With colder weather approaching, Tysons-area restaurants are preparing for a warm, socially-distant eating experience for their guests.
Last week, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to approve an ordinance amendment that allows enclosed tents with heaters, both inside and outside, for outdoor dining, fitness, and exercise activities, and a few local restaurants are planning to take advantage of the ordinance.
Founding Farmers (1800 Tysons Blvd.) is planning to follow the ordinance by creating an outdoor-dining space. Majority-owned by American family farmers, Founding Farmers serves American dishes, along with seasonal fruits and vegetables from Virginia farms.
“We’re working through the final details of our tents but we do plan on installing some soon,” Farmers Restaurant Group Vice President and Marketing and Communications Specialist Meaghan O’Shea said.
“What we’re hoping to achieve is to continue to offer safe dining options both inside and outside through the cooler weather months,” O’Shea said. “If you want to be outside, we want to be sure we can accommodate that request and that it’s an enjoyable experience for both the guests and our team.”
Tyson’s first annual Restaurant Week earlier this month (Oct. 12-18) was a huge success, according to many local restaurant owners and managers.
Urban Plates (1782M Galleria at Tysons II), which participated in Tyson’s Restaurant Week, currently has an outdoor heated patio, so no further accommodations need to be made, according to General Manager Tony Bass.
“We also always have inside seating available, following Fairfax County COVID-19 guidelines — less than 10 people at one table, sitting six feet apart,” Bass said.
The Town of Vienna has not yet permitted restaurants to use closed tents for outdoor dining. The town council most recently re-adopted an emergency ordinance allowing institutions and businesses to get temporary waivers from zoning regulations on outdoor activities on Oct. 5, but the measure still requires tents to “remain open on all sides.”
Still, that limitation has not stopped the town’s restaurants from proactively preparing for the winter months.
Vienna’s Blend 111 (111 Church St. NW), a food and wine bar that specializes in Latin dishes, has already began “winterizing” its patio, according to owner/sommelier Mike Biddick.
“We added gas heaters, pop-up tents for use when it is rainy, and blankets,” Biddick said. “We are also working with a firm to design eco-friendly, heated chair cushions for later into the winter.”
Biddick says over 90% of his customers choose to enjoy their meals outside, but the restaurant has still worked to create a safe, socially-distant dining experience for the customers that choose to sit inside.
“Inside, we set up only eight tables,” Biddick said. “…While our open kitchen required that we installed very robust air ventilation when we opened last year, we also installed air particle filters next to each of the tables for added airflow and circulation. Masks are mandatory, as are gloves for our staff.”
Photo courtesy Jennie Kuperstein
The Wegmans in Tysons (1835 Capital One Drive South) will have a soft opening next Wednesday (Nov. 4) at 9 a.m.
“We’re super excited,” Wegmans Tysons service area manager Matt Collalto said. “Tysons is an up-and-coming area. People here have shopped sporadically at a Wegmans and wanted one nearby.”
Fairfax County’s fourth Wegmans is open from 6 a.m. to midnight. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Wegmans is foregoing a grand opening for the mid-morning first day of business.
“We wanted to put more thought into our opening, focusing on our customers and employees,” Collalto said.
The company sees room for opportunity in the D.C.-Virginia area, Collalto said. After the Wegmans in Tysons opens on Wednesday, one is slated to open in May 2022 on Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. Wegmans is looking to open a store in Reston in the future, he said.
The Tysons Wegmans has three levels of below-ground parking with escalators leading into the store, which will avoid the ongoing construction of the Capital One Hall.
Customers will be greeted by dining options galore, with seating for nearly 200 people in the 80,000 square-foot store.
The Buzz Coffee Shop offers breakfast sandwiches and organic specialty coffee, tea, and espresso drinks. True coffee aficionados will appreciate the pour-over, French press, and nitro brew options, Collalto said.
The fast-casual Burger Bar serves burgers, sandwiches and fries. A Japanese-inspired bar features sushi, cocktails, wine, sake, and beer. Individual hot food options, which Collalto calls the “street stop” section, are just around the corner.
The “street food”-style preparation responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, with improved quality and hygiene, he said. While some COVID-19 precautions may go away, the decision to close buffets may stay, he said.
“Instead of big, massive hot bars, we’re specializing the food,” he said. “COVID has opened our eyes to a lot of things.”
High-contact touchpoints are sanitized frequently and hand-sanitizer stations are available throughout the store. Cashiers sanitize their workspace and hands in between customers, and Plexiglas shields separate cashiers and employees from customers.
Customers also have options for contactless shopping. They can shop online for curbside pickup or delivery to their door, and the prepared foods can be ordered through the store’s Meals 2Go app.
The SCAN app allows customers to scan and bag their groceries in-store for a contactless experience.
Picking up on consumer trends, Wegmans is focusing on organics, sustainable practices, and specialty items.
Shelves increasingly bear products with the private Wegmans label, particularly those designated as “Food You Feel Good About.” This means they are free of preservatives, additives, and artificial colors, manager Kevin Russell said.
Wegmans also has a goal of diverting 80% of waste from the landfill, either into recycling or composting, Collalto said. Consumable produce, dairy, and other perishables are donated to Food For Others.
“We have a responsibility to enrich the neighborhood the best way we can,” Collalto said.
As for specialty foods, the Tysons Wegmans has swapped large displays of traditional deli meats for 16 feet dedicated to charcuterie meats. Complimenting the meats is a cheese station with 400 cheeses.
“We want to highlight the variety of charcuterie,” Collalto said. “People love it.”
What does the word ‘invite’ mean?
That question occupied the bulk of a Vienna Town Council discussion on Monday night regarding a proposal to invite Vienna restaurant lenders, owners, landlords and tenants to brainstorm ideas to support businesses this winter in light of the economic instability caused by COVID-19. The event is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Nov. 12 at the Vienna Community Center gym and will be moderated by Peter Sparber, a Vienna resident.
The proposal passed 5-2, with Mayor Linda Colbert and Councilmember Ed Somers voting against it.
During the town council meeting, Colbert, Town Manager Mercury Payton, and the council members debated whether it is legal or proper for the town to hold an invite-only event not moderated by a town official.
Councilmember Ray Brill, who requested the town council take up the motion, said time is of the essence and the word “invite” must stay to gather together stakeholders.
“Winter is coming and there is nothing that we can do to stop it,” Brill said. “We need to listen to residents and other business folks to learn their point of view and navigate the COVID-19 crisis.”
Colbert worried about the town hosting an event but ceding control of the conversation. She said this gathering should remain in the private sector.
“I think it comes down to how some of us view the word invite,” Colbert said.
She said that if she invites people to a party, it is her party and she runs it. Similarly, if the town invites stakeholders, that makes it an official function. She said she would support a motion without the word “invite.”
Many members tweaked the proposal’s language. Like Brill, Councilmember Chuck Anderson, whose amended motion was ultimately approved, said the word “invite” needs to stay.
“I want the gravitas of the town to be part of the attempt to get people there,” he said.
His changed motion states: “This gathering is not an official function of the Town of Vienna. The town is not proposing any specific legislative action as a result of this meeting and Town Council members may observe, but will not participate in the discussion.”
Councilmember Dr. Nisha Patel offered another compromise to change “invite” to “encourage a conversation.”
Brill countered that encouragement occurs on social media. In order to have an honest dialogue, he only wants those who are invited to show up.
“We change from the word ‘public forum’ to ‘meeting,’ we run the risk of no one showing up because they don’t talk in person,” he said.
Patel said she understood the dilemma and supported the event.
“I think we should help make this a possibility for them,” she said. “We are all interested in helping them, that’s not a question.”
Photos via Vienna Town Council
As the Town of Vienna puts together its legislative agenda for the upcoming session in Richmond, the proposed policies are a mix of addressing the new crises and trying to make progress on old issues.
One of the largest pieces of new policy proposed is eliminating penalties for late payments for those who lost their income during the pandemic.
According to the legislative agenda, the town is requesting:
Waiver of penalties and interest; refunds; taxpayers suffering job loss or business closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Waives penalties and interest for six months for taxpayers who suffered a job loss, business closure, or reduction in business operations because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The waivers apply to sales and use taxes and all local taxes that were due during a period in which the job loss, closure, or reduction in operations occurred and income taxes for such taxpayers for taxable year 2019. For a taxpayer who made penalty and interest payments prior to the effective date of the act, the Department of Taxation or his locality shall refund such payments to the taxpayer.
Other proposals raised during the discussion included a proposal from Councilmember Nisha Patel to put some of the school reopening planning in the hands of local government rather than solely for the school board.
Proposed legislation that would incorporate a system of checks and balances in Virginia so that school closings are not only determined by the school board. Local government should have a say in school closures during emergencies so that the power not only resides into the teachers union and school board.
The change would force school board to engage with local governments when making decisions about major school closures.
“As many of you all will remember, when the local schools were closed it was done on short notice without any notice to the Town of Vienna or other local governments,” said Town Attorney Steve Briglia. “Councilmember Patel has suggested that when there’s such a major school closing, that it’s not just closed by the school board… The fact that there was no notice or public discussion was of concern.”
One of the returning issues has been a push from localities to try to overturn a requirement for local governments to publish notices in newspapers rather than on their own websites or other sources. The proposed change has been fought by the Virginia Press Association, but Briglia said every time the Town of Vienna needs to run a notice it costs around $500, and they sometimes have to run twice.
This week, Fairfax County businesses received clearance to continue outdoor dining, fitness, and exercise activities under social distancing rules with heated, enclosed tents this winter.
“Businesses have been able to install open-sided tents outside their storefronts since May, which allowed them to operate while maintaining proper social distancing and thus reducing the spread of COVID-19,” Fairfax County said.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted on Oct. 20 to approve an ordinance amendment that will allow this trend to continue this winter with tents that have sides and heaters both inside and outside of the tents.
Previous permit requirements for heaters from fire officials have been relaxed to make the process much easier.
Under Fairfax County’s ongoing emergency ordinance, permits are not required for tents unless they are 900 square feet or larger in size.
“If an individual tent or a collection of tents is more than 900 square-feet, it needs to go to the fire marshal for a permit,” Fairfax County director of planning and development Barbara Byron said. “There is no fee for that permit.”
Tents must be fire-resistant, and heaters need to be rated, but there are otherwise no requirements, Byron told the county board.
Fairfax County says it made the decision to relax the permitting process “to reduce the stress on businesses working to revitalize the county’s economy while allowing county staff to devote their limited resources to maintaining continuity in government instead of processing an excessive number of applications.”
According to the county, this ordinance will last up to six months after the Board terminates the local declaration of emergency, which was issued on Mar. 17 by the Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County director of emergency management.
The county board adopted an emergency ordinance on May 28 that temporarily allows businesses to conduct outdoor dining and outdoor fitness or exercise activities without having to go through the lengthy application process that is normally required.
The original ordinance only permitted tents with all sides open. It was extended on July 14.
Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce board chairman Andrew Clark applauded Fairfax County for recognizing the challenges that restaurants and other businesses could face as the weather gets colder and taking action before winter arrives.
“We appreciate the county for realizing the need at the moment and acting accordingly,” Clark said.
Clark says that, thanks to the increased flexibility for outdoor dining and other efforts to accommodate public health protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurants in the Tysons area have started to see improved business, particularly with the first-ever Tysons Restaurant Week.
“That’s happening because the way restaurants are approaching the situation. They haven’t dropped the ball. They’re adhering to all the guidelines,” Clark said. “So, I think from what the restaurants are doing to the guidance the government has given, it’s given a framework for people to safely engage.”
When Andy’s Pizza had to close, along with dozens of other restaurants and stores in Tysons Galleria, co-owner Emily Brown figured it would be around three to six weeks before they reopened. Seven months later, the restaurant has reopened, but the local pizza spot that had a steadily growing business at the start of the year is now fighting for survival.
“We worked really hard to build what was starting to take off,” Brown said.
Brown said shutting down was the right decision, but it was still hard on small businesses. Even with Andy’s Pizza officially reopening around two weeks ago, Brown said the office lunch crowd that was a mainstay of the business has all but disappeared.
“90% of our business was lunch, and the happy hour was starting to take off, all from offices,” Brown said.
Andy’s Pizza was one of the restaurants that helped launch Taste of Urbanspace in Tysons Galleria in 2018, a replacement to quick collapse of Isabella Eatery that put together smaller outlets of beloved restaurants and food vendors throughout the region.
Throughout late 2018 and 2019, restaurants like Stomping Ground, Donburi and Andy’s Pizza built a community on the upper floors of the mall and established a dedicated local following. Andy’s Pizza even launched a pop-up with Stomping Ground’s Del Ray location. But that community is now in jeopardy as the local hospitality and office markets remain devastated as a result of the pandemic. Read More
Over the past week, Fairfax County recorded its highest seven-day average for COVID-19 cases since mid-June, a potentially worrying development as the weather turns colder and forces more activities indoors.
Fairfax County’s weekly average for new COVID-19 cases hit 118 on Oct. 14, its highest since the county averaged 126 cases over seven days on June 13, according to the latest data from the Virginia Department of Health.
While the seven-day average has dipped back down in subsequent days to 85 cases on average as of Sunday (Oct. 18), Fairfax County joins the rest of Virginia in seeing an upward trend in cases in October, even if its numbers remain significantly lower than those seen in other parts of the state.
On top of reporting two new deaths, both of them on Oct. 17, Fairfax County added 598 COVID-19 cases during the week of Oct. 13-19. The Fairfax Health District has a cumulative total of 22,916 cases, 617 deaths, and 2,239 hospitalizations.
The zip code 22042, which contains West Falls Church south of Route 29, remains the most heavily affected part of the Tysons area, adding 28 cases over the past week for 1,173 cases overall and 3,497 cases per 100,000 persons in a population of 33,537 people.
Though COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County have ticked up in October compared to late September, the county has not yet seen another surge in transmissions like the one that hit this spring, which peaked with a weekly average of 303 cases on May 31.
Since that spring surge, Northern Virginia in general has been reporting lower case rates than the rest of the state, with a moving seven-day average of 238 cases as of Oct. 19 compared to 799 cases on average for all other regions.
As a whole, Virginia recorded a seven-day moving average of 1,037 on Oct. 19, and the state has added 7,258 COVID-19 cases over the past week for a statewide total of 166,828 cases. Virginia has reported 11,882 hospitalizations and 3,457 deaths.
With public health experts predicting that the COVID-19 pandemic will worsen this winter as the weather gets colder, Fairfax County officials are discouraging people from engaging in trick-or-treating, indoor costume parties, and other traditional celebrations for Halloween this year.
“In general, the more closely you interact with others and the longer that interaction, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spread,” Fairfax Health Director Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu said. “For people who are more likely to experience severe illness from COVID-19, celebrating virtually or with members of your own household may be the safest way to enjoy the holiday.”
Image via CDC on Unsplash, Virginia Department of Health
Fairfax County Public Schools could expand in-person learning to more students starting next week based on current health data, FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand says in a presentation that he will deliver to the county school board at its work session tonight (Thursday).
Virginia Department of Health data indicates that Northern Virginia has started seeing a slight uptick in reported COVID-19 cases in October, with 314 cases reported on Oct. 15 for a seven-day moving average of 248 cases. However, the burden and extent of community transmission in the region is still considered low as of the week that ended on Oct. 10.
Coupled with efforts to implement mitigation strategies recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and prepare staff for instructional and operational changes, Fairfax County’s current health metrics support FCPS continuing to phase in in-person learning, Brabrand’s presentation says.
After introducing in-person instruction for select specialized career preparation classes on Oct. 5, FCPS is planning to expand in-person learning to some of its early childhood special education services, including its preschool autism class, on Oct. 19.
Under Brabrand’s tentative timeline, FCPS will continue phasing cohorts of students – mostly younger students and students with special education needs – into in-person classes throughout the rest of the year before introducing hybrid learning for all students in early 2021.
For hybrid learning, students can choose to remain completely online or to receive two days of in-person instruction and two days of virtual instruction. This phase will start on Jan. 4 for grades three to six and on Feb. 1 for grades seven through 12.
“We believe in-person instruction is best to meet our students’ academic, social, and emotional needs,” Brabrand’s presentation says. “We want to phase students back to in-person instruction as safely, efficiently, and as early as possible. All phase-in decisions will be made with student and staff safety as the highest priority.” Read More
After conditions stabilized in July and early August, the sliding average of COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County is slowly on the rise.
Although the increase is best described as an uptick, the weekly average of new cases hit a count of 105 yesterday (Monday). Following a dip in July, the rolling weekly average of new cases hovered in the 90s.
In October, the health district also hit the highest number of new daily cases since June 7 when 399 cases were reported. State data show 185 new cases were reported on Oct. 8.
Overall, there have been 22,089 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Fairfax County, 2,195 hospitalizations, and 599 deaths. After a slowdown in the rate of new cases per week in June and July, the number of weekly cases grew slightly in August and September. The weekly average for both months hovered around 424 cases. In June and July, that number hovered in the low 300s.
The West Falls Church area south of Route 29 has seen the highest case count in the Tysons area, with that zip code (22042) recording 1,145 COVID-19 cases to date. At 3,414.1 cases per 100,000 people, it has the sixth-highest case rate in Fairfax County, according to county data.
With four additional cases since early September, Dunn Loring remains disproportionately affected by COVID-19 with the 10th highest case rate in the county. Despite having a population of just 2,362 people, the 22027 zip code has reported 75 cases, or 3,175.3 per 100,000 people.
Despite these numbers and the size of the jurisdictions, Fairfax County’s case rate is somewhat low compared to other jurisdictions and health districts. As of today (Tuesday), the case rate is 1,919. Alexandria’s case rate is 2,512 while Arlington’s is 1,772.
Statewide, the number of COVID-19 cases is nearly 160,000, with 3,361 deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.
County health officials continue to urge residents to get tested if symptoms develop or if exposure is possible.
If you have symptoms or an exposure to COVID-19, please get tested. A positive COVID-19 test may be inconvenient in the short-term, but there are resources available to help.
Find out more: https://t.co/jFeSeKt48R#FFXCOVID pic.twitter.com/7S68Lpl37Z
— FairfaxCounty Health (@fairfaxhealth) October 12, 2020
Image via CDC on Unsplash, Virginia Department of Health
When the novel coronavirus pandemic upended Americans’ daily lives in March, Great Falls resident James Ye turned to a 110-year-old organization for guidance: the Boy Scouts.
Now a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Ye joined Boy Scouts of America Troop 55 when he was in fifth grade and has since accumulated about 1,000 hours of community service.
Ye says the values espoused by the Scout Oath and Law, which include volunteering, were on his mind when he saw a Facebook advertisement seeking volunteers for the Volunteer Fairfax Donations Collection Warehouse.
“During national historic crises, Scouting organizations have always jumped into action, sort of helped out in emergency response,” Ye said. “…I think the coronavirus is another example of a historic national disaster, and being a Scout, just doing your duty to your country, I wanted to be a part of that.”
Led by the nonprofit Volunteer Fairfax, the warehouse is Fairfax County’s hub for organizing masks, food, and other resources for community organizations as part of its COVID-19 emergency response.
At first, Ye mostly helped Volunteer Fairfax emergency response manager Tejas Patel maintain an inventory of the donations passing through the warehouse, but his duties later expanded to include greeting and contacting donors, doing research, and sharing content on social media.
Ye, who amassed 190 service hours at the warehouse, is one of thousands of local community members who have contributed to Fairfax County’s pandemic emergency response as volunteers.
Fairfax County reported on Oct. 6 that close to 3,000 volunteers have collectively spent 96,006 hours since Mar. 17 helping various county services, including the police and fire departments, public libraries, and Domestic and Sexual Violence Services.
In addition, more than 1,000 individuals have signed up for the Fairfax Medical Reserve Corps, which assists the Fairfax County Health Department in emergencies. With 521 volunteers now onboarded, 233 people have contributed 4,392 volunteer hours since Mar. 1, doing everything from managing medical supply donations to assisting at community testing sites and back-to-school immunization clinics. Read More
