Is 2014 the year indoor tennis moves forward in Reston?

Reston Association’s  Tennis Advisory Committee has urged the RA Board put indoor tennis as a high priority for this year. The board said at a planning meeting this week that it will make indoor tennis part of a broader conversation as it looks at the community’s recreation needs as a whole.

“We should talk about what amenities [Reston] needs to support a diverse community,” said At-Large Director Michael Sanio, who has been an advocate for tennis in Reston. “We have a whole slew of amenities here. But there are clearly amenities that would make us a world-class community. We need to look broadly and prepare for when someone says they want to build here, we’ll be able to say ‘this is what we want.’ “

Reston Association currently has 52 outdoor courts, but no indoor courts. Indoor tennis has been a much-debated topic in Reston over the last several years.

In 2008 and 2009, RA and Reston Community Center jointly studied building a $65 million recreational facility at RA’s Brown’s Chapel Park. That was met by resistance from neighbors and ultimately dropped by the board.

In 2010 and 2011, RA researched covering five courts at Lake Newport at a cost of $3.8 million — much of which would be borrowed by RA. After board debate and feedback from the community, the RA board voted in late 2011 not to put the issue to referendum and to direct RA staff to look for public-private partnerships in the future.

Meanwhile, Reston Community Center has been studying building an indoor recreation facility at Baron Cameron Park for more than a year. That facility would feature a 50-meter indoor pool, but indoor tennis is not currently part of the plan. Baron Cameron Park, owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority, is also undergoing its own Master Plan revision that may or may not include building the indoor rec center.

RCC currently has a 25-meter indoor pool at Hunters Woods, but RCC officials and the swim community say the 35-year-old facility is outdated and overcrowded.

The Baron Cameron indoor pool plans have also been met with mixed reaction from community members. Big issues often mentioned: cost (about $30 million) and the location’s impact on noise and traffic.

Sanio says indoor tennis is just one of several amenities Reston could use, along with the 50-meter pool, basketball courts and an indoor track.

With major development planned for Reston as Metro’s Silver Line prepares to open here, the timing may be right to not only assess Reston’s needs, but also obtain developer proffers to held finance them.

“RA staff, with the assistance of the re-created [RA] Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, will develop and implement a community-wide needs assessment to evaluate future amenities of all types,” said Sanio.

“The data compiled will not only assess the current needs of the community, but will also assist the board as it addresses future development, redevelopment and the impact and benefits of all proposed projects. Having organized and structured input from the community will provide a road map for RA priorities which we can then share with developers, the county and with our community partners and stakeholders.”

Photo: 2010 rendering of Lake Newport indoor tennis/Credit: Reston Association

Bike Committee Has Concerns — The Reston Association Pedestrian & Bicycling Advisory Committee has drafted a letter to the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation with concerns about infrastructure issues near the new Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station. [Reston Association]

Spend The Summer Volunteering — Volunteer Fairfax has many opportunities for teens who want to give back this summer. [Volunteer Fairfax]

Changes at Comstock — Reston-based Comstock Holding Companies announces several top-level personnel changes, including the resignation of President and COO Gregory V. Benson [Comstock]

Charity Drive — Thursday is the annual Dulles Greenway Drive for Charity. The Greenway will use the tolls collected that day to fund the Dulles Greenway Citizenship Award, which grants scholarships to one student from each of the 13 Loudoun County high schools, and to contribute to five charities. [Dulles Greenway]

Glory Days Grill will soon begin construction at 1400 North Point Village Center, including adding a one-story addition to the space.

According to Fairfax County permits, the company has the go-ahead to bump out the corner storefront that used to house Blockbuster Video. The plans have also been approved by Reston Association’s Design Review Board.

The space has been empty since Blockbuster closed in March of 2011.

Glory Days announced last October that it would open the North Point location, and a spokeswoman said then it likely would not open until at least summer 2014. The company is just now getting started on permitting and construction. The Glory Days website says the Reston location will open in 2014.

Glory Days is a regional chain of sports-themed restaurants. There are 22 locations, including one at Fox Mill Shopping Center in Herndon.

Hundreds of Reston residents will walk miles and miles at the South Lakes High School track over 18 hours this weekend as the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life returns.

Relay for Life is an American Cancer Society event that takes place annually in more than 6,000 communities. Individuals and teams walk around a track overnight to celebrate the lives of those who have faced cancer, remember lost loved ones, and raise money towards fighting the disease.

Relay for Life Reston hopes to raise $200,000 this year. 

Reston’s events begin with opening ceremonies at 1 p.m., featuring SLHS Principal Kimberly Retzer; FCPS School board reps Pat Hynes and Ilryong Moon; Supervisor Cathy Hudgins; and Reston Founder Robert E. Simon).

There will also be a Survivors Lap as part of the opening ceremony. At 9 p.m., there will be a Luminaria Ceremony, where candlelit luminaria bags line the track in remembrance of those lost and in honor of those fighting cancer.

In between, there will be lots of activities and fun for participants and spectators, including a children’s tent, moonbounce, silent auction, live music and more. See the full list on the Reston Relay for Life website.

The event wraps up at 7 a.m. Sunday.

Photo: Reston Relay for Life 20122/Credit: Organicsauce via Flickr

Reston residents who travel out of nearby Dulles International Airport will have a new low-cost airline option beginning this summer.

Frontier Airlines announced on Tuesday it will launch  service at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) with nonstop flights to 14 destinations and introductory fares as low as $15 each way.

Beginning Aug. 19, Frontier will offer nonstop flights to Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando, Minneapolis/St.Paul, Chicago-O’Hare, and Tampa.

Service to Cincinnati, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Memphis, Fort Myers, St. Louis, and Jacksonville, Fla. begins Sept. 8.

The airline is hosting a 12-hour, today-only sale with flights from Dulles to any of the new cities for just $15 each way.

Says Frontier: Tickets must be purchased by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time May 13, 2014, for travel through Nov. 19, 2014. Additional introductory fares as low as $39 will be available at FlyFrontier.com through May 17, 2014. Tickets may be purchased at FlyFrontier.com.

The airlines will use the Z Gates at Dulles.

“The addition of Frontier to the Dulles family represents a significant, positive development for passengers interested in additional low cost, domestic travel options to and from the National Capital region,” Jack Potter, President and CEO, of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement of service to 14 destinations coincides perfectly with the other amazing changes taking place at Dulles — enhanced parking options, spacious concourse makeovers and new food, beverage and retail options coming throughout the year.

“With the Washington area economy growing and the Metrorail Silver Line on the way, Dulles will continue to fill the expanding air travel needs for the region and these new options from Frontier will play an important role. We welcome Frontier aboard.”

Photo: Wikipedia

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday to endorse the hybrid alternative for the Soapstone crossing to connect Sunset Hills Road and Sunrise Valley Drive.

The Supervisors’ endorsement would enable the crossing to go into the preliminary design phase, getting Reston one step closer to an additional way to cross the Dulles Toll Road and alleviate traffic.

In February, Fairfax County Transportation Department staff and the County Executive recommended that the Board of Supervisors endorse the Recommended (Hybrid) Alternative. That alternative is a combination of several alternatives for the crossing presented to citizens in 2013. 

The Soapstone extension will create a direct connection between Sunrise Valley Drive, Soapstone Drive and Sunset Hills Road; reduce traffic on Wiehle Avenue; increase connectivity across the Dulles Toll Road; and enhance access to Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, county officials said.

Without major road improvements — including several more toll road crossings — traffic could be a disaster, development-watchers say.

Transportation staff developed four options in a report in February of 2013. The hybrid combines two of them: a direct extension of Soapstone that crosses slightly northwest and ends at a new intersection at Sunset Hills.

The plan would impact several properties on both side of the toll road, including Solus and Musica on the north side and the National Association of Secondary School Principals on the south.

Additionally, there would be a four-way intersection with traffic signal at Sunrise Valley, as well as another four-way intersection with no signal, or perhaps a traffic roundabout, on the Sunset Hills side, planners said.

Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors included $2.5 million for the preliminary design of this project as part of its Six Year Transportation Project Priorities. Funding is currently programmed for fiscal year 2015 in Fund 40010, County and Regional Transportation Projects, the county says.

A Soapstone crossing (at a cost of $91.75 million) has already been identified on the county’s list of high-priority projects for 2015-20.

An exact price tag won’t be known until the connector is farther in the planning process. An environmental impact study will also be forthcoming.

To see graphics and other details of the hybrid alternative, see this Fairfax County proposal.

Photo: Reston traffic/Credit: Reston 2020

Sunrise Valley Elementary School administrators said there was a break-in at the school at 1824 Cross School Road over the weekend.

In an email to parents, Principal Tim Stanley said equipment was taken in the burglary. School officials are working with Fairfax County Police, and they are also urging the community to speak up if they have any leads.

In other recent crime news (May 1-12) from the Fairfax County Police’s Reston District Station:

BURGLARY: A resident reported someone entered the residence and took property May 2 in the 2200 block of Astoria Circle.

BURGLARY: A resident reported someone entered the residence and took property May 5 in the 9400 block of Arnon Chapel Road.

BURGLARY: A resident reported someone entered the residence and took property May 8 in the 13300 block of Hungerford Place.

LARCENIES:

2300 block of Bally Cairne Court, license plates from vehicle Read More

McAuliffe Wants Review Of Abortion Clinic Regulations — Virginia Gov. Terry McAullife (D) ordered the state’s Board of Health on Monday to review regulations that impose strict building codes on abortion clinics. While running for office, McAuliffe promised to undo the year-old regulations, which were put into place under Gov. Bob McDonnell (R). [Washington Post]

High Marks For FCPS? — Fairfax County Public Schools have released the results of its 2014 Working Conditions Survey. The system polled 13,000 employees. Remarks were pretty stable with 2012 numbers. [FCPS]

Celebrating 10 Years of Giving — The Giving Circle of HOPE will celebrate its 10th anniversary and honor 2013 Grantee Winners and its first ever Community Partner Award in a ceremony at Hidden Creek Country Club on Wednesday. [Giving Circle of HOPE]

DMV At RTC — Need to visit the DMV? DMV 2 Go will be making its monthly visit to Reston Town Center’s Pavilion Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit the office on wheels to apply or renew ID card and driver’s license; get driving records, vehicle titles, license plates, decals, order disabled plates, and more.

Want to support the arts and have fun doing it?

Then plan to attend the opening night party for the 23rd annual Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival this Friday.

High profile Reston and Northern Virginia leaders and patrons of the arts will be among the guests in the Reston Town Center Pavilion from 5 to 8 p.m. The evening will feature music, a silent auction, and two-for-one raffle tickets for a Celebrity cruise, in addition to complimentary beverages and creative food.

Attendees also receive a 10 percent discount coupon good toward one art purchase throughout the weekend from participating artists. Festival booths will also be open from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday.

Fairfax County Public Schools will host a series of community meetings in May and June to gather opinion from parents and students about adjusting school start times.

The Cluster 8 meeting will be Tuesday, May 27 at South Lakes High School. Residents can attend any of the other meetings as well. Visit the FCPS website to see the full list of dates and times.

The Fairfax County School Board adopted a resolution in April 2012 to investigate changing high school start times to after 8 a.m. In 2013, it contracted with Children’s National Medical Center (CNMC) to study the effects of chronic sleepiness and develop a proposal for later start times.

Fairfax County high schools begin at 7:20 a.m. — which means some students are on the bus as early as 5:45 a.m.

There has been a grassroots effort the last several years to change high school start times in Fairfax. The local advocacy group Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal (SLEEP) has been very vocal, saying that 72 out of 95 Virginia counties now start at high school 8 a.m. or later. Montgomery County, Md., also is exploring later start times.

CNMC doctors say teens need eight hours of sleep or more for optimum health. Sleep deprivation leads to shortened attention span, decreased higher level cognitive skills, reduced ability to learn and remember new information, decreased efficiency in completing tasks, lower standardized test scores and decreased school achievement, says CNMC’s Project Smart Sleep website.

Last month, CNMC presented four scenarios to the FCPS Board. Implementing the changes would cost anywhere from $2.7 million to $7.6 million, mostly due to the purchasing of additional buses. The changes would also affect middle school and elementary school students as well.

High schools would begin from 7:50 a.m. to as late as 9:15 a.m. under the four proposals. To see additional details, visit FCPS’ website.

A Metro official says the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) is making progress on pre-operational fixes to the Silver Line, however he still cannot pinpoint an opening date for the first phase of the $5.6 billion rail extension.

“We are tracking to be able to provide service sometime this summer,” Rob Troup, Metro Deputy General Manager of Operations said Monday in a media conference call. “A lot depends on progress MWAA makes in resolving issues. I can’t tell you an operational readiness date, but I am encouraged by the progress.”

Troup said that MWAA is “at the more than the halfway point for the pre-ORD items.”

On April 23, MWAA and Metro agreed to accept the project as “substantially complete,” but to also allow MWAA additional time to complete certain items. Without this agreement, MWAA would have been required to complete all items before Metro takes control, meaning an opening date that would be later in the year.

The project is already nearly eight months behind schedule.

Troup said there are 13 pre-operation readiness (ORD) categories, and those categories have 33 subsets of fixes. Among those deemed fixed are station leaks (including some at Wiehle-Reston East) and a loss of speed readout issue. Faulty wiring in the station speakers is on its way to being fixed, as is an issue with the Horton Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), which help run the crucial Automatic Train Control software, said Troup.

“The RTU issue…is not a vital safety issue,” said Troup. “It is a reliability issue.”

Troup said Metro wants 98 percent RTU reliability. After Metro accepts operational readiness, there will be a complete changeout of the system.

Over the weekend, an issue arose with the bobbing track circuit, said Troup. Bobbing Track Circuits have to do with the junction of the Silver and Orange lines east of the East Falls Church Station. A circuit will go into a false sense of occupancy and the approaching train will go into a braking mode, said Troup.

The April 23 agreement called for adding four blocking capacitors to address the issue. The fixes fared well in testing, but over the weekend one failed, said Troup. He said this is also a reliability issue and not a safety issue, and after operational readiness this will also have a system upgrade.

Additional testing is being performed to see if the failure was a system issue or a component failure. Those test results should be available on Tuesday, Troup said.

Once Metro and MWAA agree on  pre-operational readiness, Metro will have 90 days to complete its own testing and training.

Photo: Metro file photo

Young athletes ages 6 to 15 were up early Sunday morning to participate in the fourth annual Be Amyazing Youth Triathlon.

The race started at Ridge Heights Pool, with biking and running portions taking place on the streets and Reston Association paths of South Reston before finishing at South Lakes High School.

The event was founded by South Lakes High School seniors Olivia Wolfe, Hannah Becker and Kacey Hirshfeld in memory of Hunters Woods Elementary School classmate Amy Boyle, who died of brain cancer in 2008. Proceeds from the event go to the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation.

For complete race results, visit the AmysAmigos.org.

The Reston teen who was injured in a motorbike accident at Reston Parkway and Wiehle Avenue on Thursday has died from his injuries.

The driver of the motorbike, Sean Logan, a 10th grader at Herndon High School, was injured when attempting to make a left turn onto Wiehle Avenue about 3:51 p.m. on Thursday, police said.

“[He] was kind, good-natured, and an excellent student,” Herndon High School Principal William Bates said of the teen in an email to HHS families. “He will be greatly missed.”

In Thursday’s accident, two SUVs — an Acura MDX and a Lexus GX470 — were headed southbound on Reston Parkway and had the right of way, said Fairfax County Police public information officer Bud Walker.

The teen made the left turn, but then was struck by the Acura, which was in the left lane. The Acura then struck the Lexus.

Neither driver was ticketed and neither speed nor alcohol was a factor, said Walker.

Witnesses said the teen’s bike — which police describe as a “pit bike” or minibike — was on fire and he flew about eight feet in the air after the collision. They also said bystanders administered CPR until rescue crews arrived.

Principal Bates said school counselors and members of the FCPS Crisis Response Team will be available to meet with any students and staff who need support in dealing with the news of the teen’s death.

Police and Fire Games Shaping Up — Visit Fairfax is hard at work on the 2015 World Police and Fire Games, which will be held at 53 locations in Fairfax County next June and July. Organizers say it will include 12,000 athletes, making it bigger than the Olympics. [Inside Nova]

Which Bird Should Represent? — Friends of Reston, the nonprofit that supports Reston Association, is asking residents to pick Reston’s official bird. Among the choices: American Goldfinch, Barred Owl, Eastern Bluebird, Great Blue Heron and Pileated Woodpecker. [Reston Association]

UVA Most Desirable — The website eCollegeFinder has determined the most desirable college in each state based on the number of applications. University of Virginia comes in tops for Virginia. [WTOP]

South Lakes High School students and the Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR) on Thursday unveiled a temporary art installation that turns the Lake Thoreau spillway into a colorful pyramid.

“Pyramid of Light” will remain in place for about eight weeks, said IPAR executive director Anne Delaney.

The project was created by SLHS art students Sammy Nazam, Gabriella Rando, Margaret Lashley, and Tehmeena Salahin, with guidance from SLHS art teacher Marco Rando. The students designed the work, built a  model, created the plexiglass panels, and had to go through the same process as any other artist to get their work approved by Reston Association’s Design Review Board.

Turning the spillway into public art was the idea of James Pan, a Reston resident who suggested the concrete square that can be seen from South Lakes Drive would be a great space for art. He offered financial support if the students would work on a project, says Delaney.

Pan was at the dedication on Thursday, along with the students and teacher, RA representatives, IPAR members and Reston founder Bob Simon.

In his remarks, RA board president Ken Knueven pointed out that public art is one of the founding principles of the community.