at least a million square feet of additional office space.  Even in the face of this request, many people including the Town staff make unsubstantiated and unbelievable claims that no development in the 142 acres will be permitted until at least 2035. In spite of the fact that the traffic generated by any redevelopment of the 142 acres has not been evaluated, they just want to move forward.  Further, additional auto traffic due to the inevitable use of the Herndon station by Herndon and Sterling residents has not been considered in the plan.  These omissions imply that even the 38-acre plan has the potential to clog Herndon Parkway.  For these reasons, I have advocated that the Town develop a policy on how and when the parcels in the 142-acre area should be developed.

4.  Plan Is Unfair To The Town:  Until the final stages of plan approval, the Town staff asserted that Floor Area Ratios (FARs) were needed to spur development and (unfortunately) the Town will have to pay for infrastructure improvements by issuing bonds.  In the final stages, the staff started to suggest that developers will pay for some of the infrastructure improvements, but it presented no explicit plan or policy for extracting proffers from developers.   In comparison, Fairfax County is requiring developers to pay for specific road and other infrastructure improvements upfront. That is exactly what we should be doing to make our plan equitable and fair for our residents.

5.  Herndon values:  The Town staff and many other people have claimed that this plan represents Herndon values.  Yet, nobody has explained what these values are and how they have been or should be taken into account.  No position paper or article has ever been written and our residents have not had anything to evaluate.  They do not know how traffic, density and Herndon’s small town character have been balanced, if at all.  A large number of our residents, if not a majority of them, feel that the proposed 15-20 story buildings lining Herndon Parkway do not represent their values.

6.  Not A Gathering Place For Herndon Residents:  Many have asked what specific benefits the current residents of Herndon will receive from this plan.  A close examination suggests that except for an enhanced ability to take Metro to Tysons or DC, our residents would receive very few benefits. The plan does not have features that will make the Metro Plan area a gathering place or a “destination” for people.

For all of reasons given above, we should not rush to approve the plan.  We should hold further meaningful discussions until most residents accept a revised plan.

Jasbinder Singh, Candidate for Mayor