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Lake Anne Proposals to Be Submitted to County
From the Times Community
By John C. Marcario
Nov. 16, 2005

Several revitalization proposals for Lake Anne Village Center will be submitted this Friday to Fairfax County for possible inclusion in its capital improvements budget for next year.

Robert Fields, the county's director of revitalization, spoke about the proposals at the Reston Community Reinvestment Corp.'s (RCRC) monthly meeting Nov. 10.

“ The purpose of this is to assist the revitalization of Lake Anne,” Fields said.

In order to have any chance of being selected for the budget, proposals must be submitted to the county's capital improvements budget, according to Fields. However, there is no guarantee when or even if the projects will be chosen once they have been submitted, Fields said.

“It may take three or four years for the county to select your project,” cautioned Fields, who noted the county receives hundreds of proposals each year.

But Fields and the RCRC board were optimistic that at least one Lake Anne proposal could get selected next year.

The RCRC board, a nonprofit organization, has spent several years working on Lake Anne revitalization plans.

The proposals

One Lake Anne proposal calls for construction of a 1,000-space parking deck at Lake Anne Village Center—its exact location to be determined at a later time.

Fields said this request should be easily accepted by those in the county who make the decisions because it could be used to support other activities in the area and would provide Lake Anne with a “chip at the table” that would act as incentive for a private developer.

The parking deck would have to be public, not private, parking and would not be a commuter lot or a park and ride.

Fields apologized to the RCRC board because, in the original draft proposal, he used the phrase park and ride incorrectly in referring to the parking deck.

“It is not going to be a park and ride,” Fields stressed several times.

There also would be no time restrictions on who could use the spaces because the deck would be public. Parking decks at Reston Town Center can have spaces reserved for three-hour parking because they are private, but that would not be the case at Lake Anne.

A second proposal will request $3 million for signage construction. The third request seeks water rights to Lake Anne while the fourth request focuses on pedestrian safety.

Capital improvement specifics

The county will select the projects to receive capital improvement money by November 2006. Fields said there will be around $20-30 million allocated for revitalization projects in Fairfax County. He noted this number had not been finalized and that it would be distributed between all projects chosen.

In January or February of next year, the county executive will submit proposals to county leaders for consideration. The county will then work with the requests and hold several public hearings on the budget.

Specific dates have not been announced for those public hearings.

In late spring or early summer, proposal groups will be notified if they have been selected for the budget.

“Those are tentative dates. A specific schedule has not filtered down to my level,” Fields said.

If a proposal is not chosen for 2006, it could still be considered in future years.

Board action

The RCRC board passed a motion to ask Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) for $250,000 to $300,000 to hire a design consultant for the Lake Anne revitalization project.

“The purpose of this request is to get the ball rolling,” said Phillip Tobey, RCRC vice president.

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Lake Anne Revitalization Timeline

1998: Fairfax County designates Lake Anne a revitalization area. A special committee called Reston Community Revitalization Corp. (RCRC) was formed that same year. For several years the committee was dormant.

2002: Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Woods) appoints longtime Reston resident Kurt Pronske president of RCRC. Since his appointment, the organization has been active in getting attention and support for the revitalization of Lake Anne.

March 2005: A consultants' study, conducted by Basile, Baumann Prost & Associates Inc., is issued March 9. It argues that retail sales at the center will continue to decline and jeopardize the village center's long-term health if nothing is done to bring new life and more people to Lake Anne. It recommends a range of actions that could be taken to revitalize the area, starting with increased marketing and leading up to major redevelopment of the center and surrounding property, including land now owned by a Lutheran church and the 181-unit Crescent Apartments.

May 17 and 24, 2005: A series of nine focus groups are conducted over those days. Community members talk about what they would like preserved and changed at Lake Anne Village Center. Most say the center's entranceway needs to be opened up, creating a tree-lined view of the fountain in Lake Anne all the way from Baron Cameron Avenue.

June 16-18, 2005: A public think session, or "charrette," takes place to come up with a consensus on the approach for revitalization of Lake Anne. After three days of meetings, residents suggest changes should allow Lake Anne to make a "profound" statement in the community. Participants also call for the elimination of the Association of School Business Officials building from the entrance of Lake Anne.

August 2005: Fairfax County begins the process of looking at revitalization areas to be included in its capital improvements budget for 2006.

Nov. 18, 2005: A formal Lake Anne revitalization proposal is expected to be submitted by Robert Fields, the county's director of revitalization projects, so the Lake Anne project can be placed on Fairfax County's 2006 capital improvements budget.

November-December 2005: RCRC will submit to Supervisor Hudgins a request asking for $250,000 to $300,000 to hire a design consultant. RCRC also will continue to hear alternative revitalization ideas.

January 2006: If given the money to hire a design consultant, RCRC wants to have the consultant begin work shortly after the holidays.

June 2006: Fairfax County will release the names of all revitalization projects that are on its capital improvements budget.

June-November 2006: RCRC will have a big push to educate people on what getting the money would mean for Lake Anne revitalization; will include holding public meetings. The dates of these meetings have not yet been released.

November 2006: The county selects projects that will receive budget money for the upcoming year.

© Times Community Newspapers 2005