The Fairfax County Planning Commission is delaying its decision on two mixed-use developments by the Spring Hill Metro station again.
Commissioner Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner, who represents the Providence District, asked the commission last night (Wednesday) to push its vote on the proposed project to next month.
Niedzielski-Eichner said the postponement is to give more staff more time to review a resubmission and changes by the developer, Georgelas LLC.
The project is split into two parts — North Spring Hill Station and West Spring Hill Station — and would transform current car dealerships along the north side of Tyco Road into commercial and residential units.
Previously, the project has been held up over Fairfax County planners’ concerns that the West Spring Hill Station doesn’t fulfill the Tysons Comprehensive Plan.
The decision was previously postponed from December, when Niedzielski-Eichner said that the Georgelas LLC asked for more time on the application.
The project is now scheduled to go before the Planning Commission on April 22.
Images via Fairfax County
A new nail place is set to arrive in Tysons Galleria.
The mall’s website says that the “Nail Saloon Tysons Galleria” is “coming soon.”
The salon is the latest addition to a list of stores and businesses coming to mall, including CycleBar and Rodd & Gunn New Zealand. Lady M Cake Boutique is looking to relocate from the third floor to a new spot in the mall.
A meeting in McLean on the plans to extend the 495 Express Lanes is being rescheduled to a date in April, the Virginia Department of Transportation said.
The meeting was originally set for tonight (Thursday) at Langley High School.
VDOT announced the meeting’s postponement this morning, after saying yesterday that it would be live streamed and filmed.
Several residents raised concerns about the meeting earlier this week, worrying that it could increase the risk of spreading the coronavirus.
VDOT is planning to present the results of the 495 NEXT environmental study and traffic analysis, along with hearing feedback and questions from the public.
Currently, the 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension project — a.k.a. 495 NEXT — would extend the 495 Express Lanes north from the I-495 and Dulles Access Road interchange up to the American Legion Bridge and add two new tolled express lanes in each direction.
“The meeting will be rescheduled for April,” VDOT said. “Details will be provided next week.”
People can submit comments either online, by email, by mail or at the future meeting.
Image via Google Maps
The Town of Vienna’s newest public art piece is a familiar message to Virginians.
A “LOVE” sign is now greeting people at the entrance along the W&OD Trail to Northside Park, the town tweeted on Tuesday.
Like the “LOVE” sign that traveled around Fairfax County last year before finding a permanent home in Lorton, the Vienna sign is spreading the “Virginia is for lovers” slogan.
The metal tube letters were donated by a “kind local couple,” the tweet said, adding a shout out to the Vienna Public Art Commission’s Mark Stahl for the installation.
Image via Town of Vienna/Twitter
Updated 3/12/2020 — VDOT announced that the meeting will be postponed to a date in April.
Updated at 7:15 p.m. — A Dranesville District Supervisor email this evening says that the meeting will be live streamed.
Earlier: For people avoiding meetings to prevent the coronavirus, an upcoming meeting on the plans to extend the 495 Express Lanes will be filmed.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is set to present the results of the I-495 NEXT environmental study and traffic analysis on Thursday, March 12.
The meeting is scheduled to last from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Langley High School (6520 Georgetown Pike). People will have a chance to provide comments and ask questions after the presentation at 7 p.m.
VDOT said in an email today (Wednesday) that the video of the meeting will be available online starting Monday (March 16).
Currently, the 495 Express Lanes Northern Extension project — a.k.a. 495 NEXT — would extend the 495 Express Lanes north from the I-495 and Dulles Access Road interchange up to the American Legion Bridge and add two new tolled express lanes in each direction.
People will have through April 15 to submit comments either online, at the public hearing, by email or by mail.
“Questions or requests for more information can be emailed to 495NorthernExtension@VDOT. virginia.gov, and a project representative will respond,” VDOT said.
VDOT said that the meeting would be rescheduled if Fairfax County Public Schools close. If inclement weather happens, the meeting would get moved to next Wednesday, March 18.
(Updated at 3:25 p.m.) Capital One is reportedly asking its employees to work from home to help prevent the coronavirus — affecting possibly thousands of employees at its Tysons headquarters.
Bloomberg News first reported that the banking giant is letting people work from home starting on Thursday. For employees who can’t work remotely, the company plans to begin “spacing out employees,” the memo from CEO Richard Fairbank says.
“While to date we have no known cases of coronavirus among our associates, we are taking further steps to encourage and enable social distancing,” according to a copy of the memo Tysons Reporter obtained.
The memo said that the company will announce increased paid sick leave and flexible attendance policies.
As of late 2018, Capital One had moved approximately 2,000 employees to its new headquarters next to the McLean Metro station.
The company has 52,000 employees in total.
Now being called a pandemic by the World Health Organization, the spreading COVID-19 coronavirus has prompted schools to close or switch to online learning and companies to ask employees to work from home.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Virginia Department of Health says there are nine “presumptive positive” cases of COVID-19 in the commonwealth, with five in Northern Virginia.
It’s been almost five years, and Sweet Leaf in McLean is still working to resolve a zoning violation caused by too few parking spots.
The Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals decided today (Wednesday) to defer Sweet Leaf’s appeal of its zoning violation for at least the 14th time.
“It’s been a long time, but we’ve been working through this process,” Sweet Leaf co-founder Andre Matini told the board today.
The restaurant has been operating in violation of the zoning code since late 2015, county staff said today.
Over the last few years, zoning changes have affected the cafe, which was originally slapped with zoning violations in 2015 following a complaint about a lack of parking.
One of the zoning violations is now “moot” after the Board of Supervisors adopted changes to the zoning ordinance in 2018, staff said.
When those changes were made, however, the cafe’s other zoning violation became more challenging to fix.
The cafe was incorrectly issued a non-residential use permit (non-RUP) for retail sales but not for food, staff said.
In order to qualify for the correct permit now, the cafe needs to have at least 14 parking spaces with an approved parking reduction — but it only has 12.
Getting the two extra spaces has been more challenging than expected, Matini said.
The county rejected a nearby church’s offer for diners to use its parking lot, Matini said. Now, another neighbor will let the cafe rent two spaces, he said, adding that county staff has been asking for more information.
If the parking reduction fails, then the cafe would need to decrease the square footage of the building.
One of the new changes to the zoning ordinance altered how the number of parking spaces is determined. The building’s square footage — instead of the number of tables at the food establishment — is now used to calculate the parking requirement.
So far, Land Development Services thought the information submitted for the parking reduction request has been “insufficient,” according to the staff report.
Fairfax County Zoning Administrator Leslie Johnson urged that the board make a “short deferral” to push the appellant to get all of the required information to county staff, who said there hasn’t been any recent progress on the parking reduction application.
“We’re not 100% sure how we would resolve the issue if everything is denied by the zoning office,” Matini said. “Obviously, we don’t want to shut down after all of these years in operation.”
The zoning board, staff and Johnson said they want to avoid a situation where the cafe would be forced to close. Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust has also said that he wants the restaurant to stay open.
To give the cafe and the county staff more time to get all of the required materials for the parking reduction application, the Board of Zoning Appeals decided to defer the case to July 22.
“It sounds like people are working hard to resolve this, but they quite aren’t to the finish line yet,” Chairman John Ribble III said.
Updated at 7:15 p.m. — Corrects James Hart’s name.
Fairfax County’s Board of Zoning Appeals is upholding a zoning determination that would allow a controversial teen rehab facility to open in McLean.
Newport Academy, a therapy program for teens with mental health issues, is looking to open at 1318 Kurtz Road, claiming that the location is a by-right use, which won’t require approval by the Board of Supervisors.
Last year, Fairfax County Zoning Administrator Leslie Johnson determined that the proposed facility in the Salona Village neighborhood is a group residential facility.
Several McLean residents submitted appeals to try to overturn the zoning administrator’s letter, arguing that the facility should be designated as a congregate or medical use facility.
At the Board of Zoning Appeals’ public hearing in January, the appellants raised concerns about noise, falling property values, safety risks and increased traffic. The board decided to defer the decision to allow for more time to consider the arguments.
Today (Wednesday), the board upheld the zoning administrator’s determination, but not without a lengthy discussion on the case, which several board members called “difficult.”
James Hart and Paul Hammack, Jr. — the two members who said the facility should be labeled a congregate or medical use facility — said that the zoning administrator looked at the predominant use of the facility rather than all of the uses.
“It’s difficult to apply a one-size-fits-all,” Hart said. “It is not exclusively one category or the other… It is a hybrid.”
Hammack said he agreed with Hart’s assessment, adding that the criteria for a group home “is not spelled out” like it is for a congregate or medical use.
The other board members had different reasons for backing the zoning administrator.
“I think that if you look at the definitions, the congregate use is talking about general care, and I don’t think this is general medical care,” John Cowherd said.
Thomas Smith, III said that the “difficult case” had compelling testimony on both sides, but that he ultimately found the zoning administrator’s determination more persuasive.
Hart’s motion to overturn the zoning administrator’s determination failed in a 2-4 vote.
The lawyer representing Newport Academy told Tysons Reporter in January that the company does plan to open the facility at Kurtz Road if the Board of Zoning Appeals upholds Johnson’s determination.
Previously, the rehab company decided to drop its plans to open another McLean location along Davidson Road, after the zoning administrator said it would be a congregate living facility.
While the vote today is a win for Newport Academy, the fight may not be over.
“We anticipate that whatever happens, this may be heading to court,” Hart said.
Commuters can expect delays today at the I-495 and I-66 interchange following a tractor-trailer crash early this morning.
The tractor-trailer overturned on I-66, spilling metal debris onto the ramp from northbound I-495 to I-66, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. The debris punctured another truck, causing a hazmat situation and closures around 4 a.m., VDOT said.
While the ramp from northbound I-495 to I-66 has reopened, VDOT said that commuters this morning will be impacted.
As of 9:10 a.m., drivers can expect delays eastbound on I-66 and two-mile-long backups near I-495, according to VDOT.
“The ramp from I-66 East to I-495 North is partially blocked,” VDOT said. “The ramp from I-495 North to I-66 West is partially blocked.”
Meanwhile, drivers heading north on I-495 can expect traffic congestion and backups stretching about two miles.
Update: 66EB ramp to 495NB is now partially opened. https://t.co/LEe1Ev7XI9
— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) March 11, 2020
This. Is. Why. Towing. Is. Important.
(P.S. for those who don’t know, this is a rotator) https://t.co/9fsSZnSeu0 pic.twitter.com/IIvmL1dOzl— VDOT Northern VA (@VaDOTNOVA) March 11, 2020
Map via Google Maps
A U.S. Navy civilian working in the Falls Church area has tested “presumptive positive” for coronavirus, according to the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED).
BUMED announced earlier today (Tuesday) that its employee is at a Northern Virginia hospital receiving care according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines. The bureau is located at 7700 Arlington Blvd, Suite 5113.
The positive test result is considered a presumptive positive pending confirmation by CDC testing.
“Personnel that the individual immediately identified having close contact with have been notified and are asked to remain at their residence to self-monitor their health,” according to BUMED.
BUMED said that more precautionary measures may be taken pending an investigation by military health professionals “to determine whether any other personnel may have been in close contact and possibly exposed.”
Separately, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) said in a statement today that he will self-quarantine after recently eating with a friend who tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus after the dinner. The U.S. congressman said he won’t attend hearings or votes until Monday.
As of today (Tuesday), the Virginia Department of Health currently says that there are eight positive or confirmed COVID-19 cases in the commonwealth, with five in Northern Virginia.
