(Updated at 2:30 p.m.) A Tornado Watch and Severe Thunderstorm Warning are in effect for Fairfax County.
The watch is in effect until 9 p.m. today (Friday). Storms with heavy rain and strong winds are also expected this evening. Several surrounding localities across Northern Virginia, D.C. and Maryland are also covered by the alert.
The Severe Thunderstorm Warning is in effect until 3 p.m. today and covers parts of Northern Virginia and Maryland.
More from the National Weather Service on the Severe Thunderstorm Warning:
…A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 300 PM EDT FOR MONTGOMERY…SOUTHEASTERN LOUDOUN AND NORTHERN FAIRFAX COUNTIES AND THE NORTHWESTERN CITY OF FAIRFAX…
AT 232 PM EDT, SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A LINE EXTENDING FROM ASHBURN TO DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH.
HAZARD…60 MPH WIND GUSTS.
SOURCE…RADAR INDICATED. DULLES AIRPORT GUSTED TO 53 MPH.
IMPACT…DAMAGING WINDS WILL CAUSE SOME TREES AND LARGE BRANCHES TO FALL. THIS COULD INJURE THOSE OUTDOORS, AS WELL AS DAMAGE HOMES AND VEHICLES. ROADWAYS MAY BECOME BLOCKED BY DOWNED TREES. LOCALIZED POWER OUTAGES ARE POSSIBLE. UNSECURED LIGHT OBJECTS MAY BECOME PROJECTILES.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE… GERMANTOWN, CENTREVILLE, ROCKVILLE, BETHESDA, GAITHERSBURG, RESTON, LEESBURG, OLNEY, SOUTH RIDING, HERNDON, FAIRFAX, VIENNA, DAMASCUS, BROADLANDS, LANSDOWNE, LOWES ISLAND, BRAMBLETON, PIMMIT HILLS, POOLESVILLE AND MCLEAN.
A tornado watch has been issued for parts of DE, DC, MD, NJ, PA, VA until 9 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/7rMIgDS2AQ
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) April 26, 2019
11:45 AM FRI – Showers & t-storms will progress east across the region, with some storms becoming strong to locally severe with damaging winds and an isolated tornado possible. Most likely timing: 12-2 PM west of Blue Ridge, 2-4 PM metro areas, 4-6 PM southern MD & near the bay.
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) April 26, 2019
Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Germantown MD, Silver Spring MD, Centreville VA until 3:00 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/7GWxweSheR
— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) April 26, 2019
(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) A power outage hit the largely residential neighborhoods in northeast Vienna, as well as a portion of Tysons, today (April 26).
The estimated time of restoration is between 1-4 p.m. As of noon, Dominion Energy reported 2,006 customers in the area without power.
The power outage was resolved on Dominion’s website around 1:15 p.m.
“All but 165 of the 2,000 [customers] were restored in about an hour,” Charles Penn, Sr., a spokesman for Dominion Energy, told Tysons Reporter.
A tree that fell on a power line caused the outage, Penn said.
https://twitter.com/carencey/status/1121801503998660608
Image via Dominion Energy
Growing makeup brand Morphe Cosmetics opened its new Tysons Corner Center store about an hour ago today (Friday).
Based in California, Morphe is known for its eye make-up and brushes.
The newly opened store is on the second level next to Lush — another cosmetics store — and sells mostly Morphe products, along with brands like Eye Kandy, Iconic London and Jeffree Star.
Some items this reporter spotted included $15 Morphe eye shadow palettes, $8 Morphe lip glosses and $7.50 Eye Kandy glitter.
Morphe’s opening at the mall adds to its half of a dozen stores in the D.C.-area and is part of the brand’s large-scale expansion.
The Town of Vienna will roll out new fitness classes to help people with arthritis and other chronic conditions in June.
Vienna’s Parks and Recreation Department is one of the 40 park and recreation agencies in the U.S. that received a grant from the National Recreation and Park Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a press release.
The grant pays for instructor training for the Walk With Ease program — a fitness initiative the Arthritis Foundation developed to help reduce pain and stiffness linked to arthritis and other chronic conditions, the press release says.
“Sixty percent of adults in the United State, including people who live right here in Vienna, suffer from one or more chronic conditions,” Recreation Coordinator Kathy Blevins said in the press release. “This grant allows us to help older adults in our community and provides a new way for Vienna residents to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
Certified and trained instructors will teach the low-impact exercise program through the town’s Parks and Recreation Department starting June 3.
It’s a clean slate for the Claude Moore farm area.
At a meeting, last night (Thursday) at the Madison Community Center in Arlington, the National Park Service (NPS) opened up the public discussion for what should happen for the Claude Moore Colonial Farm property, which until late last year was operating as an 18th-century American-style farm.
“This is the first step in the process to develop a plan,” Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, a spokeswoman for the National Park Service, said. “We’re getting ideas and comments and hoping to give people a sense of the process. We’re starting with a blank slate and we want a robust and transparent process.”
Display boards around the room highlighted a variety of potential directions the park could take, asking attendees if they are more interested in casual activities, like tending to a community garden or learning basket weaving, or active uses like nature walks with park rangers or a junior ranger program.
“One option is to still run a colonial-style farm, but we could also look at active recreation or a more relaxed nature-based park,” Anzelmo-Sarles said.
The Claude Moore farm area was fairly isolated in its earlier use, and one of the options the NPS is considering is whether or not to make the property more connected to other properties and trails.
“There are existing trails in the area that don’t really connect,” Anzelmo-Sarles said. “And there are some trails around the Langley Fork Park area that are in active use. Are there different ways we can build more access to the park or do we want that access to go away? Everything is on the table.”
Redevelopment as a commercial space, though, is not an option, she said.
From the sticky notes posted around the boards, keeping the area as a farm was a popular choice. The public comment period is open through May 25.
After that, Anzelmo-Sarles said the NPS will take the feedback and develop a few potential options for the park, followed by narrowing the choices down to a final concept plan presented within the year.
Vera Bradley will soon pack its quilted bags and say goodbye to Tysons Corner Center.
A sign by the entrance says that the handbag and luggage store will close on Friday (April 26) and encourages shoppers to visit its other locations at the Fair Oaks and Westfield Montgomery malls.
The imminent closure is the latest of a few ones this spring at the mall.
After filing for bankruptcy in February, women’s clothing chain Charlotte Russe had steep sales throughout March before closing up shop. Currently, the sizeable space on the second level by Barnes and Noble is vacant.
Gymboree shuttered more than 800 stores, including its location on the first floor of Tysons Corner Center, after filing for bankruptcy in January. The children’s clothing retailer, which was in business for 43 years, plans to sell its Janie and Jack brand, according to news reports. (The Janie and Jack store is still open on the second level.)
Gymboree’s last day of business was last Saturday, April 20, according to its Facebook page for the Tysons Corner Center location.
Home goods and decor store Dietch’ left its spot on March 31 after opening in the mall in August.
“We couldn’t afford the rent anymore and the business wasn’t as good as expected,” an employee at Dietch’ wrote in response to Tysons Reporter’s inquiries on the closure.
The former linens-focused store has barely visible writing on the glass saying “unique home furnishings and accessories.”
While the mall hasn’t announced new tenants for the vacancies yet, several newcomers are slated to arrive soon elsewhere in the mall, including 7-Eleven, an Italian legwear store, Morphe Cosmetics and a bubble tea shop. Recently, All Star Sports, shorts chain Chubbies and Bubbles opened.
Tensions reached a boiling point last night (Wednesday) in McLean as local residents threatened to run a therapy center out of town — legally or illegally, in the words of one neighbor.
A series of new group homes by Newport Academy, a corporation that runs therapy programs treating teenagers with mental health or addiction problems, are planned for a residential neighborhood.
Three of the homes — 1620, 1622 and 1624 Davidson Road — are clustered on a private cul-de-sac one block away from McLean High School, while another one is going in at 1318 Kurtz Road.
Representatives from the project, several elected officials and Fairfax County staff started a community meeting in the McLean High School auditorium with presentations about the project, but the more than four-hour-long public hearing after the presentations showed that the project has struck a deep nerve with the local community.
On one side were the Newport Academy staff and a handful of supporters in the audience who said the program is necessary to help deal with the local mental health crisis. Teenagers or adults who said they had struggled with mental health issues described the difficulty of finding treatment facilities in the area. These stories were frequently interrupted by a chorus of booing from the audience — at least once in the middle of a young woman recounting her trauma following a sexual assault.
But opponents of the project — mainly nearby residents or parents with children at McLean High School — comprised the vast majority of the standing-room-only audience in the auditorium.
While they were united in opposition to the project, their reasons varied. Del. Rip Sullivan (D-48th District) conducted an impromptu poll of the audience, and half said they are opposed to any group home while the other half would be fine with just one, but opposed the cluster.
“It’s three houses side by side; it’s a compound,” Robert Mechlin, a nearby resident, told Tysons Reporter. “If I want to build a shed, I have to get a permit. Why isn’t this the same litmus test?”
Mechlin also echoed concerns about how residents of the facility would affect safety in the nearby neighborhood. In the small town of Bethlehem, Conn., students at the Newport Academy were responsible for at least two criminal incidents — the theft of a car and a student who stole bottles of vodka from a local bar. Throughout the evening, nearby residents said the prospect of the treatment facility next door makes them feel unsafe.
Newport Academy Founder and CEO Jamison Monroe said security tightened after the incidents in Connecticut. A presentation on the project noted that alarms would be attached to every door and window and the students would be closely supervised by staff. Later in the meeting, Monroe offered to pay for a security guard to monitor the site, but by then the public concerns around the project ballooned beyond just security.
The secrecy and allegations of deception surrounding the purchasing of the property were also recurring themes among the opponents. Neighbors said that after the properties were purchased, the real estate agents who orchestrated the deals told neighbors they were subject to non-disclosure agreements.
“I was told multiple times that [the development] was for a wealthy individual,” Steve Wydler, a leasing agent with Wydler Brothers Real Estate in McLean, said. “It was only after construction started that we were told the project was under an NDA.”
Monroe admitted that he didn’t know why the non-disclosure agreements were put into place.
“I’ve learned some things about our real estate agents this evening that I was not aware of previously,” Monroe said.
Marc Lampkin, who became one of the unofficial orchestraters of the opposition from a seat in the front row, said the facility would extract money from the students and leave the neighborhood with problems.
“We all appreciate the notion of treatment, but the single biggest concern is that you failed the good neighbor policy out of the box,” Lampkin said. “You hired a real estate agent who bought the property with lies and misrepresentation. You are a for-profit entity and you’re driving a truck through a loophole [in Fair Housing law].”
As frustrations escalated throughout the evening, Monroe became the main target of the community’s rage, with local residents calling him smug, arrogant and a “son of a bitch” several times.
Caught between the two, the elected officials expressed unhappiness with the project, but said it was being redeveloped by-right and left their hands tied.
Two of the rallying cries from the opposition were “Remember Sunrise” — a reference to a plan by Sunrise Senior Living Facility that the Board of Supervisors denied following widespread public outrage — and a promise to oust elected officials if they didn’t vocally oppose the project.
“I do not support three houses on the same site,” Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust said. “But it is the law. In my opinion, one company buying those properties changes the character of the neighborhood. I oppose that. But we do not see a way to stop it.”
The county argued that the project is a group home, which is considered a “by right” development — meaning there’s no requirement of public notice and no zoning approvals needed from the county. Several of the politicians said they first heard of the project when the outrage started.
“I am not at all surprised to see this turnout,” Sullivan said. “Three weeks ago, our emails lit up with questions and comments.”
Complicating the issue, the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against individuals because of a handicap or disabilities, which the Code of Virginia says includes residential facilities housing individuals with mental illnesses.
But several opponents noted that there are ways around that protection. Some locals questioned whether the project qualified as a group home. Wydler said that the project might not qualify as a residence — a crucial part of the project’s status as a by-right development — given that the average length of stay for students of the program is substantially less than the 183 days that the tax code considers residency.
Fairfax County Attorney Beth Teare said the county was still looking into the zoning regulations and rules surrounding the project. The group’s license application is still pending before the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
If the licenses are granted, Monroe said the facilities could begin operation within a few months. If it does, at least one attendee threatened to file a lawsuit.
Regardless of the outcome, Sullivan said he and other elected officials would look into closing what the public saw as fair housing loopholes.
“One of the things I want to look at moving forward is making sure there is more advanced notice of this sort of thing,” Sullivan said.
More concerns about the proposed Sunrise Senior Living Facility cropped up at the Town of Vienna’s Planning Commission meeting last night (April 24).
The Sunrise development and Vienna Town Council are already at odds over the project exceeding the town’s height requirements — a topic that also resurfaced during the public comment period last night.
“My real concern this is essentially a five-story building that is being sold as a four-story building,” Vienna resident Chuck Anderson said during public comment. “MAC was sold as a four-story and now we’re allowing five stories. I think there are a lot of people who are upset about this.”
While the public hearing focused on the development’s proposed reduction for its loading space width, fewer bike spaces, new fencing, extended awnings and desire to move the bus stop, concerns about parking and retail space dominated the discussion.
Planning Commissioner Sarah Couchman stressed an emphasis on maximizing opportunities for the assisted living facility’s ground floor retail space. Jerry Liang, senior vice president of development for Sunrise, said the current plans could support one larger tenant or two smaller ones.
“I think it would be great for Vienna to have another retail bay in that area,” Couchman said, questioning whether the lobby with the grand staircase could get reconfigured to add more retail space. “I don’t really see many people using the stairs given your population.”
Questions around parking erupted after Liang told the Planning Commission that the 83-unit facility proposed might have up to 35 employees during peak times on weekdays and would also want to offer valet parking on site for holidays and weekend events.
Some of the planning commissioners expressed skepticism that 60 parking spaces could fit the residents, visitors, retail customers and employees. Liang responded by saying that some of the employees will probably use public transit and carpools and that residents are expected to use about 33 spaces, with the retailers having 29 spots.
Planning Commissioner Mary McCullough said she is concerned about how the parking will affect the already-congested Church and Center streets.
“It’s a problem right now without your facility,” she said, questioning how the senior living facility could also valet park with only 60 parking spaces.
Chair Michael Gelb said he also shares McCullough’s concerns about the parking. “It’s a little bit of a hope and a prayer that this will work out,” he said.
The Planning Commission voted to keep the public hearing on the Sunrise proposal open and will return to the development on May 8.
Image via Town of Vienna
Breakaway Fitness will celebrate its re-opening in Tysons this weekend after a major expansion.
Focused on strength and conditioning, the gym offers personal training, nutritional coaching programs, testing, group exercise and massages.
“We have been in business for 17 years and now have doubled our size,” a flier for the event says.
The gym consolidated its operations at two locations into the one at Tysons by expanding onto a second floor and adding locker rooms. Upstairs, people can run or lift weights in the open turf area. The downstairs is mostly used for classical powerlifting.
Another change recently has the gym selling memberships for the first time.
The grand re-opening is set to take place Saturday (April 27) at 1524 Spring Hill Road, Unit GG.
The “kid and dog friendly” event will feature a bounce house, snow cones and snacks and one hour free at Dogtopia, a dog daycare and spa next door — owners would need to bring in the paperwork for their dogs’ shots.
First photo courtesy of Breakaway Fitness, other photos via Facebook
Popeyes is opening a new location in a strip mall up the road from the Mosaic District.
The fried chicken chain will occupy the former spot of Metro PCS (2835 Gallows Road) in the Merrifield Plaza Shopping Center.
A building permit indicates that work has started for the Popeyes, which a leasing brochure for the shopping center says is “coming soon.”
Currently, Popeyes has nearby locations in Fairfax (9661 Fairfax Blvd) and Vienna (325 Maple Avenue E.).
Image via Google Maps
