I-495 South Lane Closures Tonight — “Weather permitting, the three left lanes of the southbound I-495 (Capital Beltway Outer Loop) general purpose lanes will be closed over the Dulles Toll Road (Route 267) for bridge work…The three left lanes of the southbound I-495 general purpose lanes are scheduled to be closed between 11 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 20.” [VDOT]
Falls Church Civil Rights Icon Gets Historical Marker — “An unveiling ceremony will convene this Saturday, Nov. 20, at 1 p.m. for a state historical marker that highlights the career of Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson, known as the ‘Father of Black Basketball’…The dedication will be held at the marker’s location alongside Henderson’s former residence at 307 South Maple Ave, Falls Church.” [Virginia Department of Historic Resources]
Fatal Drug Overdoses to Surpass Last Year — “Preliminary numbers show the number of overdose deaths in Fairfax County in 2021 are on pace to exceed 2020 numbers, according to data from the Office of the Medical Examiner. Data provided to Patch shows there were 56 overdose deaths reported to the county in the first two quarters of 2021. Of these, 52 (93 percent) were related to fentanyl.” [Patch]
D.C. Area Gets $19.3 Billion from Federal Infrastructure Bill — “So far, no jurisdiction has highlighted which major road projects they’d like to tackle, but bets could be on the replacement of the American Legion Bridge, the Maryland toll lane project if it gets approved, and improvements to I-81 in western Virginia.” [DCist]
Virginia Tribes Get Say in Development Projects — “Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Thursday signed an order requiring state agencies to consult with Virginia Indian tribes before making decisions that impact land, waterways and other natural sites important to Indigenous peoples.” [The Washington Post]
A seven-story building with apartments and businesses in the heart of Falls Church at Broad of Washington streets got the go-ahead from the city’s planning commission last night (Wednesday) after another round of tweaks.
The Broad and Washington project will replace existing buildings at a corner of the intersection with 334 residential units on five floors above ground-floor retail.
The development, which includes affordable housing, will feature a Whole Foods as the anchor for its retail/restaurant space and an 100-seat theater for live performances. It’s expected to be complete in 2024.
The project also involves replacing an existing public parking lot with a three-level parking garage with 684 spots, of which 64 will be public spaces.
Arlington-based developer Insight Property Group got the Falls Church City Council’s unanimous approval of its conceptual development plan back in January, half a decade after it first proposed the project in August 2015.
Falls Church City Planning Commission voted unanimously at yesterday’s public hearing to approve the developer’s site plan, which was originally submitted in June 11 before undergoing revisions and getting shared again on Sept. 15.
The commission’s discussion centered primarily on concerns about the proposed public parking spaces, which prompted the addition of a requirement that the developer provide an electronic display system to show the number of public spaces available and what floor they’re on.
Commissioner Tim Stevens, who pushed for the change, said he expects many drivers will be disappointed by the project’s public parking layout.
Susan Bell, a planning consultant, wrote in a Sept. 30 memo to city staff that the public parking meets the same number of spaces but is “not comparable to the existing surface lot in terms of ease of access to retail in the vicinity of the project.”
“While some of this is a function of moving the spaces into a garage, their distribution within the garage also makes them less convenient for patrons of nearby businesses,” Bell wrote, noting there will be 11 spots on the first level of the garage, 43 on the second level, and 10 on the third level.
Stevens also cited correspondence from the city’s zoning administrator, John Boyle, that said the “proposed plan scatters the public spaces throughout the parking garage and will be met by very strong public opposition.”
“I think he’s right, but at least I think we can assuage that a little bit by indicating to people before they have to make the effort to drive down the ramp that yes, there are spaces available, or no, there aren’t,” Stevens said.
The project also includes 76 spaces open to the public to share with retail, 210 spaces for Whole Foods, and 334 for residents of the development, according to the developer’s latest calculations.
Insight needs to submit a third version of its site plan that incorporates the planning commission’s feedback. That plan will be reviewed by city staff, with Planning Director Paul Stoddard getting final approval of the project.
Churchill Road Park in McLean has a newly refurbished bridge, thanks to local Boy Scout Samuel Williams.
Williams, 17, recently completed construction on one of the park’s bridges as a part of his effort to become an Eagle Scout.
The bridge project was no small feat, requiring eight months of planning as authorization to work on the site had to be first approved by the Fairfax County Park Authority, the Boy Scouts of America Council, and others.
“We originally said, ‘okay, this will be a pretty simple project.’ Of course, we hit a bunch of challenges along the way,” Williams said. “There was a lot of times, originally, where we thought we’d have to abandon the project and I’d have to completely restart it.”
Physical work on the aging bridge began on Aug. 28, starting with the installation of new, pressure-treated lumber to give its deck a longer life. Williams enlisted the help of his father and a couple of friends — with pizza and Gatorade as an extra incentive — to begin replacing the boards.
The new bridge was completed on Sept. 19. Williams credits his father, a mechanic, for getting the project to the finish line.
“He loves to work with his hands,” Williams said. “…He also taught me how to use a lot of different tools, drills and stuff. And he was the one that really helped me through this.”
Renovating the Churchill Road bridge wasn’t what Williams initially had in mind for his Eagle Scout project.
He originally planned to paint a map of the United States at a local elementary school playground, but found there wasn’t much of a desire or need after talking with school principals and officials.
The idea of tackling the bridge came in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Virginia was under a stay-at-home order. Looking for an acceptable way to get out of the house, Williams began to bicycle more frequently, which led him to the familiar bridge at the park.
“I grew up going over this bridge as a kid and playing in the creek it crosses over. One day, I was biking and I went over it and realized that it is really in rough shape,” he said. “…I thought, ‘okay, here’s a new project. I can repaint this bridge.'”
At first, Williams only noticed that the paint on the bridge was wearing off, but upon further inspection, he found that the deck boards were rotting away and the railings wobbled.
“I could just slap a new coat of paint on this thing and call it done, but that wouldn’t really do much benefit because this thing is going to collapse within a year, this thing is going to fall apart,” Williams said. “
So, a straightforward paint job expanded into a full overhaul of the bridge, a process prolonged by some confusion over who owned the facility.
Once the project was completed, though, the Langley High School student could take pride in how it had pushed him outside his comfort zone.
“To actually be able to step back, take a look at everything I had just done and see eight months of hard work put down in a way that could actually help the community, it was the most rewarding feeling that I’ve probably ever had,” Williams said.
Williams first joined BSA Troop 128 around the beginning of seventh grade. Earning the Eagle Scout rank is something he has been working toward ever since, with the support of scout masters and other troop members.
“Originally I set out into Boy Scouts to be outside, meet new people and have a great experience,” he said.
“But after going to several Eagle courts and…seeing what these guys had been doing all these years, and being able to say, ‘hey, I’m an Eagle Scout,’ to me, it wasn’t just something I wanted to put on my college application. It was something that I wanted to have the rest of my life and be able to say that I was an Eagle Scout.”
Construction could be on the horizon for a six-story condominium project that was approved for downtown McLean more than three years ago.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an interim parking plan on Nov. 9 that lets the existing three-story office building at 6707 Old Dominion Drive maintain its parking obligations while a rear lot is replaced with the new residential development.
Located along Lowell and Emerson avenues, which will be widened from four to six feet and paved with brick, the multi-family residential building will include a partially underground parking garage with 179 spaces across three-and-a-half levels, along with 18 surface parking spaces.
The new parking will serve both the development and the office building, which was built in 1980.
The parking plan will provide shuttle service from three parking locations with a total of 140 spaces:
- St. John’s Episcopal Church (6715 Georgetown Pike)
- St. Luke Serbian Orthodox Church (6801 George Pike)
- St. John the Beloved Roman Catholic Church (6420 Linway Terrace)
There will also be up to 32 spots available on site during the construction project.
As summarized by county staff, the plan also offers “incentives for tenants and patrons to utilize taxis, car-sharing services, Metrobus, and carpools and a program to ensure that construction workers park at an approved offsite location.”
Developer Benchmark Associates will be required to submit periodic reports to the county documenting parking activities and any issues or needed modifications to the plan.
Approved by the Board of Supervisors in October 2018, the project calls for a 94,000 square-foot building with 44 condominium units, 12% of which the developer has committed to making workforce housing.
Proposed amenities include a 3,850 square-foot roof terrace for residents with an outdoor kitchen, fire pit, seating, and an area covered with artificial turf. An outdoor plaza and art for the public are also planned.
According to Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust’s office, no further votes are needed from the Fairfax County Planning Commission or Board of Supervisors for the project, just county staff approvals for the site and building plans.
Benchmark Associates didn’t return messages seeking comment about the timeline of the project by press time.
Construction is anticipated to occur over a 12 to 18‐month period, according to the parking plan.
If you’ve ever lost precious minutes circling a parking lot for an available spot or questioned the amount of space devoted to parking in a new development, the time to voice those concerns has come.
Fairfax County kicked off a month-long series of town halls last week for the public to weigh in on its first comprehensive parking in decades, inviting stakeholders from business interests and nonprofits to tenants and religious groups to provide feedback.
Any recommended changes are expected to go to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for votes in late 2022.
“We have lots and lots of privately owned parking, and sometimes it seems we have more than enough parking, and sometimes, we don’t have enough,” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn said during an online town hall meeting on Nov. 10.
Dubbed Parking Reimagined, the county’s initiative focuses on off-street parking. It began last month and could run for 12-18 months. County rules regulate current parking as well as what future developments must build, though exceptions can be made.
The county is partnering with a consultant team, Clarion-Nelson\Nygaard, to study the matter, but a principal with Nelson\Nygaard, Iain Banks, noted that they’re looking at data from 2019 and earlier due to the pandemic’s effects on remote work, the use of transit, and other factors.
“Transportation is changing rapidly, not only as a result of COVID and the subsequent recovery from COVID but also into a future where perhaps traffic peak periods are going to change throughout the day,” Banks said. “It’s not going to be that typical morning and evening rush hour perhaps; it’s going to be more spread out throughout the day as flexible schedules perhaps become the norm.”
Residents expressed the need for parking and observed that parking costs money in the form of taxes, a parking permit, or a parking meter, though Fairfax County currently doesn’t operate any meters for off-street parking.
Michael Davis, parking program manager with the county’s Land Development Services department, said at the town hall last week that the initiative could help people think of parking as a resource.
He said they’re looking at “right sizing” parking, where the supply is appropriate for the demand. He noted that times of high and low demand can change by the hour and season, and there can even be times when cars are unnecessary, such as for nearby commutes.
Davis also raised the idea of shared parking. Instead of requiring a minimum number of parking spots, such as for a site with apartments, offices, and retail, a smaller parking area can be built that provides enough parking for all based on hourly demand.
County officials emphasized their interest in hearing from people at the town hall, which also turned into a brainstorming session of sorts.
Alcorn wondered if there was a way to track the progress of parking availability at developments. Davis noted that technology is already at Reston Town Center and Tysons Corner Center, which have electronic signs in their garages that show how many parking spots are available in real time.
But the changes in behaviors driven by the pandemic are leading officials to cautiously approach how to gather current data.
Information about upcoming meetings and other updates can be found on the county’s website for the project.
After making its Virginia debut in the Town of Vienna last year, Crumbl Cookies will add a second location in the Tysons area, this time at Birch & Broad (1200 W. Broad Street) in Falls Church.
Slated to open in March, the gourmet cookie shop will fill a 1,597 square-foot space in between Jersey Mike’s Subs and Domino’s Pizza at the shopping center formerly known as Falls Plaza, property owner Federal Realty announced yesterday (Wednesday).
The chain is also planning to open a Reston location in January.
“We’re looking forward to sharing Crumbl’s specialty cookies with the Falls Church community once we open at Birch & Broad,” franchise co-owner Brigg Bunker said. “…Crumbl will be the perfect place to stop in and grab dessert after a meal or for a sweet treat on the go.”
The shopping center will also add Taco Rock, Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen, and Aqua-Tots Swim Schools in the coming months, while finishing a renovation project that began in April, according to a press release.
“As we approach the completion of the renovation, we are thrilled to welcome the addition of three more notable merchants advancing Birch & Broad to almost full occupancy,” Federal Realty Vice President of Asset Management Deirdre Johnson said.
Taco Rock
Taco Rock announced in June that it had closed a deal to build a 2,815-square-foot taqueria and tequila bar at Birch & Broad.
At that time, the Rosslyn-based restaurant expected its new venue to be ready in October, but beverage manager Ana Barrera tells Tysons Reporter that they now hope to open in December.
“We were anticipating on opening the first week of December,” Barrera said by email. “Unfortunately, since the supply chain for equipment is so backed up, we are moving our opening date to the last week of December if all goes smoothly…We look forward to opening our doors sooner rather than later!”
Bolay Fresh Bold Kitchen
Created by CEO Chris Gannon and his father, Outback Steakhouse founder Tim Gannon, Bolay is a fast-casual concept that sells salad, rice, and noodle bowls with an emphasis on healthy ingredients.
The Falls Church location will be Bolay’s first outside its native home of Florida. The 2,972 square-foot space is expected to open across the street from Birch & Broad’s CVS Pharmacy next summer.
“We’re in a growth phase and this will be a really exciting opening for us” Chris Gannon said. “Guests can expect fine dining food at the speed and cost of fast casual.”
Aqua-Tots Swim Schools
Aqua-Tots will open a 7,287 square-foot space adjacent to Staples next year.
Despite its name, the franchise provides swimming lessons and services to all ages. Its Northern Virginia presence currently consists of sites in Centreville, South Riding, and Leesburg.
“This is a moment of major expansion for the franchise, and we are excited to invite local families to register their little ones for world-class swimming lessons,” Andrew George, owner of the Falls Church site, said. “There are a lot of kids in the Falls Church area, and we can’t wait to get them in the water.”
Reduced Metro Service Continues — “Although the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) said Wednesday it had improved service on a number of its Metrorail lines, customers should expect reduced service to continue at least until Nov. 30.” [Patch]
MCC Offers Vouchers for Feedback — The McLean Community Center has hired the consulting firm AMS Planning & Research to conduct a community survey regarding its future operations and programming. Five randomly chosen respondents will receive $60 vouchers that can be used for MCC-sponsored classes, camps, and other activities or an Alden Theatre performance. [MCC]
Zero Waste Store Now Open in Vienna — “Trace the Zero Waste Store opened on Sept. 23 at 140 Church Street NW. This is only one of two zero waste stores to open in Northern Virginia…Vienna’s new store seeks to be a one-stop location for essentials such as dry goods and personal care items to help reduce the amount of waste humans produce and its impact on the planet.” [Patch]
Leila Co-Owner Rules Local Nightlife and Lobbying Scenes — “Washington isn’t exactly known for its nightlife, but when the scene does hit, say, Page Six, Basnayake’s spots tend to be the backdrop. But get this — all while trying to build up the city as a Saturday-night playground for the young, trendy, and ready to party, Basnayake has also held down the most Washington job in Washington. He’s a lobbyist.” [Washingtonian]
Luther Jackson Teacher Engages Students with Escape Room — “The pair worked to craft the county school system’s first escape room, an academic puzzle for the school’s eighth graders to review material taught in seventh grade. Since the concept debuted earlier this month, it has some students so invested that they asked Hoffert if they can return after school to complete the maze.” [WTOP]
Theresa Ayotte likes outdoor dining as a general concept, but her support wavers when those diners sound like they’re hanging out in her backyard.
Ayotte’s house sits behind the complex at 111 Church Street that contains Blend 111 and Bazin’s on Church, two of the 22 restaurants that have taken advantage of Vienna’s temporarily relaxed rules for outdoor dining during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She and her husband Howard Uman were among several Wilmar Place NW residents who urged the Vienna Town Council to limit outdoor dining for restaurants next to residential properties at a public hearing on Monday (Nov. 15) about making the simpler permitting process permanent.
“The noise from dining is intrusively loud and constant,” Ayotte told the town council. “…We have tolerated it for the past 18 months as our way of supporting the community during the pandemic, but we are totally opposed to it becoming a permanent fixture in our neighborhood.”
The town council agreed to postpone a vote on outdoor dining until its next meeting on Dec. 6 so they can discuss lingering questions about the zoning ordinance amendments, including how to address potential conflicts over issues like noise and parking.
“I have no issue at all with outdoor dining when backed up against commercial,” Councilmember Nisha Patel said. “I think when you’re backed up against residential, we do need to listen to the residents, but we also do need to support our businesses, and I do think there’s room for compromise.”
Prior to the pandemic, the Town of Vienna required a conditional use permit for outdoor commercial activities like food service, a roughly three-month-long process involving a $1,500 fee and reviews by both the planning commission and board of zoning appeals.
First proposed on Oct. 11 and supported by the planning commission earlier this month, the new ordinance would let restaurants use a patio, roof garden, or off-street parking spaces for outdoor dining with just a review by a zoning administrator.
The outdoor dining spaces would still need to meet certain conditions, primarily related to maintaining accessibility for pedestrians and people with disabilities, and all furniture and tents must be approved by the Vienna Board of Architectural Review.
Dining areas in parking lots have to be set up so that they could easily be converted back into parking, and restaurants would be limited to 20% of their required spaces, though businesses on Church Street could utilize more spaces with the town council’s approval.
“Some of the restaurants within the Church Street Vision buildings, they have a different parking standard, so 20% of their required parking is, in some cases, one parking space,” Vienna Planning and Zoning Deputy Director Michael D’Orazio explained. “You’re not able to utilize that very well.”
While much of Monday’s nearly two-hour public hearing focused on the Wilmar Place residents’ noise concerns, council members, restaurant owners, and even some of those residents expressed appreciation for the expanded availability of outdoor dining during the pandemic. Read More
Three people, including one child, ended up in the hospital this morning (Wednesday) after two vehicles crashed on the northbound I-495 exit ramp for the George Washington Memorial Parkway in McLean.
According to Virginia State Police, which responded to the crash at 10:37 a.m., the crash involved a box truck and a Toyota sedan that had stopped on the interstate between the right, northbound travel lane and the shoulder:
At this stage of the crash investigation, it appears a Toyota sedan was stopped partially in the right, northbound travel lane and partially on the right shoulder. A box truck came upon the stopped vehicle and tried to change lanes to avoid the Toyota, but the Toyota suddenly pulled into the truck’s travel lane. The two vehicles collided.
The Toyota was occupied by two adult women and a 6-year-old boy, all of whom were hospitalized. A female passenger is undergoing treatment for injuries considered life-threatening, while the female driver and the boy sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the box truck, an adult man, was not injured.
“The crash remains under investigation at this time,” state police said in a news release. “The Virginia State Police Crash Reconstruction Team is assisting with the ongoing investigation.”
A Tysons runner who partially tore her ankle during a Marine Corps Marathon last year had been working with Kaiser Permanente to get a surgery until she was told the procedure would be delayed.
She’s just one of the patients who will need to wait for relief while Kaiser upgrades the sterile processing equipment at its Tysons Corner Medical Center (8008 Westpark Drive), which is currently operating its ambulatory surgery center at reduced capacity, according to the health care company.
Kaiser Permanente spokesperson Marisa Lavine said in an email that the medical center is temporarily using four out of its six operating rooms, along with one of two outpatient procedure rooms. She said the updates will be completed by the end of December.
“Currently, cases that we are unable to accommodate at Tysons are being scheduled at one of our other medical centers or at our partner hospitals,” Lavine said.
The Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Licensure and Certification received notification on Sept. 7 that the Tysons Corner Medical Center would have limited operational status due to replacing equipment and other updates.
The runner’s husband, Jeff Weisman, said his wife went to a foot specialist, but because she’s still able to walk, the surgery was deemed elective. When she heard from a colleague experiencing a similar scheduling issue, they learned more about why surgeries were being delayed.
“My wife really enjoys running so I was a bit let down that this delay in getting her surgery scheduled would cause her to miss out on months of running and training for another marathon,” Weisman said in an email.
He added that they’ve both had positive experiences with Kaiser Permanente but felt disappointed by the communication from the health care network in handling the situation.
“We apologize to our members for any inconvenience they experience as we make these important upgrades,” Lavine wrote.
