New Water, Sewer Rates — “The Vienna Town Council on May 11 set water and sewer rates for the upcoming fiscal year, but held off on decisions regarding the fiscal 2021 budget and the potential hiring of a consultant to help update the town’s zoning code.” [Inside NoVa]

In Memoriam — “For years, as a youth coach and administrator of multiple sports, Bill Cervenak was a pillar in the Vienna community, touching hundreds of lives… Cervenak died in recent days from various health issues. He was 80.” [Inside NoVa]

Smarty Pants — “Seven students from McLean are among the 2,500 recipients of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation’s $2,500 scholarships announced Wednesday. They were chosen in a selection process that started with the 2018 PSAT.” [McLean Patch]

House has been demolished to make way for a new park at Parker and Oak. pic.twitter.com/ReWCOd57Kr

— Falls Church Views (@fallschurchview) May 13, 2020

Some #inspo for your #FallBrochurePhotoContest Photos! Don't forget to submit your pics to [email protected] by May 20.https://t.co/67BkuxTJ5x

— Town of Vienna, VA (@TownofViennaVA) May 13, 2020

Caffe Amouri and the Vienna Business Association are hosting a social distance 5K benefiting community members facing food insecurity.

Beginning Friday (May 15), people can take part in the Feeding Families 5K by preregistering and then tracking their distance and time as they follow the arranged route.

To maintain social distancing, participants can run anytime through the end of the month, according to the event page. When complete, people can turn in their results through email.

Registration is $25 for individuals or $50 for a family, according to the event page, which added that all proceeds go to charity.

Winners in several categories including “best time running” and “best time walking” will receive prizes from Caffe Amouri and local sponsors.

People interesting in just donating to the cause can do so online.

Image via Caffe Amouri/Facebook

Battle of the Books — “The Cunningham Park Elementary seventh annual (and first virtual) Battle of the Books took place on Friday, May 8, on Google Meet.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]

Student Turns Home Into Mask Factory — “13-year-old Sasha used her sewing skills to transform fabric, elastic, and lots of passion into 225 face masks for 911 first responders in Fairfax County. As the self-appointed project foreman, Sasha, a Cooper Middle School student, manned the sewing machine while her parents mostly helped cut and pin fabric.” [Fairfax County Public Schools]

Cha-ching for the Cleaners — “In Tysons, Bearfoot Ventures has branched out from mostly health care facilities to a broader base of buildings, ranging from foreign embassies to senior living facilities and commercial office spaces, said CEO Jeb Byrne… Byrne estimates Bearfoot is on a trajectory to boost annual revenue from about $1 million in 2019 to top $5 million over the next eight to 12 months.” [Washington Business Journal]

New Grant Program for Small Businesses — “The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted [yesterday] to create the Fairfax Relief Initiative to Support Employers (Fairfax RISE). Fairfax RISE is a new $25 million grant program to assist small businesses and nonprofits affected by COVID-19. The program will be funded using federal CARES Act funds provided to the county.” [Fairfax County]

Scavenger Hunt in Vienna — “In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Eric Monday Foundation collaborated with the Town of Vienna to create a #TakeDownTheStigma Scavenger Hunt to encourage families to walk on the trails.” [Eric Monday Foundation]

Officers from our McLean District station and Motor Carrier Safety had the privilege of hosting a parade along with @ffxfirerescue at Iliff Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. This was a fun and joyful way of showing support for the patients and staff at the center! #FCPD pic.twitter.com/zv6fYwiUGo

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 12, 2020

Fairfax County recently created a map pinpointing local groups looking for donations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The map allows users to find nonprofits and organizations within a specific region of Fairfax County so they can help people within their own communities.

Users can search for charities by the proximity to an address or by clicking on one from the general geographic overview.

The charities listed on the website are accepting items including personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, baby products and paper items, the page said. Throughout the county, 22,620 households are at or below the poverty level, according to the website.

Charities collecting monetary donations can be found on the webpage as well.

People can learn more about a charity by reading an overview from Volunteer Fairfax.

County-wide:

• The Shepherd’s Center of McLean-Arlington-Falls Church
• American Red Cross in the National Capital Region
• Blood Donor Services, Inova Health System
• Britepaths

Vienna:

• McLean Bible Church
• Family Preservation and Strengthening Services (PASS)
• MK9s Service Dogs
• Second Story
• The Shepherd’s Center of Oakton-Vienna

McLean:

• Lewinsville Retirement Residence
• Share Inc.

Falls Church:

• Falls Church-McLean Childrens Center
• Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Administration
• Falls Church Community Service Council (FCS)
• New Hope Housing (NHH)
• Northern Virginia Dental Clinic, Inc.
• NOVA ScriptsCentral, Inc.
• Shelter House, Inc.
• The Arc of Northern Virginia
• Computer C.O.R.E.

Image via Fairfax County

Laura Schwartz is a licensed Realtor in VA, D.C. and MD with McEnearney Associates in McLean. Reach the office at 703-790-9090.

Many know the brewery and restaurant located on the W&OD trail, Caboose Brewing, which is a Vienna favorite for beer.

Like most businesses during COVID-19, they’ve also had to pivot their business model during this time. There are many restaurants doing grocery packs right now, but the ability to also buy a meal for your neighbors is a reason to celebrate this local company.

Grocery and Beer Pickup or Delivery:

• They have many staples including steak, beef, poultry, seafood, fruits, veggies, dairy, meal kits and toilet paper (!), along with cocktails and beer. You can customize the delivery you want.

Donations:

• You can pay $35 for a food pack they’ll deliver to community members in need of food, through InovaCares Clinics for Women and Children, FCPS and Food for Others.
• You can pay $8 for a meal for INOVA staff.

If you want food take out or coffee, the Caboose Commons in Mosaic is also offering curbside pick up.

To follow more ways to give back to the community through food donations, or learn about new restaurants and the ways they’re conducting business right now, make sure you join the Vienna Foodies group on Facebook.

Ahead of the Town of Vienna’s election, Tysons Reporter asked the candidates to answer the following questions and also submit a short biography. Each candidate had an opportunity to answer the same questions in their own words. We are publishing the Q&As in the order we received the responses. 

Featured here is Andrea Dahl, who is running for a position on the Vienna Town Council. 

Bio: I’m Andrea Dahl and I’m running for Town Council because I believe I can make a positive impact. As an energetic mom and community volunteer with 20 years of corporate experience, it’s always my mission to come up with creative ways to do things better, for less money.

Nearby, Tysons is urbanizing. How do you think the Town of Vienna’s identity should change in response to Tysons’ growth?

I recognize that growth is inevitable and welcome much of it. However, I think that we can do a better job managing it to preserve our small-town feel and strengthen our sense of community. New growth needs to include comprehensive planning, looking at the full impact on our roads and class sizes, but also protecting the overall quality of life of our current residents. What is right for Tysons is not necessarily right for our town nor what most residents of Vienna want.

I don’t think we need another storage area in the heart of historic downtown Vienna, but there seems to be some consensus that residents would like a vibrant downtown filled with more mom and pop restaurants, taverns, outdoor cafes, galleries, and unique shops where residents can safely walk and bike around. These small businesses help differentiate our town from Tysons and would be welcomed by most residents.

Prior to this pandemic, I supported the town making strategic land acquisitions as key property becomes available because I recognize that land in the town is finite. In my opinion, the purchase of commercial property to create the Town Green was one of the best decisions ever made by the Town. Given today’s environment, we will need to look at the full impact of this pandemic on our economy and the residents and businesses within our town before moving forward with any discretionary expenditures.

What are your solutions to Maple Avenue congestion and cut-thru traffic in neighborhoods?

Maple Avenue is already at capacity when it comes to traffic. This means that any extra traffic from Maple Avenue spills over to our residential streets. While I’m not opposed to development on Maple Avenue, I think that any future development has to make sense taking into consideration the full impact on our roads, schools, and town services. To ease cut-thru traffic and slow vehicle speeds, I support installing traffic calming measures like speed humps, speed cushions, and realigned intersections.

It would make sense for the town to work with Dominion Power to install sidewalks on certain streets at the same time that Dominion Power is burying their lines. This collaboration will save the town money and make our neighborhood streets safer, prettier, and our power service more reliable. This also helps many local home builders because Dominion Power is absorbing the cost to bury our power lines instead of developers paying to do this with any new construction.

Roundabouts at select intersections, flashing lights for pedestrians to cross busy intersections as well as adding trees and vegetation next to busy roadways are other options we can use to effectively slow traffic and make our roads safer.

Additionally, I support working with local sports leagues to minimize practices that require driving children to school practices across town, especially at the elementary school level.

Should Vienna keep its “small town feel”? If so, how? If not, why and what do you propose?

According to the Collins Dictionary, “small town is used when referring to small places… where people are friendly, honest, and polite.” Small towns tend to have their own special characteristics. Since people tend to know one another and look out for each other, people living in small towns often feel safer and happier. This has never been more evident than now.

During this pandemic, I have seen all kinds of people in our town step up to help others in so many creative ways that I am proud to call Vienna home. In my opinion, the Town of Vienna is a type of oasis in the middle of the Northern Virginia sprawl. Its close knit community is what gives Vienna its small town feel and we should want to preserve that.

To best keep Vienna’s small town feel, we should continue to do things that promote building a strong sense of community as this is what differentiates Vienna from neighboring areas. Community events like the annual Halloween Parade and the Church Street Holiday Stroll are favorites that everyone looks forward to.

At a minimal cost, Vienna could offer additional events like weekly summer outdoor movies, indoor winter movies at the Community Center for kids and seniors, more concerts on the Town Green, and even a Dog Jog & Walk fundraiser to further strengthen our sense of community.

Vienna has a long history of being named a “Tree City USA.” What steps would you like to see Vienna take to become greener and more sustainable/environmentally-friendly?

I am very passionate about preserving our parks, trees, and green space. I would like to strengthen our town’s involvement in the “Tree City USA” Program by displaying a higher level of commitment to urban forestry.

With all the new construction, we’re losing our big old trees at an alarming pace. Often homeowners are forced to spend thousands of dollars to cut down their trees that have died primarily as a result of new construction bordering their property. Last fall, the town arborist shared with me that this is happening all over Vienna.

Our residents and our trees should be better protected. We need to develop and implement a town tree policy that replaces trees that die. Residential lot coverage requirements should remain at 25% to promote green space. We need to encourage more open space, green space, and setback requirements on all new commercial projects.

Additionally, I have a background developing and implementing recycling programs with companies nationwide which I plan to use to improve recycling in our town. We can do a better job educating our residents on what is recyclable and what is not. With China no longer taking our trash, the reality is that many recyclables are landfilled if there’s no market for them or if they’re too contaminated. We can do better.

What do you want to see happen for parking at Parking Henry Library?

I believe that these are two separate issues. Our town desperately needs a parking garage which ideally should be somewhere on Maple Avenue close enough to the Town Green and W&OD Trail. A new parking garage would eliminate the overflow parking and congestion on our neighborhood roads every time there is a community event downtown.

We also need a complete renovation of our existing Patrick Henry Library. It is too small and does not meet the needs of our community. When my children were in preschool, I would actually drive to Great Falls for programs offered at their local library because our Vienna library could not offer similar programs due to space limitations. Sadly, we are lucky if we visit the Patrick Henry Library here in Vienna more than a couple times each year.

What are your ideal height and building sizes for developments in the Maple Avenue Ordinance?

I support limiting our height and building sizes on Maple Avenue to three stories since Maple Avenue is already at capacity for traffic and any excess traffic spills over on to our neighborhood roads negatively impacting our residents. Where possible, I encourage site modifications and repurposing existing buildings rather than replacing them similar to what has been done with the new Bear Branch Tavern. I support enforcing setback requirements on Maple Avenue and adding green space for beautification and to slow traffic.

One of my greatest concerns is what will become of the Giant-anchored shopping center in Vienna. Around northern Virginia we are seeing large, mixed-use developments with hundreds of expensive apartments like the new Scout on the Circle project at the corner of Route 50 and Route 29. This type of development lacks setbacks, green space, and doesn’t fit our small town. Under no circumstances do I want to see anything similar where our Giant currently sits.

I support rewriting commercial codes to make them easier for everyone to understand. I also support developing a vision for future development on Maple Avenue to preserve how we want Vienna to look in the years to come.

When I worked in Michigan, I frequently represented my franchisees at town planning meetings to get approval for construction projects including signs advertising their businesses. Vienna needs to develop a vision with resident input for our commercial development to set the framework for how we should move forward.

People interested in learning more about Dahl’s campaign can check out her website.

Photo courtesy Andrea Dahl

How’s the Local Hospital Doing? — “Several hospitals in Virginia and Washington, D.C., received top grades for safety, while others didn’t quite measure up, according to new spring 2020 ratings released by the Leapfrog Group recently.” The Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church received an “A” grade. [Patch]

Police Investigating Suspicious W&OD Trail Incidents — “Falls Church Police are seeking information after receiving a report of a man following a woman in a suspicious manner on the W&OD trail this past Monday… Police say they are investigating two other incidents similar to Monday’s, that happened on April 18 at about 1 p.m. and April 21 at about 1 p.m.” [Falls Church News-Press]

MCA Says OK to New Office Building Plan — “McLean Citizens Association (MCA) board members on May 6 unanimously backed a resolution supporting Capital One’s proposal to convert an unbuilt hotel into a new office building.” [Inside NoVa]

Vienna Man Promoted in U.S. Army — “The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s (USASMCDC) deputy commander for operations – Vienna native David Stewart – was promoted to brigadier general in a ceremony at the command’s Peterson Air Force Base headquarters on May 4.” [Inside NoVa]

Earlier this week officers from the McLean District Station held a birthday parade for Max, who just turned 4. He loved seeing the cruisers and was excited to play with his new police coloring book. Happy birthday, Max! 🎉🎂🎈 #FCPD pic.twitter.com/sJL9FyzOuJ

— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) May 9, 2020

Work at the Vienna Market project at Maple & Pleasant is about to get a little loud. Steel beams for the commercial building will be driven into the ground over the next few weeks. pic.twitter.com/Tfa2LGWhY4

— Town of Vienna, VA (@TownofViennaVA) May 11, 2020

Photo courtesy Tejal Patel

As Virginia prepares to reopen, the Vienna Farmers Market has an official opening date in June.

Unlike nearby farmers markets that are run by the county, the Vienna Farmers Market is managed by volunteers from a local nonprofit — the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna.

In pre-COVID-19 times, the farmers market would have opened May 2, Michele Wright with the Optimist Club told Tysons Reporter. But Gov. Ralph Northam’s orders telling people to stay home until June 10 and closing down non-essential businesses caused the group to delay the opening.

“In order to open it, we are following the Virginia Department of Agriculture’s guidelines,” Wright said, adding that volunteers and vendors will have face shields, face masks and gloves.

So far, the plan is to have one entrance and one exit and to allow no more than 30 people at a time, she said, adding that vendors’ tents will be 10 feet apart.

“Everyone has to wear a face mask,” she said. “I don’t care whether they believe in it or not.” If people make a fuss about the masks, she said she won’t shy away from calling the police.

Shoppers can expect hand sanitizer, but won’t be able to pick up and feel vegetables or touch the goods. Wright said it will instead be “point and bag.”

Credit cards will be preferred to limit contact. “Cash is a conveyor of germs,” Wright said.

The money raised from the vendors’ fees goes toward community events, Second Story and scholarship funds, Wright said: “Everything is really designed to bring out the best in kids.”

To help vendors who have struggled without the farmers market, Wright said the Optimist Club is connecting them with food banks.

A drive-thru model won’t work for the farmers market since there is limited space at the Vienna Community Center and police would be needed.

The market will be open starting Saturday, June 13, and will be available every week through Halloween, Wright said.

“We need people to be patient and kind and be a community,” Wright said.

Photo via Optimist Club of Greater Vienna/Facebook

Sorry, No Sports — “The Virginia High School League’s Executive Committee voted Thursday to cancel the spring sports season altogether for rest of the 2019-20 calendar year due to the coronavirus outbreak.” [Inside NoVa]

Vienna Hosting Free Small Business Webinar — “Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Vienna-based Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, will lead the first online discussion from 10-11 am Wednesday, May 13.” [Town of Vienna]

Tysons Area ABC Stores Offering Curbside Service — “The Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority (ABC) is now offering curbside pickup for online orders at 15 stores in Northern Virginia.” The list includes two in Vienna (8413 Old Courthouse Road and 436 Maple Ave E.), Falls Church (7121 Leesburg Pike) and McLean (1445-B Chain Bridge Road). [Inside NoVa]

The Vienna Arts Society recently announced that it is seeking submissions for a new community-wide project.

Called “The Art of Kindness,” the project aims to gather pieces that portray a kind act within the town, according to the art group’s website.

Submissions may be in the form of poems, photographs or illustrations, the website said, but they must be sent in anonymously.

Digital submissions can be emailed to organizers. Hard copy works must not exceed 8.5 by 11 inches in diameter and can be sent to Amy-Jo Hendrix at the Town of Vienna’s Parks and Recreation Department (127 Center Street S.) or dropped off at a list of pre-arranged locations.

Everyone is encouraged to participate, and organizers are working with “Vienna schools and churches to involve as many citizens as possible,” according to the event page.

The submission deadline is Sept. 30 and event organizers plan to debut the finished project at the gallery Oct. 24-25.

Image via Vienna Arts Society