(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) The Fairfax County Police Department plans to crack down on violations at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve this summer.
The police department posted today (Friday) on Facebook:
In the span of a just a few hours this past Saturday, our officers responded to multiple calls at Scott’s Run Nature Preserve – arresting six people and serving summons to another nine. This is a beautiful park with a lot to offer for our community. We’re reminding you that there’s NO excuse to break posted park rules at Scott’s Run. That includes engaging in prohibited activities such as swimming, littering, illegal and underage drinking, trespassing after dark, etc.
FCPD will work with the Fairfax County Park Authority during the summer to enforce the park’s rules.
This is not the first time the police department has had to step in to help with enforcement at the park.
Lt. Jason Allegra said in a Fairfax County video from 2017 that Fairfax County police helped enforce violations by patrolling the park daily.
Map via Google Maps
The new Scotts Run Fire and Rescue Station 44 in Tysons East is scheduled to move into construction soon.
“Construction of the Scotts Run Fire Station (Tysons East) will begin this summer,” Laurie Stone, the planning section manager for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, said. “Per the proffer terms, Cityline — the developer — should deliver the completed fire station to the county by Dec. 31, 2020.”
The station is designed to relieve the overburdened Fire Station 29, which currently covers the entire Tysons area. The station recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, where much of the discussion centered on the challenges of being the only station covering the increasingly dense Tysons.
The new station is being designed and constructed by Cityline Partners LLC, which is developing the Scotts Run Station South project. Construction of the fire station was part of a proffer for the mixed-use development.
Plans show the fire station as a two-level, three-bay station on Old Meadow Lane.
Image via Samaha Associates
Last August, the future looked uncertain for popular local nightspot Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike). But just a few months later, Biergarten isn’t just staying in place: it’s growing.
The Biergarten had been in-place on a month-to-month basis — a placeholder until the construction nearby extended into the lot. Owner Matt Rofougaran said the Biergarten will remain in place through the end of the year, if not longer.
But the extension doesn’t mean the Biergarten will remain stagnant. This past weekend, the Biergarten opened a new speakeasy-by-day and nightclub-by-night in the basement.
Where there were once German style long tables in the basement, fitting the German beerhall theme of the rest of the establishment, the room has been turned into a club called Room 7.
There are 50 beers available downstairs, both in bottles and cans, with a special table service being offered. The club is over-21 only and has a strict dress code.
During the speakeasy hours, the location is planned to offer “prohibition-type cocktails,” mainly custom house mixes with higher-end whiskey in a more relaxed atmosphere.
“I like the speakeasy trend,” Rofougaran said. “This is a good first-date spot. A lot of places you go are too loud and obnoxious.”
After a pause, Rofougaran added, “But then in the evenings, it’s going to get loud and obnoxious.”
Rofougaran said he’s also looking to get some of the big DJs from D.C. to make the trip across the Potomac to perform at the club. The club is also planned to host a variety of themed nights, like “Persian Night” on Thursdays or “Old School Hip Hop” on Fridays.
“It was time for a renovation,” Rofougaran said.
Rofougaran was frank that he hoped the change would generate sales, but also added that the higher end speakeasy and nightclub vibes were something he felt the Tysons area was lacking.
A grand opening celebration for Room 7 is planned for April 11.
Rofougaran also opened up a little about The Shipyard, a new location for the Biergarten planned for the Scotts Run development in Tysons East.
Early plans indicated that the new location near the McLean Metro station would replace the existing Biergarten, but according to Rofougaran, current plans have The Shipyard and Tysons Biergarten operating concurrently.
The Shipyard is planned to have four shipping containers modified into their own types of mini-restaurant or bar. One will be a branch of the Biergarten. Another will be an egg roll spot called Roll Bär. The other two have not been announced yet.
Tysons is getting too big for just one fire station.
The Fairfax Fire and Rescue Department is planning on constructing a new fire station to cover the growing Tysons East neighborhood.
The entire Tysons area is currently covered by Fire Station 29, which has become increasingly overburdened as new development adds new density and new challenges.
Laurie Stone, planning section manager for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, said the station is currently in the design process.
Stone said the fire station is being designed and constructed by Cityline Partners LLC, the company backing the Scotts Run Station South development. Cityline agreed to build the new station in exchange for winning permission to construct the new mixed-use development adjacent to the McLean Metro station.
“The Scotts Run Fire and Rescue Station 44 is proposed to be a two-level, three-bay free standing fire station located on Old Meadow Lane,” Stone wrote in an email. “Cityline will substantially complete the fire station and deliver it to Fairfax County by December 31, 2020.”
According to the staff report, a new athletic field will also be built adjacent to the planned fire station to be opened within three years of the fire station opening.
It’s been a long time coming, but plans are being finalized for the Tysons Biergarten’s move to a new interim location at the McLean Metro station.
Cityline Partners LLC is scheduled to present its plans for the next stage of the Scotts Run development at a Fairfax County Planning Commission meeting on Thursday. The plans include two office towers and one residential building.
Before those buildings are developed, however, Cityline is asking that the site be used as a beer garden and an open lawn.
“One of the uses that the applicant is considering is a biergarten, which would be relocated from its current location at Tysons Central (adjacent to the Greensboro Metro Station) to the proposed [area],” wrote Cityline in the application. “Tents and shipping containers converted into food vendor establishments will serve the potential biergarten use.”
Tysons Biergarten is currently located near the Greensboro Metro station with a month-to-month lease. The location has always been a temporary fill for the planned Tysons Central development at the site — part of the broader Boro complex — but has become a local nightlife destination.
In addition to the Biergarten, a small plaza with a kiosk is proposed outside of the biergarten entrance manned by a person to help oversee parking. The application specifies that the structures and interim uses are not permanent.
In 2013, the Board of Supervisors approved Cityline’s plans for a mixed-use redevelopment with hotel, office, retail and residential uses across 5 million square feet. How long the Tysons Biergarten would be located in this space before development begins is currently unknown.
After review by the Planning Commission, Cityline’s proposal will move forward for approval by the Board of Supervisors.
Top photo via Facebook. Development map via Cityline Partners LLC
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue is working to rescue a person “trapped on the rocks” near a trail in Scott’s Run Nature Preserve.
The “low-angle rescue” was underway as of 4:50 p.m., according to the fire department’s Twitter account. So far there’s no word on the nature of the patient’s injuries, though initial reports suggest that the patient was found near a creek and rescuers are worried about him or her becoming hypothermic.
An ATV, a stokes basket and spotlights are reportedly being utilized as part of the rescue operation.
The nature preserve abuts Georgetown Pike, the Capital Beltway and the Potomac River.
Update at 5:30 p.m. — The victim has been carried out of the woods, according to scanner traffic.
Units on scene 7400 Georgetown Pike with one patient trapped on the rocks off the trail. Crews attempting low-angle rescue. Unknown injuries. #fcfrd #news pic.twitter.com/p5PEgtyfbZ
— Fairfax Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) November 21, 2018
Photo via Fairfax County Park Authority. Map via Google Maps.
