Reston Planning & Zoning Approved Fairway Expansion

JGB's design to transform the 328 Fairway garden-style apartments into 804 residences including four and five story apartment buildings and townhouses was approved by the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee in April.  Read about the Reston Citizens Association opposition to the proposal in the Reston Patch for more information.

Hickory Cluster Annual Meeting 2011

Hickory Cluster Annual Meeting
RCC- Lake Anne
May 21st, 2011  9-11am
2011 Annual Meeting Doc
Hickory Cluster president Fred Schwartzendruber gave community updates on....

• LA Canal Dredging: Dredging is complete, water bags will take a week or so to drain and will then be removed. 
• RELAC: Up and running and is expected to get performance benefits from the recent RA canal dredging.
• Stream Restoration: The Forest Edge restoration project is coming to a close.  WSSI is still on target to begin the HC stream restoration next Fall.  Funding has not yet been secured but may be 'bridged' as has been done in other portions of the project throughout Reston. WSSI will present the next phase to the DRB at an upcoming meeting. 
• 11501 Maple Ridge: Renovations have halted and the homeowner is in communication with RA and DRB concerning design issues.  HC is registered as an affected party.

Hickory Cluster board member Madeline Cohen spoke about HC reserves being at a level where we can soon plan needed repairs to Block 3 stucco and rusted metalwork as well as plantings and maintenance for planters throughout the cluster.

Board member Michael Poss spoke about local efforts to gain National Historic Registry Status for Lake Anne Plaza and improvements slated for the Gonzalo Fonseca Underpass (the HC North Shore Drive underpass).
Virginia Department of Historic Resources Form 4/2011

Two board members were up for re-election, Judith Loomis & Madeline Cohen.  Ralph Youngren and Michael Smith announced their interest in running for the seats as well.  Ralph Youngren and Michael Smith were elected to the Hickory Cluster board. 

A very special thank you with infinite gratitude to Judith and Madeline for their great work on the board and off in support of Hickory Cluster and its residents!

North Shore Heated Pool Opens

Season 5 for the Reston Association pools has begun!  RA complete pool schedule here.

Season 5: North Shore Pool Hours: Sept 6-25, 2011
Weekdays: 3pm-9pm (after 9/11 closed at 7pm)
Weekends:  11am-7pm

Need a pool pass?  Online here or in person available at RA 12001 Sunrise Valley Drive.

Keep Swimming!

Cluster-wide Community Yard Sale on Saturday 5/14 8am-1pm

Hickory Cluster & Maple Ridge Community Yard Sale

Saturday, May 14th 2011 from 8am-1pm 

• Set up sale items in front of your place
• Signs will be posted throughout the area
• Please park on North Shore Drive before the sale to free up space for shoppers
• Please break down by 1:30pm on Saturday
• No trash on curb until Sunday night, thanks!
• PLEASE HELP!  If you can assist with posting signs, please contact Madeline Cohen

Lake Anne Farmers Market 2011 Season Opener

Saturdays 8am-12pm May-October

Fresh produce, plants, meats, baked goods, prepared foods, entertainment, crafts, wares, etc... check it out on any given Saturday at Lake Anne Plaza, rain or shine!

RA Projects in and Near HC

LAKE ANNE CANAL DREDGING
On April 25, Reston Association began dredging Lake Anne Canal, located near North Shore Pool, and will continue for about another week. We are using a small floating dredging machine at the canal, which hydraulically pumps the soil and water from the lake bottom through hoses to dewatering bags located on the old volleyball court in Hickory Cluster. The water level will remain unaffected. There will be some engine noise from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. each weekday and maybe on Saturday. There will be some turbidity in the lake during the dredging period, but this will be about the same as experienced after a strong thunderstorm.
Should you have any special needs, questions or concerns, please contact Dan Warfield at 703-435-6549 or Danny@reston.org. 
Note: RA task done every six/seven years and to be complete by RELAC operation season.

MORE WORK AT LAKE ANNE – LAKE FOUNTAIN TO BE REPLACED
Along with the Lake Anne fountain replacement, there will be several upgrades necessary. These include a new electrical system to operate the fountain, removal of several abandoned conduits on the bottom of the lake and dredging the bottom to allow for proper operation of the fountain. The new fountain will be in operation by the end of May, barring any unforeseen difficulties or scheduling conflicts.
Please contact Paul Priestley at 703-435-6541 or email Paul@Reston.org if you have any questions.


Lake Anne Dredging & HC Stream Restoration Response 

Reston Association has an easement giving them access through Hickory Cluster for dredging the pond to ensure the water supply needed by RELAC. In the past RA has brought-in heavy earthmoving equipment, and used our volleyball court as a staging area for the work. Any damage was then rectified by RA when the work was complete. This time, RA has hired Wetland Studies & Solutions, which is using a new technology to dredge the cove next to the RELAC inlet, without bringing in earthmoving equipment (which I consider a big advantage). The cove has a heavy build-up of silt (about 3 ft., according to the site foreman) and this was not removed in recent years because it would have required temporarily lowering the lake level, then draining water from Lake Newport to restore the level at Lake Anne when the work was done; this is also quite disruptive and again requires the use of earthmoving equipment. The tradeoff is that the filtration bags on the volleyball court need to remain for 2-3 weeks after the pumping is finished so that the silt is dry enough to haul away. Compared with the use of the volleyball court as a staging area for earthmovers, I don't consider the filtration bags to be a real nuisance, but perhaps you see it differently.

WSS is not dredging the pond at this point because that is slated to happen as part of the upcoming stream restoration project which was discussed at length at the special community meeting last October. The volleyball court will again be used as a staging area for the restoration project, and WSS has committed to restoring the area to the community's specification when the project is finished. After discussion with participants at a community forum, we have asked WSS to convert that area to low-maintenance landscaping using native species and consistent with the surrounding area which will be replanted as part of the conservation project. The engineering design of the restoration is intended to preclude the need for dredging in the future (or at least to greatly minimize it), so if things go well we would no longer have periodic disruption of the site in order to protect RELAC.

At the community meeting on the restoration project last October, the main area of concern was the design of the standard bridge which will replace our existing (and delapidated) wooden bridge next to the pond. The community was very unhappy with the visual elements of the standard bridge, and Ralph Youngren was asked to come up with a design more appropriate to the Goodman architecture in Hickory Cluster. Ralph and Richard Speier (who established the Goodman Fund) held several meetings with WSS, RA, and cluster members on the site to discuss options, and drawings were presented at a member forum during one of the Board meetings. The preferred design was sent to WSS and RA representing the Cluster's recommendation, and this design was accepted. Not surprisingly, the upgraded bridge is going to cost more ($8,850 at last estimate) and the cluster was initially asked to contribute $3,000 toward this. We were able to negotiate an agreement with WSS that they would forgo this request and fully cover the additional bridge cost if the Cluster was able to move quickly on approving the conservation and construction easements (since delays could be costly to them). After a legal review by the Cluster's attorney, and some minor wording revisions which he recommended to the text of the easements to protect the Cluster's rights, the Board approved the easements and the permitting process is now well underway.

I am still hoping that the project will be able to begin in the Fall, though there are still some approvals in the pipeline, and WSS is also facing financing gaps because of a decline in payments into the stream restoration bank (which is financing the project) from developers as a result of the financial crisis. WSS has said that they are working on bridging finance (no pun intended) to enable the project to start on-time so that they can keep their crew at work instead of demobilizing them when the Forest Edge phase is complete, and then remobilizing at a later date (which is very inefficient for them). The permits are not within their control, so they can't give any guarantees about when the work will actually begin. We will provide the latest update at the Cluster's Annual Meeting later this month.

Best regards,
Fred Swartzendruber
HC Board President

Spring 2011 Cluster Clean-Up Scheduled

SAVE the DATE!
Cluster Clean-Up on Saturday & Sunday, April 30-May 1, 2011: 9am-1pm

Hickory Cluster took a beating this season and there'll be lots to do including: Ivy removal in natural areas, weeding in beds & cleaning of porches, carports and fence lines.

As you get ready for Spring, please take a look at the RA and Hickory Cluster guidelines pertaining to 'in view' storage items. Thank you!

RA Regs
HC Regs

Cookout in Block II will follow at 5pm.

Other ideas in the works...

• A scheduled big item trash pick-up day
• Clusterwide Yard Sale:  May 14, 8am-1pm

RA: Design Review Board Agenda for March 22, 2011 @7PM

Below is a link to the March 22, 2011 7PM DRB agenda.  On two items to be discussed, the HC Board has registered HC as an Affected Party.

1. Possible design changes to 11501 Maple Ridge
2. North Shore tennis court conversion to 6 mini practice courts. (Courts next to the Lake Anne canal)

DRB AGENDA

Reston Association

12001 Sunrise Valley Drive

Reston, VA 20191-3404

RA's Proposed North Shore Tennis Court Redesign

RA is proposing to convert the two North Shore tennis courts into six smaller training courts (see photo below).  The HC Board objects to the proposal for the reasons posted below.  If you are concerned about the proposal (con or pro), please plan to attend the DRB meeting at RA Headquarters on March 8th at 7pm. 

Read RA's DRB Application here.

HCA has the following concerns about the North Shore Tennis Court Redesign proposal:

1.  It will eliminate 100% of ONLY TWO existing full-size North Shore tennis courts within easy walking distance of Hickory Cluster, thus denying Hickory Cluster resident tennis players and guests future use of these courts.

2.  Small dedicated teaching courts could be better accommodated at RA tennis facilities with more courts, such as Lake Newport or Hook Road, where elimination of two full-size courts would impact a MUCH smaller percentage of total existing courts, and where there is more room to expand with new construction if necessary.

3.  It may add to existing traffic congestion at the North Shore Drive entrance to adjacent parking and create additional intersection safety issues near the Maple Ridge Road entrance to Hickory Cluster Blocks 1 and 2.

The Lake Anne Canal Swing is Back!

Hooray for RA!