Fairfax County government is wrestling with whether a

Fairfax County government is wrestling with whether a proposed 60-acre development at Tysons Corner will transform that northern Virginia edge city into a human-scale center or just exacerbate its automobile dependence. Lerner Enterprises has proposed developing 60 vacant acres between two shopping malls and alongside a proposed Metro station into a mixed-use project containing stores, apartments, and office towers up to 350 feet tall. “The fact that the buildings in the Lerner development would be scattered around the site, separated by small plazas and large parking garages, concerns those would like to see Tysons Corner become more pedestrian-friendly, especially with the arrival of Metro,” Peter Whoriskey reported in the April 20 Washington Post. Washington-based urban designer Geoffrey Ferrell scoffed at the proposal, telling New Urban News, “It’s a museum piece of all the failed ideas of George Jetson urbanism.” Stewart Schwartz, director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, criticized the plan devised by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates of New York for relying on elements such as pedestrian bridges rather than creating pedestrian-oriented streets with crosswalks. A decision may be made in June.