St. James Performance Club Coming Soon — The Springfield complex is opening a second location in Reston Town Center this spring. Vim & Vector, a snack bar that serves smoothies and acai bowels, will also open at that location. [Northern Virginia Magazine]

Charges Announced in 1987 Cold Case Murder in Herndon — Through a regional law enforcement effort, the Fairfax County Police Department announced that Charles Helem, 52, has been charged for two cold case homicides that happened in Herndon and Prince George’s County, Md. [FCPD]

County Seedling Sale to Begin –The annual Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District seedling sale begin March 1. All species sold are native to Virginia and help bees survive. [Fairfax County Government]

Local Speed Skater Returns to Olympics — Reston’s own Maame Biney heads to the Beijing Winter Olympics. She catches up with Washingtonian magazine to discuss her training, mental health and goals for the competition. [Washingtonian]

Photo by Marjorie Copson

Worldgate Athletic Club & Spa is reopening this week after roughly $4 million in renovations.

The club, which is located at 13037 Worldgate Drive, has upgraded its fitness equipment and added a boxing studio and a system to its indoor tennis program.

The facility also includes video-on-demand cycling, pickleball, an upgraded indoor track, and a new recovery zone.

A golf stimulator by Foresight Sports — called AcuTennis — was also included in the upgrades, allowing users to practice the game with customizable options. The feature has been added to all courts and allows users to access instant replays and control the court through mobile devices.

Here’s more from the company on the renovation:

Worldgate Athletic Club & Spa’s recent multi-million dollar renovation has transformed the three-level facility into a one-stop shop for living well. The club offers 110,000 square feet of fitness, aquatics, tennis, spa and wellness amenities. From state-of-the-art equipment to a large gymnasium to all new locker rooms to a full kid’s club, Worldgate Athletic Club & Spa is amenity-rich. Expert personal trainers, group exercise instructors and spa therapists offer the latest in well-balanced health.

The club is owned by DC-based property management company Rapport and managed by Maryland-based club management company WTS International.

“We’re so excited to showcase the renovated club,” said Gary D. Rappaport, CEO of Rappaport, owners of Worldgate.  “As one of the largest clubs in the D.C. region, it was important for us to provide the latest in fitness technology and workout trends. Members, and the community, should be excited to see the new additions. It is a state-of-the-art fitness club and spa that offers everything.”

Photo courtesy Worldgate Club & Spa

Reston Hospital Center is now requiring its staff to get at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, reversing course on a previous policy that did not require staff to be vaccinated.

The hospital, which is part of the HCA Healthcare, did not institute a vaccine mandate due to a pending court case against vaccine mandates from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In a 5-4 ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the vaccine mandate, which covers nearly all healthcare workers, to proceed.  The ruling covers two dozen states under federal injunctions that prohibited the CMMS from imposing mandates. It applies to roughly 76,000 health care facilities, including hospitals and long-term care facilities.

In their opinion, justices implied that the court’s ruling overrode state laws that ban vaccination requirements at facilities taking part in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. As a result, failing to comply with the ruling could compromise some health care facility’s ability to serve patients under the Medicare and Medicaid program.

“To ensure our ability to continue caring for Medicare and Medicine patients, Reston Hospital will comply with the CMS mandate and require colleagues covered by the mandate to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or seek a religious or medical exemption,” Suzanne Kelly, the healthcare system’s marketing and communications director, wrote in a statement.

The court also ruled that the OSHA mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees was not enforceable and exceeded the office’s statutory authority.

All staff is required to receive their first dose of the vaccine by Jan. 27 and be fully vaccinated by Feb. 28.

The hospital did not provide information on vaccinations rates for staff, although a spokesperson said a majority of its staff are vaccinated.

Angela Woolsey contributed to this report

Reston Chamber Plans for 2022 — The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce is offering a full slate of live events to support local business owners. President Charles Kapur reflects on last year’s successes. [Reston Patch]

Restonian to Chair State Chamber of Commerce — Fred Thompson, chief administrative officer of Reston-based Thompson Hospitality Corp., was elected chair of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. [Virginia Business]

Reston Art Gallery Begins New Shows — Reston Art Gallery is kicking off a new display called Winter Winds. The gallery is on display through Feb. 27 at Lake Anne Plaza. [Tysons Today]

Metro General Manager to Retire — Paul Wiedefeld, Metro’s general manager and CEO will retire from Metro in six months after more than six years with the transit agency. [Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

Before we head off into another weekend with COVID-19 abound, let’s take a look back at the biggest stories on Reston Now in recent days.

1. Banana Republic in Reston Town Center is closing
2. Reston Hospital Center does not back vaccine mandate for staff
3. Herndon teen John Gluck takes his star turn on NBC’s “Ordinary Joe”
4. County proposes $300,000 to plan the revitalization of Lake Anne
5. Taco Bamba is coming to Village Center at Dulles

If you have ideas on stories we should cover, email us at [email protected] or submit an anonymous tip.

Feel free to discuss these topics, your social distancing plans, or anything else that’s happening locally in the comments below.

Photo courtesy of Reston Hospital Center

Further Investigations Continue on 7000-series Railcars — Metro’s general manager and chief executive officer says he does not plan on bringing 7000-series trains into service until an engineering and mechanical analysis on technology solutions occurs. [Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority]

Herndon M&T Bank to Be Revamped — M&T Bank in Herndon will be revamped so that it expands financial access to ethnically, racially, and diverse communities. The branch is among 23 multicultural centers operated by the bank. [M&T]

Reston Association Releases Camps Schedule — The association has released its camps schedule and activities guide. [RA]

Schools Superintendent Gets Another Role — Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Braband has been named the new executive director of the Virginia Association of Schools Superintendents. [VASS]

Photo by vantagehill/Flickr

This is an opinion column by Del. Ken Plum (D), who represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

The General Assembly convenes at noon today, January 12, for its annual legislative session. There has been much speculation since the November election as to the direction the Commonwealth might be heading with the change in partisan control of the three statewide offices and the House of Delegates. The newly-elected lieutenant governor and attorney general were known quantities in state politics having served in the House of Delegates. The newly-elected governor who will take the oath of office at noon on Saturday, January 15, does not have any elective office experience and after having run a campaign of having to thread a needle among the various factions of his party has remained somewhat a mystery as to the direction he might pursue. That was especially true until he had to start taking action to organize his new government.

He set off a firestorm of opposition last week when he announced his pick to be the next Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources. Making up for any lack of experience that he may have in the environmental area, Governor-elect Youngkin announced that he would name former Trump Administration head of the Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler as Virginia’s chief protector of its rich natural heritage. The reaction from those who have worked in natural resource protection in Virginia was immediate. The Virginia League of Conservation Voters issued a press release stating that Wheeler had “presided over an unprecedented rollback of environmental safeguards intended to protect clean air and water across our country–damage that the agency is still working to repair.” The leader of the organization went further and described the Wheeler nomination as “hands down the most extreme nomination for an environmental post in Virginia’s history and the absolute worst pick the Governor-elect could make.

I share the concerns expressed by the League of Conservation Voters with one exception. I believe the nomination of Becky Norton Dunlop to be the Secretary of Natural Resources in Virginia in 1993 by Governor George Allen to be the worst nomination to ever have been made to a Virginia cabinet post. Dunlop gained her experience in dismantling environmental protection agencies in President Ronald Reagan’s administration, and she wreaked havoc on the environmental protection agencies in the state. It was as many at the time expressed “like having a fox in the chicken coop.”

Emerging evidence indicates that Wheeler will compete with or even exceed the damage done to environmental protection by Dunlop. In July 2019 the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a list in its blog of “10 Ways Andrew Wheeler Has Decimated EPA Protections in Just One Year.” (https://blog.ucsusa.org/elliott-negin/andrew-wheeler-decimated-epa/) Among the concerns was Wheeler’s gutting of the Obama-era coal ash rule after Wheeler had worked as a coal industry lobbyist. He rolled back Clean Water Act protections even as concerns have been raised about the quality of water in this country.

Environmentalists and activists are hard at work bringing the Wheeler record to the attention of the members of the General Assembly who must confirm his nomination. I oppose the nomination, but the history in Virginia is that the governor gets to pick the people in his administration even if it may mean another fox in the chicken coop!

The county is working on plans to improve pedestrian connectivity to Innovation Center Metro Station, which is expected to open sometime this year.

A new shared-use path is planned from the station to adjacent neighborhoods. A virtual community meeting is set for Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. to discuss the project.

A 10-foot-wide and 2,000-foot shared use path will connect the station’s kiss and ride parking lot to the residential community at Farougi Court and the townhome community at Apgar Place. Two bridges for pedestrians and cyclists are also planned.

The Fairfax County Department of Transportation kicked off the project in 2017 with a feasibility study.

The station is tentatively expected to open in May this year, although the opening date is contingent on several factors.

Phase two of the Silver Line will provide an 11.5-mile extension into Loudoun County.

Banana Republic is planning to close its location at Reston Town Center by the end of the month.

A store representative tells Reston Now that the retailer, which sells women’s and men’s business casual clothing, is expected to close by Jan. 24.

No word yet on what will replace the store at 11905 Democracy Drive.

Banana Republic has other locations in Dulles Town Center, Tysons Corner Center, and Montgomery, Md.

County permits do not indicate what will take up the space, once it is vacated.

The parent company, Gap Inc., plans to close 350 Gap and Banana Republic stores by the end of next year. The closures are part of the company’s plans to move out of malls and other areas where foot traffic is low.

The company did not return several requests for comment.

Boston Properties has indicated that seven new businesses are expected to open this year.

Compass Real Estate, for example, is in the permitting process to open at 11943 Democracy Drive.

Crunch Fitness closed on Dec. 20.

Image via Google Maps

Palchik Takes Position at Northern Virginia Transportation Commission — Dalia Palchik, the Providence District Supervisor, was recently sworn in as the vice chair of the commission. [NVTC]

Families of Four Eligible for COVID-19 Tests –Families of four in Virginia will be eligible for free at-home COVID-19 tests under a new Biden administration rule that requires insurance companies to cover the cost of tests. [Reston Patch]

Search for Schools Superintendent Underway — Virtual town halls are coming up to gather public feedback on the search for the new superintendent of the Fairfax County Public Schools system. [Reston Patch]

Person of Interest Sought in Falls Church Unlawful Filming Incident — Local police are seeking the public’s help to identify a person of interest in the unlawful filming of a minor in a restroom at the Surf N Suds in the Falls Church of Fairfax County. [FCPD]

Local Tennis Courts Reopen — The Hook Road tennis courts have been reopened and are ready to play. [Reston Association]

Input on Sign Regulation Sought — The county is seeking input on sign regulations during virtual meetings on Jan. 18 and Jan. 27. Changes will involve signs for for-sale properties, subdivision signs, and the comprehensive sign plan process. [Fairfax County Government]

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr

As COVID-19 cases surge nationwide and staffing shortages cut through multiple industries, Reston Hospital Center says it has no immediate plans to institute a vaccine mandate for staff.

HCA Healthcare Inc., the Nashville-based hospital system that owns RHC, StoneSprings Hospital Center in Ashburn and Dominion Hospital in Falls Church, says the vaccine mandate was paused after a federal court in November ruled that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services could not require health care workers to get vaccinated.

“While a majority of our staff are vaccinated, we continue to strongly encourage our colleagues to be vaccinated as a critical step to protect individuals from the virus,” HCA Healthcare’s communications director Suzanne Kelly told Reston Now.

Kelly declined to release Reston Hospital Center’s vaccination rates and specific statistics about staff shortages at the Reston location.

A majority of health systems in the region do require staff to get vaccinations, especially as COVID-19 variant Omicron sweeps through the area. The Washington Business Journal recently rounded up how area hospitals are handling the issue. According to that analysis, most hospital systems are leaning toward vaccine mandates. That’s despite an increasing number of staff shortages and less manpower, partly due to COVID-19 infection rates and other industry-related factors.

Other area hospitals require mandates as a condition of employment. Inova, for example, has preserved its vaccine mandate, which it sees as a tool to promote recruitment and retention.

Reston Hospital Center offered the following statement in response to questions about how staffing shortages are being handled and the extent of the staffing shortage:

We are investing in our colleagues by continually reviewing the nursing market and making strategic pay adjustments, implementing additional incentive and recognition programs, and by providing a stable workplace by not laying off our medical staff during the pandemic as did some of our competitors. To support immediate staffing shortages, we are also recruiting nurses from other states and even other countries to come to Virginia to support our nurses and help ensure we are providing top quality care to our patients during this unprecedented time. We are attracting new nurses to work at our facilities through aggressive recruitment efforts including sign-on bonuses and referral bonuses in strategic areas and specialties. We also continue to partner with bricks-and-mortar colleges and universities, and online programs, to attract more people to choose careers in healthcare. This will build a future pipeline to fill long-term healthcare staffing needs.

While there is no simple solution to the complex staffing challenges facing our nation and the healthcare industry, we believe through this combination of tools, and the unique opportunities we can provide our nurses and colleagues as of the largest healthcare companies in the nation, we will be able to attract and retain a world-class workforce to meet the needs of the communities we serve now and in the future.

Currently, the hospital system’s most critical vacancies are for nurses and imaging colleagues in its new standalone emergency room, Tyson’s Emergency, which is opening soon.

The county and Fairfax County Public Schools require vaccines for staff.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can institute a vaccine mandate after the agency filed an appeal. The appeal comes after a federal court granted 10 states’ requests to preclude the centers from enforcing their vaccine mandate in late November.

Photo courtesy of Reston Hospital Center

County officials could allocate $300,000 in funding in order to develop a long-term vision and revitalization plan for the aging Lake Anne Village Center.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors budget committee will discuss the matter at a meeting today (Tuesday). Funding would require adjusting the fiscal year 2022 budget, according to Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn.

In a Jan. 10 letter to Lake Anne residents, Alcorn said the funding would be used for economic envisioning and master planning in order to “support the long-term sustainable development planning for Lake Anne.”

In recent months, the village center has been the focus of renewed community focus due to the plaza’s deteriorating infrastructure and highly visible stagnation.

A little over a year ago, several condominium units in the plaza were without hot water for months.

The county’s Architectural Review Board is seeking a supplemental report to fill gaps of a cursory review of the plaza that flagged nearly $37 million in repairs for the aging area.

The review was conducted by the county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services and Samaha Associates, an architectural firm, but the ARB said it failed to account for Lake Anne’s status as a historic district, among other concerns.

The supplemental report would expand on the previous report, which was issued in September.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to discuss the newly proposed funding at a meeting on Jan. 25.

Photo via vantagehill/Flickr