A proposal to launch an autonomous shuttle program in Merrifield was awarded a state grant, making it the first state-funded pilot of its kind in Virginia.
The Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board approved $250,000 in grant funding for Fairfax County to test driverless technology in public transportation, according to a press release. Fairfax County will provide $50,000 in local match funding to the pilot.
The program was the topic of extensive discussion at a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors work session yesterday (Tuesday). The pilot project will have an autonomous shuttle running from the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station to the Mosaic District, closing a 1-mile transit gap between the two locations.
The project is a collaboration between Fairfax County and Dominion Energy, which would identify, select and purchase the shuttles.
The shuttle would be free to ride with no ticket or pass needed.
The work session included a discussion of safety challenges related to operating an autonomous shuttle, particularly the challenge of getting the shuttle across Lee Highway. The press release noted that the shuttles will undergo extensive testing before passenger service can begin and a safety steward will be on board to monitor operations.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is set to consider the formal partnership agreement at the Tuesday, June 25, Board of Supervisors meeting.
Rendering via Optimus Ride
After an earlier work session decried the building design as boring, designers of the Vienna Market mixed-use project came back with a slightly more spiced-up project.
Criticisms of the original designs included notes that the building did not offer interesting or unique street faces on every side of the project. The new redesign of the project was presented at the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) Work Session on Friday, June 14.
Most of the distinctions are fairly subtle, but enough to excite architecture wonks on the BAR. Members of the Board praised the new bay windows — glass spaces that project forward from the main room — as a new visually distinctive feature of the project.
The proposed project is planned to replace the Marco Polo building that was destroyed in a fire last year. The project would add 44 condominiums and 8,200 square feet of retail space to 245 W. Maple Avenue.
Representatives of Northfield, the site developer, said at the meeting that a focus of the work between the last work session and this one was rustication, giving the building a more rough-hewn look as compared to the more clean-cut original design.
The building still has a ways to go before approval. Another work session is planned for next Friday (June 28), prompting one BAR member to remark that his wife was getting suspicious of the number of “work sessions” he was attending for the project.
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) have joined the call for answers in the shooting of a Tysons man by U.S. Park Police in 2017.
Bijan Ghaisar, a 25-year-old, was shot on Nov. 17, 2017 by two U.S. Park Police who fired into his Jeep Grand Cherokee. Three days after the shooting, the FBI took over the investigation, but there’s been virtually no update on the case.
“We write today to once again request an update on the status of the Bijan Ghaisar investigation,” Grassley and Warner said in a joint letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI has failed to provide information on this investigation, which has been ongoing since November 2017, to us, our colleagues, or the public. The FBI’s slow pace and lack of transparency are weakening the trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”
The letter notes that family members and the press have had to rely on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for simple details like whether or not Ghaisar had a weapon when he was killed — which he did not, according to FOIA documents obtained by Ghaisar’s family.
The senators are not the first to call for answers. Last November, on the anniversary of the shooting, the McLean Citizens Association also issued a resolution demanding answers.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) also pushed for answers in 2018. The Grassley and Warner letter notes the FBI has previously responded that it would not discuss an active investigation.
Grassley and Warner also sent a joint letter to Dan Smith, the acting director of the National Park Service, with questions about the agency’s policies on the use of force.
The letters to the FBI and NPS demand an update from both organizations no later than July 2.
Image via Fairfax County Police Department
The City of Falls Church’s aging library will begin its makeover in a few months.
After nearly two years of planning, construction to expand and renovate Mary Riley Styles Public Library (120 N. Virginia Avenue) is set to start in September.
“The building is aged and its systems are outdated, having been constructed in 1957 and expanded in 1968 and 1992,” according to the city’s website, adding that the library needs more space to meet the needs of its growing number of registered borrowers.
Planning for the project began in 2017. Most recently, Falls Church’s City Council received updated designs for the project in January.
The two-story expansion will add roughly 6,600 square feet to the side of the library facing N. Virginia Avenue and create a new entrance on the corner of Park and N. Virginia avenues.
Once the work is complete, the library will become ADA compliant, have more meeting space and offer additional programming.
The project also plans to make the Local History Room more prominent by moving it from the lower level to the upper level and to nearly triple the size of the kids’ area.
While construction is underway, the library will temporarily relocate near the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School (601 S. Oak Street).
Construction is expected to last through December 2020.
Images via City of Falls Church
Tysons Corner Center just welcomed its second poke place, adding to the veg-friendly eatery options in the mall.
Poki DC debuted in the food court on the third level over the weekend and is letting diners buy one regular bowl with two proteins and get a second one for free until Friday (June 21) to celebrate the opening.
Inspired by Hawaiian cuisine, the D.C.-based eatery offers build-your-own bowls and mochi.
Down on the first level, the mall has another poke place — Pokéworks, which serves up poke burritos, bowls and salads.
The City of Falls Church’s free summer concert series will return this week.
Now in its 27th year, the annual City of Falls Church Concerts in the Park series highlights local musicians with a show every Thursday this summer at 7 p.m. in Cherry Hill Park (312 Park Avenue).
The lineup this year:
- June 20: Falls Church Concert Band, playing concert music
- June 27: Mountain Fish, a Southern rock and country group
- July 4: to be determined
- July 11: Korybantes, playing ’80s, ’90s and modern rock hits
- July 18: Soul Stew, a Motown band
- July 25: Big Tow, an alternative and blues band
- Aug. 1: Big Howdy, a progressive bluegrass band
Attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket and a picnic dinner. If it starts to rain, the concert will get moved to the Falls Church Community Center (223 Little Falls Street).
The performer for the Fourth of July concert, which will take place at George Mason High School (7124 Leesburg Pike), has not been named yet.
Image via City of Falls Church
A boy reported to Vienna Police that another kid smeared berries on his bicycle.
The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Friday, June 7, in the 500 block of S. Center Street, according to the police report.
Other local crimes include stolen and recovered beer from the Giant Food (359 E. Maple Avenue) that same Friday.
Shortly after 11 a.m., an employee reported to the police that five kids took a case of beer and ran out of the store, according to the police report.
“The employee was able to recover the beer,” the police report said. “However, the juveniles fled the area.”
Later that day, between 7-8 p.m., police said two kids attempted to steal a 30-pack of beer, but a loss prevention officer confronted the kids.
“The juveniles ran away from the officer leaving behind the beer,” the report said.
Photo via Facebook
(Updated at 2:05 p.m. on 6/19/19) This fall, shoppers and diners in Tysons will have new shops and restaurants to check out at The Boro development.
The development by The Meridian Group has curated a growing list of retailers and restaurants over the last several months, including a 14-screen ShowPlace ICON Theatre, onsite food hall and brewery and recently announced F45 gym.
According to Caroline Flax, an associate at the Meridian Group, here what’s coming soon to The Boro:
Restaurants, eateries and grocery stores:
- Whole Foods
- Akira Ramen
- Poki DC
- North Italia
- Flower Child
- Bluestone Lane
- Paris Baguette
- Tropical Smoothie Cafe
- Tasty Kabob
- Fish Taco
Retailers, services, fitness and entertainment:
- ShowPlace ICON
- Ethan Allen
- Verizon
- MyEyeDr
- Boro Cleaners
- Colour Bar
- Tysons Nail Lounge
- F45
The places are expected to open this fall through spring 2020, a spokesman for The Boro, told Tysons Reporter.
The 70,000 square-foot flagship Whole Foods is expected to open this fall.
Image via The Meridian Group
Fairfax County is moving toward autonomous vehicles connecting the Mosaic District to the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro.
At a work session today (Tuesday), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors reviewed plans to start a pilot program for self-driving vehicles as a shuttle service.
“We’re pretty excited,” said Leonard Wolfenstein, chief of the transportation planning section. “We have several partners in the public and private sector.”
Wolfenstein said the mile of distance between the Metro and the Mosaic District was one of the main reasons it was being eyed for the autonomous vehicle pilot.
“The Mosaic District is a vibrant and active growing sector of the county,” said Wolfenstein. “Mosaic is roughly a mile from the Metro, so it’s a great first-last mile type of environment to test this out.”
Under the planned partnership, Dominion Energy would identify, select, and purchase shuttles while Fairfax County government would oversee its operation. Who actually operates the shuttle is still to be determined.
Staff noted that concerns about safety, like how shuttles would affect pedestrians and cyclists, are still to be determined. In particular, staff said the “tricky situation” is figuring out whether the autonomous vehicles will safely be able to cross Lee Highway.
“The proposed path would create an environment where there are opportunities for all those users,” staff said. “At the end of the pilot, there will be a report published to establish a regulatory framework. This is the only pilot like this in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Clinton Edwards from the Department of Rail and Public Transportation said that the department was reviewing the business case for automated vehicles. Edwards said the department was considering cost, insurance, liability concerns and private-public partnership issues.
But for members of the Board of Supervisors, most of the questions focused on how to get the public on board with the idea.
“The key is to create buzz,” said Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust. “People need to think of Fairfax County when they think of autonomous vehicles.”
Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth said the partnership should rely heavily on Edens, the Mosaic District property management company, for that.
“Turn the marketing of this over to Edens,” said Smyth. “Let them do what they do best.”
Image via Optimus Ride
Along with other legislative items, Vienna is working to kill a statewide requirement to advertise in local newspapers.
Virginia code currently requires local Planning Commissions to publish notice of plan, ordinances and amendments in “some newspaper published or having general circulation in the locality” before those plans are approved.
The idea of the ordinance is to require localities to give the public time to see what’s planned and the opportunity to speak to their representatives about it, if necessary.
But Vienna staff argued that many localities no longer have local newspapers to advertise in and those that do are seeing it as an unnecessary cost.
“A lot of newspapers distribute their news online,” said Town Attorney Steven Briglia. “I think these provisions for legal advertising requirements, they’re expensive. Any time you have a hearing it has to be advertised by the clerk and it adds up… it becomes a question of: is that the best way to get the news out? Newspaper associations fight it, it’s advertising money for them, and I don’t think it’s that the town is against newspapers, but we’re losing options.”
This isn’t the first time localities have tried to have the ordinance overturned, but the proposed amendments have been consistently defeated.
“We have the Sun-Gazette, we’re fortunate, but a lot of localities don’t have that,” Briglia said. “There’s a lot of newspapers going under, and [localities] are having to turn to regional papers where people aren’t going for local news.”
Other legislative items proposed in the docket include a push to get the town a voting seat on the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.
“We have a good relationship [with the NVTA] but we don’t have a single vote,” Briglia said. “The City of Falls Church has a vote, but a smaller population than many towns. I’m not sure we’re ready to throw tea into Boston Harbor over it yet.”
