One South Lakes High School student will remember the Alamo — and the Alamodome — for a long time after this week.

David Clark, a saxophone player in the SLHS band, is representing the school, Fairfax County and the state this weekend as part of the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band. The band, made up of 125 top high school marching band performers from across the nation, will play at halftime of the 2017 U.S. Army All-American Bowl football game Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Clark told Reston Now this week that he is ecstatic for the opportunity to play on the big stage.

“I can’t wait,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The member of the SLHS Class of 2017 has been in San Antonio all week preparing for the performance. He said Army Field Band members are acting as mentors for the high schoolers. His mentor is Staff Sgt. Daniel Goff, a saxophone player from Morgantown, West Virginia. (Clark said Reston native Staff Sgt. Pamela Daniels – a flute player in the Army Field Band – is also at the event working with another performer.)

Clark is the son of John and Mary Nell Clark of Reston. His participation in the event makes him the third South Lakes senior in the past three years to be so honored. In 2015, Samantha Gifford (trombone) was part of the show; in 2016, Brandon Coplen (percussion) made the trip.

Clark, who has been playing the sax since the fifth grade, is involved in a number of SLHS musical groups, including the wind ensemble, jazz band and pit orchestra, in addition to the marching band.

“I’ve (always) just really liked playing saxophone,” he said. “It’s a really awesome instrument; I think you can do a lot with it.”

According to information provided by the South Lakes Band Boosters, members of the band are “selected by the National Association for Music Education and the US Army from more than 2,000 applicants [and] the rigorous application process includes essays, recommendation letters, audition videos and academic records.” Clark said he was honored to be nominated by SLHS Band Director Grayson Fore.

“I wanted to take advantage of such an amazing opportunity where I could play with such elite, talented and motivated players,” Clark said. “I love taking advantage of all these opportunities.”

It hasn’t been all hard work in San Antonio this week for Clark and the rest of the band. He said they’ve had the chance to explore the city’s well-known attractions including the Riverwalk and the Alamo.

“My family is from Texas, so I’ve been (here) a few times,” Clark said. “We saw the Alamo (on Wednesday); I took a bunch of pictures there.”

The football game, showcasing top high school players from across the country, will air at 1 p.m. Saturday on NBC. The halftime show, featuring Clark and the other members of the All-American Marching Band, will be shown live and in its entirety at www.banddirector.com.

Photos courtesy David Clark and the South Lake Band Boosters

The 11th annual Reston Sprint Triathlon is still nearly five months away, but organizers say registration has already reached capacity.

The registration process for the event began at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Less than 24 hours later, nearly 1,000 participants had signed up and it was cut off.

The 2017 Reston Sprint Triathlon is now full and registration is closed. Thanks to the 950 athletes that chose… https://t.co/nN4JOPexJf

— Reston Sprint Tri (@RestonSprintTri) January 5, 2017

“Thanks to the 950 athletes that chose our race and whose participation in this race helps those in need,” the full Facebook post continues. “You are making a difference in your life and in the lives of those around you.”

The event, scheduled for Sunday, June 4, benefits Cornerstones. Kerrie Wilson, Cornerstones CEO, said the relationship between her organization and the CORE Foundation, which stages the annual fundraiser, is cherished.

“Truly, 100 percent of the proceeds go to benefit the organization,” Wilson said. “Those kinds of partnerships are very unique and just amazing.”

Wilson said the event has raised about $240,000 for Cornerstones in the past decade.

“Every year it has grown, every year since 2007, as the race itself has grown and so has the sponsorship to be able to support our mission,” she said. “Annually, we can count on the fact that those resources are there so that we can provide stability and hope to the clients we support.”

A 1/4-mile swim at Lake Newport Pool, a 12-mile bike ride on North Reston roads and a three-mile run on North Reston pathways make up the course.

More than 600 volunteers are also needed for the event. Anyone interested in being a part of the effort is encouraged to sign up at the triathlon’s website.

It’s January, and it appears the inevitable is about to arrive. Snow is finally ready to hamper our commutes.

Rush-hour drives this evening and Friday morning are likely to get a little dicey thanks to winter weather. The Virginia Department of Transportation says anti-icing action began Wednesday, and the telltale lines are evident on streets and highways throughout the area.

VDOT says more than 1,100 pieces of equipment were being stages on area roadways this afternoon in preparation for the snow’s onset. Crews are expected to treat roads with salt and sand once the snow starts to fall. Workers are scheduled to remain on duty throughout the course of the storm, plowing in areas that see 2 inches of snow or more.

Area forecasters seem to be in agreement that the biggest impact of this weather event will be felt to the north and west of Fairfax County.

Models pretty consistent in predicting dusting south to 1-2" north across DC area tonight. More info: https://t.co/saWmGl5JNk pic.twitter.com/FmWDY8rd5J

— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) January 5, 2017

Coating to 1" around #DC -some isolated spots NW of 2.00". Travel overnight could be difficult. Delays likely Fri AM pic.twitter.com/8G9Maj7TtO

— Lauryn Ricketts (@laurynricketts) January 5, 2017

Stay wx aware today, as the 1st accum. snow this season is expected.Remember even light amts of snow can cause hazardous driving conditions! pic.twitter.com/PlaH8jJrPi

— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) January 5, 2017

As warned by the National Weather Service in the above tweet, even a small amount of snow can cause a major disruption to driving conditions. VDOT urges drivers to adjust their commutes to account for additional travel time and avoid driving during the storm. In addition, drivers are being asked to:

• Not overdrive conditions
• Reduce speeds and use headlights
• Take it slow on bridges, ramps, overpasses and other potential trouble spots
• Ensure cars are filled with gas and windshield wiper fluid
• Take time to update their cars’ emergency kits

Fairfax County Schools are also closely monitoring the situation, and Thursday evening activities have been canceled.

FCPS Evening Activities Canceled due to forecast freezing road conditions facilities and school grounds will be closed starting at 6:15 p.m

— Fairfax Schools 🌟 (@fcpsnews) January 5, 2017

The school district offers apps and text alerts to keep parents informed about school announcements, including weather-related delays and closings.

The Woodland Park area of Herndon may soon be getting even more crowded.

Currently vacant land to the west of Monroe Street, behind the Woodland Park Crossing Shopping Center, is being proposed for a future residential/mixed-use development. The proposal for the 31.59-acre lot is scheduled to be discussed in a public hearing next week with the Fairfax County Planning Commission.

The property borders the Dulles Toll Road to the north and is very near the planned Herndon Metro Station. On current streets, the drive to the station would be slightly less than 1 mile; on a new crossing with Monroe Street proposed in conjunction with project, it would be only about half a mile.

Developers hope the site will one day house:

• 74 single-family attached homes
• 90 two-over-two stacked townhomes
• 515 multifamily dwelling units within two buildings
• two office buildings, including 580,000 square feet of ground-floor retail

A similar project, the Woodland Park Waterview apartments, was approved last month by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission will meet Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 8:15 p.m. in the Board Auditorium of the Government Center (12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax).

If you pay attention to Reston on social media, you’ve seen a firestorm in the past couple days.

Tweeters and Facebookers alike have responded en masse after paid parking went into effect Tuesday at Reston Town Center. The new paid-parking initiative has many customers of Town Center businesses saying they are staging a boycott.

https://twitter.com/GoIrishBrian/statuses/816681070003441665

https://twitter.com/Bazbol/status/816667589552259072

At movie in #Herndon because seeing same film at @BowTieCinemas in #Reston would cost $4 more in @RestonTwnCenter parking.@RTCparkingFee pic.twitter.com/sgm83KLDNZ

— Matt Small (@newsmatt) January 3, 2017

Nearly 20 restaurants and retailers in the Town Center are validating parking for customers. Rob Weinhold, a spokesperson for Town Center owner Boston Properties, said Wednesday that those businesses are seeing the benefits of helping consumers pay the cost.

“It’s been an ongoing issue, and one of the concerns that retailers in any paid parking environment across the world have is what will it do to profits,” he said. “There are many retailers who have chosen to work within their business model and provide validation to consumers, which has worked out well for them.”

One of those businesses is Potomac River Running Store, which posted to social media Tuesday that it is validating one hour of parking for customers who make a purchase of $20 or more.

Our comments on @RestonTwnCenter paid parking, as seen on our Facebook page: pic.twitter.com/omTVAUj0ve

— PRRunning (@PRRunning) January 4, 2017

“As a locally-owned, independent store selling national brands, we cannot and will not raise our prices to cover the cost of parking for our customers,” the post reads. “But, at our expense, we will validate your parking when you shop at ==PR== Reston, because it’s the right thing to do for you.”

Other businesses, such as Starbucks, have chosen to not validate parking. Melina Palomino, a shift manager at the coffee shop, said as most of their customers are coming in on their way to or from work or shopping, they don’t see validation as necessary to their business. Palomino and others said business was slow Tuesday, but they attributed that to an expected post-holiday lull rather than to the parking situation.

Weinhold said many businesses in the Town Center continue to evaluate the situation to see how they can best work within the new parking rules.

“Reston Town Center is a fantastic environment with a wonderful retail and dining experience,” he said. “I would think that certainly there’s a level of quality which no one wants compromised.”

Judging from response online, however, many people feel it already has been.

A Tuesday post on Reston Town Center’s Facebook page reminding people about the policy change had more than 275 comments as of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. RTC staff has been diligently responding to many of the comments on that post and others on the page. Questions about parking validation and app security were among the many that were answered, though a number of commenters simply said they were done with RTC because of the decision.

RTC ambassadors were present at pay stations inside parking garages Tuesday and Wednesday to help users with any questions. Weinhold said he was at Reston Town Center throughout the day Tuesday and witnessed no major concerns.

“While there are people that don’t necessarily agree with the policy, which is understandable, from an operating perspective the day was a success,” he said.

Burger lovers in Reston will soon have another option to help satiate their desires.

BGR The Burger Joint will be coming to RTC West, parent company Chanticleer Holdings announced Tuesday.

There are currently 22 BGR restaurants operating nationwide, with more than half of those in the D.C. and Baltimore areas. Nearby locations include Sterling and Tysons. Another, in the Mosaic District in Merrifield, is listed on the chain’s website as coming soon.

Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant was previously announced as the anchor of RTC West, which is expected to open later this year. Nando’s Peri-Peri and Mezeh Mediterranean Grill are also signed on to be tenants.

The Reston BGR location will be operated by Sci-Reston LLC as part of a franchise agreement that includes the opening up to three additional locations down the line.

“We are thrilled to have Sci-Reston LLC as our franchise partner,” said Ed Kelley, BGR president of franchising, in a press release. “[We] look forward to opening in such a dynamic lifestyle center in the Washington, D.C. market.”

The burger market in Reston already includes Be Right Burger and The Counter in Reston Town Center, as well as Five Guys Burgers and Fries at Plaza America.

Someone nabbed a tip jar from a business in Plaza America over the New Year’s weekend.

That and another larceny — the theft of a package from a residence on Great Passage Boulevard, a Great Falls address — were the sole Reston District items on the latest Fairfax County Police crime report.

FCPD has previously given tips to help avoid package theft. Among the suggestions are to require a signature upon delivery and/or have items delivered to your workplace.

From FCPD:

RESTON DISTRICT STATION

LARCENIES:
1000 block of Great Passage Boulevard, package from residence
11600 block of Plaza America Drive, tip jar from business

STOLEN VEHICLES:
None reported

FCPD also reported an incident involving a guinea pig being thrown from a balcony in the 2200 block of Castle Rock Square, which we reported Tuesday afternoon.

A 19-year-old Reston man is facing a number of charges after police say he tossed a guinea pig to its death.

The incident happened Friday afternoon on the 2200 block of Castle Rock Square.

“Around 12:40 p.m. Animal Protection Police responded to assist officers on a domestic violence incident in the Reston area,” Fairfax County Police said in a report today. “The suspect had thrown the victim’s pet guinea pig off the balcony and left the area. APP took the animal for an evaluation and determined it was deceased.”

Theron Boone was arrested Saturday and taken to the Adult Detention Center. He faces charges of animal cruelty, domestic violence, destruction of property and preventing someone from calling 911.

Photo courtesy FCPD

(Updated 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to include statement from the Reston Association Board of Directors)

It appears the work between Reston Association and a local company to conduct an independent review of the Lake House renovations will not come to fruition.

In an email sent Monday morning to the Reston Association Board of Directors, among others, Mediaworld Ventures LLC President Sridhar Ganesan said he was cutting ties with the project:

Good Morning. It has been about 10 days since we sent the last letter to you and have had no response. Please consider this email as termination of our contract discussions. Wish you all a Happy New Year.

The “last letter” referenced by Ganesan in his email is one in which he claimed RA had been “granted… certain powers” that would “jeopardize the independence of the review.”

Ganesan also serves as president of the Reston Citizens Association. His group had proposed to conduct the audit for $1, with a team of four community-based reviewers.

The Lake House, located off Baron Cameron Avenue between Lake Newport Tennis and Brown’s Chapel Park, housed the Reston Visitors Center for about 20 years before it was acquired in 2003 by Tetra Partners (now Lauer Commercial) and used as offices.

Reston Association passed its referendum to buy the building in May 2015, authorizing a purchase cost of $2.6 million. That number in itself came under scrutiny after it was discovered that Fairfax County tax estimates valued the property at only about half that price. It is now being leased for special day and evening events.

Needed renovations were budgeted to cost about $259,000; however, that number quickly ballooned to $655,000. The money was recouped by RA in the form of various employment restructuring, among other measures.

When it was estimated a full professional review of the overrun could cost into six figures, the locally based Mediaworld came into the picture. However, Mediaworld and RA could not agree on many of the particulars of the arrangement, culminating in this week’s official falling-out.

Late Tuesday afternoon, a statement to Reston Now from RA Board of Directors President Ellen Graves expressed the board’s disappointment in Mediaworld’s “unilateral decision to terminate its proposal.”

“RA was and continues to be willing to work with Mediaworld in good faith toward a mutually acceptable agreement,” Graves said. “In fact, the association’s legal counsel offered repeatedly during the course of negotiations to sit down in person with representatives of Mediaworld in an attempt to resolve the details of the remaining open issues.”

Graves said that Mediaworld “apparently could not find the time to meet to resolve the remaining issues, including many standard terms found in community association contracts designed for an association’s protection and which are generally accepted by most companies performing similar services for community associations.”

In the statement, Graves said the board “remains undeterred in its efforts to have this important project completed,” adding that a meeting would take place later this month to determine the best course of action moving forward.

The date has arrived. As of today, visitors to Reston Town Center are paying for the right to park there.

The ParkRTC paid parking initiative has officially begun, a Boston Properties official told Reston Now. Mobile pay parking is available through the ParkRTC smartphone app, while visitors without the app will be required to use garage pay stations or pay by phone.

Parking in the Town Center’s five garages will now cost $2 an hour (up to a maximum charge of $24 a day). Street parking is $3 an hour. A number of retailers have previously announced they plan to offer parking validation.

This marks the first time since the retail and residential complex opened in 1990 that parking fees will be collected.

The ParkRTC app, which can be downloaded via iTunes and Google Play, enables visitors to see available spaces, pay for a parking session, extend a parking session and receive discounts from retailers. According to Robert Weinhold, a Boston Properties spokesperson, more than 28,000 people had downloaded the app as of Tuesday morning.

Boston Properties, the owner of Reston Town Center, had originally announced it planned to commence paid parking at Reston Town Center last year. However, the start date was pushed back to Jan. 3 to allow “additional time to educate consumers” who were not embracing the technology, an RTC spokesman told Reston Now in September.

Nearly 9,000 people signed a change.org petition, organized by Reston’s Suzanne Zurn, asking to stop the new parking fees from being enacted at the Town Center. However, Boston Properties and the Reston Town Center Association did not bend on the plan.

Last month, Reston Now conducted an unscientific poll in which nearly 94 percent of readers said they do not support paid parking at the Town Center.