The Weekly Planner is a roundup of interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Tuesday (March 12)

• Workshop: Fair Housing Protections for People with Disabilities — 12-1 p.m. at The Arc of Northern Virginia (2755 Hartland Rd.) — Non-profit organizations Arc of Northern Virginia and Housing Opportunities Made Equal are hosting a workshop on fair housing protections for people with disabilities focusing on what state policies are for housing discrimination and what people with disabilities should look out for when moving into a home.

Wednesday (March 13)

• McLean Public Safety Program — 7:30 p.m. at the McLean Governmental Center Community Room (1437 Balls Hill Road) — The McLean Citizens Association invites the public to its Public Safety Program featuring Richard Schott, Fairfax County’s police auditor and Anna Northcutt, a member of the Fairfax County Police Civilian Review Panel.

Thursday (March 14)

• Community Forum on Housing for All — 7-8:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Vienna (450 Orchard St NW) — The Fairfax County NAACP will be hosting an event discussing issues related to affordable housing in Fairfax.

Friday (March 15)

• Farewell Bell’s at Tysons Biergarten — 11-2 a.m. at the Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) — The Biergarten is celebrating Bell’s before the company’s beer is no longer sold in Virginia. Everything from fruity drinks to a selection of stouts will be on offer. Registration for the event is free. The event is free and open to the public. A similar event will be held in the Lost Dog Cafe in Merrifield on Wednesday.
• Chubbies Tysons Grand Opening — 5-8 p.m. at Tysons Corner Center (1961 Chain Bridge Rd.) — To coincide with the coming of spring, shorts chain Chubbies is celebrating with music and free gifts for the first 100 purchasers of items over $99.
• Backbeat Underground Live — 8-10 p.m. at 1st Stage Theatre (1524 Spring Hill Rd.) — The Backbeat Underground and Virginia Chamber Orchestra will be performing a “souljazz” concert in the Tysons black-box theater. Tickets are $25 at the door, $20 for seniors or advance purchasers, or $15 for students or military.

Sunday (March 17)

• The 8th Annual Nowruz Festival — 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Tysons Corner Center (8100 Tysons Corner Ctr) — A bazaar with music, dance and costumed characters will be held at the mall to celebrate the Persian New Year. The event is planned to include six hours of live performances and an array of traditional Persian sweets, pastries and other dishes.
• Trade-In and Trade-Up Bicycle Blue Book Event — 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at Spokes Etc. (224 Maple Ave E) — The Spokes Etc. Vienna location is offering credit for anyone who trades in an old bicycle and an additional 10 percent through March 31 for anyone upgrading to a Trek Disc Brake Road Bike. The Blue Book value guide can help assess the value of the bike for trade-in credit.
• Capitol Steps in Vienna — 4-6 p.m. at James Madison High School (2500 James Madison Dr.) — Bipartisan political satire crew Capitol Steps will perform at James Madison High School in a fundraiser for the school’s booster organization. Tickets range from $25 to $30.

Photo via Facebook

At tonight’s Vienna Town Council meeting, a planned overview of the town’s budget process lays out local budget priorities so far and offers a look at what’s coming next.

In previous meetings, the town manager presented his proposed budget and 10 budget priorities:

• Real estate tax rate remains at $0.225 per $100 of assessed value. This is the seventh year of decrease or no change.
• Three percent compensation increase for eligible employees
• Water and Sewer rates rising 10 percent in total to cover operating costs, maintain positive cash flow and meet industry standards for billing the fixed cost portion of the bill.
• Parks and Recreation revenue increasing $280,000 due to strong attendance and programming
• Minimal personnel changes
• Stormwater engineer salary increase to handle sustainability coordinator duties
• Shift $200,000 from operating budget to capital budget for asphalt costs
• Two vehicles added using unspent capital lease proceeds, water and sewer funds and stormwater funds
• Three percent decrease in health insurance for Anthem, 9 percent increase for Kaiser health insurance, generating an additional $125,000 in savings
• $400,000 available for unfunded priorities allocated to an economic development manager, updated zoning code and other priorities

The economic development manager position was one discussed by the Town Council as part of the strategic plan. The consultant would assist the town in trying to stem the tide of businesses vacating the town.

Town Council work sessions for the budget are planned for March 16 and 18, with a third on April 22 if needed.

A public hearing on the budget, water and sewer rates is scheduled for April 8 and for the proposed tax rate on April 29.

Final budget adoption is scheduled for May 13.

File Photo

A new 28-home subdivision could be coming to Lee Highway just west of Merrifield, replacing a private, heavily forested plot on the Bear Branch stream.

Today, the 10-acre lot is mainly forested with a few small buildings. A narrow gravel road is closed off with a fence, but maps show it leads to a small clearing at the center of the property.

The new development will replace that woodland with new houses, with 1.8 acres preserved and dedicated to the Fairfax County Park Authority. The application notes that 86 percent of the current vegetation on the property will be destroyed.

The new homes would be located on the northern border of Armistead Park, an 11-acre public park. A six-foot-wide trail would also connect the existing trail in Armistead Park to Lee Highway.

The application says an existing pond on the property will be rehabilitated as an amenity for residents, with a dock and seating area for fishing or community gatherings.

An application for the subdivision was filed in December, with pre-staffing for the project scheduled for next Monday (March 18). The subdivision is tentatively scheduled for a Planning Commission hearing in July.

Photo via Google Maps

Local citizens and county supervisors have been putting pressure on the police to embrace body-worn cameras, particularly after funding for the devices wasn’t included in this year’s county budget proposal.

But Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler told Tysons Reporter that the budget decision isn’t about priorities: it’s about timing.

Roessler said that it wouldn’t make sense to include body-worn cameras in the budget until an ongoing study of the recently completed pilot program, which among the findings would include a projected cost for the program, is completed and presented to the public this summer.

In 2014, Roessler put together a steering group to look at body-worn cameras, which put together a list of policies — like when officers should activate, or deactivate, the cameras and what footage to release or withhold.

“Sometimes it might be a child having a mental episode, and we don’t want to broadcast those things,” Roessler said.

Roessler said one of the biggest parts of the equipment cost will likely be digital storage, which Roessler said would give the program $4 million annual budget. An estimate from Fairfax County staff in response to a question from Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust estimated a $6 million total recurring cost.

In 2017, as other large agencies in urban jurisdictions were starting to purchase body cameras and get them onto the streets, the program went through pilot testing in Fairfax County.

“A lot of agencies were just purchasing equipment and rolling [it] out onto the street without research,” said Roessler. “My proposal was to pilot the project at several district stations with different demographics and different calls for service so we could get good samples for how these work in different circumstances.

The other big part of the pilot Roessler thought was critical was collaborating with American University for a study of the results of the project. While other departments, like D.C. and Boston, had pilot programs with research, Roessler said he was not satisfied with the level of academic rigor.

“I was not satisfied with results from Boston or D.C.,” Roessler said. “I believe that I have a responsibility to conduct a study with the highest levels of academic rigor… I’ve decided to do it this way because it’s the right thing to do.”

Roessler said there were instances where departments would not fully enforce their proposed body worn camera policies during the pilot phase, which he said would result in biased samples.

But the study won’t be completed and ready for presentation in time for the current budget season. With the FY 2020 budget starting in July, Roessler said funding body-worn cameras would be more likely to come up in next year or the following year’s budget discussions.

“In a June public safety meeting, I will present the American University findings of the project and the potential scope of cost so the [Board of Supervisors] can make informed decisions,” Roessler said.

At the March 6 meeting, the McLean Citizens Association voted to table the resolution to implement the body worn camera program until the results from American University are published.

“We want to get it right, said Roessler. “Other departments rushed it, got it wrong, and it cost taxpayers millions because they have to take cameras back and start all over. “

Roessler said the department is also working with the commonwealth attorney’s office on navigating the workload and costs from body cameras. Not only would the cameras add hours of footage for the commonwealth attorney’s office to sort through during court cases, but Roessler said how long files will be kept in costly digital storage.

But despite the costs, Roessler said he believes there are advantages for both police officers and the public with body-worn cameras.

“Clearly, body-worn cameras won’t solve everything,” said Roessler. “They won’t give a 360-degree view, but it does help for accountability. Until I understand the scope of the cost, we do have a lot of priorities and the cost may depend on the projection for the county budget.”

Photo via Fairfax County Police

McLean Runner Places Third at Marathon — McLean native Anna Buser placed third among female competitors at the Rock n Roll D.C. marathon over the weekend, with a time of 3:15:43. [Getty Images, WTOP]

Temporary Amenities Help Improve Tysons — “Temporary urbanism, like holiday markets, beer gardens, and Park(ing) Day parklets, are an increasingly important part of our cities. But in many places, including Tysons, zoning regulations make them difficult to build.” [Greater Greater Washington]

Local Neighborhoods Among NoVa’s Hottest — The “hottest up-and-coming neighborhoods in Northern Virginia” include the Mosaic District, Pimmit Hills and Tysons, according to Northern Virginia Magazine. [Northern Virginia]

The partially open Jones Branch Connector will be completely closed this weekend — now the second weekend in a row for the closure — to facilitate some additional bridge work.

According to a press release from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT):

• The southbound 495 express lanes between the Jones Branch Connector off-ramp and the Jones Branch Connector on-ramp
• The eastbound Dulles Toll Road ramp to southbound 495 express lanes
• Eastbound and westbound lanes of the Jones Branch Connector between Jones Branch Drive and the 495 express lanes.

Like last week, VDOT says if the weather cooperates, the closure is scheduled to run from Saturday (March 9) at 5 a.m. to Monday (March 11) at 4 a.m.

The closure is to allow crews to continue working on the bridge deck, and further closures may be on the horizon.

“Following the closures this weekend, a few more weekend closures will be necessary in order to construct the new parts of the bridge,” VDOT staff said in an email. “We will send out traffic alerts for those future weekend closures once those dates are confirmed, before they’re scheduled to occur.”

Image via VDOT

(Updated 8:30) — A new exhibit in Vienna’s Freeman Store & Museum showing the town’s expansion in the 1950s is scheduled for a grand opening Sunday (March 10).

The museum’s website says the new exhibit will feature stories of how the town grew in the ’50s through the twin lenses of the opportunities and challenges of the decade.

The store and museum is managed by Historic Vienna Inc., a local non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting local history.

According to the Historic Vienna Inc. newsletter:

Remember hula hoops, Barbie dolls, play doh, and matchbox cars? Remember Patsy Cline, Elvis, Little Richard, and the Kingston Trio? How about Leave It to Beaver, Gunsmoke, I Love Lucy, and The Ed Sullivan Show? The Korean War? segregation? Vienna experienced the 50s in all its good, bad, and ugly. Come to the Freeman Store to experience Vienna in the 50s through an exciting multimedia exhibit.

In the early part of the decade, Vienna’s Maple Avenue was still a street that ran mostly through fields with sporadic residences along the roadside, but over time the next few decades, the town would gradually become more and more developed.

According to the Town of Vienna website:

In 1940, Vienna was still a small, quiet, rural town with a population of 1,237 and remained virtually untouched by the metropolitan character of the nation’s capital. The town began to take on a new look in the 1950s when many businesses started to move from the old commercial section on Church Street to Maple Avenue. The post-World War II rush to the suburbs brought a burgeoning of population to Northern Virginia, almost 10,000 new residents to Vienna alone, their new houses blending with those of an earlier era.

In 1954, the first of Vienna’s modern shopping centers was opened. More shopping centers followed in quick succession along a widened Maple Avenue in an attempt to keep up with the influx of newcomers who bought homes in the town’s new subdivisions. Older residents recall with nostalgia the Victorian homes and the maple trees that lined Maple Avenue before it was widened in 1958.

The other current exhibit in the museum is dedicated to the Women’s Suffrage Movement, highlighting the 100th anniversary of the League of Women Voters.

Photo via Town of Vienna

Chesterbrook Elementary School (1753 Kirby Rd) in McLean wants to host an event to help children understand the daily life experiences students with developmental challenges face, but some adult supervision is needed.

The event is called Walk in My Shoes, part of a program put together by a group in Herndon. According to a post from Chesterbrook Elementary, this is the first year the school is hosting the event.

Adult volunteers are needed to help students through activities that help them understand fine motor skill challenges, dyslexia, ADHD and more.

“Your help is needed in running interactive hands-on activities designed to teach kids about a variety of challenges faced by some of their friends,” the school said in the post. “We welcome anyone who loves working with kids and wants to help make this world a more understanding place for those with learning differences.”

Volunteers from outside of the Chesterbrook community are welcome and recommended to attend a training session on Monday, March 18 from 7-8 p.m.

Photo via Facebook

The developers behind The Boro — a sprawling project scheduled for staggered openings throughout the year — have filed paperwork for a plan to work with the company WhyHotel to turn unleased rental units into temporary hotel rooms.

“Given the large number of units in the building, the applicant anticipates that the initial lease-up period for the Rise will be at least 18-24 months,” Elizabeth Baker, senior land use planner for the developers, said in a report on the project. “During this period not to exceed 24 months, the Applicant proposes to temporarily utilize up to 150 market rate units throughout the building for short-term residential or hotel stays.”

The report notes that the stays would be coordinated and managed by WhyHotel, and the guests would have access to the residential parking garage in the building and amenities like the fitness lounge, club room, yoga studio and rooftop swimming pool.

As a bonus, the report says the short term residents would be more likely to use transit or alternate modes of transportation, resulting in a temporarily reduced demand on parking and single occupancy vehicles trips around the site.

There are no architectural design changes resulting from the proposal and at the end of the 24-month period, the temporary use would be terminated.

“The request represents a modest and relatively short term change in use for the property that will be positive for the Boro project and the county,” Baker said in the report.

A staff report and Planning Commission hearing are both scheduled for May.

Tickets are rapidly disappearing for the 5th Annual Fishing Rodeo in Vienna on March 30. So if you’re interested in the trout fishing extravaganza, you may want to hook a ticket reel soon.

At the annual event in Wildwood Park (700 block of Follin Lane SE), hundreds of trout are dumped into Wolftrap Creek to swim right through banks packed to the gills with local fishers. Tickets are $3 per fisher.

Volunteers will provide instruction on fishing and stream education, as well as offering fish-cleaning demonstrations.

Half of the time slots have sold out. The remaining slots are:

• 9:30 a.m. — 12 tickets
• 10:30 a.m. — 41 tickets
• 11 a.m. — 16 tickets

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own fishing rod, bucket, plastic bag and ice A limited number of fishing rods are available to borrow. Bait will be supplied and fish marked with special tags can earn the fisher a gift card from a local merchant. All participants over 16 must possess a fishing license.

Tickets were available on sale to Vienna residents in January, but have since opened up to the public.

Photo via Facebook