Jane and I love our single-family, cottage-style home in the South Lakes area of Reston. While being close to schools for our children was a principal motivator for our selecting our house, with the children are now long gone from home we are likely to stay put. For one thing we like the colonial style of our home. While the community is called Old Westbury, as native Virginians we think of it being more like Williamsburg. Even the street name of Cobblestone Lane has a colonial appeal even if it is regular asphalt. In Reston terms we technically live in a cluster, but I prefer to call it a community. Our neighbors could not be nicer; the number of children in our community helps to keep us feeling young and hopeful.
More people are moving into the larger community of Reston. Money magazine referred to Reston as the most livable place in Virginia. With the attractiveness of Reston and all its amenities it is inevitable that more people will want to live here. As land becomes scarce and the demand for different styles of housing increases it is easy to understand that more housing is being built vertically in high-rise apartments and condominiums. The result is the greatest choice in housing styles in the region. Among new residents the interest in urban-style living is strong especially in Reston Town Center. Our housing choices help to add to the diversity of people who want to live here, although housing affordable to the workforce and service workers is very difficult to find.
A thriving community like ours tends to get ahead of supporting infrastructure. Knowing that there are plans for additional transportation improvements does little to quell the anxiety that can come with crowded streets. Those transportation improvements will encompass more than roadways with mass transit, walking and biking being added to the list.
Reston has changed; it is highly successful and maturing. For decades it struggled leading some to believe that was its future. I embrace what it has become: lots of different people enjoying the lifestyle they have chosen while permitting me to do the same. More people enrich our community, and while they make many different life choices than I do I continue to enjoy my home in Reston. There is no other place like it.
