Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams — a Ohio-based ice cream franchise — has opened a new scoop shop in The Boro in Tysons.
According to a press release, the 1,400-square-foot shop is located at 1669 C Silver Hill Drive. The shop has the classics, like salty caramel, as well as new flavors like buttercream birthday cake and dairy-free options, like cold brew with coconut cream
“Jeni’s has been available at area Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Giant Food, Safeway, Fresh Market, Wegmans, Butcher’s Alley, Pescadeli and UPtown Market, but McLean residents will now enjoy Jeni’s beloved flavors in scoop form,” the press release said. “Pro tip: we highly recommend the freshly made waffle cones.”
Doors are open for customers, but ice cream can also be ordered via app.
“The Boro is excited to welcome Jeni’s to Tysons!” The Boro said in a statement to Tysons Reporter. “Especially in the heat of the summer, Jeni’s will be the perfect addition to our growing community of popular restaurants and retailers for people to walk around and enjoy.”
Photo courtesy Jeni‘s Splendid Ice Creams
In its current state, the American Legion Bridge doesn’t work. Anyone who has driven across the bridge during rush hour knows the pain of being stuck in hours of back up as traffic bottlenecks, but a new study aims to relieve some congestion with proposed bus routes between Maryland and Virginia.
Conducted by the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, the transit and transportation demand management study examined the existing traffic congestion on the bridge and finalizes recommendations for future bus routes with dedicated transit lanes in the I-495 corridor.
According to the study, traffic on the American Legion Bridge has continued to increase over the past two decades:
Between 2002 and 2017, the traffic volumes on the Bridge increased by 18 percent. Population and employment growth is projected to continue in the region, specifically in Tysons and the surrounding area, putting further strain on the existing infrastructure. The Traffic and Transportation Technical Report for the I-495 Express Lanes Northern Extension also found that trips travelling across the Bridge have a wide-range of origins and destinations, with many existing and projected future trips originating and ending in locations outside of Fairfax County and Montgomery County — the two jurisdictions connected by the Bridge.
And it’s likely to get worse. Based on projected population growth in areas like Tysons, the study says traffic on the bridge is expected to increase by 31% over the next two decades, with 1,833 additional trips per year, primarily from Maryland residents coming to attractions or workplaces in Virginia.
“The majority of existing trips are generated in Maryland, clustered along the MD 355 corridor, along with smaller clusters around Frederick and the US 29 corridor,” the study said. “In Virginia, trip generation is concentrated in the activity centers of Tysons, Dunn Loring, Alexandria, and Arlington.”
The study noted that aside from Metro, no existing transit options offer any inter-state connections, and the Metro routes circuitously travel through Rosslyn.
“Commuter bus routes running on managed lanes could be more efficient to commuters travelling between these key activity centers rather than a circuitous transit trip on Metrorail,” the study said. “In addition to local and commuter bus service, access to managed lanes can drastically improve travel times for carpool and vanpool users.”
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors recently endorsed plans to extend the I-495 Express Lanes to the American Legion Bridge, but the viability of the 495 NEXT project depends on Maryland widening its portion of the highway, a proposition that remains tentative at best.
If the planned dedicated transit lanes on the American Legion Bridge do come to fruition, the study looked at several potential bus routes that could run between Tysons and Maryland, including lines to Bethesda, Germantown, Silver Spring, Frederick and Gaithersburg.
The study found that the routes to Bethesda, Silver Spring and Gaithersburg all scored fairly highly when it came to factors like connections to low-income areas and potential ridership.
The study included a range of options based on different levels of investment in transit infrastructure.
The baseline transit expansion was for $2.2 million to $3.5 million in annual operating costs. This would offer a pair of routes that run from Spring Hill to Lakeforest Mall in Germantown and Bethesda.
A medium-cost expansion would run from Spring Hill up to Frederick and to Bethesda as well as Silver Spring, with another line connecting Frederick down to Rosslyn and L’Enfant Plaza. This package has estimated annual operating costs of $6.8 million to $11.6 million.
The highest investment package would include all the above, plus a line out to Reston Town Center and Dulles Airport and another to the Mosaic District. The annual operating cost would be between $11.4 million and $19.8 million.
Former Falls Church resident and civil rights pioneer Edwin Bancroft Henderson is one of five Black Virginians being honored with a new series of highway plaques aimed at highlighting Black history throughout the state.
Options for the new markers were submitted by Virginia students, and of the 100 submissions, five were chosen.
According to a press release from the Governor’s office:
Henderson, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame known as the “Father of Black Basketball,” organized athletic leagues for African Americans, wrote The Negro in Sports (1939), organized the first rural chapter of the NAACP, and was president of the NAACP Virginia state conference as he worked for civil rights.
The recognition also comes after years of work by Henderson’s grandson to get his grandfather’s contributions to civil rights recognized, along with his promotion of physical fitness in young Black athletes and work to document Black sports, as reported by Northern Virginia Magazine.
The marker for Henderson was suggested by Sullivan Massaro from Kings Glen Elementary in Springfield, Virginia.
“The Historical Marker Contest helped me learn more about Black Virginians who have made a difference, like Dr. Edwin Henderson,” Massaro said in the press release. “Dr. Henderson introduced the sport of basketball to Black athletes in Washington, D.C. and is a big part of why basketball is so popular today. As I researched him I learned how much he did not only for the sport of basketball, but for civil rights in Virginia. I couldn’t believe that he did not already have a historical marker, so I chose to nominate him for the contest.”
In 2013, Henderson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Edwin Henderson II, grandson of Edwin Bancroft Henderson, said the marker will help secure his grandfather’s legacy and spread awareness of the local piece of Black history.
“On behalf of the Henderson Family, I’d like to express my deep appreciation to Sullivan and his teacher Ms. Maura Keaney for the recognition of Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson’s accomplishments in Virginia by placing a historic marker in front of his home in the City of Falls Church,” Edwin Henderson II said. “This contest is part of an important effort to intertwine African American history into all school curriculum, and ensure that Virginia’s diverse history is represented honestly in classrooms across the Commonwealth.”
Image via University of the District of Columbia
Later this week, Fairfax County will kick off voting for its second pandemic primary, and the county officials running the election are applying a few lessons from the last year of early and mail-in voting.
Early voting for the Democratic primary is scheduled to start this Friday (April 23) and will be open to all voters registered in the county.
Voters in last year’s election faced long lines as they waited to turn in their ballots early, but Fairfax County General Registrar and Director of Elections Gary Scott, who is retiring from the position this year, said that scenario is unlikely in this year’s elections.
“What we’re doing is trying to incorporate some of the things we did observe,” Scott said. “There are lessons learned from the general election that don’t necessarily translate well to a primary election. We’re looking at a different electorate and a different level of turnout. But we’re opening more than one location early.”
Scott says that, in addition to the Fairfax County Government Center (12000 Government Center Parkway), the county will open the North County Government Center (1801 Cameron Glen Drive) and the Mount Vernon Government Center (2511 Parkers Lane) for early voting on Saturday, April 24.
For the last week of the primary, the county will open an additional 13 early voting sites starting on May 29. Sites in the Tysons area include the Providence Community Center, the McLean Governmental Center, and Tysons-Pimmit and Thomas Jefferson libraries.
“For the last week, we will have a total of 16 locations where people will vote,” Scott said. “And we’ve extended hours from 4:30 p.m. to, now, 7 p.m. We wanted to extend further after working hours.”
Scott says it can be difficult to estimate how many voters there will be.
The last gubernatorial primary in 2017 had a 13% turnout, but that year had both a Republican and Democrat primary. This year, it’s Democrat-only, but Scott says his office is still preparing for a 40% turnout, even if that is viewed as extremely unlikely.
“Ordering paper ballots is relatively cheap after a certain point, and I’d rather have 10,000 ballots too many than 10,000 ballots too few,” he said.
Those voting in person should not submit an application to receive a ballot by mail, though anyone who requests a mail ballot can still surrender it when they check in if they decide to vote in-person instead.
“If you submit an application, you’re going to be sent a ballot by mail, and you’d have to return that ballot to back it out in order to vote in person,” Scott explained.
There will be drop boxes around the county after Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill into law on March 31 making permanent a measure that was adopted temporarily last year. Drop boxes will be available at all early voting sites and polling places for those who want to drop off their ballot, according to Scott.
The deadline to register to vote in Fairfax County is May 19 — 22 days prior to the election. The Democratic primary is scheduled for June 8. Virginia is an open-primary state, so the primary is open to all voters.
“There are no Republican races in Fairfax County, so if you’re showing up to vote for republican candidates…there aren’t any,” Scott said. “For top of ticket, they chose convention, and some House of Delegates races had only one qualified candidate for primary.”
In addition to the statewide governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general races, voters in six districts have House of Delegates races on the primary ballot:
“We would encourage people, before they go out to vote, to review sample ballots we will have posted on our website,” Scott said. “So, if they go to vote, they’re prepared, because not everyone in the county is going to see the same ballot.”
Not all grocery stores are created equal.
There isn’t exactly a dearth of grocery stores in the area around the planned West Falls Church Economic Development Project, inspiring some confusion when it was announced the project will be anchored by 123,000 square feet of retail primarily consisting of a grocery store.
But at a recent meeting last week on the project, developer EYA argued that the city is big enough to accommodate multiple grocery retailers.
“Within this market, because it’s such a high density area leading towards both to Tysons as well as towards downtown Falls Church, the numbers within that three mile ring is high,” Evan Goldman, executive vice president of acquisition and development for EYA, said. “Even though you do have a lot of grocery stores, you have different types of grocery stores.”
The identity of the grocer expected to move into the extensive mixed-use development remains under wraps, sealed by a nondisclosure agreement, according to City of Falls Church staff.
Goldman noted that some grocery store chains operate as primary stores for staples, while others live symbiotically with those chains as providers for more niche products.
“Like Trader Joe’s, that’s something where somebody will often cross-shop,” Goldman said. “They’ll go to Trader Joe’s and Giant or Whole Foods or Harris Teeter. The grocery store we’re bringing to bear is something more unique and different as well, so it might be something as well where people cross-shop to grocers.”
The cross-shopping trend for grocery stores was called into question during the pandemic, however, when more shoppers started to focus on getting all their grocery needs at a single store. Whether that endures after the pandemic is too early to say.
“Grocery stores, of all the retail tenants, probably have the most sophisticated demographic software when they determine locations,” Goldman said. “So they clearly think there’s demand for their product here, and we agree based on what we’ve seen.”
Final action on the West Falls development — and its mystery tenant — is scheduled for May 24.
Image via City of Falls Church
(Updated at 2:10 p.m.) Officially, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors endorsed the I-495 extension of the express lanes on Tuesday (April 13), but the discussion leading up to that vote showed that some officials closest to the project still have reservations.
Supervisor John Foust, representing the Dranesville District that would ostensibly stand the most to gain from the project called 495 NEXT, said the project only addresses half the problem and, without the other half, could only worsen an already miserable bottleneck.
“I’ve lived with the horrible congestion caused by backups at the American Legion Bridge and I’ve supported widening or replacement of the bridge,” Foust said. “But without the Maryland project, 495 NEXT worsens traffic in the general portion lanes…Until the American Legion Bridge is widened, these adverse impacts are far greater than any public benefit.”
The plan would add new express lanes from 495’s intersection with the Dulles Toll Road up to the American Legion Bridge, where the plan was to connect with similar lanes on the Maryland-owned bridge and onto the Maryland side of the beltway. Foust’s frustration comes from Maryland dragging its heels on the project despite an earlier pledged commitment to widening.
Foust said that, as recently as December, the Board agreed that VDOT should only consider further action on widening once Maryland executed a comprehensive agreement with a developer to fulfill their half of the project.
“Of course that hasn’t happened, nothing significant has happened since December to justify us reversing our opinion,” Foust said. “I want to make it clear, I think it’s a mistake. Going forward without agreement from Maryland is exposing us to worsening impacts.”
But Fairfax County has faced mounting pressure to endorse 495 NEXT, most recently from Virginia Secretary of Transportation Shannon Valentine. Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay and others on the board described the endorsement as a good-faith move on Fairfax’s part.
“We don’t entirely control the schedule here,” McKay said. “There are some signfiicant benefits to this project. Everyone is familiar with the gridlock that Foust has explained…We’re close to a guarantee that Maryland is making significant progress.”
“This is a chance for Fairfax County to be a leader,” Supervisor Pat Herrity agreed, “and I think this encourages Maryland to move forward.”
The endorsement passed in a 8 to 2 vote, with Foust and Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn voting against it. The new lanes are scheduled to open to traffic in 2024.
The Falls Church Kiwanis Little League is hoping not to strike out on a proposal to add new batting cages to a field at Idylwood Park between Falls Church and Tysons.
At a Fairfax County Parks Authority meeting tonight, the Kiwanis Little League is docketed to suggest adding three hitting stations to the field, with a concrete bases, heavy-duty cage netting, and synthetic turf mats.
“Hitting stations allow multiple players to practice their skills simultaneously in a safe, protected space,” a staff report said. “By making such efficient use of space, this improvement will alleviate some of the competing uses in this popular park.”
The Kiwanis Little League has raised $12,737.25 for the project, but is seeking a matching contribution from the county in the form of a Mastenbrook Grant, which provides up to $20,000 in matching funds for local park projects.
In its application for the grant program, the Kiwanis Little League says that players hoping to use batting cages currently have to travel to Arlington, and a new set of cages in Falls Church could help alleviate the demand.
In a supplement to its application, the league further explained the benefit of adding hitting cages at Idylwood Park, which is located on Virginia Lane:
Hitting stations would be an extremely popular recreational resource at Idylwood Park and many different groups would benefit from them including several hundred FCKLL members, local travel teams, middle and high school students, as well as the general public. They would provide a new year-round recreational and developmental resource for individuals, teams and the community at-large, without adding burden to fields. They are a practical and effective alternative to batting cages and allow multiple players to work out in a confined space, safely and at the same time. Equally important, it provides the community with another opportunity to be outside and engage in physical activity.
Image via Fairfax County
After a year off due to COVID-19, ViVa Vienna is coming back — but planners warned that it will still be a little different than past years as pandemic precautions linger.
ViVa Vienna, a festival hosted by the Rotary Club of Vienna, is still scheduled to host around 550 visitors and 160 vendors. But planner AJ Oskuie said at a Vienna Town Council meeting last night (Monday) that the Rotary Club is trying to keep awareness of the festival fairly low-key.
“We’re not advertising beyond Vienna,” Oskuie said. “We want it to be Vienna-centric.”
There was previously some discussion about postponing the festival, which is typically held on Memorial Day weekend, depending on the state of the pandemic and Virginia’s COVID-19 rules on crowd sizes, but the event now appears to be scheduled for May 29-31, according to its website.
Given that the pandemic has left some folks a little stir crazy and hungry for public events, Oskuie told the town council on Monday that the Rotary Club is trying to prevent folks from swarming the event.
“Information is key to this,” Oskuie said. “Trying to get in front of this to create awareness so we don’t have issues, particularly on the safety end. We don’t want people showing up, bottlenecking, trying to get into the rides. That’s probably our biggest point of concern right now.”
This year, Oskuie said most of the acts lined up will be children and family-friendly. Vendors will also be set up with social distancing in mind, providing at least 10 feet of space between tents to give folks space to pass each other. The food court that’s accompanied the festival in the past will also be absent this year.
“We’re pleased with where Rotary has gone with this,” Vienna Parks and Recreation Director Leslie Herman said. “We’re confident this event can be held safely.”
Photo via ViVa Vienna/Facebook
A planned overhaul of The Madeira School won the uncontested endorsement of the McLean Citizens Association last week as it moves towards the Fairfax County Planning Commission for review.
The Madeira School is an all-girl’s private school at 8328 Georgetown Pike in McLean founded in 1906. While not looking to expand its student population, the school is hoping to expand and renovate some of the outdated buildings.
The centerpiece of the proposal is the removal of the site’s existing science building so it can be replaced with a new structure with upgraded classrooms. Other additions include a stables building, a new residential hall, and new faculty housing.
In an article on the school’s website, school administrators say the new classrooms will replace outdated 1970s facilities that don’t meet the school’s needs and are difficult to maintain.
“Replacing Madeira’s current science facility is a critical need — and not only because our curriculum has outgrown it,” the school said. “We are limited by our current building, constructed in the 1970s, which is extremely costly to maintain, has an insufficient number of classrooms, antiquated laboratories, structural flaws, and inflexible spaces. The new building will elevate the program for Madeira’s engaged students and signals a bold new standard.”
With very little discussion, the McLean Citizens Association voted to approve a resolution endorsing the school’s application to amend its existing special exception permit during a board of directors’ meeting on April 7.
The Madeira School’s application to the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning states that it is seeking the following modifications and improvements:
- Removal of the existing Biedler Science Center building, elimination of a previously approved but unbuilt addition to the building, and construction of a new STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) building. Construction of this building will be key to upgrading all of the School’s classrooms, because it will relocate several existing math classrooms out of the Schoolhouse I building, leaving a block of space that can be spread around both Schoolhouse buildings for reconfiguring and upgrading purposes.
- Removal of the existing Stables building, including elimination of a previously approved but unbuilt addition, and removal of the existing Gaines Hall Indoor Riding Ring building, and construction of a new Stables building, riding arena, and hot walker’.
- Removal of the existing two-story residence known as the “Farmhouse,” to be replaced by a new two-story, 5,000 square foot residence.
- Removal of the existing residence known as the “Laurels,” to be replaced with six units for faculty housing. The proposed faculty housing will be four-story two-over-two stacked townhouses. The density for such units has been reallocated from previously approved faculty housing units that were not constructed to their maximum approved square footage.
- Removal of the existing Health Center, to be replaced with eight units for faculty housing. The proposed units will be four-story two-over-two stacked townhouses. The density for such units has been reallocated from previously approved faculty housing units that were not constructed to their maximum approved square footage. The Health Center function will move into the current studio arts building.
The proposed improvements and uses are accessory to the existing primary use as a private school of general education with an enrollment of more than 100 students. None of these projects will encroach into the existing RPA. All previously approved structures that have not yet been constructed are deemed to be approved pursuant to the previous approvals and are depicted
The Planning Commission hearing for the project is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28.
Image via Madeira School
The Virginia Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to overhaul the intersection of Towlston Road and Leesburg Pike (Route 7), but despite requests from local residents, the highway’s speed limit will not be reduced after construction is finished.
VDOT officials say the need to move traffic to and from Tysons will keep the speed limit on Route 7 at 55 miles per hour.
VDOT discussed the changes coming to the Route 7 and Towlston intersection at a virtual town hall hosted by the Great Falls Citizens Association on March 31.
The need for improvements to the intersection emerged in the aftermath of a fatal crash in December. At the meeting, officials said the incident occurred when a vehicle traveling southbound on Towlston Road attempted a left turn onto Leesburg Pike. A distracted driver ran through the red light and struck the turning vehicle.
“What the community is seeking is an assurance that the intersection will be as safe as possible when VDOT completes its work under the widening project,” GFCA executive board director Mike Barclay said.
Barclay said that the intersection improvements need to ensure that, when a car turns left on Route 7 from Towlston, the driver “will have an unimpeded view of traffic traveling west on Route 7.”
Public feedback at the meeting ranged from urges to reduce the speed limit to a call to convert the intersection into a four-way stop.
Some of those concerns, particularly regarding sight-lines, should be waylaid by the current project to widen Route 7 from Reston to Tysons, VDOT said.
As part of the project, extended turn lanes will be added to Leesburg Pike to make it easier for trucks to turn onto Towlston Road, a response to the common complaint that trucks turning at the intersection often block several lanes of traffic.
Steve Kuntz, transportation business unit manager for consultant Dewberry, said sight-lines at the intersection will be improved as part of ongoing work at the intersection.
“We’re still not in the final configuration,” Kuntz said. “It is still a work in progress. We want to make sure everyone recognizes: what you see today is not the permanent configuration.”
But VDOT said there are no plans to reduce the speed limit on Leesburg Pike.
“Reducing speed on Route 7 is not an option,” VDOT district construction engineer Bill Cutler said. “It’s a highway to Tysons and needs to be able to move people along.”
However, changes will be made to Towlston Road, which will be reduced to 25 miles per hour near the intersection.
Cutler said VDOT will also be working with the contractor and the operations center to optimize timing at the signal as part of a broader effort to synchronize signals throughout the Route 7 corridor.
“We expect that this will function well,” Cutler said. “Now, it won’t function perfectly because we’re in Northern Virginia. Nothing functions perfectly, but it should function better than it has in the past. We’ll take counts and see how that holds up compared to our forecasts, and certainly to reality.”
Photo via Google Maps
