Furry four-legged friends in the Town of Vienna may get a new animal hospital.
Banfield Pet Hospital, a preventative health care provider for pets with more than 1,000 locations across the country, wants to bring its services to 414 E. Maple Avenue.
“The hospital will primarily service the surrounding community,” according to the staff report.
Built in 1967, the building has two tenant spaces — one space is home to Leslie’s Pool Supplies, while the other one is the vacant spot Banfield wants.
Banfield plans to provide a range of services, according to its application, including:
- full-service veterinarian care
- general surgery
- a pharmacy
- retail pet supply sales
- an internal dog run area
The animal hospital would operate between 7 a.m.-7 p.m. seven days a week. It would not allow pets to stay overnight or provide long-term boarding.
About 20 to 25 pets would visit the animal hospital daily, Aaron Vorasane, the applicant’s representative, told the Planning Commission last night (Wednesday).
As part of the application, the animal hospital wants to install a 4-foot-tall chain link fence to help prevent trash and debris from entering a nearby creek and create a waste pick-up bag station on the grassy area to the side of the building.
Commissioner Sharon Baum raised a concern about dog urine running into the creek. Commissioner Mary McCullough responded by saying that Banfield’s proposed fence and waste area would encourage dog walkers and owners to keep their pets’ waste in a confined area away from the creek.
To limit noise, Banfield wants to install soundproofing in the wall neighboring Leslie’s Pool Supplies.
“Staff believes that the applicant is proposing appropriate mitigation strategies for any potential impacts from the business,” according to the staff report. “The installation of the chain link fence along the rear property line will further mitigate impacts to the abutting creek.”
The Planning Commission voted in favor of the animal hospital. The application now moves onto the Board of Zoning Appeals, which will consider the conditional use permit.
Image via Google Maps
The Vienna Town Council is entering the first stages of a process to bring electric scooters and dockless bicycles to town.
According to staff at a Town Council work session on Monday, June 10, a potentially shared mobility pilot would include both electric bicycles and scooters as “self-propelled vehicles,” but more still needs to be determined.
For starters, where will people ride electric scooters in Vienna? Council members expressed concerns about having them either on Maple Avenue or the adjoining sidewalks, which are typically only 5 feet wide and include planter boxes that narrow the sidewalks considerably. But elected officials seemed equally concerned about the prospect of having electric scooters complicating the already notoriously dangerous and congested Maple Avenue.
The discussion of a potential pilot program comes after a feasibility study for a regional bike-share network — commissioned by the City of Fairfax — was completed last fall. The Vienna process follows in the footsteps of the City of Fairfax, which Vienna staff said has launched a pilot program running from this June to next year.
Both staff and officials expressed some misgivings and frustrations with the prospect of bringing in electric scooters. Staff said that a story had come out this year that Lime Scooters would be coming to Fairfax City and Vienna, prompting a tense series of phone calls from Fairfax and Vienna staff advising Lime that they had not gone through the proper approval process.
Planning Commissioner Mary McCullough also referenced a Washington Post story that only 7 percent of regional residents reported using e-scooters as their preference for getting from one place to another.
The next step for the scooter approval process is a work session planned for sometime in the fall, which the Town Council said will likely include meeting with the Transportation Commission.
Korean eatery Chi Mc might be coming to a shopping center in Vienna.
A retail license permit from last Wednesday (June 5) indicates that the eatery is looking to serve wine and beer at a spot in the Danor Plaza (126 Branch Road SE).
Jon Weiss, the vice president of leasing for Rosenthal Properties, said that he could not confirm a new tenant for the space, which the Rosenthal site lists as vacant, because a lease has not been signed yet.
Chi Mc, which means “chicken and beer” in Korean, currently has locations in Annandale, Alexandria and Chantilly, according to its website.
Image via Google Maps
People in the Town of Vienna can learn about how future development might change access to the Maple Avenue area at a meeting tomorrow (Wednesday).
The meeting will focus on how “reasonably anticipated” development through 2030 via the Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zone and by-right projects could change traveling along the Maple Avenue corridor, according to the event description.
The meeting is the second one connected to the town’s Maple Avenue Corridor Multimodal Transportation & Land Use Study, which was commissioned to look at transportation needs along Maple Avenue from James Madison Drive to Follin Lane. The study area also includes Church Street from Lawyers Road to East Street as well as Courthouse Road and Locust Street.
A meeting in April summarized the current transportation conditions in the study’s area.
The third — and final — phase of the study will evaluate possible strategies to improve accessibility challenges along the corridor.
“Transportation recommendations could include changes to vehicular access, geometric and operational modifications to specific intersections or locations, transit service improvements, enhancements to bicycle and pedestrian networks, and transportation demand management policies and strategies,” according to the Town of Vienna.
Recommendations from the study, which is being done by Kimley-Horn, a firm that provides transportation, planning and engineering consulting, are expected later this summer, according to the town.
The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Council Chambers (127 S. Center Street) and will include small-group activities and discussion.
Vienna police have recently been called for reports of people banging on a resident’s door in the 400 block of Onondio Circle SW.
A resident reported Friday, May 31, that a stranger banged on his front door and window around 12:30 a.m. before fleeing.
“This incident has occurred multiple times in the past few weeks,” the police report said.
The resident also reported to the police Friday, May 24, that he thought that one of the people in a car that drove past his house before 9 p.m. resembled the person from the night before (May 23) who banged loudly on the front door of the home, possibly trying to gain entry around midnight.
Police said the resident opened the door, and the person ran off.
“The resident believed there may have also been two other individuals in the yard,” according to the police report. “All three fled from the area in an unknown vehicle.”
The resident told police that two other similar incidents happened during the late night and early morning hours in the past two weeks.
Photo via Facebook
Fairfax County Voters Receive Mass Political Texts — “An unknown number of Northern Virginia residents have received anonymous, unsolicited text messages linking to WAMU’s coverage of an ethics complaint filed against a top candidate for chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors… The texts were not sent by WAMU.” [WAMU]
New Bike Trail Needs a Name — The Fairfax County Department of Transportation wants the public’s help with naming a new bike and pedestrian trail along the I-66 corridor. The online survey is open until June 30. [FCDOT]
Man Struck and Killed on I-495 Near Tysons — “Around 12:33 a.m. [on Saturday, June 8], a sedan traveling north on I-495 near Route 7 in Fairfax County when the car ran off the right side of the interstate and struck a concrete barrier and then the guard rail. The sedan’s driver, an adult male, exited his vehicle and was attempting to cross the northbound lanes of I-495 when he crossed in front of a northbound tractor-trailer.” [Inside NoVa]
Fires Erupted Around Vienna — Firefighters got a two-story house fire in the 9000 block of Edgepark Road under control yesterday (June 9). On Saturday, firefighters extinguished a deck fire in 8500 block of Pepperdine Drive. [Twitter, Twitter]
Local Students Win National Merit Scholarships — Students from James Madison and McLean high schools were among the 26 Fairfax County Public Schools students who won 2019 Merit Scholarship awards by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. [FCPS]
Vienna’s Board of Architectural Review (BAR) decried plans for the Vienna Market project as rigid, plain and unbecoming for Maple Avenue.
At a work session on May 24, the BAR met with the developers of the project set to replace the Marco Polo building and other surrounding properties. The proposed project would add 44 condominiums and 8,200 square feet of retail space — along with a 32-space underground parking garage — to 245 W. Maple Avenue.
While the project’s architects discussed adding “rustification” and more brick to the building, BAR members expressed frustration with how bland the project appeared.
“My main concern here is the overall feel has gone [away] from all four sides offering something of interest and unique in the town,” Laine Hyde, the vice chair of the BAR, said. “I look at all four sides and I see flat. I’m not seeing the detail and mix of materials. I’m not seeing the variety of individual buildings; just sameness on all sides.”
Paul Layer, the chair of the BAR, said that earlier towers and variance to the rooftop gave the building some prestige on the Maple Avenue side.
“I think Maple Avenue deserves more than this building next door,” Layer said.
But the designers of the building noted that the project is trapped between ambitions from the BAR and a community that regularly rallies against projects that don’t fit with existing buildings on the street.
“We are trying to keep the building grand,” Bill Foliaco, a representative from Lessard Design, said. “It’s going to be large. But we wanted the storefront to feel like more than standard suburban town center. We want this to feel like it’s been here a while, not brand new. My concern is not financial, but in the current world we live in, I’m afraid it won’t come out the way we imagine it.”
The BAR concluded that another work session will need to be held at an unspecified date for it and the developer to continue working together to find something that will not only satisfy both parties but is likely to be approved by a Vienna Town Council with a new, decidedly anti-outsized development bent.
Image via Vienna Board of Architectural Review
Happy Friday — today is National Doughnut Day.
The U.S. national day takes place annually on the first Friday in June. If you want to celebrate, here are some spots around Tysons that sell doughnuts:
Doughnuts aren’t the only items on the menu at the Bolivian restaurant (7177 Lee Highway) in Falls Church. Camba Cafe also serves breakfast sandwiches, cheese bread, empanadas and lunch sandwiches. The cafe is open today from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken
The Falls Church location (7511 Leesburg Pike) offers doughnuts, fried chicken, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, coleslaw, tater tots and cheddar biscuits.
The June special doughnut flavors are cake batter, raspberry lemonade, chocolate espresso Cookies n’ Cream and blackberry passion fruit Boston cream pie.
The spot is open today from 8 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
Dunkin’ Donuts will offer a free doughnut with any drink purchase today while supplies last at participating stores.
The chain’s local locations:
- Tysons: 8119 Watson Street; open 24 hours
- Merrifield: 2750 Gallows Road, Unit E; 5 a.m.-9 p.m.
- Vienna: 314 W. Maple Avenue; 5 a.m.-8 p.m.
- Falls Church: 101 E. Annandale Road; 5 am.-10 p.m.
Photo via Camba Cafe
Belong! — a new nonprofit dedicated to helping Vienna’s underserved populations — officially launched yesterday (Wednesday).
The ribbon-cutting for the group was held in the Vienna Presbyterian Church (124 Park Street NE), which was part of the founding of the organization but a press release noted that Belong! will operate as a separate entity.
The organization is dedicated to promoting “spiritual, physical, and economic well-being, efforts will initially be focused on the Vienna Park/Cunningham Park neighborhoods,” according to the press release for the opening.
The group was founded out of discussions among Vienna residents in late 2017. The press release noted that one of the first aims of the project will be securing new partnerships with Cunningham Park Elementary School and other local churches and nonprofits.
“We are excited to welcome Belong! to Vienna and applaud its vision of empowering our residents” Mayor Laurie DiRocco said in the press release. “Their plans for local outreach mirror our town’s core values, and we’re grateful for their partnership.”
Photo courtesy Jeff Cruz/Belong!
It’s the season for bear sightings in Virginia and the Vienna Police Department wants people in the Tysons area to stay safe.
“Virginia is black bear country — including the Vienna area,” the police department said in a press release today (June 6). “However, while bears are not a common encounter in our community, multiple sightings are reported each spring and summer as bears wander into residential areas searching for food.”
The police department shared a factsheet by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, which says that Fairfax County has had black bear occupation occasionally, along with confirmed sightings.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has different tips for how to keep bears away from residential areas, what to do if you encounter a bear at home and how to keep them away while camping and hiking. The factsheet also addresses some common bear myths.
“Unprovoked bear attacks are very rare and have never been documented in Virginia,” according to the factsheet.
For anyone who comes into close contact with a bear, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries recommends that they should back away slowly.
“Unless the animal is sick or injured or poses a threat to public safety, the Vienna Police Department does not take action to remove bears from a neighborhood,” according to the police department.
Instead, people should report bear to through the Virginia Wildlife Conflict Helpline at (855) 571-9003, TTY 711.
Media Release – Be Bear Aware!!! Black bears and their cubs emerge from hibernation from March through May in Virginia and typically avoid humans, of whom they have a natural fear. In most cases would rather flee than encounter people. @TownofViennaVA @bearsmart @fairfaxcounty pic.twitter.com/JuniYMgpR7
— Town of Vienna Police (@VPDVA) June 6, 2019
Photo by Sergey Pesterev on Unsplash
