Lake Anne Brew House will have its grand opening in a little over two weeks, co-owner Melissa Romano confirms.
Romano told Reston Now previously that the business was eyeing a mid-April opening.
The grand opening has now been set for Saturday, April 16.
The Brew House — Reston’s first nanobrewery — will be open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon, Romano wrote on the company’s Facebook page.
The Brew House will also be open Sunday, April 17 from noon to 5 p.m.
Romano and her husband, Jason, purchased the former Singh Thai space at 11424 Washington Plaza W at Lake Anne Plaza nearly a year ago. They have done extensive renovations to the space and patio, but Melissa Romano said in October the permitting process took longer than expected because a nanobrewery is new territory for the county.
Photo courtesy of Lake Anne Brew House Facebook page.
“America’s Got Talent” Group at RCC — The Rhythmic Circus, who competed in this past season of TV’s “America’s Got Talent,” is bringing its innovative comedy and tap dancing act to Reston Community Center April 8. [RCC]
Nearby: Make Way For More Jimmy’s — The building next door to Herndon’s Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern was torn down this week to make way for the bar’s expansion. [You Tube]
Fun on the Farm — The Washington Post’s KidsPost visited Frying Pan Park. [Washington Post]
Tech Kudos — Several Reston-area companies and individuals are finalists for the Northern Virginia Technology Council CFO Awards. [Patch]
Get your young runners ready — the Mighty Mile is this Saturday at Reston Town Center.
The annual Mighty Mile is a race just for kids ages 6 to 14.
Race time for the oldest runners (ages 12 and up) is 8 a.m., with the rest of the age groups following every 15 minutes. Runners ages 4-5 will have a half mile course at 9 a.m., and there will be a Tot Trot (100 yards) at 9L15 a.m.
Packet pick up will be at the Reston Town Center PR Running store (11911 Democracy Dr.) on Friday April 1, 3 to 7 p.m., and Saturday before the race starting at 7 a.m.
All runners in the mile and half-mile will be timed and will receive a finisher medal (ribbon for the Tot Trot runners). No parents will be allowed on the course with their children; parents will only be allowed to run in the Tot Trot. The course will be blocked off to all traffic and lined with volunteers for monitoring and safety of all participants.
Entry fee is $20 ($15 for half mile; $10 for Tot Trot). Sign up on PR Race’s website.
Photo: 2015 Mighty Mile/Credit: PR Races
General Dynamics Information Technology has been awarded a contract to develop, deploy and provide maintenance and support for a Next Generation 911 (NG911) solution for Fairfax County.
GD’s system will support the five primary and secondary 911 answering points in the county and enable Fairfax County emergency services to accept and route emergency 911 information from a variety of sources, a GD release said.
Fairfax County is seeking to replace its longstanding emergency call-handling system with a secure, IP-based NG9-1-1 system that permits emergency service requests from existing public networks through new and emerging modes of communication and devices. Read More
The former Champps restaurant at Plaza America is close to becoming Reston’s version of a white elephant.
The 11,963-square-foot space remains unoccupied since Champps closed in October of 2014. That makes it Reston’s longest and largest commercial vacancy. Added bonus — the smaller adjacent spot, which formerly housed Saladworks, is now also for rent.
So what gives? The property is actively being marketed by CBRE. It’s in a prime location. Marketing materials highlight these demographics:
- Underserved retail market within 3 miles where demand exceeds retail sales annually by an estimated $984 million
- Strategically located off Dulles Toll Road with over 117,894 VPD and access to over 255,042 VPD in 1/4 mile
- Strong daytime population of 37,869 within 1 mile and average incomes above $119,600
Rental rates per square foot are not made available in the marketing materials and representatives marketing the property generally won’t comment on why no tenant has signed.
A lot of retail and restaurant can fit into close to 12,000 square feet and a lot of money is available to be spent at a shopping plaza that includes a Whole Foods, a Starbucks and generally upscale retail.
So, for the 23rd month, what do you think should fill this space?
There’s a “unique monster” invading Lake Newport, says the president of an aquatic consulting company hired by Reston Association.
The invader is Bladderwort, and Bill Kirkpatrick of Aquatic Environmental Consultants says its a particularly pesky and unusual aquatic plant that is not typically found in this part of Virginia.
Kirkpatrick is not sure why, but Lake Newport experienced a dramatic growth of the plant last summer. Bladderwort is ecologically beneficial for fish, insects in turtles, but eventually breaks loose and forms dense floating mats on the lake surface.
“RA staff does recognize the dense floating mats are really unsightly,” said Nicki Bellezza, RA’s Watershed Manager.
Kirkpatrick said the plant is typically found in nutrient-poor, boggy, rather acidic areas, which are “places plants can’t thrive.” He said Lake Newport is nutrient-rich, which adds to the mystery.
The environmental consultants thought the stock of grass carp, a fish that feeds on such plants (and has been previously added to Lake Newport to help control Hydrilla) could help control the Bladderwort, but is has not worked. Read More
A Reston man is a suspect in a home invasion and arson at a Reston townhouse where he rented a room, according to Fairfax County Police search warrant.
Police believe Antwan Green, 35, committed those crimes on Dec. 3 and 4, NBC4 Washington reports.
The search warrant says two people, one believed to be Green, knocked on the door of a townhome on Edgemere Circle in Reston Dec. 3 and forced their way inside.
The suspects bound the hands and feet of the 67-year-old woman inside with electrical cords. They took her car, but later abandoned it. When police found the car, they also found mail addressed to Green inside of it, NBC4 said.
Just hours after the home invasion, a fire broke out at a townhome on St. Trinain’s Court, where Green rented a lower-level room. A woman suffered critical injuries when she jumped from a second-floor window of the burning house.
According to the court documents, Green was caught on video at a nearby convenience store buying a lighter, charcoal and lighter fluid just before the fire.
Neighbors told News4 Green rented the basement of the town home but recently had a falling out with the owner. A juvenile informant also told police Green was at the home invasion and the fire.
Green hasn’t yet been charged with arson or the home invasion, but is already in custody without bond on several other charges ranging from bail violations to strangulation to malicious wounding and drug charges.
Green was arrested in Arlington on Dec. 10, on multiple charges stemming from crashing a stolen vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. A few days later, he was also charged with felony destruction of property while in jail, where he allegedly “destroyed a fire protection system,” court records show.
Green will be in Arlington General District Court on those charges on Thursday.
Photo: Antwan Green/Arlington County Police via News4
FCPS Kudos — Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has been named one of 15 first place award winners in the National School Boards Association 2016 Magna Awards competition. FCPS was cited for its #savefcps program on the FY 2017 Budget that solicited community feedback and sought to provide the public with a voice in the budget process. FCPS was one of five first place winners among school districts with over 20,000 students.
Architectural Excellence? — Restonian has some fun with Reston’s original town center sketches. [Restonian]
Watershed Cleanup Day This Weekend — April 2 is a Watershed Cleanup Day sponsored by The Nature Conservancy. Citizens can help their community by helping clean debris from streams at Fairfax County Parks, including Lake Fairfax Park in Reston. [Fairfax County]
Reston Association Open House — New and not-so-new residents are invited to learn more about Reston and RA at an open house on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. [Reston Now]
Tickets are going fast for the 25th Annual Best of Reston Awards Gala, which will be held April 7 at the Hyatt Regency Reston.
The awards honor Reston individuals and businesses for their commitment to community service.
See the list of this year’s honorees in this previous Reston Now article.
The gala is also a large fundraiser for Cornerstones, the Reston nonprofit that helps people in need find affordable housing, food and other necessities. This year’s gala has a goal of raising $500,000, says Cornerstones.
That’s similar to the amount raised each of the last two years, says Cornerstones chair Jill Norcross. Two years ago, Cornerstones was able to double its stock of affordable housing with money raised.
Tickets to the gala start at $200 (includes dinner) and can be purchased online.
Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza will hold the Hunter Mill-area meeting of her Superintendent’s Listening Tour Tuesday, March 29 at Madison High School.
The stop is rescheduled from earlier this year, when it was cancelled due to snow.
Garza has been holding meetings in FCPS’ various regions to hear what is on the minds of citizens and also discuss what is happening in Fairfax County Public Schools.
The school board will vote on the final Fiscal Year 2017 budget in May. After warning of a large budget deficit, Garza proposed a budget with raises for teachers and no program cuts in January. But that budget depends on full funding from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
The Supervisors recently approved a 4-cent rise in the advertised real estate tax rate (to $1.13 per $100 of home value), which is enough to provide the schools with a 3-percent raise (for a total transfer of $2 billion) from last year, but far short of the 6.7 percent Garza requested to cover such items as capping elementary classroom size and raises for staff.
The schools annually receive about 52 percent of the county’s $3.99 billion budget.
The session runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Madison High is located at 2500 James Madison Dr. in Vienna.
Advocacy group Reston 2020 has taken a hard look at future funding for Reston transportation improvements and found the costs will be tens of millions of dollars more than expected.
A study group, the Reston Network Analysis Group, is currently examining how to implement an urban street grid in the areas around Reston’s transit centers. Grid-style streets will help traffic and pedestrian flow as Reston’s undergoes expected development in the next decades.
In a paper titled “Reston’s Coming Urban Area Transportation Network: An Early Look at the Cost of Streets and Transit in and around Reston’s Station Areas,” Reston 2020 Co-Chair Terry Maynard has found that the network may cost double the $2.6 billion officials estimate.
From the paper:
The overall cost for Reston’s urban transportation improvements will be nearly twice what has been presented to the RNAG over the next 40 years using conservative assumptions of future development and inflation. Developer stakeholders have millions of dollars to gain annually by shifting more of that large financial burden to the “public” rather than placing it upon themselves.
It is imperative that the RNAG, especially the community representatives, ensure that our community is protected from unwarranted and excessive ‘taxation’ for transportation improvements that will average $125 million per year and add several hundred dollars each year to residents’ property tax bills.
The road projects will be built with a combination of public funds, developer proffers and perhaps a special tax on transit-area businesses and residents.
“Reston households could see a property tax increase averaging about $340/year over the next 40 years depending on the scope of the ill-defined “public” contribution and the funding option selected,” says Maynard. “Overall, Reston residents are likely to contribute a half-billion dollars in taxes to the for-profit efforts of Reston’s station area developers if any of funding Options #3-#6 are selected, and in a worst case scenario, they may pay more than more than $1 billion dollars in taxes to finance needed urban transportation improvements.”
See the entire Reston 2020 analysis below.
A Herndon man who was found with more than 600,000 child pornography images on his computer will face jail time.
A Fairfax County circuit court jury last week found Adrantes Bruzual, 34, of Herndon guilty, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison with a $4,000 fine, WTOP reports.
In February 2014, a Fairfax County Police detective who was monitoring a file sharing network for people trading child porn, discovered an Internet Protocol (IP) address within Fairfax County.
After confirming the files contained child pornography, detectives traced the address of the IP to a home on Missouri Avenue in Herndon.
Police executed a search warrant and took two computer towers and two monitors from Bruzual’s basement bedroom. A forensic search found several hard drives, containing over 600,00 images of child porn.
Bruzual was charged with, and later indicted on, 20 counts of child pornography. In his trial, Bruzual testified that other people used the computers found in his room. He said he had no idea the images were on the computers.
Improving Fairfax’s Libraries — The Fairfax County Public Library system’s Board of Trustees in embarking on an interactive project to solicit public and staff input about the types of services and programs Fairfax County Public Library could offer in the future. [Fairfax County]
Save the Date: Living Well Summit — The Fairfax Area Living Well, Aging Well Summit is April 16 at the Fairfax County Government Center, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Learn about transportation and mobility innovation, aging in place, and take part in health screenings and more. [Living Well Fairfax]
Happy Birthday, Metro — Metro turns 40 this week, but the system is not aging so well. [WTOP]
Reston Association Board members will revisit in May the idea of allocating $65,000 this year for public art.
At-Large Director Ken Knueven had made a motion to take the money from the operating cash reserves to support the Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR) as it plans its budget for 2017.
There are 18 development projects in the pipeline for Reston, and about half those projects are on land that falls under Reston Association covenants, said Knueven.
Public art also is one of the principles of Reston, and working with IPAR is in the proffers for most developers, he added.
RA will be working with IPAR before the end of 2016 to commission public art for the Pony Barn Recreation site and the new Lake House (formerly Tetra) property, according to Knueven’s motion. In 2017, RA will likely also be planning public art at other RA facilities such as the Central Services Facility, Hook Road Recreation Area, and the Autumnwood Recreation Area, among others.
Knueven said that increasing the donation from RA’s typical $10,000 to $65,000 will go beyond just art. Knueven hinted it could provide leeway for RA to have greater influence on development.
“It allows us to have a louder conversation and a much broader presence in those conversations” with developers, he said.
That did not sit well with several RA Board members, who asked why this could not have been brought up late last year when RA was formulating its 2016 budget.
“Where is the line on how we are going to spend our money?” said At-Large Director Ray Wedell. “We don’t have enough information, and we are trying to buy our way into influence. Reserves should be for emergency situations. You need to prove it to me that we need to spend the money.”
Hunters Woods/Dogwood Director Lucinda Shannon said the public art discussion should wait a year.
“I am against the whole idea,” she said. “It is irresponsible for us when we have the exposed sewer line, we have kids in school in trailers — and [RA] has $65,000 for public art?”
Added Wedell: “It is not our money. It is the people’s money. It’s not IPAR’s money. I don’t see how we can possibly justify this.”
Photo: Public art at RA’s Dogwood Pool
Citizens on both sides of the Reston Dog Park issue spent about two hours speaking to the Reston Association Board of Directors on Thursday. In the end, the RA Board decided to speak some more, suggesting that they further discuss noise complaints and possible mitigation measures with the Fairfax County Park Authority.
That’s because that’s all RA can really do. The off-leash dog area, the only one in Reston, is located in Baron Cameron Park, which is Fairfax County Park Authority land. Reston Association has no authority over the park, RA Attorney Ken Chadwick confirmed at Thursday’s meeting.
Still, some of the residents of Longwood Grove, a development of single-family homes located across Wiehle Avenue from the dog park, said they were seeking RA’s help in their ongoing battle to get the dog park moved.
“We are asking [RA] to stand with us to ask the county to relocate the facility,” said Moira Callaghan, representing the Longwood Grove homeowners. She said RA’s mission is to “look out for [members] property values … and the interest of our homes and our health, safety and welfare.”
Callaghan was among seven individuals who sought legal action to have the park shut down in recent years. That case was dismissed in a Fairfax County court.
She maintained in a presentation to the board Thursday that the barking of dogs at the park “degrades the quality of life” for Longwood Grove residents.
Callaghan also gave a history of the dog park. She pointed out that it was never approved by the Fairfax County Planning Commission, was intended to be temporary, and that many Longwood Grove homeowners purchased their homes prior to the dog park’s opening in 2001. She also said county officials — including the park authority and Fairfax County Police have continually passed the buck in regards to evaluating noise levels and responding to complaints. Read More
