Top Stories in 2004
From the Times Community Newspapers
By Lise Hausrath Simmons
Jan. 11, 2005

The year 2004 was an unusually eventful one in Reston with the community celebrating its 40th anniversary, as well as the 90th birthday of its founder, Robert E. Simon Jr.

In between all the festive and commemorative events, the community's quasi-governmental body, the Reston Association (RA), tackled a number of major and ongoing issues.

The Reston Community Center (RCC), meanwhile, was plagued by controversy earlier in the year over how to conduct its annual preference poll. In the end, an RCC board member ended up resigning over the dispute.

A rejuvenated Reston Citizens Association (RCA), for its part, decided to conduct an in-depth study of whether Reston should become an incorporated town.

Continued development around Reston Town Center , the community's urban core, was also a focal point of the year, as was the nascent effort by Fairfax County to revitalize Lake Anne Village Center , Reston 's historic heart.

The community also heard from a steering committee established in June to look at how joint, mixed-use development at the future Wiehle Avenue Metro stop should proceed.

A number of odd and unexpected occurrences, including several sculpture thefts, also caught people's attention in this normally placid place.

Here is a look back at the major stories covered by The Reston Times in 2004.

Happy birthday Reston!

The partying began in earnest in early spring, when the community on April 17 celebrated its first Founder's Day, along with Bob Simon's 90th birthday.

During the day, there were all sorts of festivities, speeches and musical and dance performances at Lake Anne , including the unveiling of a bronze statue of Simon by sculptor Zak Oxman. The fun continued into the night with Lake Anne 's finest restaurants hosting special dinners for Reston's movers and shakers to honor Simon for his vision and hard work in creating this famed planned community.

The birthday theme and celebration of Reston 's uniqueness continued throughout the year at Reston 's many major events. A dedicated team of volunteers, led by the women of Myers Public Relations, dreamed up numerous ways for the community to celebrate, culminating in a final party on Nov. 26, the day of the 14th annual Reston Holiday Parade and the holiday tree lighting and sing-along at Reston Town Center .

The RA's float, a gigantic birthday cake covered with flowers, won first place for its ingenuity. The float celebrated not only Reston 's birthday but also Reston 's first-place win in 2004 in the international Communities in Bloom competition for its population size.

RA tackles difficult issues

While the community was having fun, the RA board of directors rolled up its sleeves to tackle several major projects that will have a direct and lasting impact on association members and area residents.

The RA board devoted the first few months of last year to trying to update Reston 's governing documents, including the Reston deed, articles of incorporation and bylaws. The project was highly controversial, with many vocal members of the community complaining about different aspects of the planned rewrite.

After spending many long meetings trying to overhaul the documents themselves, the RA board decided it made more sense to hire an outside attorney to draft an update to the documents. The board expects to hear from that attorney at its first meeting of the new year.

Another thorny issue the RA board tackled in 2004 was the question of whether the RA should buy or build a new headquarters. Working methodically, the board asked RA's Fiscal Committee to conduct an in-depth cost-benefit analysis to see if it made financial sense for the association to stop leasing a headquarters and, instead, own its own building.

The Fiscal Committee analysis showed overwhelmingly that it made sense for the RA to buy or build a new building. So, the RA board worked up a referendum, which the association mailed to residents last month, that would give the RA the power to buy or build. Referendum responses had to be returned to the RA by last week, Jan. 7.

In the meantime, recognizing that this aging community is in need of repair, the RA board commissioned a capital reserve study to try to put a dollar figure on how much money the association will need to spend on projects over the next 10 years. Results of that study also are expected soon.

Much of this work occurred while RA's executive leadership was in transition. Jerry Volloy left his post as executive vice president and chief executive officer in June to take a job in homeland security. He was replaced by Milton Matthews, an experienced city manager.

Lake Anne revitalization

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D) spearheaded efforts, along with officials of the Reston Community Reinvestment Corp., to keep Restonians informed about county plans to revitalize Lake Anne Village Center .

Hudgins called several well-attended community meetings, both before and after the county hired a consultant to study Lake Anne 's economic needs. The consultant hopes to issue a report on its work by early this year.

Town Center's next phase

While people were studying what to do to bring more vitality into the Lake Anne neighborhood, development continued apace in the Reston Town Center area.

KSI Inc. began excavation work in late July for Midtown, a luxury high-rise development, while Trammell Crow Residential continued work on a new condominium and apartment development on St. Francis Street .

Sallie Mae, the big student loan company, moved into its new, sunlit and art-filled corporate home along Bluemont Way . And work began on The Paramount, another luxury high-rise next door to the Reston Regional Library.

Summing up pending or anticipated development projects in Reston, as well as Reston's past, three men who played an important role in Reston's development over the years—Chuck Veatch, Jim Cleveland and Joe Ritchey—briefed the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce at a sold-out luncheon in November.

Among the trends pointed to in Reston 's future was explosive residential development, especially condominiums in the Town Center area. Ritchey reported that there are about “3,000 to 4,000 condominium units in the pipeline today.”

Wiehle Avenue Metro stop

Not surprisingly, a future development project that was high on everyone's list is the planned Wiehle Avenue Metro stop.

Hudgins appointed a special steering committee in June to give advice to Fairfax County on how that project should unfold, and the committee forwarded its recommendations to the county a few weeks ago.

Next month, the county plans to issue a request for proposal to developers in connection with the project: a high-density, mixed-use development that will try to get people out of their cars as much as possible.

Should Reston become a town?

Under the leadership of Mike Corrigan, a rejuvenated Reston Citizens Association board of directors decided to take an in-depth look at whether Reston should become a town.

Originally wanting to go to the Virginia General Assembly to seek a draft charter this year, the RCA board slowed down the pace of its project while it continues to speak with Reston and county entities that would be impacted by such a change.

Changes at RCC

Things got a little contentious at the Reston Community Center last year, with the RCC Board of Governors divided at times over how to conduct the annual RCC preference poll, which is the method used for picking people who will be appointed by the county Board of Supervisors to serve on the RCC board.

Some board members wanted to use mailed-out ballots in an effort to increase voter participation in the preference poll, while others, including Chairman Beverly Cosham and Hunter Mill Supervisor Hudgins, were concerned that procedure would lead to voter fraud.

In the end, a walk-in voting procedure was used once again, and, when the community voted to return Cosham and board Vice Chairman Terry Smith to the nine-member board, member John Lovaas resigned.

Strange happenings

This relatively crime-free community saw its share of uncommon developments in 2004, beginning with the theft of a life-size statue of a woman during the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival in May. The missing sculpture of a scantily clad young woman was found in June.

Then, in October, someone took Bob Simon's bronze statue from its bench seat at Lake Anne Village Center and set it to rest by a small canal just past Simon's real home at Heron House. The statue, a gift to Reston unveiled on Founder's Day last spring, was recently returned to its seat next to Lake Anne .

Finally, two area banks were robbed in November, something that is seldom seen in this community. One of the robbers was apprehended by police.

© Times Community Newspapers 2005