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Plans that could usher in a new era for Fairfax County's largest business district are nearly complete. However, key aspects of the process that would turn a vision of Tysons Corner on paper into a reality of high-rises and pedestrian-friendly streets have yet to be resolved.

Fairfax County planning staff released a third draft of a land-use plan for Tysons Corner last week. The final plan will guide the transformation of the area over the next 40 years.

In its current draft form, the plan would allow about 96,600 residents and 190,500 jobs in up to 116 million square feet of development.

Tysons today has a population of 18,500 and is home to about 112,600 jobs. There is about 46 million square feet of development, and about half of the land in Tysons is covered with large parking lots.

"Today we have an imbalance between the number of people living in Tysons and the number of people working in Tysons. We're trying to create a better mix," said Jim Zook, director of planning and zoning for Fairfax County. "It will take a lot of hard work to get there, but together I think we can do it."

With four Metrorail stations set to open in 2013, county planners and community leaders have been working for years on a vision and land-use plan for the county's largest economic engine. Work on that plan is set to conclude this year, allowing the process of adding new buildings around future rail stations to begin.

In addition to preparing for growth, the plan strives to achieve a balance between the size of the work force and number of residents; provide for key infrastructure like an improved road network and new schools and emergency services; and grow in an environmentally sustainable fashion.

Planners are still struggling with two key elements: how to ensure development does not outpace the infrastructure that supports it, and how the county will pay for the future needs in the corridor.

They want to tie future building to road improvements, including an urban street grid and a bus circulator system. However, this prospect "has met with extreme resistance" from the development community, particularly given the state's lack of road dollars, Zook said.

Another proposed alternative would allow developers to commit to help fund future road improvements that serve their individual projects through a small-scale tax district mechanism. Finalizing the language "is still a work in progress," Zook said.

"I'm skeptical that a lot of money is going to be coming from Richmond, at least for a very long time," said Commissioner James R. Hart (At-large), a member of the Planning Commission's Tysons Corner Committee. "I'm also not sure we're going to be able to extract enough from the developers to pay for everything."

Those building the new Tysons Corner will be asked, like any other developer in the county, to contribute to parks, schools and other facilities via the proffer system. They might also be asked to contribute land for the planned grid of streets, or for new "pocket parks" that will make the area more visually attractive to walk through.

The plan would also allow so-called "bonus" densities to be used as a tool to encourage builders to incorporate low-income housing units into their project or use environmentally friendly construction techniques. Those who do so would be allowed to build larger buildings.

All new buildings in Tysons would be expected to meet baseline standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council, according to the current draft plan. The council's "silver" level certification would be "a matter of expectation," Zook said, while developers would get a 4 percent density bonus for reaching the "gold" certification level or higher.

Overall, the current draft of the Tysons plan allows for less growth than originally proposed by the Tysons Land Use Task Force, a group of citizens and business leaders who formulated the vision that is guiding the comprehensive plan language.

While task force members have continued to lobby for their vision, which included up to 175 million square feet of development, it appears that some planning commissioners are leaning more toward the staff proposal.

In a lengthy exchange with transportation planner Dan Rathbone, Commissioner Kenneth A. Lawrence (Providence District) highlighted the fact that even an improved road network combined with good levels of transit use in Tysons would fail if the corridor is allowed to grow too much.

As it stands now, "we are filling this cup to the brim, and the cup is the biggest one we dare," Lawrence said.

The Tysons Corner Committee is soliciting public comments at its next two meetings, tonight and Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center. The full Planning Commission is slated to hold public hearings on the plan in March.

"For much of the next month, we will be in listening mode," said Commissioner Walter Alcorn (At-large), chairman of the Tysons Corner Committee.