New rules could put community gardens on Tysons rooftops, but if you have a green thumb and can’t wait that long, there are two community gardens in the area where you can start planting.
One is in the back corner of Lewinsville Park (1659 Chain Bridge Road) in McLean and the other is at Nottoway Park (9537 Courthouse Road) in Vienna.
To rent a garden plot in Fairfax, you must be a resident of the county with a valid mailing address and email address. Residents can sign up for a waitlist for multiple parks, but only one plot is permitted per household.
The annual rental cost of most garden plots is $130, which includes access to a shared water supply.
Dick Black has been gardening at Lewinsville Park for around eight years after retiring.
“It’s a lot of work, but I consider it a workout,” said Black. “I’ll come out [and garden] instead of going for a run.”
Black grows tomatoes, arugula and other vegetables to give to neighbors or for his wife to take to work.
For those planning to get started, Black reiterated that growing a garden is a commitment. Locals should make sure it’s something they’re willing to put the sweat and time into. But if they decide that they are, Black said growing a garden is an extremely fulfilling experience.
“I still get joy after seven or eight years,” Black said. “[It’s about] going in with the right attitude.”
There is currently a waitlist for garden plots, though new regulations could soon open up more spaces throughout the county. The regulations adopted by the Board of Supervisors on June 25 allow community gardens in a wider variety of residential, commercial and industrial properties than previously allowed.
According to the Fairfax County website:
Previously, the county’s zoning rules limited community gardens to planned residential communities like Burke or Reston. These gardens now are allowed without restriction in open spaces as long as they are under two acres, and they aren’t the principal use on a property… Now, fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers and plants can be grown from the rooftops of office high-rises in Tysons to opens spaces at houses of worship to the common areas of suburban homeowners associations.
In the wake of Capital One opening the region’s tallest office building, the nearby McLean Metro station has had a sharp increase in Metro traffic.
New data from the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission compared Metro ridership in January, February and March with the same period in 2018. All of the Silver Line stations in Virginia saw an increase in ridership over the previous year, part of an ongoing trend.
Overall the McLean Metro station had the largest increase in ridership with 20.6 percent growth.
The Greensboro Metro station, site of The Boro development and other projects aiming to compete with Tysons Corner Center as a commercial hub, also saw substantial ridership increase with an 18.4 percent growth.
The most popular station is Wiehle-Reston East — the end of the line — with 1,018,980 total riders over three months. In Tysons, the most population station was Tysons Corner with 490,212 riders over three months.
The Spring Hill Metro station had previously seen a 2.9 percent decline in ridership between last winter and the one before, but in the three months that followed the station saw a modest 2 percent increase in ridership over the previous year.
Photo 2 via Tysons Partnership/Twitter
As new developments crop up around Vienna, even the Money and King Funeral Home at 171 W. Maple Avenue — Vienna’s oldest business — isn’t immune to change.
The funeral home was founded in 1881 — the same year President Garfield was assassinated and a gunfight took place at the O.K Corral. From then until earlier this year, the business was family owned. But when the last of that family line turned 80 this spring, the business was passed on to others who had worked closely with the family over years.
But President and General Manager Robert Carmical, who has worked at the funeral home since 1994, says that while some things have evolved over time, the service hasn’t changed.
“We’re here to help,” said Carmical. “The [work we do] is in the little things, like printing booklets and arranging the music. It’s a celebration of this person’s life.”
Over time, Carmical said there’s been some evolutions in the funeral industry. Most funerals were traditionally held in homes or in churches, but with the slow erosion of church connections, Carmical said businesses like his are seeing more people asking to hold the services at the funeral home. Accordingly, the old church-style pews have been replaced by chairs.
He also said cremation has become more popular as an alternative to burial.
Carmical’s favorite thing about funerals is learning about people.
“You learn things about people, like their hobbies,” said Carmical. “These are things some people don’t know about [their friends], like they collected stamps or toys, or how everyone has a sweet tooth.”
Ashley Hopko contributed to this story
Cong Wang really likes bubble tea, and he opened his new Gem Tea at 155 W. Maple Avenue to share that passion with more people.
One of the big things Wang says drives people away from bubble tea is the idea of inflexibility. At Gem Tea, Wang says customers can feel free to adjust the tea as they like, offering non-dairy milk options and a wide variety of fruit flavors.
If enough people request something, Wang said he’s open to adding things to the menu. For instance, yesterday someone came in asking for a protein powder to be added to his tea, so Wang is looking into how to make that work.
The restaurant is open seven days a week, opening at 11 a.m. and closing between 8-9 p.m. The quick-service restaurant had a soft opening on May 16, but held its grand opening on June 1.
Wang said Gem Tea isn’t part of a chain. He’s from Vienna and just wanted to open a tea place in his neighborhood.
The fairly routine annual approval of taxicab certificates at yesterday’s (June 25) Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting instead marked the end of an era as the county approved no certificates.
Every odd-numbered year, Fairfax County government reviews taxicab applications and gives out new permits based on assessed need. But this year, staff found that there was a decline in demand by nearly 25 percent, meaning no new certificates would be needed.
“I was not at all surprised by the number of taxicab certificates,” said Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross. “This is so different than years ago.”
“There was always competition,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova agreed.
Staff noted in a memo last April that the taxicab market was experiencing a sudden decline.
According to staff:
The County’s taxicab market was experiencing a period of unprecedented contraction due to widespread customer acceptance of transportation network companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft… The memorandum noted that as of April 2018, the County’s fleet size had dropped from 654 to 453 taxicabs due to operators’ relinquishment of 201 taxicab certificates. Since that April 2018 memorandum, operators have relinquished an additional 85 certificates, bringing the current Fairfax County taxicab fleet to 368 vehicles.
While taxi cab numbers fell, the memo noted that TNC registrations skyrocketed with 16,000 active registrations in Fairfax in 2016 compared to 654 taxicabs. But in 2017, the requirement for Uber and Lyft drivers to register with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles was repealed, so the current number of TNCs active in Fairfax County is unknown.
Observing the taxicab industry’s decline, the Board of Supervisors also expressed concerns over the impact on accessible rides for persons with disabilities. By code, wheelchair accessible vehicles must number 4 percent of the overall taxicab fleet, but declining numbers of taxis meant a declining requirement for accessible cabs.
“What is the effect on accessible cabs available?” Gross asked. “This board spent a lot of time years ago to ensure that the holders of certificates had a percentage of accessible taxis available. This seems like it throws it all into a cocked hat.”
Staff said that the current requirement was for 15 total wheelchair-accessible cabs, but there are currently 28 in service in Fairfax. Staff noted that Uber and Lyft both have accessible cab options, but that there was no authority to regulate their requirement in the transportation network. Bulova directed staff to work with consumer protection to examine how to mitigate the impact of the decline of taxis on transportation accessibility.
File photo
The Tysons branch of Huntington Learning Center (HLC) — in the spotlight after the arrest and death of the franchise owner — has permanently closed.
The trouble for the school started in April when Jeffrey Cummins, the owner of the HLC franchise in Tysons, was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting two of his former students. The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) said the abuse took place in Cummins’ Annandale home, not at the school.
But after the arrest, more assault charges were added. Cummins was out on a bond but didn’t turn himself into the Fairfax County jail as ordered. Last Wednesday, June 19, Cummins was found dead near Warsaw, Virginia.
The Tysons HLC at 8290 Old Courthouse Road briefly closed after the arrest was announced, though it reopened a few weeks later in early May.
Now, the facility has been permanently closed. A representative for HLC said students at the program have been offered the opportunity to transfer to other locations.
The media contact for HLC said parents interested in continuing instruction can call Huntington Learning Center in Fairfax at 571-310-0180 and all parents have “received communication” about obtaining a refund from the franchise.
Virginia is for lovers, but the “LOVE” letters currently in Merrifield are for boosting sales.
The sign is a traveling display making its way around Fairfax County after launching last month at Tysons Corner Center.
The letters are currently on display outside of Caboose Commons (2918 Eskridge Road), a Merrifield location for the Vienna brewery that opened last fall. The letters are positioned between the main building and the outdoor dining section.
Staff at Caboose Commons said the sign’s reaction has been positive so far.
“A few people have stopped by to get pictures with the sign,” the staff person said. “It’s boosted our visits so far.”
The sign is scheduled to remain at Caboose Commons until July 1, after which it will move to George Washington’s Distillery & Gristmill near Mount Vernon, but it will return back to the area on July 12 for a stay at Wolf Trap.
The Helzberg Diamonds at the corner of the Tysons Corner Center food court is temporarily closed as the store seems to be mid-takeover for the adjacent vacant space.
The diamond store seems to be devouring the former Wetzel’s Pretzels, which closed earlier this month.
A sign at the construction-barrier notes that Helzberg Diamonds can still be found at a temporary location near the Lord & Taylor on the mall’s first floor.
The move leaves Pokeworks surrounded by empty space after Sweet Leaf’s closure, which was a part of a recent series of casualties in the first floor of the food court.
Like the rest of Tysons near the Spring Hill Metro station, the McDonald’s at 8512 Leesburg Pike is getting a facelift.
The restaurant is temporarily closed for renovations as the store is converted from its more traditional blue-sloped roof to a more modern design, like the one at 8111 Leesburg Pike.
Workers at the project said construction is expected to last two or three more weeks, though they declined to say what the new renovations entail.
A sweeping redesign is in the works for McDonald’s nationwide, though the efforts have been with met with some resistance from franchise owners.
Photo via Google Maps
The regionwide Capital Bikeshare is now open in Merrifield.
On Friday, June 21, Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth kicked off the launch of Capital Bikeshare at the Dunn Loring Metro station.
The new stations are located at the Dunn Loring Metro station, the Mosaic District and Merrifield Town Center.
“These will be part of a network in Fairfax County including other stations in Tysons, Reston and West Falls Church,” said Smyth.
The expansion is part of a broader Capital Bikeshare expansion throughout Fairfax, with new locations planned along Route 123 in Vienna, City of Fairfax and George Mason University.
For a monthly $8 membership, bicycles can be used for any ride under 30 minutes for free. Trips under 30 minutes are available for $2 systemwide for non-Bikeshare members.
The Capital Bikeshare expansion is part of an ongoing effort by Fairfax County to close the gap between the Dunn Loring Metro station and the Mosaic District, including a recent proposal to add in an autonomous shuttle running back and forth between the two locations.
Photo via Fairfax County
