Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors wants to team up with the developers behind a Tysons East development on a stream restoration project in Scotts Run.
The partnership between the county and Cityline Partner would let the developer fund part of the project, satisfying its proffered conditions for its Scotts Run project, which would bring a hotel, apartments, office buildings and retail space right next to the McLean Metro station.
When the county approved Cityline’s rezoning application in 2013, the developer agreed to design and construct a stream restoration project in the Scotts Run Stream Valley Park, which is owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority, according to county documents.
More from county documents on the proposed agreement:
As part of the Stormwater Capital Improvement Program, the county has finalized designs and is ready to construct a stream restoration project in a section of the Scotts Run that is contiguous with the Cityline Plan (County Project). The county and Cityline want to implement the Cityline Plan and the County Project concurrently…
Under the proposed agreement, the County will solicit bids for the construction of the combined Cityline Plan and the County Project, and, based on the bid, Cityline will choose whether to fund its proportional share of construction costs or construct the Cityline Plan independent of the County Project.
The county says that combining the stream restoration projects will help the work will get done faster and lower construction costs.
“Additionally, stormwater improvement and stream restoration projects for Tysons are included in the adopted Scotts Run Watershed Management Plan and are part of the Fiscal Year 2020 Capital Improvement Program,” the county documents added.
The board is set to vote on the proposed project agreement tomorrow (Tuesday).
New Route 7 Rapid Bus System Plans — “A new conceptual engineering report lays out 18 specific bus rapid station locations from Tysons to Alexandria. It also details the spots where buses would have their own lanes in the middle of the road or on the outside of the road, and where buses would share lanes with car traffic.” [WTOP]
Update on Park Police Shooting of Tysons Man — “The two U.S. Park Police officers who fatally shot unarmed motorist Bijan Ghaisar in 2017 will not be charged with any crimes in connection with the incident, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The decision came just days before the second anniversary of the slaying.” [Washington Post]
Orange Line Work Next Year — “Orange Line trains could run on a single-track at West Falls Church, and Orange and Silver Line trains could pass through East Falls Church without stopping. The closures would run as long as May 23 (Memorial Day weekend) through about Aug. 28 (before Labor Day weekend).” [WTOP]
Residents Displaced From Falls Church Fire — On Saturday, firefighters battled a “fire in a garden-style apartment building in the 7300 block of Lee Highway in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County. Multiple people have been rescued.” [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue/Twitter]
Questions About American Legion Bridge’s Reconstruction? — The Washington Business Journal has answers about how much the bridge work will cost, who is paying for it and more. [Washington Business Journal]
Tysons may not have the liveliest nightlife at the moment, but that could soon change as more late-night restaurants and places to hang out open. “Tysons After Dark” will highlight a different spot every week.
The new Whole Foods in The Boro has caught the attention of people looking for happy hour deals after work with its brand new bar High Point.
Located on the top floor inside Whole Foods, the bar offers guests 16 regional beers and ciders along with a variety of cocktails and wine. People can enjoy their drinks at the bar, anywhere throughout the store while they shop or while they play shuffleboard and various arcade games like pinball.
High Point also offers happy hour deals Monday through Thursday, including $1 off ceratin pours. For those who don’t want to commit to a full drink, the bar also offers sample size tasters for $3 — all day, every day.
Last Friday night, Tysons Reporter decided to enjoy a 16-ounce pumpkin favored Wild Hare Hard Cider from Leesburg, which cost $7, while people-watching.
By 5 p.m. the bar was getting busy and seats were scarce. Young professionals in their mid-20s’ to early-40s’ enjoyed the hangout spot.
Tysons residents Tim McCall and Miguel Barrios told Tysons Reporter that the new Whole Foods is two blocks from their apartment, so they decided to try it out as a pregame spot before they went for a night out in D.C.
“This is going to make us sound old, but it seems like a quiet place for a drink,” McCall said.
Around five different bartenders assisted customers throughout the evening, each staying busy and serving customers in rapid succession. For those who don’t want to wait for a drink at the bar, the self-serve wine and beer stations were a popular option, even though they had a narrower selection.
ESPN was playing on the flat-screen TVs scattered throughout the area for all of the sports fans.
By 5:30 p.m. there was only standing-room at the bar, and different groups were sharing nearby tables. Things began to get rowdy as people raised their voices to compete with the conversations going on around them. Laughter echoed around the room and people seemed eager to kick off their weekend.
A bartender told Tysons Reporter that business has been extremely steady all week and the spot is pretty popular, especially around lunchtime.
The energy in the room stayed pretty consistent until 8 p.m. Then things began to slow down, and people went about their evening.
High Point is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Meetings to decide the fate of the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center kicked off last night in Falls Church.
About two dozen people gathered last night at the Falls Church City Hall (300 Park Avenue) for the first of three regional meetings to get input on what should happen to the facility.
The center currently serves Falls Church, Arlington and Alexandria as a detention facility for kids deemed a flight risk while awaiting trial or a danger to themselves or others. But since juvenile incarceration rates have fallen more than 72% since 2006, according to a spokesperson for the Moss Group, the center no longer fills its 70-bed capacity.
Community leaders commissioned a study by the Moss Group to evaluate the efficiency of the center and options for its future.
Currently, there are 27 kids held in the facility, Johnitha McNair, the executive director of the center, said. Options include closing the center, remodeling it or simply cutting down on staff and bed size.
Attendees included curious community members from Arlington, Alexandria and Falls Church, board members who run the center, representatives from the NAACP, members of the Falls Church City Council, an American University student and professional child advocates.
A spokesman from the NAACP said he is concerned about what will happen if the center is closed, noting that the numbers may rise and fall throughout the years, potentially leaving the three cities in a conundrum if incarceration rates rise again.
Several attendees brought up issues not with the capacity issues of the facility, but rather with how the facility is run and how the physical design might impact the kids being held within.
Attorney Juliet Hiznay, who has been practicing law in the realm of education law and has experience helping children with special needs, said she toured the facility in 2018 and was disheartened by what she saw. She said she doesn’t think that the detention center can be repurposed without extreme structural changes.
“My concern is not about the goodwill of the people running the facility, but the physical limitations of the facility itself,” she said, adding that the cell-block structure of the center is poorly designed for kids. “I find it hard to believe it could be repurposed for any type of therapeutic intervention.”
Hiznay said there were few windows in the facility that allowed for suitable sunlight, limited mobility within in the center, very few opportunities for kids to get exercise and fresh air and that the kids she interacted with seemed desperate for attention.
McNair, the center’s director, countered a few of Hiznay’s statements through, saying that kids in the detention center have “ample” time to play outside and interact with one another. NcNair also said that there are at least two 12″ by 48″ windows in each cell room and that kids are kept busy throughout the day with activities such as group therapy, social rehabilitation programs and reentry initiatives.
There was discussion throughout the evening about redesigning the center to include a more open “dorm-style” floor plan that are seen in other detention facilities, which would stop queuing when kids try to enter new rooms, but experts at the meeting expressed potential security concerns around this idea.
Moss Group representatives at the meeting said they work with an architect who can advise city officials on their options to remodel the center.
“We work very hard to recognize that our clients are children,” McNair said at last night’s meeting, adding that she hopes to keep the center in operation and is open to structural changes that would allow the center to rethink its approach by making programs more focused on mental health and constructive development.
Mental health and the ability to better assist kids that walk through the center’s doors came up several times throughout the meeting.
McNair said that the staff noticed that a lot of the young women were acting up around 8 p.m. when they were supposed to go to bed. After some thinking, they realized that this was because bedtime was when a lot of the girls in the center experienced abuse at home and were possibly experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
“We already know the percent of kids going into these facilities with trauma and mental health issues are very high,” Hiznay told Tysons Reporter in an interview after the public hearing.
Now, two more similar public hearings will be held in Alexandria (Lee Center Exhibit Hall, 1108 Jefferson Street) next Wednesday (Nov. 20) from 7 to 8:30 p.m. and in Arlington (Central Library Auditorium, 1015 N. Quincy Street) next Thursday (Nov. 21) from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
People who cannot attend the meeting can fill out an online survey.
The final report from the Moss Group is set to come out in January. The Alexandria, Falls Church and Alexandria governments will review it in February and March. It is unclear when a final plan for the center will be announced.
Vienna police arrested a 44-year-old Fairfax man who was allegedly acting disorderly in the Vienna Inn (120 E. Maple Avenue).
After being asked to help with a “disorderly subject” shortly before 7 p.m. on Monday (Nov. 11), police told the man that he needed to leave, according to the police report.
“While the man was leaving the business, officers noticed he was having trouble walking, poor coordination, and subsequently fell,” the report said. “For the man’s safety, officers took him into custody for being Drunk In Public. The man became aggressive toward the officers while he was being placed under arrest.”
Police said the behavior escalated while they transported the man to the Adult Detention Center:
The man continued to act belligerent, yelling profanities at Officer Murray. When exiting the cruiser at the jail, the man spat at several officers assisting Officer Murray. At the magistrate’s office, the man became even more aggressive and kicked Officer Murray. Officer Murray secured arrest warrants for Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer and Drunk In Public.
Police said the man was remanded to the custody of the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office.
Image via Google Maps
Fairfax County police are looking for the three men who allegedly pointed handguns at a man while robbing him in a residential area of Falls Church.
“The victim was approached by three suspects,” police said. “Two of the suspects pointed handguns at the victim while his personal property was taken.”
The incident occurred shortly before 10:45 p.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 13) in the 7600 block of Savannah Street — the same block that houses the Falls Church Gardens Condominium.
“The suspects were described as black men in their mid-20s,” police said.
Image via Google Maps
Tysons’ 1st Stage Theatre is one of seven arts organizations receiving a grant from ARTSFAIRFAX.
ARTSFAIRFAX awarded grants totaling $105,296 to local arts groups in Fairfax County for fiscal year 2020, according to a press release. The grants range in amounts from $1,000 to $30,000.
The grant for 1st Stage will allow the theater to work with the Maryland-based Olney Theatre on a co-production of “The Royale” — a story about the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion in the U.S. The show played at Olney from Sept. 25 to Oct. 27 and comes to Tysons in January.
“What we are witnessing is how these grants are helping propel the artistic growth of these grantees as their work reaches new audiences within and beyond the county,” Linda Sullivan, the president and CEO of ARTSFAIRFAX, said in a press release.
“Project awardees presented innovative and creative means to engage the community and bring people together to experience arts in fresh and unusual ways,” according to the press release.
Other recipients include the Greater Reston Arts Center, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.
Just in time for the holidays, North Italia is expected to open in the next few weeks — with other restaurants and businesses in The Boro.
A construction contractor working on-site told Tysons Reporter that the new North Italia (1651 Boro Place) will open in early December along with Fish Taco, according to a sign.
Last Friday (Nov. 9), crews were working to instill appliances and finishing touches around the restaurant. The contractor said they will have an official opening date soon when they begin to hire servers and staff.
CaliBurger 2.0 (8301 Greensboro Drive) will also be moving into The Boro, taking over a spot that was designed for Taylor Gourmet, according to Eater, which added that the burger joint will use robot labor to flip burgers using a robotic arm and introduce a new line of vegan options by Beyond Meat.
It is unclear when the location will open, but it is expected to stay open late in order to accommodate crowds from the nearby movie theatre.
For “National Bundt Day” and its 22nd anniversary, Nothing Bundt Cakes is giving away sweet treats at locations across the country — including its Vienna location.
From 11:15 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. on Friday (Nov. 15), Nothing Bundt Cakes’ Vienna spot (129 W. Maple Avenue) will give away one free “Confetti Bundtlet” per customer. The first 22 people in line will also receive free “bundtlets” for a year, according to a press release.
The deal includes a punch card for one “bundtlet” per month for 12 months, and the deal is limited to one card per household.
People are encouraged to show up early, since the company warns the cakes are only available “while supplies last.”
“For our loyal and passionate Bundt fans across the nation, Nothing Bundt Cakes wants to throw the biggest Bundt Cake party yet!” Co-founder and Chairman Dena Tripp said. “We hope that anyone who loves cake will join us at our Bundt Bash.”
There are more than 300 Nothing Bundt Cake locations throughout the U.S., according to the company’s website. People with a sweet tooth can find 10 flavors of cake to choose from at the locations.
Photo via Nothing Bundt Cakes/Facebook
The Fairfax County Planning Commission is still tackling a proposal to reduce parking requirements for the county’s largest malls after a contentious public hearing last night (Wednesday).
The proposal would affect the four largest malls in Fairfax County — the two in Tysons, Fair Oaks Mall and Springfield Town Center — and was based on a review of the parking rates and demand at large regional malls by consulting firm Nelson/Nygaard.
County documents indicate that the proposal is meant to help Fair Oaks Mall.
“Fair Oaks Mall is also currently looking at redevelopment opportunities and an evaluation of the parking rates is viewed as critical to ensure the long-term vitality of the mall,” according to a county staff report.
Yet most of the discussion about the proposal last night focused on the inclusion of the two malls in Tysons — Tysons Galleria and Tysons Corner Center.
Dwight Fuller, a managing partner with Great American Restaurants, told the Planning Commission that parking is a problem for staff and diners in the Tysons area.
“Taking away parking — or even insinuating taking away parking from Tysons — I think is a bad way to go,” he said.
“It’s hard to do this one size fits all,” Vice-Chairman James Hart said, asking if there could be a way to eliminate the other malls from the proposal. “Is there a way to do this for the mall that seems to need this?”
Zoning Administrator Leslie Johnson told Hart that the staff could have tried to define the proposal in a way that would only make it applicable to Fair Oaks Mall.
Tysons Malls Have Flexibility With Parking
Despite concern about parking at the Tysons malls, county staff told the Planning Commission multiple times throughout the evening that the Tysons malls “have additional flexibility” already when it comes to parking.
During the discussion between the staff and commissioners, it was unclear how much of the conversation revolved around both Tysons malls or just Tysons Corner Center. Yet the feedback from staff suggested that both Tysons malls already have the opportunities to pursue reducing their parking limits if so desired.
“[The proposal] does not have a lot of relevance to the Tysons malls because they can go to zero [parking spaces,]” staff said. Yet, for economic business decisions, the malls are unlikely to drastically cut or eliminate parking, staff said.
Tysons Corner Center is a part of the Planned Tysons Corner Urban District’s (PTC) parking rates, according to the staff. Tysons Galleria is not a part of the PTC District, but could opt-in, staff said.
Tysons Corner Center also proffered to pursue parking reductions with the redevelopment of part of the site, staff said.
The staff presentation noted that declines in retail parking demand are expected to continue because of mall locations near other transit options and the prevalence of online shopping. The presentation noted that lower parking rates could lead to better utilization of surface parking.
When asked by the commissioners if the proposal would serve as a catalyst for the Tysons malls to cut their parking, the staff said, “No, it would not.”
A Call For More Data
The proposal is based on a Nelson/Nygaard study that evaluated parking data for Fair Oaks Mall collected by the property owner in December 2017 and December 2018, along with data about the Springfield Town Center that the firm collected in June.
The firm found that less than 65% of the available spaces were occupied during peak times from a parking count for the Springfield mall and analyzing data from the Fair Oaks Mall. The study did not evaluate the two malls in Tysons.
County staff insisted that the study looked at the peak shopping month — December.
Commissioner Ellen Hurley, who represents the Braddock District, criticized the limited range of the Nelson/Nygaard study and that there isn’t any data about the parking demand for the day after Thanksgiving.
“I think it’s disingenuous to say the ‘peak day of the peak month’ when most shoppers realize the peak day is the day after Thanksgiving,” she said.
Hurley called for a survey of mall shoppers to provide more data about the parking demand. She also noted that not everyone has access to the Metro.
“It’s kind of feeling like you’re saying that Tysons could eliminate all parking,” she said. “From the lens of equity that doesn’t seem like a really smart way to go.”
Commissioner John Carter, who represents the Hunter Mill District, also called for more data about malls’ parking rates.
Carter suggested a table with the parking rates for 10 or so malls in Fairfax County and surrounding jurisdictions.
“I don’t question that malls are evolving tremendously,” he said.
“Relatively Simple and Straightforward”
Tony Calabrese, a DLA Piper attorney representing Fair Oaks Mall, said that the proposal was “intended to be relatively simple and straightforward.”
Addressing Hart’s comments, Calabrese said that trying to make changes to the proposed amendment might lead to more confusion.
Calabrese said that Fair Oaks Mall does survey its shoppers and claimed that the day after Thanksgiving is not nearly as the holiday peak in December.
Calabrese noted that the amendment would not affect the Tysons malls from being able to reduce their parking if they wanted to — the Tysons Galleria, while not a part of the PTC currently, could opt-in with the zoning administrator’s approval, staff said.
“The parking requirements have to be dropped,” Calabrese said.
“Supportive But With Reluct-ness”
The Planning Commission voted to defer the decision to next Wednesday, Nov. 20.
At-Large Commissioner Timothy Sargeant said that deferral will give the commissioners time to consider the comments from the public hearing.
Commissioner Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner, who represents the Providence District, asked the staff if they could exclude the Tysons malls. Staff replied that the proposal would barely impact the malls, which already could find ways to reduce their parking requirements.
While Niedzielski-Eichner said he would prefer to see the Tysons malls kept out of the proposal, he said he is “supportive but with reluct-ness.”
Ultimately, he said that he wants to help Fair Oaks Mall and doesn’t want to risk having to over through the process again if this proposal is rejected.
The proposal is slated to head to the Board of Supervisors for a hearing on Dec. 3.
