| Town
Efforts Continue |
By Leah M. Kosin
Observer Staff Writer |
| The Reston Citizens Association discussed the financial
issues involved with incorporating Reston as a town during
a workshop Saturday morning at the Reston Regional Library.
|
| About 20 Reston residents attended the event during which
they reviewed the current budgets of Reston Association and
the Reston Community Center. Portions of those budgets, as
well as other potential revenue sources for the "Town
of Reston," were also discussed. |
| "The three workshops on town services, finances and
legislation are being held to go through the RCA proposal
with the community in depth to determine any improvements
that we can make to it," said Mike Corrigan, president
of RCA. "We believe the community should have the right
to vote on the best town alternative to the status quo that
we can prepare." |
| Saturday's workshop was part of the long process that the
Reston community has gone through on this issue, including
efforts in the 1970s and 1980s, he said. Serious attempts
to incorporate Reston as a town were mounted in the late 1970s
and again in the 1980s. |
| Corrigan said in an interview Tuesday that the effort in
the 1970s resulted in a referendum in 1980. That referendum,
though, he said, was rejected, mostly because it had a very
"weak" town charter. The 1988 effort fell apart
for various reasons, but most participants favored a town
along the lines of that proposed by RCA, he said. |
| Reston is currently classified as an unincorporated community
in Fairfax County, and there are multiple sets of possible
boundaries for a town, he said. Corrigan said RCA believes
the most logical boundaries are those of the RCC tax district,
which includes RA, Reston Town Center, Reston Center for Industry
and Government and Deepwood, as well as some other small adjacent
areas. A map of the tax district is available at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/Huntermill/.
|
| According to Corrigan, one of the chief reasons Reston needs
to become a town is to preserve founder Bob Simon's original
goals for the community as guiding principles for the future.
These goals include proper respect for the environment, an
esthetic community, housing for all stages of life and all
levels of income, and recreational and cultural amenities. |
| Another chief reason is that it would give Reston the same
level of voice in community issues that Herndon and Vienna
have on issues affecting the community, including the expansion
of Metro, he said. |
| "As Metro approaches, there will be some new opportunities
and stresses on the community that we will need to deal with,
and we believe they would best be dealt with through a town,"
Corrigan said. "Without a mayor, town council and a minimum
town staff, there is no good venue for many issues involved
in community planning and infrastructure maintenance and development." |
| Reston is faced with a number of other obstacles, he said,
and in order to become a town, the Virginia General Assembly
must pass a law allowing the community to hold a referendum
on the issue. If the referendum is approved, then Reston would
become a town. |
| But Corrigan said Fairfax County legislators have asked
to see evidence that the people of Reston would like a referendum
on the issue, so RCA started a petition for a referendum.
|
| "There is no established legal standard for what would
constitute evidence of the will of the people, but clearly,
the more signatures the better," he said. |
| Corrigan said the deadline for the petition is driven by
the General Assembly's January session. While it is not required
that the county indicate its acceptance of the idea, Corrigan
said such acceptance would be extremely helpful. |
| "So we need to have a town proposal and draft legislation
ready for review by the county probably no later than September,
if we want to get legislation in the January 2008 legislative
session," he said. |
| A final workshop on the issue will be July 28 at the Reston
library from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The workshop will cover
the legislative language and charter that would be submitted
for review by the county and the approach that would be taken
for transitioning into a town. |
| Following the last workshop, RCA will revise their 2005
town proposal and submit a new proposal to Fairfax County.
|
| The group will then make "any appropriate changes due
to comments in the county review and submit the proposed legislation"
and the petitions to local legislators. If the legislation
is passed, the referendum would be held in November 2008,
he said. So if residents decide to incorporate as a town,
elections for Mayor and Town Council could be held as early
at May 2009. |
| Visit http://restoncitizensassociation.org/. |
