Phase II will mainly look at Reston’s village and convenience centers. It will also be done under Fairfax County’s new “Fairfax Forward” method of comprehensive plan review, which will rely on greater community engagement.

Reston founder Bob Simon, for one, says Reston could have fewer village centers. When Reston was planned in the early 1960s, supermarkets were about 15,000 square feet, he said. Today, they are more than 100,000 square feet.
“Since we were planning for 80,000 people, we planned for seven village centers and one town center,” said Simon. “We don’t need all of them. But I do think each village center should have a plaza.”

Phase I was organized around a task force made up of developers, community leaders and other stakeholders. Phase II will instead rely on residents and business owners to determine “what isn’t working,” said Hudgins.

She pointed out aging Tall Oaks Village Center, which has had a dearth of of tenants for years.

“Tall Oaks doesn’t work,” she said. “So we need to discuss ‘does it need to be what [the comprehensive plan] says it does?’ ”