The Vienna Police Department says a bottle of bubbly was stolen from the Giant along Maple Avenue.

The incident happened around 7:45 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 9.

“On Dec. 11 [Wednesday], store security personnel reported a shoplifting incident… when a man stole a bottle of champagne,” police said.

Missing a credit card? Someone turned in a credit card that was found in the parking lot near the Michaels Store (311 Maple Avenue E.) on Wednesday, police said.

P.S. Happy Friday the 13th!

Photo via Facebook

Dozens of community members gathered at Shrevewood Elementary School last night to hear about the latest work to address safety concerns along Shreve Road.

The road, which runs through the City of Falls Church and Fairfax County, has been the focus of a push for improved safety from the Shreve Road Community Working Group, a coalition of residents and community associations advocating for improvements to the corridor, along with elected officials and residents.

“What brought us here originally is the terrible tragedy,” Jeremy Hancock, the co-founder of the Shreve Road Community Working Group, said at the meeting, referring to the Falls Church resident who died from a hit and run near the intersection of Shreve Road and Hickory Street.

Hancock said that 140 people submitted feedback about the road in a survey and that the group is pushing for changes to both specific things, like crosswalks for the school, and also address systemic issues, like speed.

“We have heard for a long time the concerns along Shreve Road,” Hancock told Tysons Reporter. “Our greatest impact is getting the community together.”

Del. Marcus Simon (D-53rd) kicked off the town hall informing locals about accomplished and upcoming actions by local officials for the road “right now.”

Here are some of the things locals can expect, according to Simon and Allison Richter, the liaison to Fairfax and Arlington counties for VDOT:

• lowered speed from 35 to 30 miles per hour from Leesburg Pike (Route 7) to Wieland Place
• replacing older signs that weren’t reflective anymore
• trimming back vegetation covering the signs
• reducing sign clutter by taking out old signs that are no longer needed

“At the end of the day, there was good reason to decrease the speed limit on that portion, but traffic engineers found other speed limit was adequate,” Richter said about the recent speed study.

New signs with the new speed limit will be up soon, she said.

Even with the speed reduction in the one area, several attendees in the audience voiced concern that the speed is too high and dangerous.

“Speed is a big factor to results of a crash,” one person said.

“We want to make sure we don’t artificially lower the speed limits,” Richter responded to attendees’ comments. “People drive the speed they want to drive and then it becomes a burden on the police department.”

An attendee who claimed to be a former police officer with Fairfax County said that drivers can often go up to 10 mph above the posted speed limit without fear of getting a ticket. The police representatives at the meeting declined to comment on the attendee’s comment.

In response to concerns about the sharp turn on Shreve Road near Oldewood Drive, Richter said, “If we straighten the curves and widen the lanes, it encourages speed.”

Simon mentioned that there are bigger projects proposed for the road that require grant funding.

Richter and Simon said proposed changes include:

• changing the intersection of the W&OD Trail and Shreve Road
• creating a new walking route from Route 7 to W&OD Trail
• federal funding for three new crosswalks along Shreve Road, including at Fairwood and Virginia lanes

“Let us get all of this implemented plus give it a little bit of time and see how traffic adjusts,” Richter told the attendees. “And if we’re still having a lot of issues, we can continue to talk.”

Bonnie Kartzman, the co-founder of the Shreve Road Community Working Group, said that community involvement with sending letters to elected officials and attending meetings help the cause.

Kartzman urged attendees to sign up for the working group’s email newsletter and volunteer.

Updated 12/13/19 — Falls Church police said today (Friday) they reclassiffied the incident as a “suspicious incident.”

More from police:

While this incident is suspicious in nature and police would still like to speak with the individual, officers have determined there was no criminal act and doesn’t meet the criteria for attempted abduction. However, this incident serves as an example of the importance of speaking to your children about their personal safety and what to do when approached by a stranger. Parents are encouraged to report suspicious activity to police.

Falls Church police are asking for the public’s help to identify a suspect linked to an attempted abduction of a child outside Aldi.

Police said a man approached a child outside of the grocery store, told the child to leave with him and then left when the child’s mother returned.

The incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Monday (Dec. 9) outside of the grocery store at 133 Hillwood Avenue.

Police said the incident was reported to them on Thursday (Dec. 12) and that the suspect is wanted for questioning.

“The suspect is described as a black male, about 6′ tall, medium build and wearing a gray hooded jacket with black sleeves, light blue jeans, and white sneakers, carrying an umbrella, and possibly wearing a baseball hat,” police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 703-248-5053.

A company that specializes in artificial intelligence, software engineering and weapons platforms recently announced that its new home is in The Boro in Tysons.

Alion Science and Technology lists its new address as 8350 Broad Street, Suite 1400 on its website.

“Alion’s new corporate headquarters reflects the cutting edge innovation and technology solutions that we are providing to our defense and intelligence customers every day,” Alion’s CEO Steve Schorer, said in a press release.

The company previously said it was located at 1750 Tysons Blvd — a building next to Tysons Galleria.

“We look forward to welcoming our customers and our employees to our new corporate location,” Schorer said.

After Wawa chopped down trees it wasn’t supposed to, Town of Vienna officials want to create a plan to prevent anything similar happening again.

Town Manager Mercury Payton told the Vienna Town Council on Monday (Dec. 9) that a committee is working “to identify more efficient communication with residents about construction incidents.”

The town announced last month that Wawa’s actions were a result of “misunderstanding and human error.” The loss of the trees sparked an uproar among locals — what Councilmember Steve Potter called an “extremely emotional” incident at the Monday meeting.

Payton apologized to both the residents who live behind the Wawa site and all of the residents in the town.

“I feel awful about the fact that the town played a role in initiating the action that Wawa took in removing the trees,” Payton said.

Payton told the councilmembers that the town’s urban arborist told Wawa about the health of the trees that Wawa eventually cut — even though they were not included in the approved site plan.

“It is in my view that if the town urban arborist had not brought the matter up to Wawa, Wawa would not have brought the trees down,” Payton said. “They would have stuck to the site plan and the issue would not have occurred.”

Payton said that the arborist should have advised Wawa that a site plan change was necessary, but that, ultimately, the site plan is Wawa’s responsibility.

Payton later said the arborist did not do anything incorrectly when pressed by Councilmember Pasha Majdi about the roles and responsibilities of the arborist.

“I don’t think the best way to run this town is to say that someone should have done something that they are not tasked with doing and it’s not required and it’s not explicated to that staffer,” Majdi said.

“From our perspective, we try to go above and beyond,” Payton responded.

Currently, the town’s departments each manage their own communication with residents about projects, Payton said. The internal review is meant to identify how the departments can follow a unified communication plan.

Several councilmembers expressed support for the internal review, including Councilmember Douglas Noble, who requested to see the outcome of the committee’s findings and recommendations.

“I always like to see what the problem is first… and then work forward,” Noble said.

“The trees are dead. They aren’t alive,” Potter said. “There are a lot of trees that this could happen to again.”

Did you know that Tysons Reporter is on Instagram?

Check out our professional photographer Jay Westcott’s photography on our ‘gram (@tysonsreporter).

Vienna residents voiced support for new plans for Sunrise Senior Living Facility to use the spot of an approved mixed-use development to the town’s Planning Commission.

Sunrise wants to come to the site of an approved mixed-use development at 380 Maple Avenue after the Vienna Town Council killed Sunrise’s controversial plans for a facility farther up Maple Avenue.

At last night’s meeting, locals praised Sunrise for listening to and incorporating feedback from residents for its plans.

In September, the owner and developer behind the mixed-use development told the Vienna Town Council that selling the project to an assisted living facility could address neighbors’ concerns.

Now, Sunrise wants Vienna officials to approve its tweaks to the approved building designs and use at 380 Maple Avenue.

Representatives from Sunrise said that they want to make “minimal changes” to the previously approved building design for 380 Maple Avenue, adding that they are mindful of the location as a “gateway to the town.”

The majority of the roughly half of a dozen people who testified at the public hearing said they support the project, but do have lingering concerns about cut-thru traffic on Wade Hampton Drive.

Most of the discussion at the meeting focused on whether or not adding time-restrictions to the road would address the issue.

“I really do appreciate the look of the building,” resident C. John Pott told the commissioners before echoing concerns about traffic and safety.

By the end of the meeting, the Planning Commission indicated support for the new plans. The proposal now heads to the Board of Zoning Appeals and Town Council for consideration.

If the changes are approved by the Town Council, a Sunrise representative said that the facility would take 20-24 months to build.

Three images via Sunrise; map via Google Maps

Kirby Road reopened yesterday in McLean, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) announced.

The 1300 block of Kirby Road closed in July due to severe storm damage from flash flooding, along with Swinks Mill Road, which reopened in October.

Martins Construction Corporation was awarded the $2.1 million emergency contract. The work included relocating Little Pimmit Run, rebuilding the washed-out section of Kirby Road and reconstructing the bridge over Pimmit Run.

The work was completed ahead of the Dec. 15 deadline — a date VDOT set to incentivize the contractor to get the work done as quickly as possible. VDOT officials said in October that they were offering up to $2,000 for every day completed early — capped at $120,000.

One of the reasons the work took several months to complete was because work could not be done simultaneously on the bridge and roadway since it would cut off access to 21 homes, VDOT official Denise Cantwell said in October.

Work to add surface asphalt and striping is expected to be completed by May 2020.

“Landscaping and other detail work will be completed over the next few weeks during normal work zone hours, weather permitting,” according to VDOT.

Very big news from @VaDOTNOVA… Kirby Road in #McLean is open! https://t.co/Mji61LxWJW

— John Foust (@johnfoustva) December 12, 2019

Photo via VDOT

Metro riders now have tentative dates for when they can expect four stations along the Orange and Silver lines to close in Northern Virginia next year.

“While full-service information will be announced in March, Metro is advising customers today that three stations will be closed between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2020” — the Vienna, Dunn Loring and East Falls Church stations, Metro said in an announcement yesterday.

The work will include rebuilding the platforms.

Meanwhile, the West Falls Church station will stay open, becoming the “western terminus of the Orange Line during the summer months,” Metro said, adding that riders can expect trains to run less frequently from the station.

Over at the East Falls Church Station, trains will still pass through the station even though it will be closed to riders.

Last week, Metro revealed several preliminary concepts that would change the Silver, Orange and Blue lines.

The concepts are a part of a two-year study to address both short- and long-term needs.

For people in Tysons, one option would let trains turn back at different areas along the Orange, Blue or Silver Lines, like the West Falls Church or East Falls Church Metro stations, while another option would create new Silver Line connections north or south of I-66.

Now, Metro wants to hear from community members that would be affected by any changes.

People can provide feedback about the ideas at several meetings this month, including a Tysons-area meeting next week.

The meeting is set to take place on Tuesday (Dec. 17) at the Courtyard by Marriott Tysons-McLean (1960A Chain Bridge Road) from 4:30-7:30 p.m.

People can also provide feedback via an online survey that will be open until Jan. 6.