It’s cold out and the snow is still piling up in the streets, but that hasn’t kept some stores from opening. Tysons currently has around three inches of snow on the ground.

Tysons Corner Center said in a tweet this morning that it would be open, though individual retailers within the store might be closed.

Hello snow angels! Tysons Corner Center is Open today. Individual Retailer hours may vary. Please contact stores directly for their operating hours. pic.twitter.com/jAgGGNd1Cq

— Tysons Corner Center (@ShopTysons) February 20, 2019

The security office at Tysons Galleria said that the mall is closed today as a result of the snow.

The Tower Club Tysons will be open with a limited menu until 2 p.m., with an anticipated opening and normal hours at 7 a.m. on Thursday.

While the emergency departments remain open, Inova’s physical therapy location in Tysons is closed today, as are several other Inova programs across the county. Ninotch massage and sports therapy also announced its Tysons location is closed today.

The lunch special event at TenPenh near Tysons Galleria is also postponed, though the restaurant remains open.

Vienna government facilities and community centers are closed today. Maple Avenue Restaurant in Vienna announced that it would also be closed today.

All library branches are closed today as is the Fairfax Animal Shelter, which advised locals to stay cuddled up at home with their pets.

The animal shelter is CLOSED today due to the snow. Consider this your official invitation to stay home and lounge on the couch with your pets all day!!! If you don't have a pet (yet), browse our website and come visit when we're open again: https://t.co/hxPmrlSLYI

— Fairfax Animals (@fairfaxanimals) February 20, 2019

Criticism over massing and scale of new buildings has prompted the Town of Vienna to revisit its Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning requirements.

While the four-story height limit remains intact, new regulations will push buildings further away from the street.

Setbacks — or the required distance of a new development from the street — played a major role in discussions last year regarding the redevelopment of the Vienna Wolf Trap Hotel. Critics and a few members of the Town Council argued the size of the building overshadowed nearby developments and asked that the building be reduced in size and built further away from Maple Avenue.

The minimum distance from the front of the building to the curb was 20 feet on Maple Avenue, but the new amendments increase that set back to 28 feet. On side streets, the setback requirement is increased from 15 feet to 20 feet.

A maximum height of four stories or 54 feet was included in the original zoning regulations, but the new regulations include a note that all buildings “shall have the appearance of, at most, four stories when viewed from every cardinal direction.”

New proposals will also require applicants to include an analysis of the long-term fiscal benefits and costs to Vienna under the revisions the commission will examine. Projects will also be required to include how the development fits into the current school zone boundary map.

As part of an effort to ensure that the new developments boost local retail, the regulations include a requirement that new developments or redevelopments include ground floor commercial square footage equal to or greater than what currently exists, including commercial square footage currently occupied, vacant or previously demolished.

Density caps had been discussed for multi-family dwelling units, but a comment on the proposed amendments notes that the idea was eventually dismissed.

The new regulations also slightly increase the amount of transparency on the ground floor facade from 50 percent to 60 percent.

The building also includes extensive revisions impervious surfaces of new developments. MAC-zoned developments have an 80 percent maximum impervious surface, meaning surfaces that rainwater can’t pass through. The idea is to prevent runoff that can quickly flood Maple Avenue.

But the zoning regulations also offer incentives allowing an increase in the impervious surface if other requirements are met. This includes a 5 or 10 percent increase if the applicant constructs and maintains a vegetated roof system covering at least half, or 2,000 square feet, of continuous roof area.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the changes at a work session tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6:30 p.m.

A joint work session is scheduled for March 6, followed by community workshops later in March to discuss the proposed changes.

After nearly 10 years in downtown Vienna, Maple Avenue Market closed for good on Sunday.

The market was a farm store run by Sara and Chris Guerre, farmers with a 10-acre property in the Shenandoah Valley who sold their produce and supplies from other small farms throughout Virginia.

According to a post on Facebook:

It is with great sadness to announce that we are closing our beloved Maple Avenue Market after nearly 10 years in business.

For the past decade we’ve been humbled by your patronage, and by your belief in our mission of envisioning solutions to help reinvent our local food system and creating change from “the ground up” in our community.

Growing, cooking, and sharing good food with all of you, and with local public schoolchildren, for so many wonderful years … will perpetually encourage us to see the world, not for what it is … but for what it might be … and for that, we are grateful.

In the comments, many people, including several local politicians, shared their stories of what the market meant to them.

“Chris and Sara, thank you for your service to our community over the past decade through Maple Avenue Market and beyond,” said Fairfax County School Board Member Ryan McElveen, who is also running for Board of Supervisors Chairman. “You have nurtured young students in our region and taught them the importance of accessible, healthy food. For that, we are all immensely grateful!”

“Thank you for being a great community business for the past 10 years,” said Vienna Town Councilwoman Carey Sienicki, “and especially for your noble mission of providing quality ingredients and supporting our schools in finding the good ways that our children can think about their food and how it gets to the table.”

Photo via Facebook

Tysons is quickly becoming one of the largest contributors to, and one of the largest demands on, the Fairfax County budget.

The FY 2020 Fairfax County Advertised Budget, presented at a Board of Supervisors meeting today (Tuesday), was met with praise from supervisors for keeping the county steady without raising the tax rate.

The budget will maintain the real estate tax rate of $1.15 per $100 of assessed value. The average Fairfax resident will see their tax bill increase by approximately $149.

But the county still experienced $162.83 million in revenue growth at the current 3.04 percent tax rate, much of which was driven by growth in Tysons.

The budget noted that prime real estate markets in Fairfax are spaces near the Silver Line, which has helped position Tysons as a financial powerhouse of the county. The completion of the 975,000-square-foot Capital One headquarters building was the majority of the County’s 1,191,000 square foot increase over 2017’s office space inventory. According to the budget documents:

Lease rates for new space are adjusting to market conditions as many tenants are taking advantage of favorable rates, and others are looking to capitalize on market conditions by consolidating operations in newer space near Metro stations. Submarkets along and near the Silver Line – Tysons Corner, Reston and the Herndon area – are especially well-positioned to take advantage of this trend. More than 54 million square feet of new office space is in the development pipeline countywide.

But the budget documents also show some of the demands Tysons is putting on the budget.

The Fairfax County Police Department is facing internal budget struggles, particularly as it works to adapt to urbanizing areas like Tysons. According to the report:

Keeping pace with urbanization to include Tysons, the Metro Silver Line extension, Springfield Town Center, South County development, and other micro-urban development countywide, will continue to challenge the Department for decades to come. Providing basic police service in urbanized areas requires different policing modes and resources than traditional methods in the suburban model the Department has been using for many decades

The report said that the department’s five-year staffing plan will include meeting the urbanization demands in Tysons with expanded police services. The budget has 16 additional uniformed positions planned for FY 2021 in the county’s long-term staffing plan.

One area of disappointment from supervisors was the lack of funding for body-worn cameras. A pilot program was implemented through 2018 and a report on the findings is expected in the first quarter of FY 2019, but officials expressed concerns that the program was not in the police budget for FY 2020.

The increasing population and density in Tysons are also putting a strain on the local parks. According to the budget:

Collectively, the major rezoning applications approved in Tysons since 2010 generate a need for eight new athletic fields under the maximum approved development levels. The equivalent of two athletic fields have been built and currently serve Tysons area users.

The budget does note, however, that new athletic fields have been proffered — funded by developers as a condition of approval — including a baseball diamond near Westgate Elementary School and a 2.3-acre park near the Tysons Galleria.

While the growth in Tysons is likely to put some strain on Fairfax County Public Schools, plans to address that overcrowding are currently not funded.

Each supervisor said they will be holding budget meetings in their communities over the next few weeks. Supervisor John Foust from the Dranesville District said the McLean discussion will be held on Feb. 28 at the McLean Community Center at 7 p.m.

The budget is scheduled to be adopted on May 7.

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 (Feb. 19)

• Best Trails for Mushrooms — 7-8 p.m. at REI (8209 Watson Street) — After being delayed by foul weather, the lecture on regional mushrooms is back on for tonight. The class will cover where the best local trails are for mushroom hunting and some of the gems that can be found there. The event is free but advanced registration is required.

Wednesday (Feb. 20)

• Aaron Carter at Jammin Java — 7:30 p.m. at Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave E) — Aaron Carter, a pop-sensation from the 90s and early 2000s, will be performing with indie rock band Rookie of the Year tomorrow. Tickets are $20 for general admission or $30 for premier tickets at a raised seating area.

Thursday (Feb. 21)

• Metro Area Alumni Happy House — 5-7 p.m. at Blackfinn Ameripub (2750 Gallows Road) — Alumni from George Mason University are invited to mix and mingle later this week. Registration for the event is $10, which includes two happy hour drink tickets and appetizers.
• Last Weekend for The Brothers Size — 7:30 p.m. at 1st Stage Theatre (1524 Spring Hill Road) — This is the last weekend to see The Brothers Size, a play at the 1st Stage Theatre about a family struggling to reconcile after a brother comes home after being released from prison. The play is directed by José Carrasquillo, the director of artistic programming at Ford’s Theatre in D.C. General admission tickets are $39, or $36 for seniors over 65. Students and military tickets are $15.

Saturday (Feb. 23)

• Blessings Bags Packing Event — 10 a.m. at McLean Bible Church (8925 Leesburg Pike) — The McLean Bible Church will be putting together care packages for local homeless people. The packages include small fleece blankets and other supplies. All ages and abilities are invited to the event to help put the care packages together.
• Team Audrey Blood Drive — 12-4:30 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE) — The Inova Bloodmobile will be parked in Vienna this weekend. The event is sponsored by Team Audrey, a non-profit based in Vienna to combat HLH. Appointment times are available online throughout the afternoon.
• Okee Dokee Brothers Live in McLean — 1, 4 and 6:30 p.m. at the McLean Community Center (1234 Ingleside Ave.) — Grammy-winning folk and roots band Okee Dokee Brothers are hosting a concert for local children and families to encourage creativity. The event is part of a slate of performances for the newly renovated McLean Community Center. Tickets are $20 or $15 for McLean residents.

Sunday (Feb. 24)

• Oscars Viewing Party at Tysons Biergarten — 8 p.m.-2 a.m. at Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) — The Biergarten will be hosting a viewing party for the 2019 Oscars, from the opening monologue to the best-picture winner. The event is planned to include 26 tv’s and two projectors so any seat in the house will give a good view of the show.

Photo via Facebook

The younger brother of a local firefighter has gone missing in the Merrifield area, and as temperatures start to drop his family and friends are seeking public assistance to find him.

According to a Facebook post:

My younger brother (Harry) went missing this evening. He was last seen in Merrifield, Virginia around 1700 February 18th 2019, headed west on Route 50. The police are aware but we are increasingly concerned due to the low temperatures and his cell phone being turned off. If anyone has seen him or he has contacted you please reach out to me or someone in the family so that we can bring him home.

His name is Christopher Davis but he goes by “Harry.” 5’11” and 130lbs. He was wearing a white/cream bobble hat, grey/brown tweed pea coat, with a scarf, black trousers, and a pair of vans.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Fairfax County Police Department’s non-emergency number at 703-691-2131.

Photo via Facebook

The bar side of Andy’s Pizza, a by-the-slice eatery on the Tysons Galleria’s third floor, is now open as a bar.

In a space next to the window where Andy Brown sells fresh pizza, his cousin, Emily Brown, is leading the bar.

For Emily, beer is a passion, and for every patron that visited the bar in its opening couple days, Emily helped walked them through the selection to see what beer was best for their palette.

While there is National Bohemian in stock, a regional go-to drink, Emily says the focus of the bar is on its variety of specialty beers. The bar is planned to have a seasonally rotating menu, with new inventory being brought in as they are announced.

So far, Emily said the most popular drink so far has been “old fashioneds,” a whiskey cocktail with a twist of citrus rind.

Andy’s Pizza is one of the new restaurants that’s transformed the upper floor of the Tysons Galleria and it isn’t the only one getting a new alcohol selection.

Pending ABC approvals, Donburi and Stomping Ground are both planning on adding drinks to a new late night menu to help give the Tysons area a new nightlife option.

Winter Storm Approaching — Some 2-5 inches of snow are expected to fall on the Tysons area Wednesday. Much of the region is now under a Winter Storm Warning. [Capital Weather Gang, Twitter]

FRIT Opening Tysons Office — Maryland-based Federal Realty Investment Trust, which owns the Pike 7 shopping center, is planning to open an office in Tysons to better manage its Northern Virginia properties. [Washington Business Journal]

Sheriff’s Office Alerts ICE — “The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office notifies U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities when a possibly undocumented immigrant in its custody is scheduled to be released, a written notice given to inmates says.” [Fairfax Times]

Programming Note — For those of you used to seeing Morning Notes on this site, or on our sister sites of ARLnow and Reston Now, we’re changing things up a bit here. Instead of a daily post, we will now be doing a once-weekly roundup of Tysons, McLean, Vienna and Falls Church-related items in the news since last Friday.

It’s a good weekend for local foodies.

Roll Bär is a new egg roll, sushi burrito and poke fusion restaurant coming to the Scott’s Run development, but the restaurant is making it’s debut at a pop-up event in the Tysons Biergarten.

From 1-3 p.m., the restaurant will host a tasting in the Biergarten at 8346 Leesburg Pike.

And if you sample Roll Bär early enough, you can make it across town to TenPenh Tysons‘ cooking demonstration at the Tysons Pimmit Library (7584 Leesburg Pike).

Chef Erick from the restaurant near the Tysons Galleria (7900 Westpark Drive) will teach guests how to make grilled shrimp and Vietnamese rice noodle salad. The demonstration runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m.

Photo via Facebook

It’s a season of duets and intimate conversations for The Barns at Wolf Trap.

First up is Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti and her mother, former Broadway star Linda Benanti, for a musical performance about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Laura Benanti performed in several Broadway productions like “Gypsy”, for which she won Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Linda starred in the 1981 revival of Brigadoon. The show will have two performances on March 9. Tickets start at $40.

Comedy troupe The Second City will also have five improvised comedy shows from March 20-23. Alumni of the group include Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and Bill Murray. Tickets start at $30.

Finally, the venue will host “An Intimate Evening of Songs and Stories with Graham Nash” on March 25, 27 and 28. Nash is a singer-songwriter and a founding member of Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies. Among his many accolades, Nash is a two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriter Hall of Fame inductee, Grammy Award winner, New York Times bestselling author and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. Tickets start at $85.

Here’s the full list of Wolf Trap events in March:

• March 8: The Montrose Trio
• March 9: Laura and Linda Benanti: The Story Goes On
• March 13 and 14: Habib Koité and Bassekou Kouyate
• March 15: Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams
• March 16: Seamus Egan
• March 20-23: The Second City
• March 24: Sitkovetsky Trio
• March 25-28: An Intimate Evening of Songs and Stories with Graham Nash
• March 29: Mountain Man

The full Wolf Trap schedule is available online.

Photo via Wolf Trap