It was a full house at last night’s Vienna Town Council meeting, and there was little mistaking the mood of the audience.

The main item on the agenda was the redevelopment of 430, 440 and 444 Maple Ave. W. into a four-story mixed-use development. While there was no public discussion on the topic at the meeting, the audience largely ignored pleas for silence from the Vienna Town Council as they cheered Councilmembers opposing the project and booed at those supporting it.

The outcry, though vocal, was insufficient to keep the development from being passed on a 5-2 vote.

“This is probably the most divisive project to hit the town in the last 20 years,” said Councilmember Howard Springsteen. “I know development is going to happen there, but this is not my idea of what Maple Avenue Commercial should be. Look at the turnout tonight and the signs around town. People are not happy, so I’m not going to vote in favor of this.”

Springsteen was joined in his criticism of the project by Councilmember Pasha Majdi.

“The question is simple,” said Majdi. “Do you support 150 unit apartment buildings on Maple Avenue? For me, the answer is no.”

But the majority of the Council saw the development as a necessary part of revitalizing Maple Avenue, which has faced a slew of commercial vacancies recently, despite local objections.

Councilmember Linda Colbert said the Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) process existed to give residents a voice, which they had throughout the process. But Colbert still said that she felt that it was a good project that would make substantial improvements to the area.

“When I looked at final renderings, I smiled,” said Colbert. “I imagined a place where people can gather, play, walk and eat outdoors… We need Maple Avenue to be a vital part of the community. When I drive down it now, there are places where it’s not so vibrant.”

Colbert referred back to the development of Church Street, which had been controversial in its time but had paved the way to substantial revitalization.

“It’s a lovely little place and it’s got a three-story building on it,” said Colbert. “So if you just go over one block to Maple Avenue, going up one story won’t be a bad thing.”

Even among those that supported the motion, there was still recognition that the decision was going to prove as controversial as the development.

“In my 15 years of serving in Vienna, this is one of the most difficult decisions that I’ve personally had to make,” said Councilmember Carey Sienicki.

Don’t let grumbles about a lack of local nightlife scare you, there’s still plenty to do around Tysons for Halloween tomorrow.

The Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) will be hosting a night full of Halloween festivities. An in-house trick-or-treat runs from 3-7 p.m. with candy given out to children and adults. A Halloween-themed trivia night will start at 7 p.m., then at 9 p.m., Chuggalug will be performing live music until 2 a.m. Admission to the Halloween festivities is free, with registration available online.

Meanwhile, Greenhouse Bistro and Tea Lounge (2070 Chain Bridge Road) will be hosting a Stranger Things-themed Halloween costume contest. The grand prize is $500, with 2nd place winning $250 and 3rd place winning $100. Drink specials will also be available all night.

For those looking for a healthier alternative, Tysons Sport & Health (8250 Greensboro Dr) will be hosting a Zumba Halloween Party from 7:35-8:45 p.m. The event is open to non-members. Attendees are welcome to wear a costume and invite their friends.

The AMC in Tysons Corner Center will have a showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a bizarre cult-classic musical, at 10 p.m. The movie is rated R and tickets are $5 for adults.

In nearby Vienna, the Blackfinn Ameripub at 2750 Gallows Road will be hosting a Hallowine and Whiskey party from 5-9 p.m. The bar will feature a selection of spooky specialty cocktails with half-off all whiskey and bottles of wine. Costumes are optional.

Photo via Greenhouse Bistro and Tea Lounge

(Updated at 5 p.m.) It’s fair to say that the Tysons of today might not look the same without Gerry Gordon.

To get some perspective on how much Fairfax has changed since Gordon took over the Fairfax County Economic Development Task Force (FCEDA), these black-and-white satellite pictures of Tysons were taken one year after he became President and CEO of the group in 1987. While there was development, the area was not the metropolis it has become today.

At the end of the year, Gordon will step down from that long-held position and accept a post as a fellow in the College of Charleston in South Carolina.

On Thursday, Nov. 1, the Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce will host a celebration of Gordon’s legacy in Fairfax with support from other select Fairfax Chambers of Commerce. Tickets to the event are $40 for chamber members or $50 for non-members, which includes admission, appetizers and one drink ticket. Event sponsorship tickets are also available for $75. The event will run from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Tower Club (8000 Towers Crescent Drive) in Tysons.

The event is hosted at the center of a region Gordon was instrumental in helping to transform. Some of the largest names plastered across the top of Tysons skyscrapers — Booz Allen, SAIC, Hilton, Capital One, etc — were in part brought to the area by the work of the FCEDA. Recently, Tysons was chosen over the District of Columbia as the expansion choice for KPMG LLC, an auditing firm that will occupy seven floors of The Boro.

The FCEDA, under Gordon’s leadership, works internationally to market Fairfax as a business destination. Since the early 1980s, Fairfax County has grown from 32 million square feet of office space to 117 million, the second largest suburban office market in the nation behind Orange County.

FCEDA is funded by the Fairfax County government. The group is headquartered in Tysons but has locations in Bangalore, London, Los Angeles, Berlin, Seoul and Tel Aviv.

Outside of the business expansions, Gordon has also helped the group build bridges with other regional groups. The FCEDA facilitated the creation of the Multicultural Chamber Alliance, a collaboration of the Virginia Hispanic Chamber and Asian American Chamber of Commerce in Tysons along with the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce in the Mount Vernon area. Earlier this year, Gordon led the groups in signing an even closer agreement of collaboration.

Photo via Facebook

McLean may not be as fully walkable as residents would like, but one stretch of road is stepping in the right direction.

According to a Twitter post by District Supervisor John Foust, construction finished last week on a new sidewalk along Dolly Madison Highway (Route 123) near downtown McLean.

Did you notice the construction along 123 near downtown #McLean? @fairfaxcounty just installed new sidewalk to complete an important missing link & provide safer pedestrian access to bus stop near Kurtz Rd. Coming soon ➡ filling the gaps along 123 between Old Dominion & Beverly. pic.twitter.com/hmmo4MznQ1

— John Foust (@johnfoustva) October 26, 2018

The sidewalk construction is part of a broader effort to install new walkways across McLean.

Foust said the new sidewalks are part of an effort to complete a missing link and provide safer pedestrian access to the bus stop near Kurtz Road.

According to Foust, the construction will continue with new sidewalks on Dolly Madison Highway between Old Dominion. A Sept. 25 update on transportation projects estimated the Kurtz Road area sidewalks to be fully completed next spring and cost $450,000.

Additional sidewalks further along Dolly Madison Boulevard will be completed later that summer, also costing $450,000.

Photo via Twitter

The large-scale redevelopment of three blocks of Maple Avenue, the subject of earlier debate and discussions, returns for consideration at tonight’s Vienna Town Council meeting.

A proposed four-story, mixed-use development would replace the Vienna Wolf Trap Hotel and Tequila Grande restaurant at 430, 440 and 444 Maple Ave. W. The subject has been the topic of conversation in development meetings throughout the summer.

In a response to questions raised at the earlier work session, project developer Vienna Development Associates LLC said the proposal was scaled down to 151 total residential units, a nine-unit decrease from the initial proposal.

The development has also been decreased by 12,000 square feet of floor area while open space on the site has increased from 20,000 to 24,000 square feet.

Critics of the development called for the building to feature more setbacks and to be reduced to three stories. But the developer said reducing the building to three stories would make the project economically unfeasible given the cost of underground parking, undergrounding utilities and proffers.

Included in the list of proffers offered by the developer are a variety of traffic improvements. The added congestion was one of the major concerns voiced by the public and the Town Council at earlier meetings.

• Extend the westbound left turn lane from Nutley Street to Maple Avenue by 120 feet.
• Adjust the existing crosswalk on the east side of the Maple Avenue and Nutley Street intersection, including the construction of a new accessible curb and the relocation of the pedestrian signal at the crosswalk.
• Apply signal timing and/or phasing modification at the Maple Avenue and Nutley Street intersection.
• Provide a dedicated left turn lane and dedicated right turn lane to exit new development onto Maple Avenue.

For at least a year, the developer will also have to provide a shuttle bus that runs from the property to the Vienna Metrorail station. The shuttle must be operational before the development reaches 90 percent capacity.

If the development is approved, the developer says rents at the new apartments will range from $1,500 to $3,000 per month.

Image via Vienna Development Associates LLC 

While Tysons Galleria is still putting together plans to replace the vacant Isabella Eatery, there are a handful of new stores coming to the mall by the end of the year.

The first is Santa’s Workshop, a yearly pop-up that allows kids to chat with Santa and take photos for holiday cards and keepsakes.

Santa’s Workshop will be open Nov. 16 to Dec. 24, from noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and until 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Reservations can be made online to skip the line and save $5 on a photo package. A standard $39.99 package comes with six photos of varying sizes, a digital download, and a short video. The $49.99 version has ten photos, digital downloads, and a premium video.

In addition to traditional Santa photos, the Workshop will host “Ugly Sweater” days on Nov. 16 and Dec. 13 and Pet Nights every Monday from 5-8 p.m.

Two other retailers are under construction and expected to open in December, according to a mall employee. Among them:

• Lafayette 148 New York, a high-end women’s clothing store founded in 1996. The Galleria location will be one of only three locations outside of New York.
• Lik Fine Art, a gallery specializing in the landscape photography of Peter Lik.

Many people like the taste of bacon, but sometimes bacon likes the taste of people.

According to the monthly Vienna Police highlights, last Friday (Oct. 19) at noon, a woman on the 600 Block of Tazewell Road reported that she had been bitten by her pet mini-pig.

Vienna Animal Control Officer John Barker said the pig was taken and placed on a ten-day quarantine, where it currently remains. Barker said the homeowner was trying to clear something from the pig’s mouth when the animal bit down.

Barker said pet pigs are not prohibited in Vienna provided they are not being raised for a commercial use. Though somewhat outside the array of typical household pets, pet pigs are not unheard of.

This summer, the Fairfax County Animal Shelter found a new home for a pet-pig named Roger abandoned outside the shelter. While pigs can bite like any animal, the shelter described other pet pigs like Roger as smart and loving.

“He’s clearly been a pet since he knows how to wear a harness and walk on a leash and generally just be super friendly and sweet with everyone he meets,” the shelter said in a Facebook post. “He’s young and still has some growing to do, and is 100 percent a pet pig. Pigs are just as smart as dogs and love to root around, eat all kinds of tasty snacks, and snuggle up in a comfy cushy bed when it’s nap time.”

Photo via Flickr/Cloudtail the Snow Leopard

The blistering pace of development in Tysons has many looking to the future, but sometimes it’s interesting to look back.

Aerial photos from the 1980s, available via Google Earth, help tell the story of the region’s evolution over the past three decades.

Tysons as an urban metropolis is a somewhat modern phenomenon for an area that was largely farmland for 100 years after William Tyson purchased it. In the 1960s, development was jump-started by the construction of the Capital Beltway, Dulles Airport, and the Tysons Corner Shopping Center in 1968.

By the 1980s, when the first satellite photos are available, Tysons was already a developed area. According to data from the U.S. Census, in 1990 the population of Tysons was 9,374. It grew by 35.8 percent to 12,734 in 2000.

The growth slowed a bit between 2000 and 2010, when the population rose by 11.2 percent to 14,159. Since then the pace of residential growth in Tysons has picked back up; the current population of Tysons is 19,627, already a 38.7 percent increase over 2010.

The 1988 image of Tysons, above, shows Tysons Galleria to the north on the eve of opening later that year. The streets surrounding Tysons Galleria were also widened and became more interconnected over the years, allowing for more dense construction to the north and to the east, including several recently opened and planned mixed-use developments. The offices to the west of Tysons Galleria are currently planned for major renovations to keep up with development further west on Leesburg Pike.

One of the most visually striking shifts on Leesburg Pike is the decrease in surface parking lots, which covered much of the office parks east of Leesburg Pike. Several of the lots have been replaced with under-construction developments like The Boro. The shopping centers west of Leesburg Pike have also become more active as well, with new restaurants like Honeygrow and Cava opening this year.

Photos via Google Earth

Wolf Trap Animal Rescue is hosting its last adoption event of October tomorrow (Saturday) starting at 11 a.m.

The event will be held in the Tysons Petsmart (8204 Leesburg Pike) with 16 puppies, 15 kittens and two adult dogs.

The team will start collecting names at 7:30 a.m. Adoptions are on a first-come, first-serve basis in order of check-in, so those hoping to bring a furry friend home are encouraged to come early. Adopters must file an application online.

According to the event page, all of the pets are spayed/neutered, have their age appropriate vaccines, dewormed, and available to be taken home that day.

The next adoption event will be on Nov. 3, with a special National Adoption Weekend event planned for Nov. 10 — both also at the Petsmart.

Volunteers are also needed to help set up and manage adoption events on Saturdays between 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Volunteers must have an application on file with the organization.

https://www.facebook.com/wolftrapanimalrescue/posts/2191280291195370

Photo via Facebook

While the Silver Line may be bringing new market tenants to Reston and Tysons, so far it’s had little impact on changing commutes.

According to a new study by JLL, an investment management company, 1.1 million square feet of new office space has emerged in Tysons within a half-mile of a Metrorail station. Rents for higher-end office space on-Metro in Tysons also comes at a 16% premium compared to off-Metro locations.

But while Metro ridership has continued to increase in Tysons, the study notes that nearby residents using the Metro to commute has increased less than 10 percent since the Metro opened. Some of this can likely be attributed to a lack of parking at the stations, which Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust, who represents McLean, said keeps many residents in his districts from using the Metro to commute.

Further west, Reston has seen a similar impact on office markets. According to the study:

“In the Wiehle micromarket, average Class A rents have increased 30% since 2012, and Reston also saw the delivery of its first Trophy building on-Metro — 1900 Reston Metro Plaza — with asking rents in the $50 p.s.f. range, a rate not seen before in the Toll Road market outside Reston Town Center.”

Like their neighbors in Tysons, Reston residents have been slow to give up their cars. Of commuters, less than 10 percent coming from Reston use the Metro.

More residential developments planned over the next few years near the Metro in both Reston and Tysons which will likely result in a gradually increasing amount of Metro ridership in both locations.

The study also notes that companies moving to and growing in the area, particularly in the tech sector, could also bring more Metro ridership to the area by reverse commuters: people living in Washington, D.C. or Arlington and traveling out to Tysons.

Image via JLL