Anyone interested in the status of developments around the Town of Vienna is in luck — the town recently created an online development activity map.
The map groups planning and zoning applications by whether they are under review, approved or under construction/completed.
Here’s a breakdown of what those categories mean, according to the town’s website:
Under Review — Staff has received an application for rezoning, conditional use permit, site plan modification, subdivision, etc. and is reviewing for compliance with the Town Code, Comprehensive Plan, and State Code. Depending on the application type, the project also may be subject to review by one or more of the following: Board of Architectural Review, Board of Zoning Appeals, Planning Commission, Town Council.
Approved — Application has received final approval from staff or the appropriate board or commission.
Under Construction/Completed — Approved application is under construction or recently completed.
People can access the map by clicking on “Development Activity” on the town website’s homepage.
The tool lets people find projects by clicking geographic markers on the map or by selecting a project image icon. The map also includes information about upcoming board and commission meetings and links to documents.
Image via Town of Vienna
To celebrate new T-Rex stamps, the U.S. Postal Service will spotlight pictorial postmarks created by local kids with events at three Virginia post offices — including one in Vienna.
The U.S. Postal Service will issue Tyrannosaurus Rex Forever stamps on Thursday, Aug. 29.
More from the U.S. Postal Service about the stamps:
One design illustrates a face-to-face encounter with a T. rex approaching through a forest clearing; another shows the same young adult T. rex with a young Triceratops — both dinosaurs shown in fossil form.
The third and fourth stamps depict a newly hatched T. rex covered with downy feathers and a bare-skinned juvenile T. rex chasing a primitive mammal.
“The Nation’s T. rex,” the young adult depicted on two of the stamps, was discovered on federal land in Montana and is one of the most studied and important specimens ever found.
On Saturday, a T-Rex pictorial postmark created by a local 13-year-old will be available for “Customer Appreciation Day” at the Vienna Post Office.
The Vienna celebration will take place from 9-11:30 a.m. at 200 Lawyers Road NW.
The U.S. Postal Service also plans to host “Customer Appreciation Day” celebrations in Leesburg and Manassas.
“The event is an opportunity to show our customers how much we appreciate their business, answer their questions, and to celebrate a very special pictorial postmark specific to this community’s Post Office,” Postmaster Joquita Allen said.
Image via U.S. Postal Service
(Updated at 11:45 a.m.) The Vienna Town Council is considering raising its fee for bad checks.
While the proposed change would increase the fee from its current $20 to an amount up to $50, the town is currently planning to charge a fee of $25, a spokesperson for the town told Tysons Reporter.
The town’s current fee is on the lower end in comparison to nearby jurisdictions, according to the Town of Vienna:
- Fairfax Water: $20
- Fairfax City: $25
- City of Alexandria: $35
- Loudoun County: $40
- Arlington and Fairfax counties, Falls Church, Herndon and Leesburg: $50
- Prince William County: $50 for the first offense and $75 for the second offense within two weeks
The town’s Director of Finance Marion Serfass told the councilmembers at a meeting last Monday (Aug. 19) that a public hearing will need to be held about the proposed change because it affects taxes.
A public hearing on the proposal is set for Monday, Sept. 16.
“We don’t have a lot of bad checks,” Serfass said.
(Updated at 11:45 a.m.) The Town of Vienna is mulling over three preliminary designs concepts for Patrick Henry Library’s upcoming renovation.
Opened in 1971, Patrick Henry Library (101 E. Maple Avenue) is set to be rebuilt as part of a $91 million bond referendum to upgrade Fairfax County’s aging libraries. The town is looking to partner with the county so that the town can have public parking spots at the new library site.
Grimm and Parker presented three design concepts that incorporate public parking to the councilmembers last Monday (Aug. 19)
The first design concept (Option A) would build a stand-alone, two-story building and have surface parking for 90 cars. The design has a modern design, according to the presentation:
The building orientation allows for a large expanse of glass to the north along Maple Avenue. This northern glass will provide ample natural light for the library users and provide views into the library from Maple Avenue. The rest of the building is clad in a variegated grey metal panel. The glass and metal cladding create a modern identity and gives the library a strong presence on the corner.
The last two concepts share the same idea of having a single-level library with an integrated parking garage, both with 125 spots for the library.
Option B1 would have 84 spaces for the town, while Option B2 would have 188 spaces for the town and require a height variance for the extra level of parking.
The last two options have a storefront-esque design. According to Grimm and Parker:
In this option the Maple Avenue facade is designed to resemble a traditional urban main street with glass display windows and canopies… The varied facade expressions help to reduce the scale of the building. A variegated metal cladding is used on the stair and elevator towers to distinguish them from the brick of the library and to draw attention to the public access to the parking garage. Canopies along Maple Avenue create an identity for the library and provide a human scale to the building.
The designs concepts are not set in stone and could change between now and when the county makes the final decision about the library design, a spokesperson for the town told Tysons Reporter.
Tysons Reporter wants to know what you about the design concepts.
Images via Town of Vienna
A Vienna family said they’ve been waiting months to get their money back from unwanted credit card charges by a local music school.
Family members, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Tysons Reporter, said that Jeffrey Levin, the president of District Music Academy, gave their son music lessons for about four months this spring.
When the family told Levin about billing on their credit card statements, they said he blamed the incorrect amount on an invoice issue involving the billing companies, before offering to write a check to cover the overcharged amount, which the family declined to provide.
The family claims that they never got a check.
The family waited for a few weeks before reaching out to their credit card company to prevent future charges from District Music Academy. As of last week, the family told Tysons Reporter that they are waiting to hear back from their credit card company before considering taking the matter to small claims court.
District Music Academy offers private in-home lessons, after school programs, entertainment for retirement communities in the D.C. area and other services, according to its website.
The Breakdown
Two Reston residents had a similar experience with unwanted charges from District Music Academy and took Levin’s company to small claims court earlier this year.
Michele Chesser told Tysons Reporter that she noticed the company was double-billing her credit card for her daughter’s piano lessons, charging her at the beginning and end of the month. In total, according to court documents, District Music Academy overcharged her $1,260.
Chesser said she contacted her credit card company, which was able to credit her two out of the five months of double billing. She decided to try to recover the rest of the money in court.
The judge heard the case in May and ordered Levin to pay the full amount. But as of today (Aug. 26), Chesser said she hasn’t gotten the money back.
“I don’t think I’ll ever see my money again,” she said.
Another Reston resident, Anjia Nicolaidis, told Tysons Reporter that her daughter started ukulele and voice lessons once a month in February 2018 and the family scheduled lessons through August.
For a family with two full-time working parents, she said that District Music Academy seemed like a convenient solution, adding there are “not a lot of companies offering that in-home instruction in the immediate area.”
But by July of that year, Nicolaidis noticed double charges and “random charges.” When she reached out to Levin, “first there was some delay in getting him to acknowledge that our records and the teacher’s record were consistent,” she said.
“We asked for that reimbursement and gave him a number of opportunities to give it to us,” Nicolaidis told Tysons Reporter, adding that Levin at first offered to make up the amount with credits to future lessons. After she declined the offer, the discussion over repayment broke down.
According to court records, Nicolaidis emailed Levin back on Sept. 10, writing:
As of this morning, September 10, 2018 you have not refunded the money you owe us. It has been a week since we received your email indicating you would process the refund. We have been corresponding about this issue for nearly two months…
We feel victimized and are in contact with other families that have had the same experience with District Music Academy.
Levin responded via email the same day, saying, “We have resolved all issues with our credit card system, but the process to refund the money is taking longer than expected. If it is acceptable to you, I can mail you a check today for the money due so that you can receive the fund more quickly.”
Nicolaidis said Levin never sent the check and she hasn’t heard from him since.
After two bench thefts, the Vienna Arts Society is determined to keep the remaining 40 benches painted by local artists available for public enjoyment.
When the first bench disappeared, Ken Britz, a Vienna Arts Society spokesperson, said that the art group was disappointed, but knew theft was a possibility.
When the second bench was snatched, though, the Vienna Arts Society decided it was time to work with local law enforcement to institute security measures.
The remaining benches will now be either padlocked or chained down. “It won’t stand in the way of a determined thief, but it will be a deterrent,” Britz said.
On top of the locks, Deputy Chief of Police Dan Janickey said at the Vienna Town Council meeting last week that law enforcement officers will keep a closer eye on the remaining benches.
The Vienna Police Department is still looking for a culprit and doesn’t have any leads yet, Janickey said.
The art group said keeping the benches aesthetically appealing for visitors is their main concern when it comes to adding security measures.
“We don’t wanna make it unsightly or emphasize the thefts,” he said.
Joann Meginley is the owner of Grass Roots Fitness in Vienna and the sponsor of the first missing bench. In coordination with the studio and the arts society, the artist of the bench agreed to recommission a new bench for the location.
Meginley said that it should be completed by Labor Day and will be placed in the missing bench’s original location, outside Meginley’s fitness studio.
The second stolen bench will not be recommissioned, because the artist is on vacation and will not have time when they return, Britz said.
The benches are available for public viewing throughout the town until they go to auction on Nov. 2.
Photos in the last image via Susan Scanlon and the Vienna Arts Society/Facebook
Vienna police arrested a 33-year-old resident in connection with several recent incidents of indecent exposure along the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.
After an investigation, police charged Enoc Isaac Vasquez with four counts of obscene sexual display — a charge similar to the Indecent Exposure statute, police said.
Police in a press release that the charges are connected to reports of a man exposing himself along the trail on Aug. 2 and then last week on Monday (Aug. 12), Tuesday (Aug. 13) and Thursday (Aug. 15).
Vasquez was transported to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, where he was released on a $1,000 secured bond, police said.
More from the press release:
Patrol Officers received a tip from citizens which led CIS detectives to the 200 block of Park Terrace Court in Vienna.
Detectives began surveillance in the area and eventually identified a person of interest. After interviewing numerous witnesses and obtaining corroborating statements from the suspect, police detectives obtained arrest warrants to charge Vasquez…
The Vienna Police Department would like to acknowledge the citizens and witnesses who came forward to provide information about these cases and to thank residents for their patience during this investigation.
Anyone who has additional information can contact MPO Juan Vazquez at 703-255-7845 or [email protected].
Photo via Vienna Police Department
A Vienna resident reported to police alleged attempted fraud after applying to a job.
The attempted fraud allegedly occurred on Tuesday, Aug. 13, according to the Vienna Police Department.
“A resident reported an attempted fraud after applying for a job through an on-line internet offer for an assistant elder care provider,” the police report said.
In a separate incident, a resident in the 1000 block of Country Club Drive NE said that someone threw eggs at the roof of his house and vehicle on Wednesday (Aug. 21) between 2-10 a.m.
Photo via Facebook
Soleil Nail Spa is opening soon in the Town of Vienna.
The salon and spa is filling Dog World Pet Salon’s former spot at 515 W. Maple Avenue in the Village Green Shopping Center.
Soleil will offer manicures, pedicures, facials, waxing, eyelash extensions and other services, according to its website.
Back in April, Tysons Reporter spotted a sign in the storefront window saying that the “organic spa” is “coming soon in July 2019.”
Soleil posted on Facebook earlier in August that the grand opening got pushed to Sunday, Sept. 1, due to a construction delay.
To celebrate the opening, the nail spa is offering a 30% off promotion.
The Town of Vienna is now recognized as one of the nation’s most bee-friendly places.
Bee City USA identifies cities and towns taking steps to protect natural pollinators. Vienna is one of three places in Virginia with the “Bee City” title, including Lynchburg and Scottsville.
The town’s Conservation and Sustainability Commission applied for the certification a while back, Mayor Laurie DiRocco said. The town eventually received an email from Phyllis Stiles, the organization’s founder, confirming the town’s acceptance.
“Vienna is institutionalizing our commitment to pollinator conservation by planting natives, reducing conventional pesticide use and educating the community on the benefits of planting pollinator habitats,” a town spokesperson said.
Each year, the city is required to pay a $200 fee and send in a report on updates in order to maintain its listing. In return, Bee City USA will support the city by providing educational materials and outreach ideas, the town spokesperson said.
DiRocco said that the bee-friendly certification means the city is “setting a standard of what we would like to do within our community when it comes to native plants and pollinators,” adding that she hopes other neighboring communities follow suit.
