South Lakes Still Unbeaten — South Lakes football improved to 5-0 with a 56-18 victory over Washington-Lee on Friday. The Seahawks prevailed despite losing quarterback Devin Miles to an injury late in the first half.
IPAR Screening Tuesday — Join the Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR) for a screening of the film, Troublemakers, which follows a cadre of renegade New York artists that sought to transcend the limitations of painting and sculpture by producing earthworks on a monumental scale in the deserts of the American southwest in the 1960s and 70s. The free movie is at 7:30 p.m. at Reston Community Center Hunter Woods’ CenterStage (2310 Colts Neck Rd).
Happy 5777 — Jews in Reston and around the world are celebrating Rosh Hashanah (the Monday. Want to worship? Services are at Congregation Beth Emeth, Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation (some off site), Chabad of Reston-Herndon, and with Reston’s Shoreshim at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. Check in advance if tickets are necessary.
Absentee voting starts tomorrow in Reston.
More than half a million Fairfax County residents are expected to vote in the Nov. 8 election. During the last two presidential elections, there was an 80-percent turnout in Fairfax, and officials are expecting a similar turnout this year.
Officials said more than 1,800 people have voted in person at the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax since absentee balloting began there Sept. 23. The county has also received 22,887 mailed absentee ballots.
Absentee voting will be available at the North County Governmental Center, 1801 Cameron Glen Dr. The next three Saturdays before moving to a weekday schedule.
Saturday Schedule (Nov. 5 is the last day to absentee vote in-person): October 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 and November 5, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Weekday Schedule Oct. 17 to Nov. 4: Monday – Friday, 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
You can beat the crowds if you have one of the 19 reasons for an absentee ballot:
- Student attending college or university outside of locality of residence in Virginia
- Spouse of student attending college or university outside locality of residence in Virginia
- Business outside County/City of residence on Election Day
- Personal business or vacation outside County/City of residence on Election Day
- I am working and commuting to/from home for 11 or more hours between 6:00 AM and 7:00 PM on Election Day
- I am a first responder (member of law enforcement, firefighter, emergency technician, search and rescue)
- My disability or illness
I am primarily and personally responsible for the care of a disabled/ill - family member confined at home
- My pregnancy
- Confined, awaiting trial
- Confined, convicted of a misdemeanor
- An electoral board member, registrar, officer of election, or custodian of voting equipment
- I have a religious obligation
- Active Duty Merchant Marine or Armed Forces
- Spouse or dependent living with a member of Active Duty Merchant
- Marine or Armed Forces
- Temporarily residing outside of US
- Temporarily residing outside of US for employment or spouse or dependent residing with employee
- Authorized representative of candidate or party serving inside the polling place
See more information on the Fairfax County Elections website.
A Reston man is facing charges of indecent exposure, drunk in public and drug possession after neighbors heard him screaming in the middle of night.
Residents of the 2200 block of Castle Rock Square called police about 2 a.m. Thursday to report a man screaming in the woods behind an apartment complex.
Howard Robinson, 41, of Reston, was located and was seen touching himself inappropriately.
Robinson was placed under arrest for indecent exposure, drunk in public, and possession of a schedule II controlled substance, police said.
Photo: Howard Robinson/Credit: FCPD
Reston has a new coffee spot and Reston Station has its first full-time retailer.
The Reston Station Starbucks opened on Friday in the ground floor of Comstock’s BLVD apartments.
While Reston Station has Urban Pop, a series of pop-up shops along the plaza at Wiehle-Reston East, this is the first permanent retailer there.
This Starbucks location (there are seven in Reston, not counting inside Target and Safeway) is quite large, with counter seating overlooking the plaza, a meeting nook, couch space and other work areas.
Founding Farmers is still on track to open a restaurant in the space in the next building. Founding Farmers signed a lease last fall, and the sign in the window says “coming late 2016.” However, no interior work has started, so it likely won’t meet that deadline.
Meanwhile, there will be validated parking for Starbucks customers. Visitors who park in the ParkX Garage (first left off of Reston Station Boulevard), then park in retail spaces (take a right up the ramp, take parking ticket and go straight ahead) will get two hours free, Comstock says.
While the calendar has not even flipped to October, it’s time to think Halloween.
Tickets for Reston Association’s annual Halloween House & Trick or Teat Trail — geared toward young children — go on sale Monday, Oct. 3.
This event usually sells quickly. So if you want to attend plan on buying tickets early next week.
Here is what you need to know:
RA dresses up the Walker Nature Center (11450 Glade Dr.) for non-scary Halloween fun for kids ages 3 to 10. The event is rain or shine. Come in costume!
Tickets: $10/person.
Click on the dates below to get to the online ticket site starting Monday.
Friday, Oct. 28, 7:30-8:45 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 29, 6-7:15 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 29, 7:30-8:45 p.m.
For more information, call 703-476-9689 or email [email protected].
Another multifamily project is closer to approval for the area south of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended for approval Thursday Lincoln Property Company’s plans to build 260 multifamily residences on what is now a parking lot at Sunrise Valley, Commerce Park and Association drives.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission held a public hearing Sept. 23, but delayed decision until a few proffer conditions could be worked out.
The developer has now committed to a contribution at the highest level of the scale ($2200) per unit to go to the Reston Road Fund — which will be used to help make more than $2.6 billion in transportation improvements here over several decades. The developer also agreed to work out issues with building a sidewalk on Association Drive and a possible additional contribution to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
The park authority issue came about because the proposed plan is very urban in nature, with limited open space (about one-third of an acre) that will be used as small pocket parks. The lack of room for active play should be offset with $50,000 more towards county athletic fields. The developer has offered $25,000, in addition to $462,852 it has already committed for fields.
Lincoln Property’s project is a seven-story building with trails connecting bikers and walkers to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. The plans call for a pool and a natural play area, among other amenities.
Read more details in the county planning staff report.
The project is adjacent to Vornado’s large plan to transform more office buildings nearby. Phase I of that plan, to build a 200-unit multifamily building, was reviewed by the planning commission Wednesday, but the PC deferred decision on the project until Oct. 6.
The Vornado development will eventually be 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use development featuring the existing office buildings, two residential buildings (one of them 24 stories); a 22-story office tower; a retail promenade; a hotel; and five parks.
The Lincoln plan now moves on to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for final approval. A date for that hearing has not been set.
Rendering of Lincoln Property Company’s multifamily building at Commerce Park/Credit: Fairfax County.
Football Tonight — South Lakes (4-0) hosts Washington-Lee. Herndon (1-3) is at Chantilly. Game time is 7 p.m.
FCPS SATs Rising — Fairfax County Public Schools’ students overall average SAT score rose three points from last year. [FCPS]
Nearby: HernDOG Bark Bash Sunday — Grab your dog and head to Herndon’s Bready Park Sunday, Oct. 2 for the HernDOG Bark Bash. The free event will feature agility demonstrations; owner and dog team contests; adoptions; an off-leash area; and wide variety of dog-themed vendors. Bready Park is at 814 Ferndale Ave. The bash is from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Library Look — A community engagement survey says most Fairfax County residents are happy with Fairfax County Public Libraries, but the system needs to pay attention and balance needs of traditional books with technology. [Fairfax County]
There is still time to register to take part in Rescue Reston’s second annual Golf Classic fundraiser.
The event, which will raise money for Rescue Reston’s legal bills in the battle to protect Reston National Golf Course from development, is Monday at Reston National.
Rescue Reston was formed in 2012 in response to the golf course owners’ Board of Zoning Appeals case to render the 166-acre golf course as a candidate for residential redevelopment.
The BZA ruled in 2015 that the owner could redevelop without getting a comprehensive amendment, which could ease the path to redevelopment of the land. Rescue Reston, RA and Fairfax County all filed appeals, and the decision was later vacated by a Circuit Court judge.
If you want to play Monday, Rescue Reston says sign up by Saturday.
Fees (greens fee, carts, range balls, dinner and drink ticket):
- Individual Player $85
- Foursome $340
Here’s the schedule:
1 p.m. Check-in and Warm Up
2 p.m. Shotgun Start (Format Captain’s Choice)
5 – 7 p.m. Dinner-Awards-Prizes
Raffle ticket drawings 6 p.m.
There is also a free nature walk around and through the course from 3-5 p.m. The walk will be led by resident Bill Burton and Walker Nature Center Naturalist Idalina Walker. To reserve your spot call 703-476-9689 x5 or email [email protected].
Dinner will be provided by Glory Days Grill. For non-golfers, a dinner donation of $10 will be accepted at the entrance by check, cash or credit card.
For more information, visit Rescue Reston’s website.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission deferred a decision until next week on the first phase of redevelopment of Commerce Executive Park on the south side of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
The first phase of Vornado’s plan calls for a 200-unit residential building, as well as interior roads, pedestrian paths and a cycle track. Eventually, the plan is to redevelop the existing office buildings into 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use development at Wiehle Avnue Sunrise Valley Drive and the Dulles Toll Road.
The planning commission held a public hearing last night, but deferred decision until Oct. 6.
Only one person, John Hawthorne, an attorney representing IGS LLC, the owner of a nearby office building, testified at the public hearing. He said this development would cause undue hardship and injury to IGS because of the office park’s private roads and infringement on that owner’s private property. He also spoke out with the same issues last week at the public hearing on Lincoln Property’s residential project on the other side of his building.
A Reston man was charged with a Felony DUI — at least his fifth offense in the last five years — on Tuesday after he crashed his car into a creek and walked away from the scene, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office says.
Deputies were called to the scene at Algonkian Parkway and
Rutherford Circle in Sterling close to midnight.
A witness told officials male driver exited the vehicle andwalked away from the scene towards a footpath.
The driver was later located and identified as Marc A. Dixon, 31, of Reston.
Dixon was arrested and charged with misdemeanor hit and run and Felony DUI. Dixon has been charged with multiple DUI in the last five years, according to LCSO. He is being held at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center without bond.
In 2014, Dixon was arrested for driving his car backwards down Rugby Road in Fairfax. During that arrest, Dixon provided false information as well as kicked the door and window of the police vehicle he was in, Fairfax County Police said.
In that incident, Dixon was charged with DUI (fourth offense), refusing breath test, fraudulent information to police, destruction of county property, driving while suspended (DUI related) and improper backing on the highway.
A new report from the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University says that Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has a local economic impact of $2.2 billion, making it one of the most important sources of local economic activity.
FCPS is Fairfax County’s largest employer with more than 27,000 full- and part-time employees.
Report author Stephen S. Fuller found that FCPS accounts for 4.1 percent of the countywide employment base and its budgeted FY 2017 spending accounts for 2.0 percent of county’s gross county product.
That makes FCPS the second-largest source of economic activity in the Fairfax County (following the federal government), says Fuller.
“Dr. Fuller’s report clearly shows how FCPS is a major contributor to the Fairfax County economy and plays an important role in our community’s quality of life, sustainability, and future growth,” FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza said in a release. Read More
An elementary school is no place for a cell phone tower.
That was the message more than a dozen concerned neighbors and parents of students at Crossfield Elementary School told the Fairfax County Planning Commission in more than two hours of testimony Wednesday night.
A county planning staff report recommends approval of Milestone Communications’ application (on behalf of Verizon) for the tower, which they say is necessary to fill in gaps in coverage in the areas off Lawyers Road, including Reston’s Fox Mill Woods neighborhood adjacent to the school.
“This plan introduces an unacceptable safety risk,” said Chris Aiello, representing Parents Advocating for Safe Schools in Fairfax County, a grassroots group recently formed to take on Verizon’s request.
“It directly interferes with future expansion of school and fields. The applicant failed to meaningfully explore other sites. It defies logic placing a 138-foot tower 127 feet from a school.”
The pole, which would be built to look like an evergreen tree, would be able to carry signals from five mobile carriers. The pole would be on a 2,500-square-foot area surrounded by an 8-foot fence.
While the pole will be in a wooded area more than 200 feet from the school, the location is only 127 feet from the Crossfield playground, many citizens pointed out.
The pole will rise about 80 feet above the natural tree line, which Aiello called “a visual albatross.”
Other parents and neighbors had similar concerns. More than 30 Fairfax County Public Schools, including South Lakes High School, have cell towers on their property. However, only one FCPS elementary school has a tower, planning staff said. Parents said they are not willing to let their young children be test cases for radiation.
The cell phone companies pay the landowners to lease the pole space. FCPS, for instance, has made more than $4 million from the arrangement over the last several years, FCPS officials said.
Milestone collects rent from the wireless carriers on its towers, 40 percent of which goes to FCPS. Schools receive $25,000 each time a tower is built, and then $5,000 from each wireless carrier that leases space on the tower.
Other speakers said they were concerned the fenced tower enclosure would be everything from an “attractive nuisance” for pranks to a target for hackers.
Lisa Namerow, a nearby resident with a child set to enter Crossfield next year, said she is concerned about home values, among other things.
“The affected community is deeply opposed,” she said. “Research shows proximity of cell towers has a negative effect on homeowners.”
The planning commission also heard testimony from two Fox Mill Woods residents who said they cannot get coverage in their homes and the tower is needed.
Planning commissioners had questions on other high-tech ways to fill in coverage gaps (they would not work in this case, Milestone reps said) to the possibility of building the tower on Fairfax County Park Authority land nearby.
In the end, the planning commission deferred decision until Oct. 19, after they can get more information from the county’s Hunter Mill Land Use committee. The land use committee meets on Oct. 18.
Photo: Proposed cell phone tower at Crossfield Elementary School/Credit: Milestone Communications.
After heavy rains and gusty winds overnight, the rain and potential flooding will continue through Thursday.
In Reston, there are many downed branches on roads and sidewalks. There are no major power outages reported.
More than two inches of rain fell overnight, hitting the southern portion of Fairfax County hard. A flood warning remains in effect until 10:45 a.m. for the areas closer to I-95 (Alexandria, Springfield, Burke, Fairfax City and others). Reston remains under a flood watch through Friday.
The Capital Weather Gang says and additional three inches of rain will fall today, and Reston may see a total of six inches by the time this front moves away on Friday.
Graphic: Storm front for Sept. 29/Credit: WeatherBell.com
County Absentee Voting Strong — Fairfax County election officials say absentee voting is going strong since opening by mail and at the Fairfax County Government Center Friday. More than 1,000 people have cast absentee ballots in the first four days. In 2012, there were 712 ballots cast at the end of the third day of absentee voting. Satellite absentee voting begins Saturday at the North County Governmental Center in Reston.
NFL Stadium In Reston? Keep Driving — This may be a good spot in Loudoun for a potential new stadium for Washington’s pro football team. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe mentioned Silver Line spots, including Reston, in a recent radio interview. [Washington Post]
KidsFest This Weekend — The Fall for Fairfax KidsFest is Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 1 and 2) at the Fairfax County Government Center. The free festival will include two entertainment stages, rides on the KidWay MidWay (click for tickets).Activities include scarecrow making, pumpkin painting, public safety and recycling-themed exhibits, pony rides, petting zoo, and more. (KidsFest)
Light The Night in Reston — The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Northern Virginia Light The Night Walk is Saturday at Reston Town Center. Walk as an individual or team to help raise funds for blood cancer research. [Light the Night]
Fast-casual restaurant Cosi abruptly closed its doors at 11909 Democracy St. earlier this week.
While the restaurant’s manager said on Tuesday the store’s lease was coming to an end, the entire chain closed a large number of stores this week prior to filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday.
That means local issues, such as the lease terms and the paid parking that begins in January, probably were not the reason for the Reston closure. A branch in Arlington also closed Tuesday. The company says it is closing about half its 74 stores nationwide.
There are now several vacancies at Reston Town Center, which is relatively rare. Storefronts that used to hold Bebe and PR Barbers are vacant on Market Street. Salon Nordine recently closed (though a new tenant is set to take over).
The former location of Davelle Clothiers at 11904 Market St. is temporarily empty but will soon house FedEx, which will move from 11811 Freedom Dr. as the Freedeom Drive building prepares for redevelopment.
Cosi’s space is located next to PR Running at the base of one of RTC’s soon-to-be paid parking garages. What should open there now? Tell us in the comments.
