Reston: What should 'New Town' become... and how?
by Gene Powell, staff writer
There’s no debate that the Reston of 2026 is not, and cannot return to, what it was when founded in the 1960s. But the path to what Reston will be is complicated by differing plans, high-stakes investment, contentious disputes, vocal community groups, and even angry, anonymous online threats. Will the trend-setting planned community born in the 1960s retain its high-quality mix of business, commercial, residential, and recreational opportunities? Or will it build itself through slow transformation, some say “slide,” into just another metropolitan suburb?
Most recently, a quickening pace of new and repurposed development has focused on new apartments and townhomes, with multiple projects centered on the transportation corridor containing Metro’s Silver Line and the Dulles Toll Road that bisects the town.
There are some 11,000 new “residential units” in the study or planning phase or under construction. “Reston North,” “Reston East,” “Reston Crossing,” “Halley Rise” and “West of Wiehle” are large studies, projects or proposals that involve commercial, professional, and public spaces; and residential uses. There are at number of smaller developments on the table, most with townhouse communities replacing existing commercial buildings.
And then there is the highly contested proposal to replace at least one of Reston’s two original golf courses with townhomes, perhaps sharing the space with a park or a revised and improved golf course.
County officials, developers, and opponents of various kinds of redevelopment all identify the long-standing controversy over the future of Reston National Golf Course as “the” example of issues involved in Reston’s future.
The golf course’s owners over the past 14 years have suggested alternative uses for the 164-acre tract south of the Dulles Toll Road: building out entirely in favor of multi-design townhomes, dividing the property between housing and some version of a public “linear park. A plan moving forward now involves upgrading the existing course while using a 14-acre tract on one side of the course for housing.
Community groups and others argue on multiple fronts. One is reserving Reston founder Robert E. Simon’s original vision of two golf courses as a mainstay of the town’s commitment to “open space” and recreation. Another is defending a long-term Comprehensive Plan–updated as recently as 2025–that was intended to balance Simon’s vision with the inevitable evolution of his dream city.
Developers argue the present 18-hole public course and its amenities are not economically viable and want to make changes including a driving range upgrade and a second, mid-course restaurant.
One of the recent voices on the course’s future is Michele Hudnall, a longtime Reston resident, president of the Whitney Park East Cluster Association, one of the town’s organized neighborhoods, and a Realtor. Earlier this year, she presented town and county authorities with a study she did of about 800 residences adjacent or close to the course. She reported that turning the course over to residential use would drop adjacent home values by 15% and nearby home values by 10%.
Hudnall, who said she has received anonymous online threats since speaking out, said she is not opposed to any or all development but insists county officials require all projects to be rigorously reviewed through the lens of the Comprehensive Plan.
“We need to honor the past but not be shackled by it,” an approach she calls “governed growth” when considering future land use across Reston. “What I am seeing is a pattern: ‘We have all these empty office spaces. But those are failed businesses, not failed buildings.”
Connie Hartke, president of the grassroots Rescue Reston group, a Realtor and a board member of the Reston Citizens Association, is a frequent speaker against “any housing” on Reston National’s property.
She noted that the Hunter Mill District, the area of Fairfax County that includes Reston and a part of Tysons Corner, “has more development, in construction, planned and in development” than any other district in the county.
Hartke and Rescue Reston are focused on opposing development of both Reston National, south of the Dulles Toll Road, and the private Hidden Creek Country Club course north of the road. She said the pair are a focus of the town’s Comprehensive Plan for development. “If the toll road is the ‘spine’ of Reston, the golf courses are the ‘lungs’ of Reston. Why give up that open space when there are plenty of other places” to build, she asked.
Hartke is not opposed to dense, even high-rise projects such as the 23.8-acre Reston Crossing along Edmund Halley Drive, south of the Town Center Metro station, which could include 40-story buildings and up to 1,400 new residential units. She said the area known as the Reston Transit Station zone is where such dense housing should be located. She calls Rescue Reston’s development view “right kind, right place.”
Looking to the future, Hartke is concerned that Reston’s traditional mix of government, commercial and residential space will be skewed heavily toward residential, costing the town open space and “places where small business…and educational opportunities like trade schools” can find a home.
“I live in Reston, not on the golf course, and I like being able to drive five minutes to a grocery, six minutes to downtown.” She also fears recreational businesses and areas in Reston will be threatened someday by the same economic pressures driving the proposal to redevelop Reston National. “If we didn’t have these recreational opportunities (nearby), working parents and grandparents might not have the time” to get their children to “far away” facilities, she said.
Next: Big changes in big spaces coming to Reston
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