Return to School — “As the school year approaches, new information is being revealed about how Falls Church City Public Schools will reopen. For the school district’s two elementary schools, there will be space to accommodate all students with social distancing, Superintendent Peter Noonan says.” [Falls Church Patch]
Donations Needed — “Homestretch, a nonprofit organization that helps families achieve self-sufficiency and permanent housing, put out a wish list of items that it is asking for in the form of community donations to support its clients during the Covid-19 pandemic.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Police Reform — “Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to review the county’s 9-1-1 dispatch and response systems. The aim is to enhance Diversion First strategies so that unarmed medical, human services, and mental health professionals are dispatched in response to calls where mental and behavioral health issues are involved.” [Vienna Patch]
Dittmar wants to have a temporary “reading park” occupy a site along Leesburg Pike until work on a new hotel starts in a few years.
In 2014, Fairfax County officials approved plans for a hotel on the site, which is on the northbound side of Leesburg Pike at the intersection with Westpark Drive.
Now, Elizabeth Baker, a senior land use planner for Walsh Colucci, told Tysons Reporter that Dittmar plans to temporarily use the site for commercial parking, vehicle storage and the public park before starting work on the hotel.
Baker said that Dittmar expects work to start on the hotel in about five years because the residential development company is currently focused on a project in Rosslyn that will take several years to complete.
The Tysons site previously had a hotel, which has been torn down. Parking from that hotel is still available at the site, Baker said, adding that, until recently, the Meridian Group was using the site for construction staging and parking while The Boro development was underway.
Baker said that Dittmar is paying significant taxes on the site because of the future development. The company wants to make use of the site “so it doesn’t sit in its current state, which is not the most attractive for Tysons,” she said.
Currently, Dittmar has the right to offer commercial off-street parking, which they plan to pursue, Baker said. The developer is seeking the county’s permission to allow vehicle storage and create the pop-up park. The vehicle storage would benefit nearby dealerships who are losing storage due to new developments, Baker said.
“At the same time, [Dittmar is] looking to make some type of gesture toward the future with place-making activity,” Baker said. That’s where the park comes in.
The rectangular park would be located along the western portion of the property.
Baker said that she’s been working with Dittmar and Tysons Partnership on the interim park to serve as an “outdoor reading room” — a nod to the future community library proffered in Tysons.
Sol Glasner, Tysons Partnership’s president and CEO, told Tysons Reporter last week that public parks are one of the key components that the organization is looking into as the area continues to urbanize.
“It is definitely a topic that is a very, very significant topic for Tysons and other urban centers,” he said.
Designed for all ages, the park would have lounging chairs for people who want to read, an outdoor library and food trucks, Baker said.
“It’s a different theme on a pop-up park,” Baker said. “I think it’s kind of fun.”
Baker said that newly accepted application does not yet have a proposed timeline from Fairfax County staff, but she’s hopeful it will take four to five months to progress through the county’s approval process.
Images via Walsh Colucci
Caffe Amouri is holding an outdoor birthday party today with ice cream, e-bikes, books and, of course, coffee.
The coffee shop opened in the Town of Vienna 10 years ago.
“On the morning of July 14, 2010, I was standing inside an entirely new business… A coffeehouse opening in the midst of the worst economic downturn in a generation and within three blocks of two Starbucks,” a Facebook post said.
Owner Michael Amouri told Tysons Reporter that all of the proceeds from today’s event at 107 Church Street NE will go to Neighborhood Health, which provides primary care in Alexandria and Arlington and Fairfax counties.
Bards Alley is offering a pop-up bookstore, Bikes@Vienna has a “sustainable transportation” demo with e-bikes and Caffe Amouri is doing hand-pour demos and providing coffee samplings, Amouri said. Caffe Amouri is also serving affogato — espresso over Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
Flyer for @caffeamouri's birthday party today in @TownofViennaVA pic.twitter.com/Evmcu9DQzs
— Catherine Douglas Moran (@c_douglasmoran) July 14, 2020
Photo via Caffe Amouri/Facebook
Tesla competitor Lucid Motors is planning on opening a studio in Tysons Corner Center.
The company announced plans on Wednesday, July 8, to open 20 studios and service centers in North America by the end of 2021.
Of the new studios, the Tysons one is listed among nine locations, including several in California and Florida, the company plans to focus on immediately debuting.
More from Lucid:
All Studios feature a California-inspired aesthetic where you can explore the Lucid Air’s advanced technology in a warm atmosphere of natural, sustainable materials. Lucid Studios are engaging spaces, designed to start conversations and provide education about the performance and efficiency benchmarks possible in an electric vehicle.
The Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that Lucid plans to employ 40 people at each of the new studios. “The company currently employs more than 1,000 and plans to add 700 more by the end of the year when production at its new factory in Casa Grande, Arizona, ramps up,” WBJ noted.
The Lucid studio will join Tesla in Tysons. Tesla currently has a store at Tysons Corner Center and showroom at 8500 Tyco Road.
The company plans to reveal its new luxury electric vehicle, Lucid Air, on Sept. 9. In addition to the unveiling, Lucid said it will roll out a new website that will allow people to customize their cars.
Photo courtesy Lucid
Keeping Coronavirus Out of Classrooms — “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday students will not be able to return to classrooms in the fall if the state is unable to stay within phase three of its Covid-19 reopening plan.” [Washington Business Journal]
Food Donations in Falls Church — “On the Fourth of July, over 1,700 families received food and household goods during the second onsite distribution hosted at The Falls Church Anglican.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Police Plaza Proposals — “The Vienna Town Council on July 6 tentatively selected a design option for the new Vienna Police Headquarters’ community plaza, but left open the potential for building in more green space at the site.” [Inside NoVa]
Town Hall Tonight — School Board members Karl Frisch and Rachna Sizemore Heizer will host a virtual town hall tonight from 7:30-8:30 p.m. to discuss the Return to School plans. People can participate via Zoom or Facebook Live. [Facebook]
The Boro in Tysons plans to keep some outdoor space set aside for pedestrians.
Currently, a portion of the Tysons development has been set aside for pedestrians, live entertainment and outdoor seating for its restaurants. The Boro announced the changes when it unveiled its drive-in movies.
Now, The Boro plans to maintain the section for pedestrians after the drive-in movies stop, according to recent social media posts.
People can head to The Boro on Fridays for live entertainment, the tweet said.
Tysons Partnership wants to create a localized data hub as part of its rebranding efforts underway for Tysons.
The organization aims to create a public database with localized information from Fairfax County, from commuting patterns to how office and retail space are used.
Sol Glasner, Tysons Partnership’s president and CEO, told Tysons Reporter that the database will make it easier to collect and analyze Tysons-specific information.
The financial support for the hub is coming from Fairfax County’s $1 million — an equal match to Tysons Partnership’s fundraising — to help with the rebranding and work to find a sustainable business model, Glasner said.
After putting out an RFP, Tysons Partnership is now discussing the proposal with a prospective consulting organization, Glasner said. If all goes well, he’s hopeful the data dashboard, which will be available to the public, can be put together by the end of this year.
Glasner said that pandemic seems to increase the need for Tysons-centric data as county officials, planners and the private sector look to address affordable housing, walkability, transportation and development issues in the area.
“It’s like this big tapestry with a lot of moving parts to it,” he said.
Unlike the database, the pandemic may delay the group’s rebranding effort for Tysons. While Tysons Partnership aims to have the rebranding, which is being done with the help of Gensler, ready by early next year, Glasner that it’s unclear how the public health crisis will impact the rollout.
“We need to have a public that is receptive,” Glasner said. “Right now, people are preoccupied.”
Tysons Partnership doesn’t want to encourage large crowds in public places to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, he added.
“It’s very hard to know how all this will play out,” he said about the pandemic. “We could be in this mode for another year, another two years.”
When the rebranding does get revealed, Glasner said that people can expect place-making and place activation to help with community building.
Ultimately, the rebranding is meant to get people to think of Tysons’ four square miles as one place, Drew Sunderland, the director of marketing and placemaking at Tysons Partnership, previously told Tysons Reporter.
“We’re trying to create a common sense of community,” Glasner said.
As for the pandemic’s impacts on Tysons’ urbanization and appeal, Glasner emphasized that the creation of the Tysons Comprehensive Plan and completion of Silver Line Phase One years ago have set the area up for success.
“Tysons is a long term project that is measured in decades — not in months, years or even a single decade,” he said.
(Updated 8/20/20) The City of Falls Church will receive funding from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) for its two proposed projects.
The projects are among the 21 transportation projects the NVTA announced will receive funding from its program, which is now in its fifth year and is offering $539 million, according to a press release. The projects were selected from 41 proposals — totaling $1.44 billion — from 13 localities and agencies in Northern Virginia.
The NVTA will fully fund Falls Church’s projects. One will address transit access and multimodal connectivity in West Falls Church for $6.9 million, while the other will tackle multimodal improvements in the downtown area for $8.3 million.
“We much appreciate the regional cooperation that has led to the approval for funding of both of the City of Falls Church transportation proposals,” Councilmember David Snyder, who also serves on the NVTA’s Executive Committee, said in a statement. “This is a great example of the direct benefits that accrue to our citizens from the active engagement of city councilmembers and city staff in regional policy and funding bodies.”
More from the city about the projects:
West Falls Church Access to Transit and Multimodal Connectivity ($6,900,000)
Install a new 10′ multi-use path and 6′ planting strip along Shreve Road between the W&OD Trail and Route 7, acorn style lights, crosswalk near the intersection of Shreve Road and Gordon Road, and benches near the entrance to the W&OD trail.
Downtown Falls Church Multimodal Improvements ($8,300,000)
Install two midblock crossings, widen sidewalks and remove obstructions (including utility lines), install curb extensions, adjust intersection geometry, and increase visibility at six crossings/intersections on Park Avenue between N Washington Street and Virginia Avenue.
While the majority of the selected projects got the full funding request, four projects received partial funding.
“The fully-funded projects will receive sufficient funds to advance to construction, while the partially funded projects will advance to the early phases of project development, but not necessarily [for] completion,” the press release said.
The Town of Vienna’s expansion plans for the Capital Bikeshare program to help people get to the Metro was among the 20 projects that didn’t make the cut. The project would cost roughly $280,000.
Update corrects name of NVTA
Image via City of Falls Church
Northern Virginia’s COVID-19 cases appear to be holding steady as Virginia sees an uptick in cases.
Statewide, new daily cases hit a low point in mid-June with 380 cases before an increase last week, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Last Monday, 354 new cases were reported in Virginia before jumping to 972 new cases today (Monday).
Testing for current and past infection has been increasing statewide, according to labs’ testing numbers.
Meanwhile, the Fairfax Health District has seen consistent numbers of tests since June with 1,000-2,000 tests per day.
The current seven-day trend for the percentage of positive tests is 6.7% statewide and 5.9% for the Fairfax Health District.
In mid-June, Fairfax Health District saw the majority of its new daily cases drop from triple digits to double digits. As of today, 74 new cases were reported in the health district.
The epidemic curve for the Fairfax Health District, which shows the number of new cases in a week by the date symptoms started, has been decreasing since May, according to Fairfax County’s dashboard. (Data has not been completed from June 28 to today.)
In total, Fairfax County has had at least 14,556 cases, 500 deaths and 1,713 hospitalizations. Of the state’s 529 outbreaks, 67 were located in the Fairfax Health District.
Vienna Officials OK New Police Equipment — “The Council agreed to ‘ride’ a Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services contract with Kustom Signal Inc. to obtain new in-car radar units for all 11 of the Vienna Police Department’s patrol vehicles and 10 ProLaser handheld LIDAR units. The contract’s cost is not to exceed $51,202.” [Inside NoVa]
Supercuts Closed in Falls Church — “According to a notice on the door from Woodmont Properties, the landlord has taken possession of the space and changed the locks.” [Falls Church News-Press]
Local Paper Condemns Falls Church Institutions — A commentary from the Falls Church News-Press calls for the city to get rid of the “Hangman’s Tree” plague and either reimagine or eliminate the annual Civil War Day tradition. [Falls Church News-Press]
