Nearly 2 1/2 years after plans for a major redevelopment at Reston’s Fairway Apartments near Lake Anne were finally approved, there have been no changes to the 346-unit garden apartments that were the source of major discussions a few years ago.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved developer JBG’s plans in the Spring of 2012, and it was not one that sailed through the Reston channels easily.

JBG was sent back to the drawing board many times over three years by Reston Association’s Design Review Board, and later the county planning commission. Many Reston residents spoke up in 2010 and ’11 about proposed density, the design elements and potential traffic on North Shore Drive.

Finally, the developer tweaked the design to a sustainable one  — but not the “Texas doughnut” that was previously disdained by the DRB.

The approved plan calls for a mix of townhomes and multifamily units, with 804 residences in all. The final plan also includes 38 percent open space in the new complex, pedestrian connectivity, and more than 47,000 square feet of preserved tree canopy. JBG has also pledged about 80 units for workforce housing.

Because the redevelopment is not a rezoning, JBG was not required to provide any certain level of workforce housing.

A development source says the plans are still on, but that no start date has been booked and might not be for some time.

That is sometimes the case with development plans. Lerner Enterprises received approval in early 2013 for a major redo of Reston’s Spectrum Center, but developers say that building may be as many as 10 years away.

Since Fairways’ approval, other Lake Anne-area residential projects have launched. Last summer, Fairfax County selected Lake Anne Development Partners (LADP) to redevelop Crescent Apartments, a similarly aging 18-building apartment complex near Lake Anne.

About 1,000 residential units are planned for the revamped Crescent. Developers hope the renovation of Crescent — which also includes a retail element in Lake Anne Plaza’s current parking lot, additional parking, added office space and a rerouted entrance to the plaza — will bring needed added density and vibrancy to Lake Anne. LADP is required to replace all 181 units of affordable housing and must also provide 151 units of workforce housing.

LADP’s plans will go before the Planning Commission in a public hearing Nov. 5. If the planning commission recommends approval, the plan will go to the Board of Supervisors Nov. 18. Both of those dates are subject to change. If approvals go forward on that schedule, LADP President David Peter said he expects construction to begin in 2015.

Meanwhile, a plan to tear down and rebuild nearby senior housing at Lake Anne Fellowship House, as well as an additional housing complex on the same land, fell apart in recent weeks “when county officials were not receptive to the idea of offering Section 8 housing vouchers to existing residents, which the Fellowship Foundation needed in order to progress with the zoning application,” Fellowship House officials said.

When Fairway and Crescent are completed, it will increase housing at Lake Anne by nearly 2,000 units.

Weddings Affordable Here? — The site NerdWallet says Fairfax County is the third most affordable place in the United States to throw a wedding. Now, before you show us your catering hall credit card bill, one caveat: it’s “affordable” compared to income level. With a median household income of $109,000 and the average cost ofa wedding just under $50,000, it’s a match. [NerdWallet]

Baron Cameron Bowl Tonight — South Lakes High School football will try for its third straight “Baron Cameron Bowl” victory against Herndon High at Herndon at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The schools play in different conferences (South Lakes, former Liberty now VHSL Conference 6; Herndon, former Concorde, now Conference 5), but many of the players grew up playing youth sports together, and, of course, a good portion of Herndon High students live in Reston. The Hornets (1-1) hold a historical advantage, winning most meetings over the last 10 years, but South Lakes(0-3)  won in 2012 and ’13.

Police Chief Wants Beefed-Up School Traffic Safety — Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler says he has heard the community’s concerns about traffic and safety near schools and has directed extra patrols and extra crossing guard training. [Fairfax County Police]

Photo: Eagle lands at Forest Edge ES/Credit: Martha Furniss

Reston Go-Kart racer Ayrton Climo has been released from a Canadian hospital and will continue his rehabilitation at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital.

The Washington Post reports that the 18 year old, who suffered a severe head injury in an Aug. 1 practice run in Trois Riveres, Quebec, is making the 14-hour trip back to the area via ambulance.

After the injury, Climo had brain surgery and spent three weeks in a medically induced coma. His parents, Lisa and Ed Climo, spent time battling their insurance company, who wanted Ayrton to continue rehabilitation in Canada.

They eventually received clearance to return this week, taking a Canadian ambulance to the U.S. border, then continuing the journey by American ambulance.

A GoFundMe account called #KEEPFIGHTINGAYRTON set up by friends in the karting community now has $25,000 in it to help defray mounting medical costs.

Lisa Climo has been posting updates on her son’s recovery on the KeepFightingAyrton Facebook page. Ayrton, a 2014 South Lakes High School graduate, has been eating small amounts of food and talking a bit in the last week.

Photo: Ayrton Climo via GoFundMe.com

If the winter of 2014-15 is at all like last winter, Reston residents will be shoveling lots of snow.

Reston Association is taking steps now to ensure that it is a community effort with results that enable residents get where they need to go.

While RA plows its 55 miles of paths, it does not shovel sidewalks unless they are on RA property. This led to complaints from RA members last winter as students walked to school in the street rather than on shoveled sidewalks and an explanation from RA’s attorney that RA cannot shovel spots it does not own because of liability issues.

In February, the RA Board authorized staff and legal counsel to discuss with Fairfax County officials whether RA could plow county-owned pathways in Reston. The board also tasked several RA committees with developing a community-wide snow removal mobilization.

RA has since drafted an agreement with the county that would grant RA the legal right to work on paths crucial to access to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. RA would be permitted to plow or provide other minor maintenance such as pruning or pothole repair. RA would not be responsible for major repair or capital replacement.

RA is also seeking a permit from the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to remove snow from VDOT sidewalks adjacent to RA property.

VDOT is responsible for plowing most public streets in Reston. It does not, however, shovel sidewalks, leading to a bit of a game of hot potato when it comes to shoveling. Some community members pitched in to shovel sidewalks near their subdivisions last winter, but it was far from 100-percent participation.

“Recognizing VDOT does not provide any snow removal on its sidewalks, if RA removes snow from VDOT sidewalks adjacent to RA property, but other adjoining property owners (individuals, clusters, condos) do not, there will be a very obvious discontinuation of cleared sidewalks at many locations throughout Reston,” RA documents state. Read More

After nearly 50 years on Lake Anne Plaza, Lakeside Pharmacy will close its doors for good on Monday at 5 p.m.

The old-time pharmacy — complete with a soda fountain, post office and friendly pharmacist — was the last remaining original store at Reston’s first village center.

Pharmacist Larry Cohn has owned the store for 44 years. He sold it last spring to an investor. Cohn, who has been making the daily commute from Culpeper for years, wants to retire.

The new owners had hoped to have an independent pharmacist take over the store so there would be no disruption in service, but one could not be found in time.

Prescriptions on file at Lakeside Pharmacy will be transferred to the CVS at Plaza America, Cohn said.

While patrons gave Cohn gave Cohn and staff a goodbye party last spring, another gathering is being planned for patrons who want to remember their store and take a few photos.

Patrons will be meeting Saturday at 4 p.m. in front of Kalypso’s restaurant before heading over to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy’s closure caps a run of recent changes at Lake Anne Plaza.

Cafe Lakeside, the breakfast and lunch counter located in the pharmacy, closed in February. Owners Alfredo and Rocio Melendez, who had operated the space since 2011, said they wanted to retire since the future of the space was unknown.

The lunch counter space is being marketed for sale or lease separately, so a prospective tenant would not necessarily have to run the business inside another business.

The waterfront space that houses Lakeside Pharmacy is not slated for redevelopment as part of Lake Anne Development Partners’ (Republic Development) plan for the area.

Because the pharmacy is in the historic part of Lake Anne, the building cannot undergo major changes.

Nearby areas, such as the current parking lot at Lake Anne Plaza, a grove of trees owned by Reston Association and Crescent Apartments are included in the redevelopment plan, which includes 60,000 square feet of new retail space, up to 82,500 square feet of office space, and 1,037 residential units.

Meanwhile, other Lake Anne businesses are changing hands or have recently closed. Jasmine Cafe, a locally owned restaurant on the plaza, closed in April. The Lake Anne Coffee House is for sale. The Cupcake Ladi and New Family Naturals also recently closed.

Animals For You — Fairfax County Animal Shelter staff says September is a peak time for available animals. Is there a pet waiting for you? [YouTube]

A Field On Top — A developer is pitching a mixed use project with athletic fields on the roof at Tysons Corner. Might such a design be right for Reston, which is planning for more development and needs more fields? [Washington Business Journal]

The Gun Control Vigil Continues — Members of the Reston-Herndon Alliance to End Gun Violence have been picketing at National Rifle Association headquarters every 14th of the month since 20 were killed in the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 12, 2012. [Reston Connection]

Enterovirus Alert — Fairfax County officials are on the lookout for the illness that is drastically affecting children in the Midwest. [Fairfax Times]

About one-fifth of Fairfax County High School students report drinking alcohol in the last 30 days and nearly 10 percent report binge drinking more than five drinks at a time in the last two weeks — numbers that show a decline from previous years.

Those stats were among the findings of the 2013 Fairfax County Youth Survey, released by Fairfax County Public Schools this week.

The Youth Survey, organized in a cooperative effort every two years by Fairfax County and FCPS, polls eighth, 10th and 12th graders about their health habits, including substance abuse and sexual history. The questions were answered last school year by 32,439 students.

Among some of the report’s key findings:

Approximately two-fifths of Fairfax County students (41.1%) reported drinking alcohol at least once in their lifetime, with over three-fifths of twelfth-grade students (62.9%) having consumed alcohol at least one time. The percentage of students using alcohol in their lifetime has declined since 2011 by 4.4 percentage points.

Approximately one-fifth of the students reported using marijuana in their lifetime (21.0%), ranging from 5.3% of eighth-grade students to over one-third (38.3%) of twelfth-grade students.  The 2013 rate was higher than in 2010 (20.2%) and 2012 (20.5%), but lower than 2011 (22.0%).

A higher percentage of students reported having ever smoked cigarettes in 2013 compared to 2012 (17.5% vs. 16.6%, respectively). The 2013 rate ranged from 7.8% of eighth-grade students to 29.1% of twelfth-grade students.

Almost 1 in 10 Fairfax County students (9.1%) reported using painkillers without a doctor’s order in their lifetime, and a slightly smaller percentage (7.3%) reported using other prescription drugs without a doctor’s order in their lifetime. Read More

After months of community meetings and a half-dozen school board work sessions, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza is finally ready to formally recommend a new bell schedule for the system. Garza will present the changes to the school board on Thursday, and the board will vote on it in October.

The new schedule, aimed at letting teenagers get more sleep, will have high schools starting between 8 and 8:10 a.m. (formerly 7:20 a.m.) and middle schools starting at 7:30 a.m. (formerly 8 a.m.). The changes would go into effect in 2015-16.

The majority of elementary schools will start about the same time as they do this year.

The Fairfax County School Board adopted a resolution in April 2012 to seek solutions to establish high school start times at 8 a.m. or later. It later hired experts from Children’s National Medical Center to develop a proposal and options towards that goal.

The experts said teens are chronically lacking in sleep and changing the start times would help their academic performance as well as physical and mental health.

However, the proposed bell schedule has one group of teens — the youngest ones, in middle school — actually starting school a half hour earlier, though Garza has said her goal is to work towards eventually moving middle school bells to after 8 a.m.

What do you think of the bell schedule?

Photo: FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza/File photo

Reston’s Mykonos Restaurant has a new name, new owners and a new menu.

The cozy spot at 1810 Michael Faraday Drive rebranded itself MandOOhouse last week after Reston businessman Jim Brundage purchased the Greek restaurant.

MandOOhouse is now a Greek-Korean place, says manager Chris Brundage, the owner’s son.

It is the Brundage’s first venture into the restaurant business, Chris Brundage said.

“I always told my dad he tells great stories and would make a great bartender,” he said. “A few months ago I moved back in with him, and he said ‘I bought a restaurant.’ “

Chris Brundage says he envisions MandOOhouse as becoming a friendly corner bar. The location off of Sunset Hills Road — very close to the new Wiehle-Reston East Silver Line station — has few places to drink and eat. The former China Star in the same office complex has been vacant for several years.

Mandoo (or Mandu) are Korean dumplings. MandOOhouse features a wide variety on its menu, including meat, seafood and veggies. They also feature Korean grilled platters.

The Brundages have also kept the mainstays of the Mykonos menu, including gryos, Greek salads, souvlaki and spanakopita.

A Reston man has been charged with aggravated assault and tampering with evidence after a stabbing near Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Police said that William “Tony” Rivera, 21, of Reston, a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, was a passenger in a car driven by Giovanni Brown, also 21, about 5:45 p.m. on Sunday.

Robert Muir, Rivera’s attorney, said his client acted in self defense. He told the Associated Press that Rivera, who was released on $5,000 bond, has withdrawn from school and has returned home to live in Reston with his parents.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has more details of the incident:

Brown told officers he was leaning into the driver’s door of a vehicle that stopped in the entrance of Monroe Muffler when he was stabbed, according to a criminal complaint filed by Indiana Borough police.

Police interviewed a man to whom the vehicle is registered later that evening. He said his friend “Tony” Rivera, who was in the back passenger seat, pulled the knife and stabbed Mr. Brown, the complaint continues.

A second man in that vehicle told police the same story. Both said that three men then drove away and washed the blood from the driver’s side door before Rivera threw the knife outside an apartment on Carter Avenue.

Police wrote that Mr. Rivera told them a folding knife with a red handle “was thrown from the suspect vehicle on a gravel alley” near Carter. Officers recovered it that day.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 2.

Photo: William “Tony” Rivera/Credit: Indiana Gazette

Phone Scammers Back — The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office says phone scammers that hit area residents in July are back again. They claim to be sheriff’s deputies who demand money after they threaten arrest. Don’t fall for it. [Fairfax County]

Schools Falling Short — Virginia Department of Education officials say more than 30 percent of schools in the commonwealth failed to meet accreditation standards last year. That is actually a decrease from the previous two years, but DOE officials say the drop also has to do with changes in tests. Fairfax County Public Schools says 89 percent of its schools reached full accreditation. [WTOP, FCPS]

Dulles Plane Pull Saturday — More than 70 teams are registered for the Annual Dulles Day Plane Pull to benefit Virginia Special Olympics. The event is Saturday at Dulles International Airport. [Dulles Day]

New Police HQ Will Have LEED Features — Fairfax County officials broke ground on a new police and fire headquarters in Fairfax on Tuesday. The new building will seek LEED Silver certification with eco-smart environmental controls, green roofs, permeable pavement and more. [Fairfax County]

Fairfax County Police said they charged three drivers with driving while intoxicated during a sobriety checkpoint at Fairfax County Parkway and North Walnut Branch Road Friday night.

Six-hundred-four vehicles passed through the checkpoint, police said. Police issued three summonses were issued and made one criminal arrest.

FCPS officers from the Sully, Reston and Fair Oaks Police districts also participated in a directed patrol on Friday, charging three with DWI and issuing 49 summonses.

In other crime news for the week ending Sept. 15:

BURGLARY

• 13000 block of Poener Place, Sept. 14.  A resident reported someone entered the residence and took property.

LARCENIES

• 11900 block of Freedom Drive, laptop computer and electronic device from vehicle.
• 11700 block of Ledura Court, bicycle from residence.
• 1800 block of Explorer Street, wallet from business.
• 1800 block of Hunters Woods Plaza, beverages from business.
• 1400 block of North Point Village Center, merchandise from business.
• 13100 block of Parcher Avenue, beverages from business.
• 1700 block of Port Place, wallet from business.
• 1600 block of Becontree Lane, purse from vehicle.
• 600 block of Brockman Court, wallet and phone from business.
• 2100 block of Centreville Road, merchandise from business.
• 11800 block of Sunrise Valley Drive, beverages from business.
• 9000 block of Weant Drive, cash and property from residence.

As the Washington 2024 group gets organized to make its bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, Fairfax County may be a viable location for many Olympic venues, training centers and athlete and press housing.

The nonprofit Washington 2024 unveiled a new website and a VIP-heavy board of directors earlier this month as it seeks to be the United States Olympic Committee’s American entry for the games. Other cities in the running for 2024 are Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The USOC will choose its nominee for consideration by the International Olympic Committee in 2017. The last Summer Games in the United States were in Atlanta in 1996. The Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Fairfax County Supervisor Chair Sharon Bulova says that Olympic events in the region “could be a galvanizing event,” but there have been no formal talks with county officials.

“Our board has not passed a resolution [to get involved], but if someone made a motion, it would probably pass easily,” she said. “The idea is great.”

Fairfax County will get an Olympic-style test next summer, when the 2015 World Police and Fire Games will take place here. More than 12,000 law enforcement athletes, as well as families and spectators, are expected here, says Fairfax 2015 President and CEO Bill Knight. Athletes will compete in 61 sports at 53 Fairfax venues.

Russ Ramsey, Chair and CEO of Washington 2024, is on the Honorary Board of Fairfax 2015.

Knight points out that the police games actually have more athletes and more events than the Summer Olympics. One big difference between the two is the police and fire games use existing infrastructure, while Olympics tend to build new facilities, he said.

George Mason University’s Patriot Center, as well as other campus facilities, will host Fairfax 2015 events.

“George Mason has some beautiful facilities,” said Knight, who managed the events that took place at University of Georgia in Athens as part of the Atlanta ’96.

“For an event like this, it is not just about competition venues, it is training venues and spectators too,” said Knight. “It takes the entire region to support the Games.”

Meanwhile, Washington 2024 has had meetings with Loudoun officials about holding equestrian events at Morven Park in Leesburg, the Washington Business Journal reported this week. The committee has also looked at potential rowing and aquatics sites in Loudoun.

Bulova adds that Metro’s Silver Line would be an added bonus for Washington 2024’s bid. The rail line is expected to be completed by 2018, finally connecting Washington Dulles Airport with Washington, D.C. and the rest of the region.

“Visitors [by 2024] will be directly served by three airports — Dulles, Reagan National and BWI,” said Bulova. “The entire region would benefit.”

Photo: George Mason’s Patriot Center/File photo

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said on Monday that it will be making changes to the Silver Line’s Phase II in order to comply with new Virginia stormwater regulations.
This could add time and money to the $2.9 billion project, which is slated to be completed in 2018.

Phase II will run from Reston’s Wiehle Avenue to Dulles International Airport and into Loudoun County. MWAA is overseeing construction of the 11-mile extension, just as it did with Phase I, which opened in late July.

The stormwater runoff regulations are designed to protect the Chesapeake Bay watershed, said MWAA spokesman Marcia McAllister. The regulations by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality took effect July 1 in order to better meet Clean Water Act standards.

“The old regulations required that the project only control the flow of stormwater,” she told WMAU.com. The new regulations require that pollutants not be discharged into tributaries to the bay, such as streams.”

The Silver Line’s second phase is being paid for with a combination of federal transportation loans, contributions from Loudoun and Fairfax counties and toll revenues from the Dulles Toll Road.

Since MWAA is making the change, MWAA will have to pay for it. The agency will likely dip into its contingency fund to do so. It is not known yet how much the changes will cost.