American Dream

No Pushovers at Tysons Hearing
With Encouragement From Fairfax, Civic Groups Question Developers
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 2, 2005; Page B01

Quotes:

Leaders of the McLean Citizens Association sat stoically unconvinced.

The civic group was being lobbied at a community center Tuesday night by representatives of the Tysons Corner Center, the capital region's largest mall, who were seeking support for their proposal to ring the retailing behemoth with office and condominium towers. As watercolor images of stylish mid-rises flashed on a screen, the mall's attorney extolled the plan as "spectacular."

To win approval for large-scale projects, county leaders often require developers to seek the favor of surrounding communities, an approach that amounts to the developer engaging in something like a political campaign.

It is unclear whether developers can create a traditional downtown at Tysons Corner, as county leaders want, while also heeding neighborhood demands.

But the mall representatives, whose proposal is one of the first to move to capitalize on the anticipated arrival of Metrorail to Tysons, are trying to shape public opinion in advance of county hearings planned for October.

Since 1994, the county land plan has called for creating a "downtown" at Tysons Corner, the capital region's second-largest job center, and as the rail plan advances, many developers have proposed bigger, more urban projects.

Anti-development pressure from homeowner groups and other organizations already has made a significant mark on the suburbs: More than half of the land surrounding the nation's capital is now protected from typical suburban housing development, according to The Washington Post's review of land plans in 14 counties in Virginia and Maryland.

Some argue that catering to not-in-my-backyard concerns can lead to decisions that sacrifice the greater good of the region. These neighborhood organizations have run afoul of environmental groups that often support dense developments as an antidote to sprawl.

"It's very frustrating," said Roger Diedrich, chairman of the Sierra Club's Virginia chapter, who lives in Fairfax. "It's natural for people to look at things from close to home. I think we're just looking at things from a broader perspective."

The effects of the Tysons Corner Center plan on traffic dominated Tuesday's discussion, and the crowd, many of whom have at least some familiarity with the intricacies of traffic planning, dived in on both sides.