Fairfax County’s new, permanent ‘LOVE’ sign kicked off its 11-stop tour today (May 9) with a ribbon-cutting in the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center.
The new sign celebrates the 50th anniversary of the “Virginia is for Lovers” slogan and National Travel and Tourism Week.
The sign will be on display until May 19 at the Plaza at Tysons Corner Center. It is also scheduled to be displayed at Caboose Commons in Merrifield from June 26 to July 1 during the “Summer of LOVE” tour.
In August, the sign will head to its permanent home at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton where artists will bedazzle the letters.
Fairfax County received a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation for the tour.
Ten acres of vacant St. Paul’s Lutheran Church property at the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Idylwood Road could soon be redeveloped into a residential neighborhood.
A zoning application to the Fairfax County Board from developer Toll Mid-Atlantic LP Company requests permission to build 67 residential units — a mix of 39 single-family and 28 multi-family units.
St. Paul’s facilities at the site were built between 1954 and 1967, but have been vacant since Lutheran Social Services moved to the primary St. Paul’s building.
The church property sits at one corner of a busy intersection, requiring transportation improvements in the project application. Approval of the homes would require frontage improvements to Idylwood Road, a dedicated right-of-way along Leesburg Pike for a future right turn lane and a few other local road connections.
“Collectively, these road improvements will mitigate the impact of the vehicle trips generated by St. Paul’s and the Proposed Development, and will provide greater benefit than the previous commitments,” the developer said in the application. “The applicant proposes an eight-foot asphalt trail along Leesburg Pike, an eight-foot concrete sidewalk along Idylwood Road, and a bus shelter at the corner of Idylwood Road and Leesburg Pike.
The deal would allow St. Paul’s to finance a long-planned family life center. The facility would increase the overall size of the church from 17,196 square feet to 27,928 square feet.
According to the application:
The purpose of the approved expansion is to create a new family life center for use by the congregation and the community. Since the approval of the family life center… in 2005, however, St. Paul’s has been unable to construct the building due to financial constraints and the significant cost of the project. As a result, St. Paul’s has entered into an agreement with the Applicant to sell a portion of the property… which will provide the funding necessary for St. Paul’s to achieve its long-term goal of developing the family life center.
The project is tentatively planned for a Planning Commission hearing on Sept. 25, with a Board of Supervisors hearing to be determined.
LoKL Gourmet, a gourmet food market and eatery, appears to have some planned changes in the works in McLean.
A recent building permit indicates that LoKL Gourmet is looking to expand at 8100 Old Dominion Drive, Suite E.
Located near the intersection of Spring Hill Road and Old Dominion Drive, LoKL Gourmet offers a juice bar, deli and gourmet market. Its menu includes breakfast sandwiches and burritos, lunch sandwiches, salads, juice and smoothies.
LoKL Gourmet also does school lunches for private schools in Northern Virginia, according to its website.
Image via Google Maps
“The Member of the Wedding” will open tonight (May 9) at Tysons’ 1st Stage Theatre, closing out the theater’s 11th season.
Based on the 1946 novel of the same name by Carson McCullers, the drama focuses on a young girl’s dreams of leaving her small Southern town with her brother and his fiancee.
Here is 1st Stage Theatre’s description of the show:
In 1945 rural Georgia, the long, hot days of summer bring struggle, longing, and opportunity for 12-year-old Frankie Addams and her family’s housekeeper Berenice Sadie Brown. Frankie longs to escape with her newlywed brother on adventures in the Alaskan wilderness. Berenice struggles to balance enduring the deeply entrenched racism of the rural South with her role as surrogate mother to Frankie and her 6-year-old cousin. Adapted from the beloved novel of the same name, this evocative, poetic coming of age drama explores the pains of youth and the meaning of family.
The play will run until June 2. Performances for “The Member of the Wedding” are:
- Thursdays — 7:30 p.m.
- Fridays — 8 p.m.
- Saturdays — 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
- Sundays — 2 p.m.
General admission tickets are $39 or $36 for seniors over 65. Students and military tickets are $15.
Photo via Facebook
For-profit school University of the Potomac opened a new 15,000-square-foot campus in Tysons.
The new campus is inside the building at 7799 Leesburg Pike — an office building in the southeast corner of the Leesburg Pike-Beltway interchange — with 15 new classrooms and areas for relaxation or studying. Classes at the new facility started on May 4.
The school is a for-profit business offering associate’s degrees to master’s degrees, as well as professional certificates, though it touts affordability with a $350 per month payment plan.
“The higher education space is going through a lot of changes, as prospective students look for convenience and affordability,” said Rick Murphree, the president of the University of the Potomac, in a press release. “We met the affordability challenge by lowering our tuition by nearly 40 percent. The addition of this new campus shows our commitment to students’ demand for convenience.”
Second photo via Instagram
Vienna Planning Commissioners may have found a solution last night (May 8) to parking and retail space concerns plaguing the proposed Sunrise Senior Living Facility.
Concerns raised about the proposed 83-unit facility at yesterday’s public hearing were similar to ones brought up at the last public hearing: parking, ground floor retail space and location.
Several residents and planning commissioners said they are worried that the 60 parking spaces might not accommodate all of the visitors, employees, shoppers and roughly 100 residents, adding to already problematic traffic congestion around Church Street.
Jerry Liang, the senior vice president of development for Sunrise, said that the removal of a compact parking space resolved an issue brought up at the last public hearing about easy access for ambulances. He also said that some of the facility’s employees will probably use public transit and carpools, freeing up more parking spaces.
In addition to the parking, residents said the ground floor retail at the senior living facility won’t appeal to shoppers. “Would you do your Christmas shopping at the hospital gift shop?” resident Christopher Hogan asked.
Toward the end of the meeting, Planning Commissioner Mary McCullough questioned whether the development was required to have the retail space, which then led to a possible solution: eliminate some or all of the retail space, which would free up the retailers’ 29 parking spaces.
The possible solution to the parking and retail space woes, however, does not address one other concern.
While residents said they support the idea of having a senior living facility come to the town, some took issue with the location at E. Maple Avenue and Center Street — the heart of downtown Vienna.
“I don’t want our centerpiece of town to be assisted living,” a man who said he runs a local business next to the proposed site told the Planning Commission.
Resident Nancy Logan urged the planning commissioners to consider other options for the space. “The location is something very important,” she said. “I’d love to see a hotel or something that could help Vienna.”
Vienna resident Chuck Anderson said during public comment that he doesn’t think a senior living facility will add synergy to the local bars and businesses.
Some residents said they wished the project could get moved to a different location, but the Planning Commission doesn’t have that authority.
“I really like Sunrise,” resident Shelley Ebert said during public comment. “I wish they would move to the west and come to my neighborhood.”
Ultimately, the Planning Commission decided to return to the development at their next meeting.
Rendering via Town of Vienna
Updated at 10:05 a.m. — Police tweeted before 10 a.m., “The traffic signal was repaired and officers have cleared the intersection.”
Fairfax County police want people to avoid Shreve Road and W. Broad Street in Falls Church.
The intersection is just south of the West Falls Church Metro station and right by Giant and George Mason High School.
The police department tweeted shortly after 8 a.m. today (May 9) that the area is experiencing a traffic signal problem.
“Please use caution while officers control the intersection,” the tweet said.
UPDATE: The traffic signal was repaired and officers have cleared the intersection. Thanks for your patience. #FCPD #FairfaxCountyhttps://t.co/Dacmzj5C2Z
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 9, 2019
Map via Google Maps
Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors wants more analysis of data that points to the disproportionate use-of-force against black individuals by county police.
Two years ago, the Fairfax County Police Department released a study that found that 40 percent of use-of-force cases in 2015 involved black individuals.
In response to the study’s release, the board directed Police Auditor Richard Schott “to review the statistical disparity between the level of African-American use-of-force incidents and the African American population in Fairfax County,” according to the county.
Completed last year, Schott’s study on the police department data didn’t satisfy the supervisors’ questions.
“The report did not yield any clear causes based upon race, but noted additional evaluation of use-of force data would be needed for the following years,” Chairman Sharon Bulova said yesterday reading from the motion. She added FCPD has new procedures and trainings that might provide more useful data on use-of-force interactions.
Following the 2017 study, Police Chief Edwin Roessler has been trying to find an academic partner to help with data analysis for further use-of-force studies, but hasn’t found a “suitable” partner yet, Bulova said.
In a joint effort, Bulova and Braddock District Supervisor John Cook presented a motion yesterday (May 7) to direct the police auditor to coordinate the search for an academic or researcher to review the disparity and then report findings and any recommendations to the board.
“As the Police Auditor has experience with compiling similar types of reports, I am in favor of the Police Auditor’s office overseeing the search for an academic partner and completion of the use-of-force study,” Bulova said.
F45, an Australian-based high-intensity gym franchise, just signed a 10-year lease for The Boro development in Tysons.
The gym is set to open in the 2,310-square-foot second-level retail space at 1640 Boro Place, Suite 206, according to a press release.
F45 is targeting a late summer opening in The Boro — right around when many of the restaurants and retail plan to open in The Meridian Group’s development.
According to the press release:
F45 Tysons will offer fitness programs with more than 4,000 exercises changed daily; multi-screen LCD TVs displaying all exercises; heart rate technology for performance tracking; live DJ mixes and F45 FM music to keep members motivated; and a global support network of coaching professionals. The state-of-the-art fitness facility will include full locker rooms and showers.
The workout program combines interval, cardiovascular and strength training regimens into a rotating set of workouts.
“We are proud to welcome F45 Tysons to The Boro, and we are thrilled about the tremendous energy it will bring to the project,” Caroline Flax, the senior analyst for The Meridian Group, said in the press release.
Photo courtesy F45
Bear Branch Tavern is eyeing a space that once belonged to a bank along Maple Avenue in the heart of downtown Vienna.
The restaurant wants to move into a roughly 6,700-square-foot ground floor space in an office building known as the Vienna Professional Center (133 Maple Avenue E.). The building was built in 1983 and has eight units, including the basement, according to a Town of Vienna staff report.
Bear Branch Tavern plans to occupy units 100 and 100A, which have been vacant since Cardinal Bank left about two years ago.
The restaurant would have 249 seats for indoor and outdoor areas in both the front and rear areas of the building, transforming the former bank teller drive-thru canopy into a rear patio, according to the staff report.
“Staff believes that a restaurant of this size with outdoor seating will help encourage a more vibrant Central Business District,” the staff report says.
In addition to offering food and drinks, the tavern also hopes to entertain patrons with live music. The plans show a location for acoustic performers on the back deck near the proposed fire pit.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to provide a recommendation on conditional use permits for outdoor dining and live entertainment at tonight’s meeting.
The meeting will also continue the public hearing on the Sunrise Senior Living Facility proposal — residents’ concerns about parking, safety and retail space dominated the last public hearing on April 24.
The meeting starts at 8 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers (127 Center Street S.).
First image via Google Maps, second via Vienna Planning Commission
