Author: chogan@directresearch.com

Reston rethinks increased density. Vienna doesn’t. 3/13/2019

Just in case you may have missed it, there’s been quite a controversy going on in Reston over increased building density.  The County was on a roll to rewrite the zoning there to allow higher density (more persons and dwelling units per acre).  They got a lot of pushback from the citizens.  And now, that plan for increased density has been indefinitely deferred.

It’s not clear at this point whether that deferral will be the sort of sham that the Vienna MAC moratorium is shaping up to be.  But there is at least the possibility that they may genuinely try to rethink higher density in Reston.  (See this page for my talk with a Board of Supervisors candidate Parker Messick, whose main platform plank is opposition to excess development in the Hunter Mill district.)

You may wonder why I call the MAC moratorium a sham. Well, there are a lot of reasons.  Unlike my usual writing, I’m not even going to provide citations as to source (links) here.   If you’ve been reading my website, you’ll know that I have been pointing out these facts (with a handful of guesses) for some time.

Continue reading Reston rethinks increased density. Vienna doesn’t. 3/13/2019

Vienna public meetings on MAC zoning, week of 3/11/2019

This week there are three Town of Vienna public meetings regarding changes to Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning.

On Wednesday 3/13/2019 at 5:30 PM, the “Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) Design Guidelines Working Group” will meet in Town Hall.  (I have no idea who they are, or what they do.)

The notice for this meeting — but no other materials or explanation — can be found at this URL:

https://www.viennava.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=4905&month=3&year=2019&day=13&calType=0

On Wednesday 3/13/2019 at 7:00 PM, the Planning Commission will discuss proposed changes to MAC zoning, in Town Hall.

The materials for this meeting can be found at this URL:

https://vienna-va.legistar.com/DepartmentDetail.aspx?ID=35871&GUID=5F43A6E1-E522-486D-A271-B83ED29861B9
The Town should post an audio recording of this meeting within two days, which you should be able to find by looking under the Media column on this page:

https://vienna-va.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

On Friday 3/15/2019 at 8:00 AM (note, AM), the Board of Architectural Review will have a work session discussion of the proposed MAC design guidelines.

The materials for this meeting can be found at this URL (although all you have is an agenda that says they will discuss the design guidelines).

hhttps://vienna-va.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=683425&GUID=D5684B63-B335-454D-B745-B121C7F99703&Options=info&Search=
The Town should post an audio recording of this meeting within two days of the meeting, which you should be able to find by looking under the Media column on this page:

https://vienna-va.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Separately, Tonight, the Town Council will meet at 8 PM (3/11/2019) to discuss the operating budget for the coming year.  If you have an interest in where the Town gets and spends its money, this is the place to start.  A video of this meeting should be posted by the Town within two days of this at  https://vienna-va.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

The Town reserves the right to change or cancel meetings on short notice, so check the Town’s general calendar before you go, at this URL:  https://www.viennava.gov/Calendar.aspx?NID=1&FID=220

Capital Bikeshare, trip flow visualizations 3/11/2019

Links to a flow map of the entire Capital Bikeshare system added 3/14/2019.

Reston and Tysons Bikeshare Flows

The links below take you to maps showing the average daily flow of trips, for the Reston and Tysons Bikeshare network, for 2018.  I only show the 20 most-frequently-used origin-destination pairs, separately for Reston and Tysons, separately for each map. Continue reading Capital Bikeshare, trip flow visualizations 3/11/2019

Dockless Bikes as an alternative to Capital Bikeshare, 3/10/2019

After analyzing the data and writing extensively on Capital Bikeshare — a bike sharing system using dedicated bike “docks” — I decided to take a quick look at dockless bike rental alternatives.

In a nutshell, dockless systems — where the bikes can be parked anywhere, and you can rent them using an app on your smart phone — have some huge advantages over docked systems like Capital Bikeshare.  I summarize those advantages below.  But they can cause a mess if people park them willy-nilly.  Most of the cities that have allowed dockless bike rental have ended up passing significant laws to regulate them — particularly, to regulate where you can leave them parked.

Detail follows.  Drop down to the paragraph in red to see my summary. Continue reading Dockless Bikes as an alternative to Capital Bikeshare, 3/10/2019

Board of Supervisors candidate Parker Messick, 3/7/2019

I had the privilege of chatting with Parker Messick earlier this week, at Caffe Amouri.  He’s one of four candidates seeking election to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors from the Hunter Mill district, following the announced retirement Supervisor Catherine Hudgins.

This was a first for me, in many ways, so let me share a few things that I learned. Continue reading Board of Supervisors candidate Parker Messick, 3/7/2019

Bioretention, 3/7/2019

A colleague asked about the “bioretention area” in the 380 Maple West proposal (Maple and Wade Hampton, 40 condos).  I had to learn about this topic nearly ten years ago, for a construction project at the church I was attending.  On this page, I’ll try to put that learning to use, and explain what that bioretention area is, what key role it plays here, and what the potential drawbacks are. Continue reading Bioretention, 3/7/2019

Capital Bikeshare rack location, data analysis, 3/8/2019.

On this page, I describe the issue facing Vienna, and then profile the typical Capital Bikeshare user and analyze data on Capital Bikeshare use in Tyson’s Corner and Reston.  See a separate page for a quick summary of dockless bike alternatives.

Gray pins in the map below flag the low level of use of Capital Bikeshare bike racks (“docks”) installed around the Tysons and Reston Metros, in 2018

Continue reading Capital Bikeshare rack location, data analysis, 3/8/2019.

2019-03-04 Town Council/Planning Commission work session, audio and index

The Town Council and Planning Commission held a joint work session on 3/4/2019 to discuss three items:  two MAC projects (380 Maple West and the Sunrise assisted living facility), and to discuss restrictions on private meetings between property developers and elected or appointed Town officials. Continue reading 2019-03-04 Town Council/Planning Commission work session, audio and index

Some trivia from the Town Council/Planning Commission meeting, 3/5/2019

On 3/4/2019, the Town Council and Planning Commission had a joint meeting to discuss 380 Maple West (40 condos at Maple and Wade Hampton), and the proposed Sunrise assisted living (85 rooms, more than 100 beds?, Maple and Center).  They also discussed placing limits on private (non-public) meetings between elected and appointed Town officials and developers.

There’s a lot to talk about here, and I hope to do so, but in this post, I’m going to talk about a seeming trivial thing.  Because the one thing that sticks in my mind, from all of last night’s meeting, is the extent to which the Town just seems to make up the zoning rules as it goes along.

The example here is the difference between abutting properties and adjacent properties.  These terms, as used in real estate, are well-defined.  Properties abut if they literally touch.  Properties are adjacent if they are near one another, and no other piece of private property comes between them.  So you and your next-door neighbor on the same side of the street have abutting property; you and your directly-across-the-street neighbor have adjacent property. Continue reading Some trivia from the Town Council/Planning Commission meeting, 3/5/2019

Somebody is confused about the Town’s traffic study, 3-4-2019

Maybe I’m confused.  Maybe Town Council is confused.  Either way, one of us has to be wrong about this.

The Vienna Town Council has made much out of a “traffic study” that Town staff commissioned.  But it sure sounds to me as if none of them has actually read the scope of work for the study they voted to fund. (here, as a .pdf.)

I wrote a page almost two months ago, where I analyzed the description of the proposed traffic study.  (Read it, in blue, halfway down this page.) My opinion then was that it would be useless from the standpoint of assessing the long-run impact of MAC on traffic.  Instead, the point of the study appeared to be to speed up development by helping the Town to develop a standard transportation “proffer” that it would expect all MAC developers to pay. Continue reading Somebody is confused about the Town’s traffic study, 3-4-2019