Politics & Government

Herndon Residents Show Support for Town's Metro Area Plan

Many residents spoke in favor of the Herndon Metrorail Area Station Plan during Tuesday's Town Council public hearing

The Herndon Town Council at its public hearing earlier this week and heard mostly positive responses from the community.

Prior to public comment, Councilman Jasbinder Singh said he had gone through the financial analysis completed by the consultants and found different results on his own, and he is not pleased with the consultants’ information. He asked if he could share his own presentation on the matter during the meeting.

Though council members Grace Wolf, Sheila Olem, Bill Tirrell and Lisa Merkel said they felt it would be more appropriate if he gave his presentation at the next work session on the matter, Mayor Steve DeBenedittis said he would allow him to share his information after public comment.

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Richard Downer, former Herndon councilman, said, “I think what the planning commission has given you is an excellent piece of work.” He said it shows the amount of time that the town and residents have spent working toward the plan.

Downer said he agrees that the extension to Worldgate Drive is critical and should be done as soon as possible. He said he hopes the council can begin work with the county so that a circulator bus route for Herndon could be implemented.

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Herndon resident Chuck Phipps said he is happy that Herndon has worked to maintain a traditional downtown while modernizing and growing and he supports the plan. He said it keeps Herndon’s values in mind and urged the council to trust the process and consultants without analyzing the work of the analysts too much.

Sean Regan, also a Herndon resident, said this is an opportunity for the town to do something great. “Doing bold things is sometimes scary, but I know that the world rewards bold efforts,” he said.

Regan said leaving the area untouched would be a wasted opportunity for the town. He said redeveloping around the Metro station will relieve the pressure to redevelop the downtown area, which will be able to remain at a low density.

Herndon resident Joel Mills said, “I think you need to pass this and pass it now.” He said hundreds of people have been involved in the public meetings and process throughout the planning and there has been a surprising degree of consensus.

Mills said the financial analysis statements done by consultants aren’t worth the paper they’re on because by the time redevelopment occurs the market will have changed and something else completely will occur. He said they need to stop picking at the plans and move forward.

Jeff Davidson of Herndon said he is proud that the current council has passed a downtown master plan. He said Metro is coming regardless and he supports the plan.

He said at one point this council made the decision to sell land to allow for the construction of limo facility because the process would allow the town to control what went there with zoning. He said the same applies here and the town has the opportunity to control the redevelopment.

Other residents who spoke said they support the plan and feel the level of density is reasonable, agree that a circulator bus will eventually be needed, and urged the town to move forward with transit oriented development—or development that focuses on getting people in and out on many forms of transportation.

The town also received critical comments on the plan.

Doug Shuster said there has been a lot of good work done and he likes a lot of things about the plan, such as the fact that it’s green, mixed use and bike and pedestrian friendly, however he thinks it’s too big.

“In this case I think you’re going just a little bit too far,” Shuster said. He said he doesn’t agree with having higher density north of Herndon Parkway and questions how many new residents and vehicles would come into Herndon because of it. The traffic plan is confounding and there are many constraints that could be negative, he said.

After public comment Singh said when they first began looking at the plan one of the numbers consultants and planners through out was the floor area ration of 4.5 and thinks finally concluding on 4.5 happened because it was considered early on.

Floor area ratio, or FAR refers to the square footage of the building in relation to the lot, and is a measure of how dense a piece of land may be. For example an FAR of 1.0 would mean the square footage of the building would be the same amount as the square footage of the lot of land it sits on.

Singh said he is concerned with the amount of parking that will be needed for the development and the fact that much of it won’t be able to be constructed underground because of the geography of the area.

Councilman Tirrell made a motion to continue the public hearing for the comprehensive plan amendment to December 13. The council eventually voted to move the next public hearing on the subject to November 8 to give residents another chance to speak on it before it has to be voted on.

Tirrell said he supports the plan and agrees with Mills, who said the financial analysis is a snapshot in time and can’t predict the future markets. He said the town cannot afford its own bus system and it will probably be a long way off before the town can work with the county to get a circulator.

Tirrell said if they consider a lower FAR it sends the message for developers to look elsewhere. He said without it there is no incentive for them to knock down currently existing and operational buildings to construct larger ones. He said while they may have figures and numbers now, the market will still dictate what happens there.  

During Singh’s presentation he said he finds the amount that will be possible to be constructed there too high. He said they could have 6.5 million square feet of office space by 2035 and 4.4 million square feet of residential. He said the number of residents in the town will increase by nearly 40 percent.

Only having one road connecting the development will be detrimental since there will be very few ways for traffic to move about. He said he is also concerned with the amount of open space that will be available, and Herndon’s parks are already overused. He said he worries about the quality of life those residents and others nearby will have.

Singh said if the town moves forward with 100 percent office and retail, by his calculations they can have an FAR as low as 2.5 in the area. Singh's presentation is attached to this article as a PDF document. 

During Singh’s presentation members of council asked again if it was something they could discuss at the next work session and they moved forward with a vote, continuing the public hearing to Nov. 8. 


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