HERNDON’S FINAL (?) FIGHT FOR A SMALL-TOWN FEEL
March 22, 2016 § 3 Comments
Where Do The Two Recent Proposals Stand?
by
Jasbinder Singh
On February 19th, the Town received two proposals for the development of the downtown. It is time for you to review the proposals. You can view the summaries here and you can use the link here to view them from the town’s website.
- Pages From the Comstock Proposal
- Pages From the Stout Teague Proposal
- Link to Both Proposals (on the Town Website)
The proposals are substantially different from each other. The Comstock proposal conforms to the rezoning approved in 2014 and 2015 under Mayor Merkel and more in line with the height and mass projected in the 4-Part series on Herndon’s Fight for a Small Town Feel (click here to view Part-4 of the Series). The Stout & Teague proposal is more line with the density and form proposed for the Downtown Master Plan.
Comstock Proposal: Except for a stretch of Center Street, Comstock proposes to build 54’ high buildings along all streets. Comstock proposes to build 280 dwelling units (apartments), an 18,000 sq ft Art Center, 20,000 sq ft of retail along Elden and Station streets and a 766 car garage. It will feature English Basements along Center street. It will dominate the downtown with building masses larger than that of the disapproved Diamond Hotel along all streets. (Sketches provided with the proposals do not accurately portray the “massiveness” of the proposed structures.
Stout and Teague Proposal: This proposal features a 4-story hotel on the former Ashwell property, an 18,000 sq ft Art Center along with 3,500 sq ft office and 9,500 sq ft of retail space in one commercial building along Station Street, 18-22 townhouses along Center and Vine Streets, a 60 unit 3-4 story condo building on the current Art Space lot and a 450-475 public shared parking space.
The two proposals should have very different financial implications. You may want to think “free” Art Center for a moment and then click the “Free” Art Center article.
Please feel free to send in your comments using this website. The Town is still asking for clarifications from the developers and has not asked for comments from the public.
Herndon Opinion by Jasbinder Singh and friends 
As it is right now, traffic backs up almost from the Elden St/Sterling Rd intersection to past Monroe St and we are proposing building 250+ new apartments/hotel rooms in that very stretch of road. The average “home” yields some 10 trips per day by car so we are effectively increasing the demands on that part of Elden St by 2500 cars per day.
How/Is this being addressed?
I am not really concerned with the preservation of the old town feel, progress is inevitable, but reckless progress is what happened to Tysons Corner.
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We already know that the taxpayers of the Town have paid for the land for the Arts Center (about $5 million). What impact will either proposal have for our real estate tax rate? At one time (years ago) we were advised that the cost of an Arts Center would increase our Property Tax rate by $.05 per $100 of value.
The only reference to a possible increase in taxes (real estate, meals, etc.) is in the 2nd proposal from Stout and Teague.
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Who on the board is for the Comstock proposal? I think this proposal should be considered for property closer to Dulles Access Road. Let’s keep the larger buildings out of the center of town.
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