The long-awaited Dollar Tree in Vienna is finally scheduled to open this week.

A sign in the doorway said that the location is set to open on Thursday (Feb. 28) at 9 a.m.

The store will open at 215 Maple Ave. W, formerly a Rite Aid in the center of town.

Dollar Tree is a discount store that has been thriving and expanding despite e-commerce outlets like Amazon devastating other retail chains.

At least one Vienna resident is eager for the new store to open — she was spotted parking and approaching the door last week before swearing when she saw the sign.

The Weekly Planner is a roundup of the most interesting events coming up over the next week in the Tysons area.

We’ve scoured the web for events of note in Tysons, Vienna, Merrifield, McLean and Falls Church. Know of any we’ve missed? Tell us!

Monday (Feb. 25)

• Vienna Town Council Meeting — 8 p.m. at Town Hall Council Chambers (127 Center St. S) — At tonight’s meeting, the Town Council will review public input on the ongoing effort to revise the town’s Maple Avenue zoning guidelines. Most of the feedback so far indicates Vienna residents prefer a rustic brick look to the sleek, modern design popular in new developments.

Wednesday (Feb. 27)

• ‘The Color Purple’ Screening — 7-10 p.m. at Angelika Film Center (2911 District Ave) — As part of the theater’s “Black is the New Black” film series, the Angelika Film Center will show the coming-of-age story about an African-American woman growing up in rural Georgia. Tickets are $14.50.
• State of the Chesapeake Bay — 7:30-9 p.m. at the Vienna Fire House (400 Center St. S) — The Potomac River Smallmouth Club is hosting a discussion with Captain John Page Williams, a senior naturalist at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Williams is scheduled to discuss the state of the Chesapeake Bay, including issues related to climate and agricultural changes underway.

Thursday (Feb. 28)

• Transform 66 Update — 7:30 p.m. at Providence Community Room (3001 Vaden Dr.) — The Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling is hosting a meeting with the Virginia Department of Transportation for an update on train alignment, access points, barrier design and construction timing on the ongoing Transform 66 program.
• A Tribute to Dave Grohl — 8 p.m. at Jammin’ Java (227 Maple Ave E) — Jammin’ Java is hosting a musical tribute to Northern Virginia native Dave Grohl with a series of bands covering the music of Nirvana, Food Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door.

Friday (March 1)

• Vesper Trail Ribbon Cutting — 10 a.m. at Vesper Street — A new half-mile bike and pedestrian trail is set to officially open this Friday. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for the Vienna end of the trail, followed by refreshments and a bicycle mechanic available for free tune-ups.
• Mardi Gras Party — 9 p.m.-2 a.m. at Tysons Biergarten (8346 Leesburg Pike) — Citing difficulties with partying all night on a Tuesday, the Tysons Biergarten is hosting its “Fat Tuesday” party on Friday. The celebration will include beads and live music, with guests encouraged to bring masks and feather boas.

Saturday (March 2)

• SHARE Food Drive — 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Safeway (1688 Anderson Road) — The SHARE Food Pantry is in need of food and supplies. The food pantry benefits around 40 local families or older adults per week. The pantry is in need of volunteers and non-perishable food.
• McLean Project for the Arts Spring Open House — 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at MPA (1446 Chain Bridge Road) — At the open house, the McLean Project for the Arts (MPA) will host information sessions about the all-ages spring art classes and summer camps. Art activities will also be available for children. No registration is required.
• 11th Annual Capital Princess Ball — 6-10 p.m. at Westwood Country Club (800 Maple Ave E) — A musical dinner and dance in Vienna will celebrate fathers and daughters. The event is a fundraiser for organizations promoting adoption, orphanages and foster care. The event is black tie optional and includes a silent auction and raffle.

Photo via Facebook

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

A Vienna staple since July 2010, Caffe Amouri is more than just a local coffee house.

Their mission is built around community, which is easily seen by their participation in school “Walking Wednesdays” where they provide coffee for parents, Vienna Idol and about 20 or so other charities or fundraisers. They encourage sustainability; they encourage customers to reuse coffee sleeves and only take straws when necessary.

They recently expanded the space located on Church Street to allow for more seating, large tables for collaboration, a roasting sample area and some outdoor seating. They have WiFi, although they turn it off on the weekends to encourage people to actually engage with each other (oh, the horror!). They also have open mic nights, Penny University (free classes & talks) and other events (check the online calendar).

Now to get to the good stuff: the coffee and the food.

My husband loves the white mocha and the iced coffee, I’m a traditional Cappuccino girl, and my kids love their hot chocolate. But their menu is so big they have a binder of coffee options and tea, along with some specials (honey cinnamon latte!) that make for nice out of the ordinary drinks. They have local treats at the register like granola, gluten free sweets, cookies and nuts. There’s also a sandwich menu (breakfast and lunch).

Other things you might not know: there’s a strong inventory of table games to borrow in the back. There’s parking in front, on the street and in the back; there’s a rear entrance. If you park there while they’re roasting, you’ll often see things floating around the air from the roasting.

My favorite thing is the trivia. Every day at the register there’s a new question posted. If you get it right, they take 10 cents off your drink.

The Vesper Trail, a new half-mile bike and pedestrian trail between Vesper Street in Vienna and the Spring Hill Metro station, officially opens Friday (March 1).

The trail links the residential neighborhoods in northeast Vienna to the area around the Metro station, which is the site of several redevelopments with significant new retail and residential planned for the area.

The trail is part of a series of necessary transportation improvements identified in the Tysons Metrorail Station Access Management Study. The trail is federally funded.

The trail passes through Raglan Road Park, a small forested area separating Vienna and Tysons.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for 10 a.m. at the Vienna entrance to the trail.

The Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling will be hosting a ride from the Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry St) at 9:30 a.m. to the trail in time for the opening. After the event, light refreshments will be served and a bike mechanic is scheduled to be available for free tune-ups.

Photo via Fairfax County Department of Transportation

A new survey shows Vienna residents prefer their downtown with classic, small-town brick frontages, rather than the more popular modern designs populating the rest of the area.

The popular sentiment is that the design of new projects on Maple Avenue doesn’t fit with what many people envision for Vienna, so much so that the town is in the middle of overhauling its zoning code following last year’s controversial development discussions.

At tonight’s meeting, the Vienna Town Council will review a visual preference survey for the Maple Avenue Commercial Design Guidelines. The survey collected feedback on what, from a variety of architectural options, best reflected what local residents wanted their town to look like.

With 16 total options, differences in opinion between them was largely marginal, with most ranked around two or three stars out of five.

The most popular facade, with an average rating of 3.28, is based on Keene, New Hampshire. The downtown area depicted shows a series of square, brick buildings more reminiscent of Old Town Alexandria than Tysons. All of the buildings that scored above an average of three stars were the square, red-brick buildings commonly associated with older downtowns.

The least popular of the choices, ranked at an average of 1.6 stars, was a modern-styled brick and glass warehouse design. In general, the buildings reminiscent of trendy redevelopment styles in places like McLean and Merrifield fared poorly in the rankings.

In a ranking of streetscape preferences, the top contender with an average ranking of 3.6 stars showed very wide sidewalks with trees separating pedestrians from the street. All of the top three ranked streetscape designs had similar components.

Streetscapes also had a clear loser, with an average ranking of 1.8 stars. The picture of Fort Industry Square in Toledo, Ohio, had a comparatively narrow sidewalk littered haphazardly with empty pots for plants and old plastic newspaper bins.

There was less variation in what Viennans thought of key intersections and gateways into the town, most of them averaging around two stars. The highest ranked was Merchant Street in Decatur, Illinois, with a metal sign hanging over an entrance. Least popular was a foreboding curved brick building separated from the street by thick foliage.

Photo of Keene, New Hampshire via Wikipedia

If you had a game on pre-order at the Vienna GameStop (203 Maple Ave E), you might be surprised to show up and find the store completely boxed up.

According to an employee sitting in the otherwise empty storefront, the chain closed last week and consolidated with the store in the Tysons Corner Center mall, where customers can go to pick up games they ordered.

The employee said rising rent prices in the shopping center — at the corner of Maple Ave and Park Street — forced them to close and relocate.

Two doors down, the Starbucks is also on the way out. An employee said that both of the existing Starbucks locations in Vienna are being closed in April, with staff consolidated to the new drive-through location one block away.

Between the two is Cold Stone Creamery, but a manager at the store said the location is on a 10-year lease for the location. The manager did not know how far into the lease the chain was but said there were no immediate plans for it to leave.

The City of Falls Churched announced via a Simpsons GIF that trash and recycling curbside pickup services delayed yesterday on account of the snowstorm have been rescheduled for this Saturday.

Snow angels > garbage angels. City trash and recycling curbside collection is rescheduled for this Saturday, February 23 because of yesterday's snow! pic.twitter.com/gUv3nBxVq5

— City of Falls Church (@FallsChurchGov) February 21, 2019

Trash pickup for other localities started sooner. In Vienna, trash pickup canceled yesterday was picked up earlier today, though the town asked locals not to include brush or bulk items.

Roughly 90 percent of Fairfax County residents and businesses use a private collection service and are encouraged to reach out to their chosen provider to find out when trash services resume.

American Disposal Services, one of the largest private collection services in the county, announced that its Wednesday trash pickup service was also postponed to the weekend. According to the website:

Wednesday Residential service will be made up on Saturday, February 23, 2019. Please have trash and / or recycling out the night before to ensure collection.

Commercial and Roll off service will be on a one day delay. Wednesday service will be performed Thursday, Thursday service will be performed Friday, Friday and Saturday services will be performed Saturday.

The collection service also asked that the lots near dumpsters and the wheels are cleared of any ice.

At least one Falls Church resident noted on Twitter, though, that some Fairfax Public Works employees were braving the foul weather yesterday to pick up bulk trash on the street.

Seems to be tapering off a bit here in Falls Church/Fairfax, but the snow didn’t stop Thomas, an awesome @ffxpublicworks employee, from braving the roads to help pick up some bulk trash for us. pic.twitter.com/MzLKtcdpEv

— Brian Chiglinsky (@chiglinsky) February 20, 2019

Photo via Facebook

It’s cold out and the snow is still piling up in the streets, but that hasn’t kept some stores from opening. Tysons currently has around three inches of snow on the ground.

Tysons Corner Center said in a tweet this morning that it would be open, though individual retailers within the store might be closed.

Hello snow angels! Tysons Corner Center is Open today. Individual Retailer hours may vary. Please contact stores directly for their operating hours. pic.twitter.com/jAgGGNd1Cq

— Tysons Corner Center (@ShopTysons) February 20, 2019

The security office at Tysons Galleria said that the mall is closed today as a result of the snow.

The Tower Club Tysons will be open with a limited menu until 2 p.m., with an anticipated opening and normal hours at 7 a.m. on Thursday.

While the emergency departments remain open, Inova’s physical therapy location in Tysons is closed today, as are several other Inova programs across the county. Ninotch massage and sports therapy also announced its Tysons location is closed today.

The lunch special event at TenPenh near Tysons Galleria is also postponed, though the restaurant remains open.

Vienna government facilities and community centers are closed today. Maple Avenue Restaurant in Vienna announced that it would also be closed today.

All library branches are closed today as is the Fairfax Animal Shelter, which advised locals to stay cuddled up at home with their pets.

The animal shelter is CLOSED today due to the snow. Consider this your official invitation to stay home and lounge on the couch with your pets all day!!! If you don't have a pet (yet), browse our website and come visit when we're open again: https://t.co/hxPmrlSLYI

— Fairfax Animals (@fairfaxanimals) February 20, 2019

Criticism over massing and scale of new buildings has prompted the Town of Vienna to revisit its Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning requirements.

While the four-story height limit remains intact, new regulations will push buildings further away from the street.

Setbacks — or the required distance of a new development from the street — played a major role in discussions last year regarding the redevelopment of the Vienna Wolf Trap Hotel. Critics and a few members of the Town Council argued the size of the building overshadowed nearby developments and asked that the building be reduced in size and built further away from Maple Avenue.

The minimum distance from the front of the building to the curb was 20 feet on Maple Avenue, but the new amendments increase that set back to 28 feet. On side streets, the setback requirement is increased from 15 feet to 20 feet.

A maximum height of four stories or 54 feet was included in the original zoning regulations, but the new regulations include a note that all buildings “shall have the appearance of, at most, four stories when viewed from every cardinal direction.”

New proposals will also require applicants to include an analysis of the long-term fiscal benefits and costs to Vienna under the revisions the commission will examine. Projects will also be required to include how the development fits into the current school zone boundary map.

As part of an effort to ensure that the new developments boost local retail, the regulations include a requirement that new developments or redevelopments include ground floor commercial square footage equal to or greater than what currently exists, including commercial square footage currently occupied, vacant or previously demolished.

Density caps had been discussed for multi-family dwelling units, but a comment on the proposed amendments notes that the idea was eventually dismissed.

The new regulations also slightly increase the amount of transparency on the ground floor facade from 50 percent to 60 percent.

The building also includes extensive revisions impervious surfaces of new developments. MAC-zoned developments have an 80 percent maximum impervious surface, meaning surfaces that rainwater can’t pass through. The idea is to prevent runoff that can quickly flood Maple Avenue.

But the zoning regulations also offer incentives allowing an increase in the impervious surface if other requirements are met. This includes a 5 or 10 percent increase if the applicant constructs and maintains a vegetated roof system covering at least half, or 2,000 square feet, of continuous roof area.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the changes at a work session tomorrow (Wednesday) at 6:30 p.m.

A joint work session is scheduled for March 6, followed by community workshops later in March to discuss the proposed changes.

After nearly 10 years in downtown Vienna, Maple Avenue Market closed for good on Sunday.

The market was a farm store run by Sara and Chris Guerre, farmers with a 10-acre property in the Shenandoah Valley who sold their produce and supplies from other small farms throughout Virginia.

According to a post on Facebook:

It is with great sadness to announce that we are closing our beloved Maple Avenue Market after nearly 10 years in business.

For the past decade we’ve been humbled by your patronage, and by your belief in our mission of envisioning solutions to help reinvent our local food system and creating change from “the ground up” in our community.

Growing, cooking, and sharing good food with all of you, and with local public schoolchildren, for so many wonderful years … will perpetually encourage us to see the world, not for what it is … but for what it might be … and for that, we are grateful.

In the comments, many people, including several local politicians, shared their stories of what the market meant to them.

“Chris and Sara, thank you for your service to our community over the past decade through Maple Avenue Market and beyond,” said Fairfax County School Board Member Ryan McElveen, who is also running for Board of Supervisors Chairman. “You have nurtured young students in our region and taught them the importance of accessible, healthy food. For that, we are all immensely grateful!”

“Thank you for being a great community business for the past 10 years,” said Vienna Town Councilwoman Carey Sienicki, “and especially for your noble mission of providing quality ingredients and supporting our schools in finding the good ways that our children can think about their food and how it gets to the table.”

Photo via Facebook