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Reston CEO reports slow progress on apartment-owner outreach; cold calling expected to take six quarters
Summary
CEO Patrick Cummins told the board staff are cold‑calling apartment owners to recruit units into the Reston Association membership; responses have been limited, largely because of the estimated $850 per unit charge and large aggregate costs to owners, and staff estimate it will take roughly six quarters to contact all owners.
The Reston Association’s executive team told the board it has begun direct outreach to apartment‑building owners to explain the benefits of association membership and to recruit units into Reston Association coverage.
CEO Mr. Cummins said the outreach effort is primarily a cold‑calling exercise involving the CFO, COO and the CEO reaching out directly to owners and managers; staff estimate it will take about six quarters to contact all apartment owners. He said reactions have been mixed: owners are receptive to a conversation but many balk when told the assessment would amount to roughly $850 per unit, which for a large building would represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in new costs.
The board discussed the leave‑behind marketing materials staff are using; Mr. Cummins said the materials are a slim brochure with financial metrics, membership benefits and program information and promised to distribute samples to the board in the coming week. Board members also asked whether current land‑use negotiations (for example, proffers or rezoning efforts) should include explicit language encouraging new residential units to join RA; staff and the Land Use Committee clarified that formal proffer language typically is negotiated by applicants, the county attorney and supervisors, but the association can seek to standardize language going forward.
Directors asked about specific outreach to ongoing cases such as Roland Clark Place; staff said the Land Use Committee had been working on how best to invite applicants to committee meetings and that CEO office outreach to prospective residential developments had been handled on a case‑by‑case basis. The board asked staff and the Land Use Committee to coordinate outreach timing and proffer language so association objectives are clear during land‑use proceedings.
Why it matters: Bringing new residential units into association coverage spreads assessments across more units, lowering per‑unit assessments for existing members and ensuring new residents have access to RA services. The outreach effort is a multiquarter endeavor with mixed early results.
What’s next: Staff will circulate the leave‑behind marketing materials to the board, continue outreach over coming quarters and coordinate with the Land Use Committee on how to engage developers during entitlement processes.
