Fairfax County officials are looking to create more affordable housing and workforce dwelling units (WDUs) as the coronavirus pandemic increases housing hardships.

At the county’s Transportation Committee on Tuesday, staff from the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) presented new proposals.

While the staff noted conflicts between advocates and developers, several of the supervisors pushed for the county to do more.

“Whenever we deal with this topic, it’s difficult,” Barbara Byron, the DPD director, said. “We have some advocates who feel we are never doing enough and then we have developers who say we are doing too much.”

Workforce Dwelling Units 

County staff gave the supervisors an overview of the Workforce Dwelling Unit Task Force’s recommendations that would “still place Fairfax County very much place at the forefront of being the leader of affordable housing in Northern Virginia,” Tom Fleetwood, the HCD director, said.

The county’s WDU policy is a proffer-based incentive to encourage workforce housing in mixed-use centers like Tysons. The countywide policy was created in 2007, followed by the one for Tysons in 2010.

So far, the county has roughly 1,600 units — almost all rental — constructed for incomes ranging from 60% to 120% AMI, Kelly Atkinson, a DPD planner, told the supervisors.

The task force was created in 2019 to analyze the WDU rental program, which was been in place since 2014.

Now the task force is recommending that changes to the policies because the WDU policies are currently benefitting units at 80% AMI and below. “The WDU Rental Program rents at the 100 and 120 percent income tiers are at or above market rent,” according to the presentation, which added:

• The current Countywide Policy only realizes 4 percent of new residential construction as WDUs affordable to households at 80% AMI.
• The current Tysons Policy only realizes 10 percent of new residential construction as WDUs affordable to households between 60% and 80%.

The recommendations would replace the policies with new percentages for the number of units at the various AMI brackets to benefit the 100% and 120% tiers and add more options for people between 60% and 80% of AMI.

For example, a 400-unit project would have 80 WDUs (eight at 60% AMI, 12 at 70% AMI and 20 each at 80%, 100% and 120% AMI) in Tysons under the current policy.

With the new policy, the developer would get to choose either 52 WDUs (12 at 60% AMI, eight at 70% AMI and 32 at 80% AMI) or 40 WDUs (40 units at 60% AMI).

Staff noted that the Reston WDU Policy will be looked at separately and that the county-wide policy can offer a density bonus up to 20% with more WDUs.

“While this proposal does reflect the task force recommendations, I would note that the industry and development representatives on the task force were not in support of this recommendation,” Atkinson said.

The task force recommends a five-year “look back” on the policies and a Comprehensive Policy Plan Amendment. The plan amendment process would take roughly one year with “extensive outreach to the community,” Atkinson said.

Byron said that the financial aspects of the recommendations were vetted by a group at Virginia Tech. “We wanted to be sure they were based in a financial reality rather than numbers we thought might be good ones, that was a big part of this effort,” Byron said.

“I understand there’s a feeling, ‘Can we do more?'” Sully District Supervisor Kathy Smith, who chairs the Development Process Committee and has been involved in the WDU discussion, said.

“It’s so apparent we need more affordable housing,” Smith said, noting that the land use process can take some time. “We needed it at 60%, 70% and 80%.”

Still, Smith said that she’s very supportive of the proposed ideas.

But Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck remained skeptical that the proposals would be sufficient for the need and said that the county should have taken steps sooner after creating the policies.

“The fact that we’ve had a system in place that frankly wasn’t working for a decade and we’re just now getting to the point where we change it is not a good statement on us, but I think it is a statement on what we recognize the problem is and how and what we must do to better address it,” Storck said.

Foust said that he and Smith, possibly with the supervisors who represent the Tysons area, will bring a board matter in the future on the plan amendment.

Affordable Housing

After the discussion of the WDUs, Fleetwood then presented the proposed plan for fiscal year 2021 to help the county meet its goal of at least 5,000 new units at 60% of AMI over the next 15 years.

The plan would use up to $20.5 million with $7.5 million coming from the Affordable Housing Development and Investment Fund, $5.2 million from the Tysons Housing Trust Fund and $7.8 million from the Amazon Impact REACH funds. The Tysons funds can only be used for affordable housing in the Tysons Urban Center, Fleetwood said.

According to Fleetwood’s presentation, the draft plan would prioritize:

• creating new rental homes for people earning 60% of AMI or less
• keeping “market affordable” rental properties
• creating new permanent supportive housing
• adding accessible housing for persons with disabilities
• offering housing near transit and activity centers

Fleetwood said that it’s hard to estimate how many units might result from the $20.5 million because the funding is coming from three pots. “My best guess, my hope is we would get somewhere in the neighborhood of three projects out of it,” he said.

In response to a question from Storck about considering non-traditional partners, Fleetwood said that the county wants to make it easier for faith communities that own property to participate.

“We act as the lender in these cases and that’s why we focus so heavily on the development partner as sort of the first priority relative to who we choose to move forward with,” Fleetwood said.

For-Sale Units

While the presentations mostly focused on rental units, some of the supervisors brought up the importance of for-sale units.

“The county is already making significant investments in affordable homeownership via its ADU program where we have approximately 1,500 for-sale units,” Fleetwood said. “We’re also making substantial investments in down payment and closing cost programs using our federal dollars as well as additional resources.”

Storck noted that homeownership, especially for communities of color, plays a major role in the accumulation of wealth. “There’s something more that we can do in here we approach that,” he said.

Foust said the county should look more into for-sale units: “It’s something we need a policy for, not an ad-hoc type thing building by building throughout the county.”

Foust said that he’s open to having a separate conversation in the future about the for-sale units and homeownership.

Table via Fairfax County

Despite hopes that reopening Virginia, which is now in Phase Three, would help the economy, barbershops in McLean are experiencing the opposite. 

Barbershops in McLean Tysons Reporter spoke to have reported very few customers, which owners blame on the fear of catching the virus from their barbers and a lack of social distancing, despite increased sanitation and safety measures.

“They are afraid,” said Ali Virek, the owner of McLean Barber Shop. “They are safe when they come in, but they have to actually come in.” 

Virek reported that business is down 60%, and he believes that is because older people are more nervous about coming in. He added that people have called asking for home visits, but they turned the idea down out of concern for the safety of the traveling barbers. 

“I’m scared. I’m nervous about my business. We’re doing our best, but we have to protect ourselves as well,” said Virek.

Kim’s Family Barber and Dominion Barber Shop also reported slow business since their reopenings.

“[Business] has been very, very slow,” said a manager at Dominion Barber Shop. “Before [the pandemic], every day, we had five customers. Now we have two customers.” 

The barbershops have changed their cleaning procedures to ensure safety and sanitization. Barbers are required to wear masks, clean chairs after each customer and encourage customers to wait in their cars or outside before their appointments.

They have also eliminated services that involve extra contact, such as shoulder massages. At McLean Barber Shop, chairs are even spaced 8 feet apart to ensure the extra distance between customers.

“Everyone has to wear a mask,” said Kim Nguyen, the owner of Kim’s Barber Shop. “We clean everything before another customer comes in.”

All of the businesses reported opening on May 29, and have been trying to draw in customers since then.

“We do it exactly like the news tells us. We sanitize, we take care of the chairs after each customer… After each customer, we do laundry,” according to Dominion Barber Shop.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Have a Safe Fourth of July Weekend — Tysons Reporter will be off tomorrow (Friday) and return to our normal publishing schedule on Monday.

Schools May Get Renamed — “[The] Falls Church School Board agreed by consensus to move forward with a process to consider whether or not to change the names of two of its schools, George Mason High and Thomas Jefferson Elementary, on grounds that the Founding Fathers the schools are currently named for both owned slaves.” [Falls Church News-Press]

New Unemployment Data — “Following state and national trends, the Northern Virginia region’s unemployment rate declined in May to 8.6%, down from 10% in April.” [Inside NoVa]

New Police Data Collection Law — “The City of Falls Church has noted in a statement that effective July 1, the Virginia Department of State Police, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Uniform Crime Reporting Section will begin the collection of community policing data.” [Falls Church News-Press]

Falls Church’s parks and recreation department is hosting a scavenger hunt that will take people to parks and historic landmarks throughout the city.

The “Historic Scavenger Hunt” will have clues participants will have to solve about parks and landmarks.

“At each stop, you’ll find a kiosk or sign with a corresponding letter. Unscramble the letters from the nine clues and you’ll crack the code word and win a Historic Scavenger Hunt t-shirt!” the city said in a newsletter.

People can download the form to track the code work. Once the form is complete, people can email it to [email protected] by Sunday, July 5, for the chance to win a t-shirt.

Falls Church isn’t the only Tysons-area place holding a scavenger hunt — the McLean Community Center is also hosting one.

Now that Virginia is in Phase Three of rolling back restrictions, the Fairfax County Park Authority announced today that the Spring Hill Recreation Center will reopen on Monday, July 13.

The McLean center (1239 Spring Hill Road) is a part of nine recreation centers reopening in the county.

“Please keep in mind that membership gives you access to the entire RECenter system; if your RECenter isn’t one of the first opened, you can visit one that has already opened,” the Park Authority said.

Here are the centers reopening this month:

• July 13: Spring Hill and Lee District and Oak Marr
• July 20: Audrey Moore, Cub Run and South Run
• July 27: George Washington, Mount Vernon and Providence

People heading to the centers can expect health screenings for COVID-19 symptoms, mandatory face coverings when not exercising, reservation requirements and time limits for visits. The Park Authority also noted that less equipment will be available for use.

More from the Park Authority:

Initially, the fitness centers and pools will reopen under timed entry restrictions for individual workouts, lap swimming and water walking. Later, drop-in exercise and other classes inside the RECenters will resume, free and plate weights will return, and racquetball and basketball courts will be available. Please consult the RECenter Operational Calendar or go to individual RECenter websites for details on the services offered at each of the RECenters.

“All openings are based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, state mandates, guidance from local health officials and availability of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and cleaning supplies,” the Park Authority said.

Photo by Marcus Ng on Unsplash

People can get antibodies tests for COVID-19 at an upcoming blood drive in Tysons.

The Boro is hosting the American Cross blood drive, and donors will be able to get the antibody tests, which can indicate if donors have previously been infected by the virus.

More from the press release:

This will be an essential part of the life-saving network connecting donors to those in need of blood, platelets and plasma. There is an urgent need for blood donations right now to meet the needs of patients in hospitals as surgical procedures and treatments that were temporarily paused due to the pandemic resume again.

The American Red Cross is also currently testing all blood, platelet, and plasma donations for COVID-19 antibodies for a limited time and donors will receive the free results of their antibody test within 7-10 days through the Red Cross Blood Donor App or by logging in to the donor portal at RedCrossBlood.org.

The blood drive is scheduled to take place from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22, at Boro Station (1775 Greensboro Station Place). Donors, who must make appointments online, can expect social distancing in the conference center.

“Appointments allow the American Red Cross to exercise hygienic practices and provide donor services,” the press release said.

On one of her final days in office, Laurie DiRocco took a moment to reflect on her accomplishments as Vienna’s mayor.

DiRocco was first elected to the Town Council in 2009 and has been the mayor since 2014, according to her town bio. She has lived in the town since 1995.

Going back 20 years, DiRocco said that serving on the Town Council or as mayor wasn’t on her radar when she was working in finance, but decided to run for mayor at the request of her predecessor.

Her key efforts included environmental sustainability, town walkability and financial responsibility, she told Tysons Reporter earlier this week.

Under her leadership, the town built a brand new community center that met the mark for a LEED Gold Certification, meaning that the center was built keeping in mind the highest standards of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.

This building was the first in the town to meet such high standards, according to DiRocco.

DiRocco said her focus on sustainability also applies to commuters and pedestrians.

“A big thing for me was walkability. I walk all the time. I love to run and bike and wanted to improve that in the town,” she said.

To encourage exploration of the community and relations with her constitutes, DiRocco would organize Friday morning walks. Each week, people were invited to join her at 9:30 a.m. to take a roughly 3-mile walk — giving them the chance to personally meet DiRocco and check out sites around the town. Roughly 10-20 people would take her up on the offer each week, she said.

“Some people would stop by because they wanted to talk to me in a casual environment,” she said. “But I also had some regulars.”

Thanks to funding from Maud Robinson, a former council member, DiRocco said that the town was able to install miles of sidewalks during her term.

To ease traffic in the town, DiRocco noted that a roundabout at Locust Street SE and Park Street was “wildly successful” in eliminating traffic jams for commuters. “That was a nice little transportation project that I’m proud of,” she said.

DiRococo has been active in the Black Lives Matter rallies around town, posting photos and videos showing community members kneeling in allyship to the Black community on her personal Facebook page.

“I thought they were really powerful,” she said, noting how “peaceful and well thought out” the protests were.

DiRocco said that “there hasn’t been an issue within our police station,” but that nearby localities have had issues with police brutality and racial injustice.

For Vienna specifically, she said that the Town Council began examining how policing happens in Vienna. About five years, the town started work on the conception plans for the upcoming police station.

Though a subject of controversy around town, DiRocco said that the plans for the new station include more involvement from the community to rethink the relationship between police and the community.

“We have an opportunity to make changes,” she said.

Following in DiRocco’s footsteps, Linda Colbert, who was first elected to the Town Council in 2014, is the incoming mayor.

“She has a knowledge base of how things operate,” Di Rocco said. “She really cares about the town, the people and the community. It’s about her love for Vienna, not political purposes.”

The two leaders have already met to talk about the position, according to DiRocco.

DiRocco said she’s confident that Colbert will continue many of the popular traditions, such as the town’s volunteer recognition — which DiRocco said she has expanded upon during her time in office.

Photo via Laurie DiRocco/Facebook

Although the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to drop, local health officials are encouraging residents to maintain social distancing as the county enters phase three of Gov. Ralph Northam’s reopening plan today.

The number of COVID-19 cases has dramatically declined from a peak of around 300 cases per day to an average of 60 to 70 cases per day, according to Benjamin Schwartz, the Fairfax County Health Department’s medical epidemiologist.

“We have not seen a rebound of disease associated with our community moving into phase one and two. However, the time has been limited,” Schwartz told the county’s health committee at a meeting yesterday, adding that cases are expected to increase as health restrictions relax.

The county is using a “box it in” suppression strategy to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. Efforts include intensive contact tracing in order to isolate the spread of the virus. Hiring and training for case investigators to lead contact tracing efforts are underway.

Gloria Addo-Ayensu, the health department’s director, said that COVID-19 surges in other states following reopening should “serve as a reminder that the virus has not gone away.”

“Until we develop a vaccine, we cannot return to the way things used to be,” she said, adding that residents need to “stay the course” on social distancing, wearing facial masks, and quarantining if exposed to COVID-19.

The health department launched several community testing clinics — which were targeted for specific hotspots. Herndon, which has been identified as a hotspot, had a nine percent positive test rate. Other hotspots include the Mount Vernon District and Springfield.

“We are far from over, but I do want to at least acknowledge that we have come a long way,” said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay.

Schwartz noted that the overwhelming impact of COVID-19 on the local Hispanic community has lessened somewhat, although significant disproportionality remains.

The county is recruiting Hispanic community health tracers and contact tracers. The department is also working with nongovernmental and county agencies to help families and individuals in quarantine.

Photo via Fairfax County 

Back in mid-March, government services, community centers, restaurants, schools and more closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Now that Virginia is entering Phase Three today (Wednesday), here’s an update on what’s reopened or staying closed in the Tysons area.

Town Hall, which is currently open to the public by appointment-only, will reopen fully on Monday, July 6. “Citizens are still encouraged to limit unnecessary trips to Town Hall and to utilize online services when possible,” according to the town’s website. The town’s council, committees and boards will still meet virtually.

The community center will also reopen on Monday “with strict social distancing, reduced occupancy, and enhanced cleanings.” People will be able to rent space with limited room occupancy rules in the community center.

“Playgrounds, restrooms at parks, the Community Garden, tennis courts, outdoor basketball courts, and Vienna Dog Park are open,” the town’s website said. “Field permits and picnic pavilion rentals are now allowed.”

The town has cancelled events through August, but does have some online options along with no- and low-touch summer camps.

As for closures, rentals are still not permitted at the Teen Center, Bowman House, Freeman Store & Museum and Town Green.

The City of Falls Church took to Twitter to share an overview of what Phase Three looks like:

Phase 3 of the Forward Virginia reopening plan begins on Wednesday, July 1 everywhere in the Commonwealth – including the City of Falls Church. See what's different from Phase 2: https://t.co/wlyqNR2sCT pic.twitter.com/Zv02GCVbrL

— City of Falls Church (@FallsChurchGov) June 26, 2020

Back in May, Wolf Trap cancelled its summer performances.

The McLean Community Center reopened in a limited capacity when Northern Virginia entered Phase Two. “To minimize face-to-face public contact, we ask that you continue to contact us online, or by email or phone,” MCC wrote on its website mid-June.

In May, Virginia DMV offices started to reopen for appointments. People can make appointments at the Tysons location (1968 Gallows Road), which is open from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Additionally, Virginia DMV extended the deadline for driver’s license expirations from the end of August to the end of October.

Tysons Reporter previously shared what the statewide changes will look like in Phase Three, from fitness centers and pools opening at 75% capacity to non-essential retail and restaurants fully opening.

Fairfax County Public Schools is offering families two choices for returning to school in August: full-time online instruction or two days each week at school and asynchronous learning on the remote days.

Just because more and more places are reopening doesn’t mean people have to go to them, Gov. Ralph Northam has stressed in press conferences.

Per Northam’s order, people have to wear masks when going into public buildings and businesses.

Bars Not Reopening Today — “Bars in Virginia will remain closed when the state enters Phase Three of its reopening plan on Wednesday, Gov. Ralph Northam announced late Tuesday afternoon.” [Inside NoVa]

Gas Leak Repaired in McLean — Earlier today, workers struck a gas line in the 7500 block of Coleshire Drive. Crews repaired the leak and no injuries were reported, according to the fire department. [Fairfax Fire and Rescue/Twitter]

“Combating Racism” Virtual Event Today — “Join us for a lively discussion on racism in America. What is racism? How does it impact lives in education, health, employment, finances, housing and much more. How do we combat racism… What role do you play?” The event is free and starts at 6 p.m. [Communities of Trust]

New State Laws Go Into Effect Today — Fairfax County has compiled a list of new state laws affecting pedestrian safety, firearms, marijuana decriminalization and more. [Fairfax County]

Grant Awardees — “The City of Falls Church Economic Development Authority (EDA) is proud to announce the winners of the second round of the EDA COVID-19 Emergency Grant Program… Each recipient will receive $2,000 to help with urgent expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic. All 42 eligible applicants will receive funding thanks to the EDA and a generous $4,000 donation made by the 2020 graduating class of George Mason High School.” [City of Falls Church]

Units on scene of hazardous materials incident in the 8300 block of Leesburg Pike in Tysons area. Odor in the building. Five occupants complaining of odor. Evaluated by EMS with none requiring transport to hospital. Crews reporting no odor or readings at this time. #FCFRD pic.twitter.com/vzIeGevgIB

— Fairfax County Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) June 30, 2020