June 27, 2008
Hotel Plan is Good Proposal for Downtown
To the editor:
As someone who spent almost a decade working as a planning commissioner on the downtown plan, I was proud of the work of the present Planning Commission at the recent works session to review the Diamond Properties hotel rezoning application. Involving citizen input on downtown projects is the only way to build consensus.
There were a few comments that some participants made that require a response involving how to evaluate height, mass and compatibility of the proposed project.
The downtown we inherited in the early 1980s to plan for had a huge dilapilated cement plant in the center featuring an elevator shaft and several acres of gravel and dirt. Instead of today’s municipal parking lot, we had a closed-down lumberyard about ready to fall down and a closed Citgo gas station prominently featured across from Town Hall.
Walking along Station Street, one passed the James building which the town government would soon leave, moving town employees out of the downtown. Continuing on our journey we would come to an auto repair shop complete with rusted-out bus resting in a make-shift junkyard. Across the street were a parking lot for tractors and an auto parts warehouse. As you rounded Center Street, one found a body shop, a metal works shop and then a metal shed sitting empty and falling down. Is this the quaint downtown people spoke about that the hotel project would ruin?
In all my years of studying downtowns, this application has the most distinctive detail in design I have ever seen. It is simply a gorgeous building. The hotel benefits the economics of the downtown better than any other use. This is true not only because of its accommodation tax that goes directly to the town, but because guests will be looking for restaurants, shops and entertainment all within walking distance of their vehicles parked at the hotel. Hotel use is also one of the best to disperse vehicular trip generation throughout the day rather than during rush hours. National advertising for the hotel will benefit the other merchants in the downtown.
The issue of density and height is best discussed in relation to its surroundings. This project is designed to work with existing businesses on Lynn and Pine streets. The facades of these existing businesses will provide a visual break-up of the infill of the block as well as ensure continuous pedestrian activity on all sides.
The employment of various storefront bays and street furnishings for this project advance the goals of our Main Street program. This hotel pretty much finishes the redevelopment of the block, which is surrounded by streets on all sides, allowing breathing space from other blocks even with the height at the time of the town ordinance.
The Town Hall green is directly across from this unified block and provides a combined setback to the rest of downtown development. One should think of height in this relationship rather than a building-by-building analysis. The setback and wide sidewalk on the Elden Street side ensures a clear vista traveling along Elden Street near Town Hall. The height gives prominence to spur redevelopment of the Pines Shopping Center, which is a decaying eyesore.
If we do not allow enough height and density to the Monroe Street area, where do we go with incentives to redevelop the side on which the shopping center is located?
The hotel rezoning application provides an opportunity to save more of our urban core for Herndon Festival and other assembly purposes with a lower level of redevelopment. In the original downtown plan, we assumed that the density and mass would be in the general area of the present municipal parking lot.
As we have seen by the JPI proposal, which is now off the table, development would mean a consolidated block plan for hundreds of residential units and very little public space. We would benefit greatly if we retained enough green space, even if it is over a parking deck, so that the Herndon Festival and other events like the farmer’s market can be continued.
If we develop the Robert’s Carpet block, the Ashwell site, and the Nachman block at a planned development density, we can ring the public space downtown and enlarge the assembly spaces to retain the best of the “old” Herndon. I plan to raise this redesign of the downtown plan to the Planning Commission later this month.
I sincerely believe we can continue a great rebirth of our downtown while improving our public spaces. This public space can become a cultural district to emphasize our niche of providing programs and events to augment the business community.
We can also decentralize the single building concept of an arts center into a more manageable phasing of individual buildings surrounding an enlarged village green in a campus style.
Les Zidel
Herndon
Editor’s note: Mr. Zidel is a former Herndon planning commissioner and serves as the facilities chairman for the Herndon Foundation for the Cultural Arts.
Call The Observer at 703-437-5886 or e-mail the editor.