Looking for a new home? Start here with this selection of open houses in Reston this weekend. For more complete real estate information and more open house listings, visit Reston Now’s Real Estate section.

11807 Breton Court #21 *
2 BR, 1 BA Condo
$229,999
Open Saturday and Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m.
Listed by Jennifer Powell, Keller Williams, 703-564-4000

12206 Hounds Lane
4 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB SFH
$599,999
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1245 Wild Hawthorn Way
4 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB TH
$529,900
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

11453 Hollow Timber Court
3 BR, 3.5 BA TH
$639,900
Open Saturday 1 to 3 p.m.

1559 Scandia Circle
4 BR, 2 FB, 2 HB TH
$449,000
Open Sunday 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.

1501 North Point Drive
2 BR, 2 BA Condo
$324,500
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

1936 Lakeport Way
3 BR, 3.5 BA TH
$575,000
Open Sunday 1 to 4 p.m.

10912 Hunt Club Road
4 BR, 2.5 BA SFH
$715,000
Open Sunday 1 to 3 p.m.

* – Sponsored (paid) listing

Calling all pet owners: Enter our Pet of the Week contest and win prizes this fall.

Reston Now has a weekly feature called Pet of the Week, which is sponsored by Becky’s Pet Care. We are ready for the summer round of our contest, so send in your entries.

Here is what to do:

Send a two to three paragraph bio of your pet (e.g., his name, age, what he likes to do, his favorite places to go) and at least 3-4 horizontal photos to [email protected].

To see what the post will look like, see this previous post on Reston Now.

Each week’s winner will receive dog or cat treats from Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks.

Becky’s Pet Care, the winner of three Angie’s List Super Service Awards and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year, provides professional dog walking and pet sitting services in Reston and Northern Virginia.

This is a letter from Dianne Blais and Lois Page of the League of Women Voters of Virginia. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.

Sept. 1 brought yet another reminder of the partisan rancor that too often paralyzes the Virginia General Assembly these days. Despite convening briefly for a special session in mid-August, that body failed to meet the deadline imposed by a federal court for redrawing the boundaries of the state’s 3rd Congressional District.

To briefly recap, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the General Assembly to go back to the drawing board after it found that its 2011 Congressional redistricting plan sought to pack as many African-Americans as possible into the district represented by Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott of Richmond. Because African-Americans now make up nearly 20 percent of the state’s population, this approach served only to dilute their potential political power in a state that has 10 other Congressional districts.

While the legal and political wrangling continues, the failure of the General Assembly to address its responsibilities will likely leave the map-drawing in the hands of the federal judiciary — a job that the League of Women Voters of Virginia (LWV-VA) suspect the judges are not eager to take on.

The LWV-VA believes that these maps are a good place to begin, because they were developed by persons seeking to adhere to the redistricting requirements embedded in the Virginia Constitution, rather than by persons seeking only to amass enough voters of the right political stripe in their districts to assure their easy re-election.

The judges DO have the opportunity to set a very positive example for all future redistricting efforts by using as their starting point the independent, bipartisan redistricting plans that were developed during the last redistricting cycle. A good redistricting plan would respect natural geographic boundaries, the boundaries of local jurisdictions and communities of interest.

If redistricting is done in a way that is fair and non-partisan, it will ultimately produce a result that permits democratic processes to flourish in our state and reflects the true political power of minorities and other ethnic groups within our increasingly diverse Commonwealth.

The court also has the opportunity to follow a key recommendation of Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s bipartisan Integrity Commission. The commission recommended amending the Virginia Constitution so that future redistricting plans would always be drawn by an independent commission, rather than partisan politicians.

It was commendable that then-Gov. Bob McDonnell appointed an independent, bipartisan advisory commission, which held hearings around the state before proposing three different congressional redistricting maps. The commission also encouraged the consideration of the winning maps that emerged from a competition among Virginia college teams that year.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of using such commissions to draw the boundaries of legislative districts, we believe the current impasse provides the appeals court with a rare opportunity to demonstrate that this approach CAN actually work in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In doing so, the court can strike a blow for fairness, transparency and good government — and take an important step toward promoting a healthier democracy in our very politically polarized state.

The League of Women Voters of Virginia (LWV-VA), along with Leagues across the country continue to press for redistricting reform at the state level.  To learn more about redistricting and LWV-VA decades-long efforts to decrease gerrymandering, visit our page on the topic.  A major effort of LWV-VA is to have redistricting reform by 2021 when the next redistricting occurs.

This is an op-ed by Reston Association President Ellen Graves. It does not represent the opinion of Reston Now. Graves will be providing periodic updates as the 2016-17 Budget process continues this fall.

Over the next few months, I will be keeping Reston Association members updated on the status of the association’s 2016-2017 budget development process through a series of blog posts on the RA website.

The RA board of directors and RA staff conducted the first in a series of budget work sessions Monday, Aug. 24, and they will meet frequently throughout the fall to finalize an operating and capital expense budget and to set the new 2016 assessment fee. Following each work session, I will share the latest information from that budget session.

During the Aug. 24 work session, board members reviewed the first draft of the budget developed by RA staff. Board members are closely reviewing all aspects of the budget and have requested additional information from the staff on pool and tennis facility operating costs and utilization, costs associated with mowing and maintaining roadway medians, assessment fee comparisons with other area homeowner associations, budget details on the Pony Barn project and a list of opportunities creating greater efficiency and cost savings within the association.

Board members were also reassured by RA CEO Cate Fulkerson that no operating or facilities renovation costs associated with the recent acquisition of Tetra property purchase are in the 2016 or 2017 budgets.

As your board, we take the fiduciary responsibility you entrust in us as our No. 1 priority. You have my assurance that the board will thoroughly review all aspects of both the operating and capital budgets before setting the 2016 assessment fee.

The board is planning another work session in early September and like all board meetings, the work sessions are open to members. Once the next budget work session is scheduled, it will be posted on the RA website.

This is an op-ed by Bill Woloch, PhD Architect. It does not represent the opinion of Reston Now.

I recently had the honor and a pleasure to sit down with Mr. Bob Simon, the founder of Reston and talk to him regarding his thoughts of the future development Tall Oaks Village Center.

After my discussions with Mr. Simon, I put pen to paper and developed a concept plan for the Tall Oaks Village Center that may be more in line with public thinking of what Tall Oaks Village Center could look like.

If you venture to Lake Anne and look at the mix of residential and commercial properties you will find a very quaint setting. I found out that originally a lot of the business areas on the ground floor of many of the buildings were originally residential and eventually converted to commercial space as Lake Anne Village Center evolved. This evolution of space function should be planned for in the Tall Oaks redevelopment strategy.

Applying this principle between commercial and residential space is somewhat unique in terms of planning developments, but the concept has already been proven in Reston with the continual evolution of the Lake Anne Village Center and should continue into the future.

The buildings themselves could be anywhere between three stories to five stories tall with underground parking and centered around a community plaza. The plaza would have areas of high, medium, and low activity. Covered and uncovered areas should exist in and around the Plaza and seating areas so the space can be enjoyed for a whole host of purposes. Planned and unplanned functions can occur in the new Tall Oaks Village Center similar to what at Lake Anne and the Mosaic District.

The Mosaic District in Fairfax was developed and is managed by a company called Edens. This small piece of geography has to be visited to understand how a small outdoor space can successfully bring the community together and offer something to everyone who visits. Read More

This week’s Reston Pet of the Week is Anna, a Maltese/Poodle mix who could use a loving home.

Here is what her people at Caring Hearts Rescue have to say about her:

Named after a Disney Princess, Anna was found wandering the streets alone and ended up in a rural Virginia shelter.

She is an 8-year year old Maltese/Poodle mix and weighs a mere nine pounds. She has wiggled right into the hearts of everyone she has met. The transporters and vet staff were quite smitten with her. Her foster mom writes, “Oh my goodness, is this girl ever sweet! Not a mean bone in her body! She is a total love bug.”

Anna is quiet and a little shy but warms up very quickly to her humans. She is content being by your side or sitting on your lap. She dances around in circles when it is time to eat…but eats like the classy little lady she is.

She is very pretty, with big brown eyes and silky soft white hair.

Anna recently had her spay surgery and a complete dental and is in tip-top shape. Like most rescue dogs, Anna is getting a refresher course on house-training. She does fine with the other dogs in her foster home.

Are you and Anna a match? If so, let us know and our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, will send you some treats and $100 in Becky’s Bucks.

Want your pet to be considered for the Reston Pet of the Week?

Email [email protected] with a 2-3 paragraph bio and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos of your pet.

Each week’s winner receives a sample of dog or cat treats from our sponsor, Becky’s Pet Care, along with $100 in Becky’s Bucks.

Becky’s Pet Care, the winner of three Angie’s List Super Service Awards and the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters’ 2013 Business of the Year, provides professional dog walking and pet sitting services in Reston and Northern Virginia.

Reston Swim Team Association swimmers capped off the 2015 season by breaking more records at Saturday’s annual All-Star meet.

Lake Anne swimmers set three new league records. Joanne Fu broke the girls 15-18 50-meter Butterfly record with a time of 29.68. Darius Truong came in at 27.63 in 11-12 boys 50-meter Freestyle to beat the previous league record of 28.36. Truong also swam 35.06 to break a 25-year-old record (35.69) in the 11-12 boys 50-meter Breaststroke.

The following new teams records also were set:

• For Lake Anne, Emily Meilus set a new record of 27.83 for 15-18 Women’s 50-meter Freestyle while the girls 8 & under 100-meter Free Relay team of Amber Lu, Jacqui Go, Claire Munro, Katie Semanchik set a new record of 1:22.43.

• For Glade, Sophia Landeryou set two new team records: in the girls 11-12 50-meter Freestyle she clocked a time of 28.79. In the girls 11-12 50-meter Backstroke, she set a record of 32.53.

Natalie Bardach set a new team record in girls 13-14 50-meter Freestyle with a time of 29.10.

The girls mixed age 200-meter Freestyle relay team of Kelsey Birkland, Clara Landeryou, Sophia Landeryou, and Natalie Bardach set a new record of 2:05.74.

• For Lake Newport, Anna Redican set a new record time of 32.04 for girls 13-14 50-meter Backstroke and beat a 1994 record in the girls 13-14 50-meter Butterfly with a time of 31.07. Read More

An area law firm is inviting the entire community to take part in its annual Hound Dog Day.

Law firm McCandlish Lillard has been celebrating Hound Dog Day — the calendar opposite of Groundhog Day — for years.

Attorneys at the law firm started Hound Dog Day years ago as a corollary to Groundhog Day.

The saying went, “if the hound dog crossed the porch and drank from his water bowl, we would have six more weeks of of summer.” If he didn’t stop for a drink, then fall would come early.

McCandlish Lillard is holding the free event Saturday, Aug. 1 at Reston’s Lake Fairfax Park from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The community is invited to come enjoy kids activities such as face painting, jugglers, and a photo booth. There will also be live music, food trucks and pet-related vendors. Leashed dogs are also welcome.

All net proceeds from the event will go to local dog rescue groups FOHA (Friends of Homeless Animals), Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, Mutt Love Rescue and The Shiloh Project.

On Saturday, Reston Swim Team Association’s Ridge Heights Sharks showed up across town to cheer on their longtime rivals, the Lake Audubon Barracudas.

The fate of the 2015 RSTA Championship was riding on the outcome of Lake Audubon’s meet with Lake Newport. If the Barracudas defeated the Lightning, the Sharks would reign as undisputed champs with an undefeated season.

With Lake Newport and Lake Audubon within six points of each other throughout the meet and tied halfway through the freestyle events, anything could happen. Two rain delays had swimmers and parents waiting it out in their cars.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be called off because of the weather,” said David Cordts, parent to two Barracuda swimmers. “The score was so close it would have gone down as a tie and Lake Newport needed a win, so we knew we’d keep swimming.”

Ultimately, Lake Newport prevailed and preserved its own undefeated season, making them co-champions of the league with Ridge Heights, which had not gone undefeated since 1998. (Because there are nine RSTA teams and only six meets, not all teams swim against each other.)

Lake Audubon finished in second place with a 4-2 record, while Hunters Woods and North Hills were tied for third with 3-2-1 records. See complete RSTA season standings on the RSTA website.

Nine swimmers finished off their regular season by smashing some team records:

• Lake Audubon’s Mathew Fritz crushed two long-standing team records. In the boys 11-12 50-meter breaststroke, he broke a record set in 1985 by half a second, and in the 50-meter butterfly he broke a record set in 1986 by .26.

• Glade’s relay team of Madeline LaPorte, Meghan Benedetto, Isabella Gati, and Emily Landeryou set a new team record of 2:15.12 in the girls 15-18 200-meter Medley Relay.

• Lake Newport’s relay team of Dylan Jones, Dan Ni, Alan Yu, Zach Wang broke a record set earlier this season in the boys 13-14 200 Medley Relay.

Newbridge Dolphins 560, Glade Gators 548

For Newbridge, double event winners were Elise Baldwin, Levi Bishop, Eric Compton, Everett Ha, Sam Joyner, Greg Mayo, and Joseph Sgambati. Triple event winners were Justin Compton, Mary Carol Cook, Jean-Louis Guill, Ethan Ha, Ian Ha, Laela Huddleston, and Sarah Zhong. Read More

Several new meet records were set at Reston Swim Team Association’s annual Individual Medley (IM) meet last week.

All races are 100-meter IMs. Among the records broken Wednesday at Lake Newport Pool:

Katie Cazenas of the North Hills Hurricanes set a new team record with her time of 1:23.38.

In the Boys 11-12 competition, a new league record was set by Darius Truong of the Lake Anne Stingrays with his time of 1:04.95, besting the 2012 mark of 1:09.84. He also clobbered the Lake Anne team record set in 1993 (1:15.48). Matthew Fritz of Lake Audubon Barracudas beat his team’s 1996 record with a 1:13.44. Also, Joseph Sciortino of North Hills beat a 1997 team record with his time of 1:19.43.

Three boys from the 15-18 age group set new records for their teams. Casey Storch of the Lake Newport Lightning smashed the 2002 mark of 1:04.40 with his time of 1:00.77. Mac Sogandares of the Ridge Heights Sharks beat Adam Orton’s 1998 record (1:01.99) with a time of 1:01.87, and Devin Truong of Lake Anne beat Marc Severin’s 1997 time of 1:02.54 with a 1:02.28.

In the Girls 15-18 competition, Emily Meilus of Lake Anne set a new league record with her time of 1:06.44.

IM Backstroke swimmer/Credit: Leslie Sogandares

Swimmers from five Reston Swim Team Association teams set records during last weekend’s meets. Among them:

Lake Anne — Darius Truong came in at 31.55 in the 11-12 Boys 50-meter Backstroke to beat the previous league record of 32.56 set by Ryan Ha in 2012 and his own All-Stars record of 32.60. In the 11-12 Boys 50-meter Breaststroke, swam a 35.85 to beat his own record of 36.46.

The Girls 8-and-under 100-meter Freestyle Relay team of Jacqui Go, Amber Lu, Claire Munro and Katie Semanchik set a new team record with a time of 1.28.27, replacing a record set in 2003.

Glade — Isabella Gati clocked in at 30.08 in 15-18 Girls 50-meter Butterfly, beating a league record set in 1996. She also set a new team record. Sophia Landeryou set a new team record for 11-12 Girls 50-meter Freestyle with a time of 29.41, replacing a record set by her sister in 2012. The 15-18 Girls 200-meter Medley Relay team of Madeline LaPorte, Meghan Benedetto, Isabella Gati, and Emily Landeryou set a new team record at 2:16.31

Lake Newport — Anna Redican set a new record time of 32.57 for 13-14 Girls 50-meter Backstroke. The 15-18 Boys 200-meter Medley Relay team of Casey Storch, Michael George, Jack Edgemond, and Grant Bommer set a new record of 2:02.53.

Newbridge — Ryan Ha set a new team record for the 15-18 Boys 50-meter Backstroke with a time of 29.43.

North Hills — Joseph Sciortino set a new team record of 29.40 for 11-12 Boys 50-meter Freestyle. The 11-12 Boys 100-meter Medley Relay team of Miles Yang, Evan Zhang, Joseph Sciortino, and William Xu replaced its previous record with a new team record of 1:09.23. The 13-14 Boys200-meter Medley Relay team of Ryan Hill, Ryan Luczak, Abhishek Bazaz, and Ryan Grimes replaced its previous team record with a new time of 2:12.44.

In meet results:

North Hills Hurricanes 645, Lake Anne Stingrays 481

For North Hills, triple event winners Katie Cazenas, Albert Huang, and Sarah Sciortino. Double event winners were Allison Boone, Michelle Boone, Eleanor Boyer Uriarte, Marlee Czarny, Emily Deker, Ishan R Ganjoo, Landan Grange, Ryan Hill, Ada Langston, Benjamin Livaudais, Piper Luczak, Emily Ren, Samantha Sciortino, Carly Shaffer, Caroline Xu, and Evan D Zhang.

For Lake Anne, triple event winners were Rowan O’Connor, Darius Truong, Devin Read More

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch from 2 p.m. Tuesday to late Tuesday night for Reston, Northern Virginia and most of the Washington, DC area.

From the NWS:

SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP LATE TODAY INTO TONIGHT. THESE STORMS WILL BE SLOW MOVING AND CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL.

RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE IN AN HOUR. WITH SATURATED GROUND…THESE RATES COULD RESULT IN FLASH FLOODING.

SMALL STREAMS AND URBAN AREAS WILL BE ESPECIALLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO
RAPID RISES OF WATER ONTO NORMALLY DRY AREAS.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING.

The 2015 South Lakes High School All Night Grad Party would like to thank the following businesses that supported us this past year with their generous donations of funds, goods and food.

The All Night Grad Party is an drug-free and alcohol-free celebration for the graduating class of South Lakes and involves the active participation of hundreds of volunteers. We rely on the community and their support to make this special night happen. Thank you so much! ​

Platinum ($500+)
FrozenYo
Reston Association
Reston Community Center

Read More