3,600 signatures for town petition
By Claire Compton
The Reston Citizens Association held a rally Monday, Oct. 22 to celebrate 3,600 signatures on a petition requesting a referendum for town incorporation and to thank the volunteers who helped collect them.
RCA collected some signatures in person and others via an online version of the petition. They then cross-checked the versions of the petition to eliminate duplicate signatures.
Although they were invited, the local elected officials the RCA has been hoping would take the petition to the Virginia General Assembly did not attend.
State Sen. Janet Howell (D-Reston) and Hunter Mill District School Board member Stu Gibson had other engagements. Gibson, Howell, Del. Ken Plum (D-Reston) and Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) had requested an alternate date of Oct. 30 to discuss the petition and the push for incorporation.
The RCA initially declined the invitation, but reconsidered and reached a tentative agreement on Oct. 23 to meet on Oct. 30.
At the rally, RCA President Mike Corrigan said it was no longer about the RCA's plans for a town charter, so a meeting would not be appropriate.
“We decided not to be a part of that because it isn't about us. [We] want them to respond directly to you and to the petitions,” he said to the crowd of nearly 50 people at the Reston Regional Library.
In an e-mail from Plum on Oct. 23 he said the proposed Oct. 30 meeting should be considered an “informal work meeting,” as the RCA had requested.
RCA has led the ResTOWN initiative and collected signatures for the petition since July 2005. A response from Howell and Plum in November of that year called for greater involvement from Reston organizations such as the Reston Association, the Reston Community Center, Reston Town Center and others.
Plum recently said in an interview he is still not satisfied with the level of involvement from these groups.
Corrigan said the RCA has met with some of those groups informally and does not expect them to take any action until after a referendum is granted.
“I do not think we need the permission of other organizations to become a town,” he said.
Challengers to two of the incumbent representatives attended and lent their support to the cause.
Christine Arakelian, who is challenging Gibson for the Hunter Mill seat on the School Board, was present, as were the two Independent candidates for Hunter Mill District supervisor, Marie Huhtala and Spike Williams.
Huhtala said she supports incorporating as a way to have more control over land use.
“It drives me insane,” she said of plans for more development in Reston. “The whole issue is land use, it's so important having control over what happens.”