Winter Storm Warning in Effect — Fairfax County has its first snow of the year. The D.C. area will remain under a Winter Storm Warning until 4 p.m. today (Monday), with the National Weather Service forecasting 3-7 inches of snow and wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour, making travel difficult. [NWS]
FCPS Closed for Day Due to Snow — Instead of returning to classrooms as anticipated, Fairfax County Public School students will have an extra day of winter break. In expectation of snow, schools have been closed today with no virtual learning, and all activities on school grounds have been canceled, including extracurricular programs and adult classes. [FCPS]
Snow Closes Tysons Mass Vaccine Site — The Virginia Department of Health is closing all of its mass COVID-19 vaccination sites, including the one at Tysons Corner Center, today “out of an abundance of caution for patients and staff.” Those with appointments will be notified and can visit vase.vdh.virginia.gov to reschedule. [VDH]
Vienna Authorizes COVID-19 Testing Site Extension — The Personic Health Care drive-through COVID-19 testing site on Maple Avenue will be allowed to continue operating through the end of January. The facility was supposed to vacate the Emmaus United Church of Christ parking lot on Dec. 31, but with cases still high, Town Manager Mercury Payton granted it a “wind-down period” in response to a request from the church. [Town of Vienna]
Dangerous Driving Filmed on Beltway — A Reddit user posted a dashcam video last week that showed a near-collision where a pickup truck tries to drive a sedan out of its lane on the Capitol Beltway inner loop near Tysons. While there was no crash, the Virginia Department of Transportation shared the video as an example of the dangers of road rage. [NBC4]
Woman Arrested After Police Pursuit Near Scotts Run — Around 4:53 p.m. on Dec. 26, Fairfax County police officers recognized a vehicle that was reported stolen in a neighboring jurisdiction and attempted to stop the driver at Chain Bridge Road at Colshire Drive. The driver, an 18-year-old woman from D.C., hit two occupied police vehicles and fled, striking four other vehicles before she was stopped and arrested. [FCPD]
Vienna residents looking for a free, rapid COVID-19 test might have to venture a little farther in the new year.
After Friday (Dec. 31), the town’s only drive-thru testing site will vacate the Emmaus United Church of Christ parking lot that it has occupied since March, even with demand for COVID-19 testing soaring amid the ongoing omicron surge.
Personic Health Care, which operates multiple testing sites across Northern Virginia, was permitted to set up a testing facility at 900 Maple Avenue East under Vienna’s emergency ordinance waiving zoning regulations for temporary outdoor commercial activities.
The town council voted on Dec. 6 to extend the ordinance through Dec. 31, but it can’t be renewed beyond six months after Virginia ended its state of emergency, which happened on June 30.
Once the emergency ordinance expires, the Personic testing site will no longer be allowed in its current location, which isn’t zoned for commercial uses. Unless the town council undertakes the lengthy process of amending Vienna’s zoning code, New Year’s Eve will be the facility’s last day.
“We wracked our brains to see if there was something that could cover it under current zoning,” Vienna Town Attorney Steven Briglia said at the town council meeting. “We stretched the emergency ordinance as far as we could.”
John Mauthe, the moderator at Vienna’s Emmaus United Church of Christ, says the church agreed to rent its parking lot to Personic for the testing site in early 2021 after it was approached by the health care company, which formed in response to the pandemic.
The church obtained the temporary permit from the Town of Vienna, but the facility isn’t an official church program.
“We were excited about it because it gave another rapid test availability to residents that wanted it, that needed it,” Mauthe said.
The site opened on March 16, offering free, rapid antigen testing that provided results in 15 minutes as well as RT-PCR tests with results guaranteed within 24 to 48 hours. It accepts people without health insurance, though a social security number is required, according to the website.
Mauthe says his church hasn’t experienced any issues with the testing site, since its hours don’t interfere with weekend worship services.
The surge in demand over the past couple of weeks, though, contributed to traffic backups on Maple Avenue, prompting Personic to start requiring appointments. When FFXnow contacted the Vienna site last week, an agent said they had been “bombarded” with calls.
When called yesterday (Tuesday), a Personic agent confirmed that all of the company’s testing sites in the area, including the Vienna one, are booked until next week. She said each facility accommodates about 100 appointments per day.
Personic also has locations in McLean, Tysons, Herndon, Springfield, Alexandria, and Annandale.
Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert says the drive-thru testing site has been “an important public health resource,” but there will still be multiple locations offering testing services in the Vienna area, including primary care offices and commercial pharmacies.
The Virginia Department of Health’s testing site map only shows one other location within the Town of Vienna — a primary care physician’s office — but there are several sites in Tysons and Merrifield.
A town spokesperson says Walgreens is offering testing at its stores on Maple Avenue and Nutley Street.
“While the increase in COVID-19 cases is of concern, we are also mindful that the hospitalization rate is not nearly what it was this time last year, which gives us hope that the vaccine is doing what it was designed to do — reduce the risk of serious illness,” Colbert said in a statement. “The Town Council will continue to monitor the situation and consult with public health officials to determine if additional resources are needed.”
The Town of Vienna has called off its planned New Year’s Eve celebration.
The town’s economic development office had partnered with Cedar Park Shopping Center to host a family-friendly “Noon Year’s Eve” event to usher in the new year. The party was scheduled to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Friday (Dec. 31) with games, a live DJ, a pop-up artisan market, giveaways, and more.
However, the event has now been canceled in response to rapidly rising COVID-19 cases throughout the D.C. area, including Fairfax County.
Fairfax County has reported more than 1,000 new cases for each of the past two days — the first time that has happened in the pandemic, according to Virginia Department of Health data. The only other time the county has seen over 1,000 cases in one day was Jan. 17, at the height of last winter’s surge.
“Due to an increase of COVID-19 cases in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, we have decided to cancel this event,” the town’s webpage for “Noon Year’s Eve” says. “Please call (571) 235-5705 if you have any questions.
“Noon Year’s Eve” joins a rash of nixed New Year’s Eve celebrations throughout the region.
The City of Falls Church announced on Tuesday (Dec. 21) that organizers had decided to cancel its annual Watch Night, and the City of Alexandria has canceled its First Night Alexandria party, along with its waterskiing Santa.
Sushi Koji is now open and serving up roll platters alongside bowls of ramen and udon noodles.
Run by former Sushi Taro chef Hyung Joon Lee and his wife, Grace Park, the Japanese restaurant had a soft opening at 262 Cedar Lane on Thursday (Dec. 16). It is the first of three eateries slated to move into Vienna’s Cedar Park Shopping Center this winter.
“We were so excited to open and see many people try out our food,” Park said by email. “We are getting a lot of positive comments about the food and new types of dishes they haven’t seen before. It has been packed since the first day of opening which was unexpected and also so exciting/heart pounding.”
Park says the opening has been a success so far, even though Sushi Koji is facing the same hiring challenges that have been affecting the food service industry nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With some of the hired employees still undergoing training and getting accustomed to their roles, the staffing shortage is expected to become a bigger issue once the restaurant gets cleared to serve alcohol, which could happen as soon as this week, according to Park.
Sushi Koji has been waiting for a license to allow wine and beer service on its premises since Nov. 3, according to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. A mixed-beverage license has been pending since Nov. 9.
Park says they are particularly looking for additional wait staff and chefs or cooks.
While the restaurant initially opened just for dine-in customers, Park confirmed that patrons can now get takeout and deliveries as well.
The current hours of operation are:
- Monday-Thursday: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-9:30 p.m.
- Friday: 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 5-10:30 p.m.
- Saturday: noon-10:30 p.m.
- Sunday: noon-9:30 p.m.
Sushi Koji anticipates having a more official grand opening at some point, but a date for that hasn’t been scheduled yet.
“Since we are still training staff and looking for more staff, we won’t have the grand opening anytime soon until they are fully trained,” Park said. “We want to make sure we give good service and people leave happy.”
The former Amphora Restaurant building in Vienna could soon reawaken as another eatery.
Plans are currently going through the Town of Vienna and Fairfax County to get it approved as a new restaurant dubbed The Maple Room, according to town spokesperson Karen Thayer.
Amphora closed in January after four decades in Vienna in response to the challenges of running a restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic. A Sterling-based real estate developer, Christos Sarantis, acquired the property for $4.875 million on Dec. 29, 2020, according to county and state records.
Sarantis didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
A county permitting database says the property at 377 Maple Ave. West is looking to renovate the building’s exterior, upgrading its facade, roof, handicap access and other features.
Town staff have been reviewing the site plan, according to a development activity map.
The Cholakis and Bilidas families opened Amphora in 1977. The restaurant was known for its 24/7 service, comfort food, and all-day breakfast.
Amphora Group, the company founded by the families, has shifted its focus to its Herndon operations. It has Amphora Diner Deluxe and catering businesses on Elden Street, and Amphora Bakery operates in the Sunset Business Park.
Nutley Pond will be going dry for the next several months.
The pond, located off Virginia Center Boulevard and Nutley Street in Vienna, will be drained as a part of a dredging project at the site. The project will address clogged low-flow sluice gates, an unsafe riser area, an excessive sediment deposit and invasive plant species around the pond’s periphery.
Sajan Pokharal, a project manager with the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, said at a virtual meeting on Monday (Dec. 13) that the project will take roughly 10 months, starting in January.
The dredging will remove about 10,000 cubic yards of sediment from the pond. The project will also enhance safety by installing a safety rail, fences, and safety benches, while rehabilitating the pond shoreline to provide an aquatic safety bench and native vegetation.
Susie Foster, the project’s landscape architect, said welded wire mesh can be used, as needed, to protect the plant material from wildlife.
A stabilized turf access point will also be installed at the north end of Baronhurst Drive for future maintenance.
The rehabilitation part of the project will include the installation of six cell floating wetlands, with three each at the north and south ends of the pond.
Pokharal said these will benefit the pond by attracting and sustaining insects, which will, in turn, attract song birds. The floating wetlands material and root systems will also provide surface area for beneficial microbes to pull pollutants from the water.
The dredging and restoration processes can overlap with multiple crews, while plantings will occur in spring, fall, or winter seasons, according to Pokharal.
Pokharal assured that the project will follow Fairfax County noise ordinance guidelines, which will allow for work from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends and federal holidays.
However, he said the work “typically” can end around 3 p.m. and by 5 p.m. at the latest each day.
The trail around the pond will be closed throughout the duration of the project, with temporary fencing to identify its limits. Heavy construction equipment will also remain on site throughout the project.
While there will be trucks coming and going, Pokharal said loading and unloading will happen at a staging area on the existing asphalt access road off of Virginia Center Boulevard. Flaggers will direct trucks in and out of the access road.
The mechanical dredging will start by emptying the pond and allowing crews to establish access and staging areas. Diversion channels will then be established within the lake before the dredging begins.
Pokharal said that process will enable crews to remove more sediment per day, potentially lower the project cost, and make it easier to construct other improvements, such as the proposed safety bench.
He did, however, note that the project will be weather dependent, potentially causing delays. He also warned that there could be an odor from the lake bottom being exposed.
Man Arrested for Tysons BASE Jumping Incidents — A 70-year-old contractor faces trespassing charges after allegedly parachuting off one of the office towers currently under construction at Capital One Center on Oct. 11. Police believe Chuck Moeser has also jumped from other buildings in Tysons, including the Lumen Apartments building and the Capital One building that houses Wegmans. [The Washington Post]
Metro to Start Returning Some Trains to Service — The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission reported “no technical objections” to Metro’s plan to return up to 336 of its 7000-series railcars to passenger service. The transit agency says it will phase these trains in through the end of this year before pausing for 90 days to assess operations. [WMATA]
Taxicab Demand Declines in Fairfax County — “For a variety of factors — from the popularity of ride-sharing services to more housing being built near Metrorail stations to the ongoing COVID pandemic — the overall fleet of taxicabs in Fairfax County has fallen by more than two-thirds in recent years. The Board of Supervisors…voted unanimously Dec. 6 not to issue any additional taxicab certificates this year and keep the limit at the current 654.” [Sun Gazette]
Vienna Invites Families to Daytime New Year’s Eve Party — “Vienna will get its own New Year’s celebration, albeit 12 hours before the countdown to 2022. Noon Year’s Eve will be hosted on Friday, Dec. 31 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cedar Park Shopping Center parking lot…There will be a live DJ, pop-up artisan market, games, giveaways, crafts, a noon countdown celebration and more.” [Patch]
Omicron Variant of COVID-19 Found in Virginia — Yesterday (Thursday), the Virginia Department of Health confirmed the state’s first case of the omicron variant that was first identified in Botswana and South Africa in November. The sample came from an adult in the northwest region who had no history of international travel, but did travel domestically during the exposure period. [VDH]
Tysons Event Company Is Now Public — “Event management company Cvent has once again become a public traded company. As of Thursday morning, the firm began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker CVT following the close of a merger deal with special purpose acquisition company Dragoneer Growth Opportunities Corp. II.” [Technicl.ly]
Local Startup Raises $7 Million — “Tysons tech startup Datasembly, which gives grocers and other retailers real-time product pricing data, has raised millions in new funding to hire aggressively and get its analytics platform to more customers in a period of pandemic-fueled demand.” [DC Inno]
Washington Post Reviews Local Selfie Wrld — “I have feelings about Selfie Wrld, an Instagram selfie studio tucked away in the Tysons Corner Center mall; feelings I considered while attempting to make a sultry, thoughtful face while uncomfortably posed on a hard red plastic couch shaped like a pair of lips, in a red room, beneath a red neon sign that said ‘Feelings,’ because nothing about this place is subtle.” [The Washington Post]
Voting Starts for Vienna Holiday Lights Contest — “As homes and businesses get decorated for the holiday season in Vienna, it’s time to vote for the best displays in town. The annual Vienna Holiday Decorating Contest is now open for voting through Dec. 16.” [Patch]
Vienna restaurants that have set up outdoor dining spaces will be allowed to keep them for the next six months.
After formally extending an emergency ordinance to its last possible end date of Dec. 30, the Vienna Town Council unanimously approved an amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance on Monday (Dec. 6) that enables businesses with temporary outdoor dining permits to continue those operations until June 30, 2022.
Councilmembers said they will use the extra six months to develop rules for permanently easing regulations around outdoor dining that balance the interests of businesses with potential concerns from neighbors, particularly related to noise and parking.
“This is a temporary measure while COVID is still a reality to help these businesses and help the residents a little bit,” Councilmember Ed Somers said. “But we would charge ourselves and the staff to work on these complicated and important issues. We’re not going to wait until June to restart this conversation.”
Applicable to any business that has obtained a permit by Dec. 31, the measure adds some conditions to the outdoor dining activities that have been allowed on an expanded basis since June 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the revised ordinance, restaurants can continue to serve diners on an outdoor patio or in off-street parking spaces if they comply with the following rules:
- Use no more than eight seats per parking space
- For businesses with outdoor dining facilities within 60 feet of a residential property, limit occupancy to 9 a.m.-9 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m-9 p.m. on Sundays, and 9 am-9:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays
Those conditions are intended to address noise complaints raised at a public hearing on Nov. 15 by residents who live behind the Church Street restaurants Bazin’s and Blend 111.
Town staff initially presented a draft that applied the time limits to restaurants in 50 feet of a residential property line and allowed them to operate until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, but the council questioned whether that would be sufficient.
“I’m trying to give a little reprieve for the neighbors there,” Councilmember Nisha Patel said. “…Even after people vacate the patio, there is going to be wait staff out there. They’re going to have to clean up. They’re still going to be making noise. So, keeping it to 10 is really saying we’re going to let noise until 10:30.”
Councilmember Steve Potter pushed for a provision requiring restaurants by residential properties to submit a noise abatement plan as part of the permitting process, but others said it would be too complicated to decide how to identify and enforce noise violations with a measure that will only last six months.
“The six months was to look at, ‘Do these two things help?'” Mayor Linda Colbert said. “I think a noise mitigation plan would be very good, but I don’t know how that would be judged, and I don’t think we have those answers tonight.”
The council ultimately settled for a clause requiring acknowledgment of Vienna’s existing noise ordinance, including a prohibition on live entertainment without a conditional use permit.
Town staff proposed an ordinance in October that would permanently allow outdoor dining with administrative approval, streamlining a permitting process that typically requires public hearings and a $1,500 fee.
The draft gained the support of Vienna’s Planning Commission, but at last month’s public hearing, the town council decided it needed to take more time to work out details, such as criteria for when a permit should be approved and an appeals process.
Vienna has issued 22 temporary outdoor commercial activity permits while its emergency ordinance has been in effect, according to town staff.
Real Estate Taxes Due Today — Fairfax County property owners must pay the second installment of their real estate taxes by the end of today (Monday). Taxes can be paid through the Department of Tax Administration’s online portal. [Fairfax County Government/Twitter]
Vienna Man Arrested in Fatal Hit and Run — Carlos Alexander Torres Jr., 24, of Vienna was arrested in Montgomery County on Friday (Dec. 3) after police detectives determined that he was allegedly the driver in a Sept. 1 hit-and-run crash in Reston that killed the other driver. Police believe alcohol may have been a factor in the crash. [FCPD]
Asian Restaurant in Vienna Closes — Red Galanga at 144 Church Street NW closed its doors for the last time on Dec. 1, citing challenges with filling positions during the pandemic. Sister restaurant Sweet Ginger (120 Branch Road SE) will honor outstanding gift certificates from Red Galanga, which says an Italian restaurant will take its place on Church Street. [Patch]
Former WFT Quarterback Sells McLean House — “Alex Smith, quarterback for the Washington Football Team until earlier this year, has sold his 6,300-square-foot mansion in McLean for $5,800,000. He first listed the property for $6,750,000 in June, a few months after he was released from the team.” [Washingtonian]
Leaf Vacuum Careens into Vienna Garage — “Town of Vienna employees were working in the 400 block of Center Street, N., on Nov. 30 at 2:59 p.m. and had parked a leaf-vacuum trailer on the roadway with a wheel stop in place to secure it. Due to the steep incline, the trailer went over the wheel stop, proceeded down a hill and struck the garage of a residence, Vienna police said.” [Sun Gazette]
