Hundreds of volunteers are needed for the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival next month.

Organizers are recruiting 500 people to help with essential tasks such as artist hospitality, greeting festival visitors, promoting Greater Reston Arts Center, encouraging creativity at the Family Art Park and more. Time commitments range from a few hours to an entire day.

Information about volunteer opportunities is available at the Greater Reston Arts Center website.

Volunteers will receive a festival T-shirt and a program with restaurant coupons. Students may also receive community service hours. Individuals, teams of co-workers, friends and families are encouraged to participate, organizers say.

The event at Reston Town Center will begin with a kickoff party Friday, May 19 from 6-9 p.m., featuring complimentary food and wine along with the opportunity to mingle with artists and other dignitaries. Tickets are $50.

The festival itself will follow the next two days, with admission a $5 suggested donation for adults. It will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 20; and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 21.

All interior streets of the Town Center will be reserved for pedestrians only, leaving an 11-block art walk. Boston Properties’ parking fees will be waived during the event, including during the kickoff party Friday.

Photo courtesy Greater Reston Arts Center

The Reston Community Center Board of Governors will meet Monday to began the decision-making process on the FY19 budget outline.

Possible timelines for capital projects, including the proposed renovation of the Terry L. Smith Aquatics Center, will also be discussed Monday and at the board’s June 5 meeting. A detailed status report regarding the potential project will be presented at the board’s annual public hearing on June 19.

The renovation proposal calls for using the existing footprint of the aquatics center for a six-lane, 25-yard lap pool with an attached family pool, as well as a separate warm-water therapy pool. Leila Gordon, RCC executive director, said she believes the project could cost up to $4 million.

All meetings will be held at Reston Community Center’s Hunters Woods location (2310 Colts Neck Road). The regular meetings slated for Monday and June 5 will be at 8 p.m.; the annual public hearing for programs and budget June 19 is set for 6:30 p.m.

Each meeting is open to the public, and residents who wish to attend are asked to RSVP by emailing [email protected]. Written comments or questions can also be submitted to the same address; commenters are asked to include their full name and address.

South Lakes High School Theatre will present its spring musical, “Beauty and the Beast,” beginning Friday night.

More than 100 actors, singers, musicians and technical crew from the South Lakes Performing Arts Department will be featured in the show. Maria L. Harris is the director.

Performances will be Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m.; and at 7 p.m. next Thursday through Saturday. Tickets are $8-$10 presale and $10-$12 at the door.

In addition, there will be two Disney-themed special events related to the show: a “Princess Tea” to meet the cast following Saturday’s matinee and a “Prince’s Ball” following the Friday, May 5 show. Tickets to each event are $5.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the South Lakes Theatre Arts Department’s website or call 703-715-4589.

Videos courtesy South Lakes High School Theatre

Reports from the Fairfax County Police Department show two car thefts in the community in the past week.

A 2002 Nissan Altima was reported stolen from the 1500 block of Poplar Grove Drive in North Reston. In addition, a 2011 BMW 528.i was reported stolen from the 2300 block of Ridgehampton Court, off Colts Neck Road.

Other reports from the Reston District Station in the past week are listed below:

LARCENIES:

1600 block of Becontree Lane, bicycle from residence

1800 block of Cameron Glen Drive, wallet from business

2200 block of Cocquina Drive, license plate from vehicle

2200 block of Cooperative Way, credit cards from business

12000 block of Greywing Square, bicycle from residence

1800 block of Michael Faraday Drive, property from business

10800 block of Murray Downs Court, ring from residence

11600 block of Plaza America Drive, merchandise from business

11700 block of Plaza America Drive, ring from residence

12800 block of Tewksbury Drive, cash and sunglasses from vehicle

1800 block of Wiehle Avenue, beer from business

Anyone with information about any of the incidents reported by FCPD should call 703-691-2131 or 1-866-411-TIPS(8477), or text “TIP187” plus the message to CRIMES(274637).

This is an op/ed submitted by Terry Maynard, co-chair of the Reston 20/20 committee. It does not reflect the opinions of Reston Now.

Our County Board of Supervisors, led by Chairman Sharon Bulova, is in the process of overbuilding and underserving residents in Reston and across the county. The result will be the eroding livability of Reston and other county areas facing urbanization.  

And this is being accomplished by a simple arithmetical trick: Overstating the amount of space new housing and office space require to accommodate residents and workers. Very simply, county planners continue to overstate the space needed for office workers as 300 gross square feet (GSF) per worker when studies globally over nearly a decade show it is now under 200 GSF/worker and could be headed to 150 GSF/worker.  

At the same time, as it started to plan for Tysons’ redevelopment nearly a decade ago, the County raised its planning assumption for the size of station area dwelling units (DUs) from 1,000 GSF/DU to 1,200 GSF/DU. Nonetheless, a County planning study for Tysons showed then (2007) that the average size of Tysons residents was 1,100 GSF, mostly in garden apartments before the recent advent of massive high-rise residential development there. Now, the average high-rise DU size is shrinking well below 1,000 GSF/DU, more than offsetting the few mid-rise and single-family attached DUs in station areas, as some recent Reston development proposals show:

• JBG/Wiehle and partners plan for 1,300-1,500 residential units in 1.2 million GSF of development in two 5-story buildings, or 800-925 GSF/DU;
• Golf Course Plaza proposes 413 DUs in a 392,600 GSF multi-family building or 950 GSF/DU, also in 5-story structures;
• Faraday’s proposes redeveloping the area just south of Wiehle Station with up to 500 apartments in two buildings with about 487,000 GSF of residential space that will reach about 975 GSF/DU according to its plan submission.
• Lerner Enterprises is planning a 457-“luxury apartment” complex called Excelsior Park with average unit size at about 1,050 GSF in 423,587 rentable square feet (RBA), which equates to 481,350 GSF.

That’s nearly 3,000 DUs, including luxury apartments, whose average GSF is about 925 GSF/DU — nowhere near the County’s assumed size of 1,200 GSF/DU — and suggesting the number of future residents and DUs in Reston’s station areas will be nearly one-third greater than planned under existing allowable densities. This is consistent with national data: A study of apartment sizes over the last decade shows that their average size has shrunk — not expanded — from 1,015 square feet to 934 square feet.  

The impact is straightforward: The resulting planned densities (total GSF of development divided by the square footage of the lot on which it sits) will allow half-again as many office workers and 28 percent more residential units than the County plan officially intends. Yet developers and the County are only planning to provide services — improved roads, schools and parks, and more — based on the lower count envisioned in the plan. The result will be reduced services and higher taxes.

So what does that mean for “real people?” Based on GSF information provided by FCDOT to the Supervisors serving as the Board Transportation Committee, the current Reston station area plan offers the potential for 76,280 added residents (at 2.0 residents/DU) and 29,059 added office worker jobs (at 300GSF/worker) in the next four decades.  

If instead of using the County’s faulty planning assumptions, we use real world experience, we can anticipate that the allowable development could result in an addition of 101,492 total residents in 50,746 DUs and 78,559 office workers, including retrofitted office buildings, market conditions permitting.  More specifically, it suggests an order of magnitude explosion in residents (11,720 in 2010 vs. 113,212 then) and more than twice as many office employees (69,941 in 2010 vs. 148,500 then) in Reston’s station areas. Overall, Reston can expect twice as many people living and working in the station areas as is anticipated by the Reston plan.

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It looks like it might be a rainy weekend, but the good news is there are plenty of indoor activities scheduled in Reston. And forecasters say the rain isn’t going to hit until later Saturday, so there still should be a good opportunity to enjoy the outdoors too.

Here is just a sampling of what there is to do in Reston and the surrounding area this weekend:

• The Reduced Shakespeare Company will perform “Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play” tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Reston Community Center’s CenterStage (2310 Colts Neck Road). Tickets are $25 for Reston residents and $50 for non-residents.
• Reston Association’s Habitat Heroes program will participate in an Earth Day activity Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon. They will be removing invasive species and planting native species to help the long-term restoration project at the Wainwright Recreation Area.
• Herndon High School (700 Bennett St.) will present “Guys and Dolls” for three performances this weekend: tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. Tickets are $15.
• The opening reception for “Radcliffe Bailey: The Great Dismal Swamp” at Greater Reston Arts Center (12001 Market St.) is 5-7 p.m. Saturday. The exhibit will be on display through August.
• Saturday is Record Store Day, and there will be plenty of offers to mark the day at Right On Records (731 Elden St., Herndon).
• The Reston-Herndon Little League Opening Day parade and celebration is Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at Reston Town Center. The Washington Nationals’ Racing Presidents will participate as part of the league’s new partnership with the Nats.
• Mayflowers Floral Studio (11959 Market St.) will host classes in tulip selection, arranging and care this Saturday and next, from 2-3:30 p.m. each day.
• Other events at Reston Town Center this weekend will include live music at World of Beer (1888 Explorer St.) tonight and Saturday, Earth Day celebrations Saturday from 11 a.m to 3 p.m. at Greater Reston Arts Center and in Town Square Park, and exercise in the pavilion Sunday from 11 a.m. to noon.
• “First Blooms” by artist Dorothy Donahey remains on exhibit at Reston Art Gallery and Studios (11400 Washington Plaza W.), which is open from noon to 5 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
• The art exhibit “A Respite from Chaos” will remain on display at Reston Community Center’s Jo Ann Rose Gallery (1609 Washington Plaza N.) through the month of April.
• The Reston Tour d’Art, a guided bicycle tour of the community’s outdoor art, is slated for Saturday from 9:30-11:30 a.m., beginning at the Lake Newport tennis courts (11452 Baron Cameron Ave.). The event is free, but registration is required.
• NextStop Theatre Company (269 Sunset Park Drive, Herndon) is performing “Boeing, Boeing,” and the show has been extended through May 7. Performances this weekend are tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m., along with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $35-$55.
• The Blue Street Blues Band will perform tonight from 7-10 p.m. at Café Montemarte (1625 Washington Plaza N.).
• Award-winning author Hena Khan will be reading from her new book, “Amina’s Voice,” from 2-3:30 p.m. Sunday at Scrawl Books (11862 Market St.)
• Kalypso’s (1617 Washington Plaza N.) will have live music tonight, 9:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., from Sista Pat & One Vibe. DJ Kram will play Top 40 hits Saturday night.
• Vinafera Wine Bar and Bistro (11750 Sunrise Valley Drive) has live music from 7-10 p.m. every Friday and Saturday night in April. In addition, legendary local DJ Cerphe Colwell will be signing copies of his new book from 3-5 p.m. Saturday.

The annual Spring Festival is coming soon to the Walker Nature Center (11450 Glade Drive), and volunteers are needed to help manage the day’s festivities.

The free event is slated for 1-5 p.m. Saturday, May 6. It will feature entertainment, live animals, craft-making for kids, displays and information from local environmental groups, canoeing and kayaking on Lake Audubon, fishing, a native plant sale by Nature by Design, and more.

Entertainment, sponsored by Reston Community Center, will include shows by The Goodlife Theater, Mad Science and Wildlife Ambassadors. Acoustic music will also be provided by The Stewart Sisters, Song Garden and Hickory Grove.

Attendees are encouraged to park along Glade and Soapstone drives, or at Glade Pool.

Volunteers, ages 13 and up, are needed for 2 1/2-hour shifts during the day. Tasks will include working the registration table, performing as a mascot, selling concessions, helping with crafts and more. For more information and to receive a volunteer application, contact Ha Brock, Reston Association volunteer supervisor, at [email protected] or 703-435-7986.

File photo of 2016 Spring Festival courtesy Volunteer Reston

Work to rehabilitate bridges and close joints on Reston Parkway will affect drivers this weekend and next.

The bridges over the Dulles Toll Road will have the work done Friday night through Monday morning each weekend, causing delays and detours in the area. In total, the closure schedule is:

• 10 p.m. tonight through 9 a.m. Sunday: Southbound two right lanes closed
• 8 p.m. Saturday through 3 a.m. Monday: Northbound two right lanes closed
• 10 p.m. Friday, April 28 through 9 a.m. Sunday, April 30: Southbound two left lanes closed
• 8 p.m. Saturday, April 29 through 3 a.m. Monday, May 1: Northbound two left lanes closed

While the northbound work is being done this weekend (8 p.m. Saturday through 3 a.m. Monday), traffic traveling in that direction will not be able to make the left turn onto the westbound Dulles Toll Road. Those cars will be detoured via Sunset Hills Road and Wiehle Avenue.

The work will include bridge deck resurfacing, repair of deteriorated concrete on abutments and piers, repaving of the roadway leading up to the bridges, and joint closures. In addition, the southbound bridge will receive repairs to the concrete barrier that separates the road from a shared-use path.

All work is weather-permitting, the Virginia Department of Transportation says.

According to VDOT, the northbound bridge was built in 1959, and the southbound bridge was constructed in 1976. Both were widened in 1989, with the northbound bridge’s deck also replaced at that time.

As part of the overall project, the Monroe Street/Van Buren Street bridges and the Herndon-Monroe Park and Ride ramp bridge are also scheduled to have work done at a later date. All work is expected to be completed by summer, VDOT says.

Volunteer Reston organized work at the Walker Nature Center earlier this week in celebration of Earth Day, and more events are planned for this weekend.

On Monday, volunteers teamed with the Nature Center to plant 100 native wildflowers, ferns and shrubs in the gardens. Volunteers also woodchipped sections of the Nature Center’s main teaching trail. Participating organizations included Starbucks and Sure Secure Solutions.

The Nature House is open Monday and Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m.

On Earth Day itself, Saturday, children ages 5-12 are invited to the Walker Nature Center to take part in an Earth Day Fun program from 11 a.m. to noon. Kids will participate in recycling games, eco-friendly crafts and more. Registration, which must be done by Friday at 5 p.m., can be done through WebTrac, by emailing [email protected] or by calling 703-476-9689.

Reston Association’s Habitat Heroes program will also participate in an Earth Day activity Saturday, from 10 a.m. to noon. They will be removing invasive species and planting native species to help the long-term restoration project at the Wainwright Recreation Area.

Photo via Volunteer Reston/Sean Bahrami on Facebook

Just when you thought knew every story Shakespeare had to offer, this show comes along.

The Reduced Shakespeare Company will perform “William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play” on Friday and Saturday nights at Reston Community Center’s CenterStage (2310 Colts Neck Road). The nationally touring comedy troupe claims the 90-minute play is an abridged version of a 100-hour-long work written by a 17-year-old William Shakespeare.

“We are totally not completely making this up,” they say in promotional material.

Typical to other Shakespearean works, the troupe says, the play contains “occasional bawdy language and mild innuendo.” With that in mind, the shows are rated PG-13 — “Pretty Good If You’re 13,” they say.

Tickets to the performance are $25 for Reston residents and $50 for non-residents. For more information, visit the Reston Community Center website.

Image courtesy Reston Community Center/Reduced Shakespeare Company

The 10th annual Empty Bowls fundraiser will be held Friday, April 28, from 5:30-8 p.m. at Floris United Methodist Church (13600 Frying Pan Road, Herndon).

Advance tickets for the event are $25 for adults. They will be $30 at the door. Tickets for children under 12 are $15.

For a small donation, guests receive a supper of soup, bread, beverage and dessert, as well as a handmade pottery bowl to keep as a reminder that there are those in our community with empty bowls. The event will feature entertainment and a raffle.

Among the local artists creating bowls for the event, which is sponsored by the Giving Circle of HOPE, are students at Madison High School. Attendees will select a handmade piece of pottery contributed by a Madison student or other local artist. Madison High School students, many of whom have been studying for several years and are accomplished potters, are working under the direction of art instructor Julia Bargo. About 30 students are involved with the project.

According to the Fairfax County Community Action Advisory Board, 1 in 15 people live in poverty, which is defined as an income of less than $23,850 for a family of four. All proceeds from the Empty Bowls fundraiser will be donated to Food for Others, the largest distributor of free food directly to the hungry in Northern Virginia.

“Empty Bowls engages the community to invest in Food for Others and it serves as a critical fundraiser to help us provide food for people in need throughout the year,” said Annie Turner, executive director of Food for Others. “This is the 10th year that The Giving Circle of HOPE has organized this event and we are thankful for their long-term support.”

For more information and to buy tickets online, visit www.givingcircleofhope.org.

Photo of Madison High School students courtesy Giving Circle of HOPE

Police say a 31-year-old Herndon man crashed into two HPD vehicles, injuring one officer, as he attempted to avoid arrest last Wednesday.

According to a police report, Trevor John Herasingh Jr. is accused of assaulting a woman in the 600 block of Center Street. The woman, who knew Herasingh, suffered minor abrasions and bruising, but declined medical attention.

That’s when, police say:

“Officers located Mr. Herasingh in the parking lot, and ordered him to stop. He refused to comply, walked away, and entered his vehicle. He then backed his vehicle up, and side-swiped a police vehicle as he fled. A short pursuit ensued that ended when he drove head-on into another police vehicle stopped in the parking lot. Herasingh then exited his vehicle, and continued to act in an aggressive manner towards officers until he was subdued by the officers and taken into custody.”

Herasingh and an HPD officer both suffered minor injuries in the collision, according to the report.

Herasingh was charged with assault, strangulation, reckless driving, and two counts each of aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer and destruction of property. He was taken to Fairfax County Adult Detention Center and held without bond.

The South Lakes Seahawks will be well-represented at the conference championship next month after performances in recent days.

At the Northern Virginia Invitational, April 7-8, the following team members hit qualifying marks for postseason competition:

• 400 meters: John Eggeman (junior)
• 3,200 meters: Marissa Banga (freshman), Sean Casey (junior), Isabelle Gulgert (sophomore) and Peter Sepulveda (senior)
• 300-meter hurdles: Abby Wickman (senior)
• discus: Jamie Richard (junior)
• pole vault: Megan Allison (junior) and Abby Wickman (senior)
• shot put: Madie Evans (junior) and Jessica Rice (senior)

Participating at the Arcadia Invitational in California, the sprint medley relay team — Hannah Waller (freshman), Cara Hutson (sophomore), Olivia Beckner (junior) and Devyn Jones (senior) — set a school-record time of 4 minutes, 6.84 seconds. Jones also hit state-qualifying times in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles. Waller did so in 100 and 200 meters.

Also in California, Timiebi Ogobri (senior) ran a state-qualifying time in the 100 meters; while Sophie Halkett (sophomore) and Alex Loukili (junior) both qualified in the 800 meters.

At their final event during spring break, last Thursday, more SLHS athletes qualified at the Leslie Sherman Memorial Invitational.

• 200 meters: Timiebi Ogobri (senior)
• 400 meters: Timiebi Ogobri (senior)
• 800 meters: Olivia Beckner (junior) and Alex Loukili (junior)
• 4×100-meter relay: Devyn Jones (senior), Hannah Waller (freshman), Danielle Spears (sophomore) and Rhema Konadu (freshman)
• 4×800-meter relay: Peter Sepulveda (senior), Sean Casey (junior), Alex Loukili (junior) and Jack Watkins (senior)
• discus: Jamie Richards (junior)
• shot put: Ronak Cuthill (junior)

The Seahawks next compete in a conference meet Wednesday at Langley High School, followed by the Hall of Fame Invitational at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke on Friday and Saturday.

Image of Devyn Jones, Hannah Waller, Cara Hutson and Olivia Beckner at Arcadia Invitational, courtesy South Lakes High School track and field