“Reston already has more urban infrastructure than Tysons,” said Fairfax County planner Richard Lambert. “Tysons was a large group of office parks. They had the car shops and retailers all along there, where this area of Reston already has some higher density areas.”

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Companies prefer Reston Town Center to Tysons Corner so much that they sometimes pay 50 percent more in rent to be there. Raymond Ritchey, developer of much of Reston Town Center and head of the Washington-area office of Boston Properties, is fond of saying that companies never leave Reston Town Center for Tysons. Planners think that’s partly because Reston Town Center feels more like a neighborhood.

“In Tysons, people wanted what was happening in Tysons to be separate from the communities around it, where Reston wants integration with the areas around the [Dulles] Toll Road with the rest of Reston culturally and economically,” Lambert said.

The Reston plan approved on Tuesday offers a blueprint for what the county would like to see built around three Silver Line Metro stations: the Wiehle-Reston East Station, scheduled to open this year, and the Reston Town Center and Herndon stations, which will be built as part of the second phase. In all, the plan allows for 30 million square feet of office space and 28,000 housing units around the stations.

(Images courtesy of Fairfax County)

There are similarities to the Tysons plan. For one, the station areas need more residents, which in turn will likely lead to more station usage and amenities like shops and restaurants. Within a quarter mile of the three stations, the plan calls for equal amounts of residential and office development, but residential can make up more (up to 75 percent) of the development between a quarter-mile and half-mile from each stop.

“We’re truly trying to make this area a place where people can live,” Lambert said. “We’re trying to bring more housing into the area, because right now it’s still mostly just a major employment center in Fairfax.”

There are no restrictions on how high buildings can be built in the transit-oriented development (TOD) areas. Like in Tysons (and Arlington before it) the idea is to have the tallest buildings closest to the stations, and zoning decisions will be made with that in mind.

“ It doesn’t say you can’t build a certain height, but if you want to build a 40-story building and you’re a half-mile from the station and everything close to the station is shorter than you, that probably isn’t the best use,” Lambert said.

The business community applauded the plan’s passage. “Change is coming to Reston, and we believe that the Master Plan captures and enhances the original principles for Reston’s growth: mixed-use development, expanded public transportation, appreciation for design, and respect for the environment,” said Mark Ingrao, president and chief executive of Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce, in a statement.

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The plan passed 7-2.

But not everyone in Fairfax thinks it’s a good plan. Some detractors say that allowing so much to be built before the Silver Line is operating runs the risk of dramatically worsening traffic, particularly if Metro does not catch on. And the shadow of a new tax district looms.

Fairfax County Supervisor Pat S. Herrity (R-Springfield) said he voted against it because he fears too much of the costs of needed transportation improvements will fall on residents and businesses rather than the developers building the projects.

“It is my fear that just as we did in Tysons, these requirements will be funded by a new tax on the residents and businesses in Reston,” he said in a statement.

Herrity didn’t much like the Tysons plan either. He voted against that one as well.