Travel on Interstate 66 will be reduced to one lane in both directions from Cedar Lane in Vienna to Route 7 every night through Saturday (Dec. 19), the Virginia Department of Transportation announced today (Thursday).

VDOT has been closing lanes on the highway between 9:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. since Dec. 14 in order to address overhead utility work for the new Gallows Road Bridge that it has been constructing, but the lane closures were originally expected to end today.

The I-66 lane closures will last from 9:30 p.m. to 9 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, with intermittent full stoppages of up to 20 minutes between midnight and 4 a.m.

The reduction of travel on Gallows Road over I-66 to one lane and the overnight closure of the ramp from the I-495 North Express Lanes to I-66 West have also been extended to Saturday.

According to VDOT, the 495 ramp closure will last from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. every night. Traffic will be detoured to I-66 via the Route 7 exit during that time.

The Gallows Road lane closure will take place from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

“Drivers should expect delays if traveling in this area and are encouraged to use alternate routes,” VDOT said.

The state transportation agency also noted that work is dependent on the weather and may be rescheduled if inclement conditions occur.

Construction on the new Gallows Road Bridge has been ongoing throughout the year as part of VDOT’s Transform 66 Outside the Beltway project. The bridge is being reconstructed to make room for the new Express Lanes.

VDOT plans to demolish the old Gallows bridge once the new one for northbound Gallows is completed in early 2021, but according to the current project timeline, the full bridge is not expected to be complete until early 2022.

Photo via VDOT

Updated at 5:00 p.m. — The victim in a shooting at a Falls Church apartment complex is expected to survive, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. said earlier this afternoon.

Fairfax County police officers and deputies from the county sheriff’s office responded to a 9-1-1 call that came in around 10:49 a.m. from a man who said he had been shot by an acquaintance in his apartment on the 2000 block of Peach Orchard Drive.

Roessler says the suspect was still armed when police arrived on the scene and “actively trying to attack the victim again.”

When police entered the apartment, they exchanged gunfire with the armed individual and ultimately shot him. Contrary to a previous report saying no officers were injured, Roessler said that one officer suffered a minor grazing injury that was treated on the scene.

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department medics transported both citizens to a local hospital, where they remain. Roessler said the suspect was undergoing surgery when he was last briefed on the situation.

“I am very proud of the Fairfax County Police Department…and the women and men of the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office,” Roessler said. “Today, they are heroes, because they saved the life of the victim in this matter.”

Earlier: Two people have been taken to the hospital after police officers engaged in an armed confrontation in Falls Church, the Fairfax County Police Department says.

According to the FCPD, McLean District officers responded to a report of a shot person at the 2000 block of Peach Orchard Drive just off of Leesburg Pike. An armed confrontation between the officers and an individual ensued upon their arrival to the scene.

Police say no officers were injured, and the scene is now contained.

McLean officers responded to the 2000 block of Peach Orchard Dr for a shot person. Upon arrival an armed confrontation ensued between officers & an individual. Two people taken to the hospital. No officers injured. The scene is contained, more details to follow. #FCPD pic.twitter.com/aa7M3C7gSk

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) December 17, 2020

In many ways, the Town of Vienna epitomizes the classic vision of a suburb with a main street surrounded by a sprawl of single-family houses, but the town’s effort to overhaul its zoning code for the first time in half a century could change that.

The town’s future could instead look more like the cottage-style housing that a pair of developers proposed to the Vienna Town Council during its work session on Monday (Dec. 14).

The first proposal came from Sekas Homes, which is looking at turning the Vienna Courts condominiums at 127-133 Park Street NE into a residential complex with 13 townhouses and 10 two-story, cottage-style duplexes.

For the second proposal, the homebuilder JDA Custom Homes wants to potentially redevelop the buildings at 117 and 121 Courthouse Road SW as a cottage-style subdivision with 12 units, either duplexes or detached houses.

Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert says the need to explore different housing options became apparent during the contentious, ultimately unsuccessful effort to establish a Maple Avenue Commercial zone, which was intended to encourage redevelopment and mixed-use projects.

According to Vienna’s Comprehensive Plan, which was last updated in 2015, its housing stock is comprised of 82.2% single-family houses, 7.6% townhouses, and about 10% multi-family units, including apartments, duplexes, and condos.

“With the MAC, there was a lot of discussion about what other kind of housing does Vienna offer for people who want to stay here, who don’t want a single-family house, or younger people,” Colbert said. “I know that conversation has been around for a while.”

According to Vienna Deputy Director of Planning and Zoning Michael D’Orazio, cottage homes offer a middle ground between condos or apartments and traditional single-family houses. They are smaller than traditional single-family units and can take the form of either detached houses or duplexes.

Cottage houses are also generally built around a central common area with parking separate from the main residence. They often appeal to people who want to downsize or age in place, since they are typically set up so residents can mostly live on one floor.

The Railroad Cottages in Falls Church are among the most prominent examples of cottage housing in Fairfax County.

D’Orazio said that Vienna’s comprehensive plan currently does not permit cottage housing, but it does mention village housing as an option for transitional areas between residential neighborhoods and commercial districts. Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended traditions left and right this year, and it appears the final day of 2020 will be no exception.

The City of Falls Church’s annual Watch Night New Year’s Eve celebration has been canceled due to public health concerns and “in deference to our front-line health care workers, who are risking all,” the volunteer-run organization responsible for the event announced yesterday (Wednesday) in a message shared by the city.

“With all the hope for the vaccines that are now in the distribution chain, the responsible decision is to not have the Watch Night Celebration this year and have more people healthy for a better year in 2021,” the Little City CATCH Foundation said.

This would have been the 23^rd consecutive year that Falls Church marked the coming of a new year with Watch Night.

First held in 1998 to ring in the city’s tricentennial, Watch Night transforms downtown Falls Church into a walkable plaza of musical performances, refreshment stalls, and various family-friendly activities, culminating in the lowering of a 12-foot star that once stood on the water tower behind the original city hall.

Originally produced by the Falls Church Tricentennial Committee, the celebration was later supported by local nonprofit groups like the Village Society, Tinner Hill Foundation, and the Victorian Society at Falls Church, according to the Watch Night website.

Falls Church City eventually formed the Little City CATCH Foundation in September 2012 to serve as the permanent Watch Night organizer and support other arts, culture, and history events in the city.

Because one of the guiding principles of Watch Night is for it to be free and open to the whole public, the Little City CATCH Foundation says it would have been “very difficult” to adapt the event to the crowd limits and social distancing protocols that mitigate the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus.

“A lot of volunteers and dedicated City staff are involved each year with orchestrating the festivities,” the foundation said. “We have deeply appreciated their efforts and we do not want to put them or attendees at risk. We want them all back for future years.”

Image via City of Falls Church

Icy Roads and Sidewalks Pose Hazards after Yesterday’s Snow — “So far, between 5:30 and 6:00 a.m., FCFRD has responded to two incidents related to people slipping and falling on ice and injuring themselves. If you must be out this morning, walk with care and caution! Walk like a penguin!” [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department]

Office Leasing in Tysons Remains Slow — “Tysons, one of the country’s largest suburban office hubs, appears well-positioned to benefit from an anticipated pandemic-related shift in demand away from downtowns. But while office developers in the market hope to capture that demand, they have yet to see it materialize.” [Bisnow]

McLean Church Supports Food Bank with Drive-Thru Nativity — “The McLean Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hosted the drive-thru live Nativity and food drive Friday and Saturday…Organizers estimate over 1,000 cars drove through on the two nights with an estimated 3,000 attendees.” [Patch]

Vienna Police Department Joins Annual Santa’s Ride for Children — “All donate [sic] toys, games, books and gifts were distributed to children at FFX Hospital, Georgetown Lombardi Cancer Center.” [Vienna Police/Twitter]

As of 1:00 p.m., about 1.5 inches of snow have fallen in the Tysons area today in Fairfax County’s first blast of winter weather of the season, the National Weather Service reported.

The snow, which has now mostly transitioned to rain, has affected a number of local community services.

The McLean Community Center will close at 4 p.m. today due to the ongoing inclement weather.

The Vienna Community Center also announced shortly after noon that it will close at 4:30 p.m., and all parks and recreation classes and programs for this afternoon and evening have been canceled.

In the City of Falls Church, recycling and yard waste collection has been halted for the remainder of the day “due to increasingly hazardous winter weather.” The city says collection may resume tomorrow, or potentially at a later date depending on when conditions improve.

“You may leave your recycling can and yard waste out at the curb if it does not impede vehicle or pedestrian traffic, or will not run off into the storm drain,” Falls Church City said.

If your home is in the shaded area in this map, your recycling and/or yard waste might not have been collected.

Due to the increasingly hazardous winter weather, the City's waste collection has stopped for the day.

1/2 pic.twitter.com/lIlbsludJk

— City of Falls Church (@FallsChurchGov) December 16, 2020

Fairfax Connector is still operating normally, but the local bus service says “passengers should expect delays due to deteriorating conditions.”

Fairfax County is under a winter weather advisory until 1 a.m. on Thursday as well as a flood watch, which will remain in effect until 7 a.m. tomorrow.

Staff photo by Angela Woolsey

Following a months-long review, the City of Falls Church Use of Force Review Committee is slated to recommend police reforms by February 2021 after the city council granted the committee an extension on Monday (Dec. 14).

Originally, the committee was set to disband after it presented its report to the Falls Church City police chief, city manager and city council at the end of December. That deadline has now been changed to Feb. 28, 2021.

The report will cover the committee’s discoveries from pouring over 113 reports of uses of force by local law enforcement, nearly 400 community responses to a survey about experiences with the police, and the department’s policies governing the use of force. It will also include a variety of recommendations, ranging from procedural changes to community engagement.

The 133 documented uses of force in the city since 2015 comes with a few caveats. At least 25 of the reports involve animals, since the Falls Church City Police Department’s definition of “uses of force” includes animal euthanasia, Use of Force Review Committee Vice Chair Brian Creswick said.

“Matching policy and procedure with practice, that is where the rubber meets the road…that’s where problems arise,” said Falls Church City Human Resources Director Steve Mason, who is the staff representative to the committee.

Falls Church established the committee on June 12 after recent deaths of Black men and women at the hands of police, including George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, fueled calls for action on racial justice issues.

The committee received 72 online applications, along with some mail applications. That is more than any other in the city’s history, Mason said.

The committee is part of the city council’s commitment to the Reimagining Policing Pledge, which urges mayors and local officials to review and reform use-of-force policies over the course of 90 days.

In Virginia, Alexandria, Vienna, Dumfries, Richmond and Winchester have also formed similar committees. Creswick commended Falls Church for being part of the small group.

“We could’ve taken the easy road out because these things weren’t happening here,” he said. “We have a city council and a government that is really trying to make the city welcoming and inclusive.”

The committee consists of seven community members and six government officials, an intentional ratio to avoid the city government “controlling the narrative by sheer numbers,” Mason said. There are four Black people on the committee, and six women, representing a range of professional experiences, from social services to law.

“The seven community members selected are second to none and really added great expertise to this committee,” Mason said.

To learn about the community’s experiences with the police, the committee sent out a survey from mid-November through Dec. 4, though Johnson admits it was hard to engage people that would typically not answer a survey.

Respondents were asked, but not required to provide, demographic information, and the results indicate white women are the primary group to respond to surveys, Creswick said. Still, some respondents reported experiences that the committee is looking into more thoroughly.

Taken together, the committee’s survey, procedural review, and review of use-of-force reports will give people a “rich understanding of where there’s opportunities to improve,” according to Creswick.

Despite the adversarial tenor to national discussions on police reform, Creswick says the committee’s work here has been collaborative. Committee Chair Janis Johnson hopes the committee will help keep attention on police reform even when it isn’t dominating national headlines.

“The reasoning behind these committees and reviews is so that this stays on people’s minds, and there is change that lasts,” she said.

Fairfax County Public Schools will host a virtual job fair from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on Friday (Dec. 18) as part of its search for classroom monitors and substitute teachers to support the potential return of additional students to in-person instruction in early 2021.

FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand reported to the Fairfax County School Board on Dec. 10 that the school system still needs approximately 730 classroom monitors to provide in-person assistance to students. So far, FCPS has filled 235 of the 966 total monitor positions that it says are necessary since first advertising the position on Oct. 31.

“Employment of classroom monitors is critical to standing up in-person instruction,” Sean McDonald, the interim assistant superintendent for FCPS’ Department of Human Resources said.

To fill its staffing gaps for classroom monitors, FCPS is considering letting schools compensate teachers who serve as classroom monitors during their planning periods, though workload concerns present a challenge to that strategy.

“Our goal remains hiring classroom monitors to fill the in-person coverage needs,” McDonald said. “However, in the near-term, schools may be in a position where it’s necessary to ask for teacher volunteers to serve as classroom monitors during their self-directed planning period.”

The county is also looking for substitute teachers, who can work either remotely or in-person.

According to FCPS, 30 teachers and 24 instructional support staff members have chosen to resign or retire as of Dec. 4, and 62 teachers and 13 support staff members have taken a leave of absence this year.

2,933 employees, including 2,020 teachers, have requested Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations, which are open to individuals with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of complications from COVID-19. As of Dec. 3, FCPS had processed 2,359 ADA requests.

FCPS has suspended its Return to School plans for phasing students back into in-person classes, which are now only open to about 1,340 students after consistently high COVID-19 case levels in Fairfax County prompted 4,100 students in special education and English-learning programs to revert back to virtual learning on Monday.

However, FCPS hope to resume bringing students back into school buildings starting on Jan. 12 with special education, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten students. Elementary, middle, and high school students would follow in groups between Jan. 19 and Feb. 2.

FCPS says people interested in attending the upcoming virtual job fair can register online, and questions can be directed toward its human resources department.

The renovation of Louise Archer Elementary School is finally beginning to take shape.

The Vienna Town Council heard an update on a potential site plan and timeline during a work session on Monday (Dec. 14). The timeline moves up the completion of the project to mid-2024.

Fairfax County Public Schools design and construction lead Eric Brunner, who serves as coordinator for the project, presented the update alongside Architecture, Inc. senior project manager Brad Pierce.

The renovation project is currently in a planning and design phase that Brunner expects to be completed by mid-2021. Permitting will be the next step and should run through the spring of 2022, followed by a two-year construction process.

The projected completion of construction has moved up a year ahead of expectations. FCPS told the Vienna Planning Commission in May that construction would take three years and finish in 2025.

The potential site plans include nearly doubling the size of the school to around 103,000 square feet. The majority of the new square footage will come from a new second-story addition that will be constructed behind the existing school.

“A lot of the space is already on the site that we’re just making permanent,” Brunner said.

The current site plan concept also includes repurposing the current cafeteria for the library, adding a stage off of the school gymnasium, and creating a community room that may be utilized for community meetings. A new cafeteria and kitchen will be built “from the ground up,” Brunner said.

The current interior of the community room will be preserved as much as possible while displaying some history of the school, Pierce added.

Additional site concepts include expanding the bus loop, increasing the stormwater management system, and expanding the parking lot to about 106 available spaces, according to Brunner. The plan also shows a new playground and new basketball courts.

The project will remove temporary facilities — two trailers and a 66-foot by 180-foot modular classroom — that exist on site as construction progresses. The Town Council approved the continued use of the trailers for two years on June 15. The Board of Zoning Appeals voted on June 17 to permit continued use of the modular classroom for five years.

The modular classroom on the south side of the school will be replaced with a kiss-and-ride parking lot for student drop-off. The lot will run off the current three-way stop at the intersection of Nutley Street and Knoll Street Northwest, which Brunner said could potentially be permanently converted into a four-way stop.

According to the latest FCPS proposal, the renovation will be done in phases to allow for minimal interruption for students during the construction process. The new two-story addition would be built first, while students stay in the existing sections of the school.

Students would then move into the new addition upon its completion, allowing for renovation of the existing school to be completed.

John McGranahan, a partner with Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, which represents Fairfax County Public Schools, said the group would like to reappear before the council with another progress report before officially submitting an application for the project.

Photo via Google Maps

The National Weather Service issued a Flood Watch for much of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, including the McLean and Falls Church areas of Fairfax County, early Wednesday morning, forecasting a day of strange, wet weather for local residents.

The county is also under a winter weather advisory after the NWS predicted yesterday afternoon that the area will see between one and three inches of snow and sleet accumulation. That advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. today to 1 a.m. on Thursday.

According to the NWS, potential flooding could take place from 4 p.m. today through Thursday morning. The agency is projecting that the D.C. area will see one to two inches of rainfall, which could lead to isolated flooding, especially when coupled with earlier precipitation.

“You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible flood warnings,” the NWS said. “Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.”