Town leaders want more input from residents about whether it should ease restrictions for secondary living quarters that can be part of or detached from homes.
Current rules — in place since 1983 — have limited accessory dwelling units (ADUs) for those who are older than 62 or who have a disability. But following changes in other states and by other area governments, including Fairfax County, Herndon is looking to drop those requirements and make other adjustments.
“This is relaxing the current requirements, but it’s not making it easy,” zoning administrator David Stromberg said during an Oct. 26 meeting prior to a public hearing. “There still are … a lot of standards that have to be met.”
Town council delayed a decision until its Nov. 16 meeting.
In the works since April, the review of ADU rules came after some residents expressed frustrations about the process.
Proposed changes have also called for allowing up to three people live in an ADU (raising the current restriction from two people), reducing a detached ADU maximum space from 1,200 square feet to 900 square feet, and more.
The changes would also allow many kinds of construction to happen without a special approval process, but it would also ensure building inspectors and others go through properties to make sure they’re safe.
One resident commented during the Oct. 26 public hearing. Arthur Nachman, of Vine Street, said he was against the changes because it would allow non-family members to be in detached buildings, which he said shouldn’t happen in a residential neighborhood.
While some councilmembers shared concerns and wanted more time for residents to provide feedback, Councilmember Jasbinder Singh spent the most time expressing his doubts, saying he thought it would change the town’s character.
Based on the number of ADUs occurring in Arlington County from 2017 to 2021, Stromberg estimates that the rate in Herndon will be two or three per year if they’re “by right.” Singh said he disagreed and suggested more could happen.
The delayed vote will allow the town to get more input, though technically the public hearing has closed. People can still share their opinions during a regular public comment portion of the meeting.
“It will give us time to think more about all the issues and really what motion should be made if at all,” Singh said.
Neighboring governments have already loosened restrictions. Fairfax County revised its rules for accessory units, which it calls accessory living units, as part of a larger zoning overhaul this summer, dropping its requirement that the units be restricted to older adults and people with disabilities.
Reston-based Company Makes Acquisition — CACI International, a Reston-based company, has acquired a California-based company for $275 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year for SA Photonics Inc. [Virginia Business]
Reston Next Moves Forward — Boston Properties has officially delivered the first 285,000 square feet of its Reston Next development, which is anchored by Fannie Mae. The project is 85 percent leased overall. [Washington Business Journal]
Town of Herndon Budget Earns Honors — Government Finance Officers Association recognized the Town of Herndon with its budget presentation award. The honor recognizes budgets that work well as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide and communications device. [Town of Herndon]
This Sunday: Change Your Clock — When you move your clock back one hour early on Sunday morning, don’t forget to also check your smoke alarms to make sure they’re working. The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department issues a reminder to residents. [FCRD]
Photo by David Taube
Herndon Middle School was temporarily on a lockdown earlier this afternoon after a report that someone displayed a gun during a fight near the school, according to police.
According to the Herndon Police Department, reports were received that a middle schooler displayed a handgun during a fight between an unspecified number of middle-schoolers.
The incident is reported to have happened off-campus near the 900 block of Alabama Drive, which is located roughly half a mile from the school.
The lockdown was lifted around 4 p.m. today, a staff member told Reston Now.
HPD says officers are continuing to investigate. No other information was immediately released.
INCIDENT ALERT: Herndon Middle School was on lockdown after reports of an OFF CAMPUS altercation (near 900-blk Alabama Dr) between what appeared to be middle school-aged juveniles, one of which displayed a gun. Officers continue to investigate. Details as available. #herndonpd pic.twitter.com/m5XtXG9TB2
— Herndon Police (@HerndonPolice) November 4, 2021
Image via Google Maps
(Updated, Nov. 9) After years of delays, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) has announced that it has reached substantial completion on Silver Line Phase 2.
The announcement came Thursday afternoon and nearly two weeks after the successful tie-in of the two lines at the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station
MWAA is preparing to hand over the $2.8 billion public transportation project to Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Metro currently owns the project and still has sole responsibility for the project until Metro assumes ownership.
WMATA has confirmed to Reston Now that the agency will still need about six months to complete testing and pre-revenue preparations before opening to riders. However, they are not yet setting an official opening date.
“Metro looks forward to entering the next phase of the project, during which we will perform hundreds of tests to ensure the extension can be operated safely and reliably before the Board accepts ownership and sets an opening date,” writes a WMATA spokesperson to Reston Now.
If that six month timeline does remain accurate, Silver Line Phase 2 should open to riders in May 2022.
From MWAA’s press release:
Silver Line Phase 2 Reaches Major Milestone
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials announced Thursday they have declared substantial completion for work by Capital Rail Constructors (CRC) on Phase 2 of the Metrorail Silver Line extension project. The work by CRC, a joint venture led by Clark Construction Group and Kiewit, is a key component of the project to extend the region’s Metrorail public transit system to Dulles International Airport and beyond.
Substantial Completion means major construction is complete and allows operational readiness testing to begin, during which the contractor will demonstrate the project’s functionality, as a key step toward delivering the new rail line to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which operates the Metrorail system.
“This is a significant step toward completing the 11.5-mile extension that will provide rail service for residents in Reston, Herndon and eastern Loudoun County and give Metro riders direct access to Dulles Airport,” said Jack Potter, president and CEO of the Airports Authority. “In addition to providing new public transportation options, the Silver Line is a major catalyst for jobs and economic development in the National Capital region.”
The project also includes a 90-acre rail maintenance yard at Dulles International Airport, being built by Hensel Phelps, which is also nearing completion under a separate contract.
Phase 1 of the Silver Line opened in 2014, extending Metrorail service from East Falls Church to the eastern edge of Reston and triggering major transformations in the Tysons Corner and Wiehle Avenue areas. Those same trends are beginning along Phase 2, with changes already underway along the Dulles Corridor in Reston, Herndon and Ashburn, and at Dulles International Airport. The Silver Line’s goal is to help ease traffic congestion by providing alternative routes and easier commuting times, access to regional entertainment, shopping and Dulles Airport.
In a statement, contractor Capital Rail Constructors calls this a “significant milestone.” Here’s more from Keith Couch, the company’s project director:
“After successful Phase 1 and Phase 2 tie-in testing at Wiehle Avenue, MWAA has approved substantial completion of the Package A Silver Line Phase 2 project. The project will now move into Operational Readiness Testing, which will be completed by MWAA and WMATA. This significant milestone is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and collaboration of the project team and stakeholders. The CRC team is proud to have been a part of this transformational piece of infrastructure for the region.”
During the pandemic, a food vendor told fellow merchant Pedro Banegas, 59, who uses an electric wheelchair, that he had a surprise for him.
Later, the good Samaritan drove to his house and handed him the keys to a 2007 van, which Banegas has been using for nearly a year, the merchant says. He’s currently been selling snacks and drinks to construction workers on job sites near McNair along Sunrise Valley Drive.
He’s not the only one doing so out of a van, and food trucks also make stops to catch workers’ breaks. They have plenty of customers. A Donohoe Construction Co. spokesperson said they average 160 to 190 workers on the site each day near the Innovation Center Station.
Banegas regularly parks his maroon-colored vehicle on the curb at multiple job sites after making the commute from the Falls Church area where he lives. He doesn’t always like sharing about his personal life, but his children are in their 30s. He wakes up at 4 a.m. and takes the weekends off, going to church on Sundays.
He buys snack pack boxes to get a variety of chips like Doritos and Cheetos, and customers make their own coffee with a mix he provides along with an orange and white beverage dispenser filled with hot water.
Two of his merchant stops include building sites where tower cranes have been: one for a 274-unit affordable housing development called Ovation at Arrowbrook by Centreville Road and another for the Brightview Senior Living facility that Donohoe is building.
A third site he visits includes the 155 townhomes and condominiums that Stanley Martin is building by office buildings. He sticks to those sites, but other nearby construction includes a six-story multifamily development, Passport NoVA, as well as retail and luxury residence along Dulles Station Boulevard for a development called Makers Rise.
Banegas says he operated heavy equipment before he lost his right leg. Now, selling chips and coffee helps him get by. Other food vendors give him food for his own meals, too, as they work by construction sites.
Whether it’s a familiar or unfamiliar face, he greets people with a smile and chatter, both in English and Spanish, which translates well with numerous construction workers doing the same.
Aging courts in need of repairs, which have also been eyed for shared pickleball space and new lighting, will have to wait at Barton Hil Recreation Area.
The Reston Association Board of Directors voted 4-2 on Thursday (Oct. 28) to defer the matter to the 2023 budget. Directors Jennifer Jushchuk, John Mooney, Bob Petrine and Sarah Selvaraj voted in favor and directors Caren Anton and Tim Dowling were opposed.
“The response from the community is … overwhelmingly in favor of doing the … pickleball conversion and the lights,” Anton, the board’s chair, said before the vote. “It’s like 75 or 85% in favor.”
Jushchuk said she’s not getting that response from her members in the South Lakes District where the courts are. She said she tends to support more community outreach and wanted staff to have time in 2022 to have a plan to implement in 2023.
“I’m not saying that we should not do this,” Jushchuk said, adding, “We need some time to figure out” what RA is going to do, what it’s going to cost and looking at community buy-in.
Petrine said that there have been emails both for and against the project and he would want a more thorough review of the project before the association spends over $870,000 for the project.
The Barton Hill Recreation Area along Sunrise Valley Drive has no stoplight at an intersection with Barton Hill Road. At an Oct. 13 public hearing on the budget, one father noted safety concerns with a crosswalk and visibility for traffic there, recommending that issue be considered with upgrades.
The courts were built in 1985 and the association has discussed the possibility of adding roofing to the outdoor courts, but acting CEO Larry Butler said last month during a public hearing that’s no longer being considered.
When asked how quickly the courts would need to be replaced, Chris Schumaker, RA’s director of capital projects, said they wouldn’t necessarily need to shut the courts down, but he wondered how playable they would be given surface cracking that’s already there.
He said they’d likely have a lot more come spring given a freeze-thaw period.
The decision comes as the board is moving toward approving a 2022-2023 biennial budget. A second public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Nov. 10. A copy of the second draft of the budget is available online.
Mike Leone, a spokesperson for the association, said in an email that the fiscal committee will likely continue their budget discussions in November and the board will likely approve the final budget and the 2022 assessment rate at their Nov. 18 regular meeting.
Fairfax County families interested in getting their children vaccinated against COVID-19 will have a variety of venues to choose from, but finding an available appointment may initially be challenging, the county health department said yesterday (Wednesday).
After months of anticipation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention formally authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5-11 on Tuesday (Nov. 2), recommending a third of the dosage that everyone 12 and older has been able to receive since May.
Distribution of pediatric vaccinations is already underway, but operations will not reach full capacity until next week, according to the CDC.
With approximately 97,000 children now eligible, the Fairfax County Health Department anticipates “high interest” in the vaccine among families, Assistant Public Health Emergency Management Coordinator Colin Brody says.
“There may be a few days at the beginning where providers are still working to make appointments available in their systems,” Brody said. “However, we do not for see any major issues at this time and we believe all those who are seeking vaccine will be able to get it in the first few weeks.”
The county health department says it will receive about 80,000 doses for children over the next few weeks.
Initially, vaccinations will only be available to kids by appointment, but unlike with the original vaccine rollout, the county will not have a centralized registration system or waitlist.
Instead, appointments must be made with individual providers, including:
- FCHD mass vaccination sites — visit the Vaccine Administration Management System or call 703-324-7404
- Tysons Community Vaccination Center — use the Virginia Department of Health’s scheduling system or call 877-VAX-IN-VA (877-829-4682, TTY users call 711) for assistance in more than 100 languages
- Inova Health Systems, which is already scheduling appointments at its Center for Personalized Health in Merrifield
Doses are also being distributed to pediatric and family medicine providers, which can be contacted directly for scheduling, as well as pharmacies, grocery stores, and urgent care facilities, which will post appointments to vaccines.gov as they become available.
While some nearby jurisdictions like Arlington County have announced a specific date for when they will start offering pediatric vaccinations, FCHD just says in its blog post that the vaccine will be widely available in the community “in the coming days.”
The department says residents can make appointments as soon as they see openings.
“We did not want to wait until the weekend if some doctors/the CVC/or any other site already has the vaccine in supply and is ready to provide vaccinations sooner,” the FCHD said by email.
The county is also planning to host vaccination clinics at schools and community centers as part of its effort to ensure accessibility to all children.
Fairfax County Public Schools officials stated last month that school-based clinics for elementary school-aged students could be ready around mid-November, though further details — including the name of the third-party provider contracted to help administer the shots — have not been shared yet.
FCPS did not return a request for comment by press time.
The urgency of COVID-19 vaccinations for children has increased over the past few months, particularly with public schools resuming five days of in-person classes.
Children have experienced the highest rate of COVID-19 infection in the county since late August, according to FCHD Director Dr. Gloria Addo-Ayensu.
According to state data, 18,334 Fairfax Health District residents aged 19 and younger have contracted the novel coronavirus, though the district has reported just one death in that age group.
“While children are less likely to get serious disease than adults, some have been hospitalized and, like adults, suffering symptoms that can last for months,” said Addo-Ayensu. “Children with asymptomatic infections can spread the virus to other household members. For these reasons, we encourage parents and guardians to get their child[ren] vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Freeze Warning In Effect — A freeze warning is in effect from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Friday while a frost advisory remains in effect until 9 a.m. today. [National Weather Service]
Toys for Tots is On — The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is taking part in the annual toys for tots campaign. Stations will accept donations through Dec. 12. This year, collection boxes will be placed outside the front door of every fire station each morning. Residents have until 8 p.m. to drop off today every day. [FCFRD]
Dump Your Pumpkins Elsewhere — The Fairfax County Park Authority is reminding residents that parks aren’t for pumpkins. Residents should not discard pumpkins at county parks. [Fairfax County Government]
Candidate Call for Reston Association Board — Three seats are open for the association’s Board of Directors. The month-long election is held every March. Positions for at-large director, Lake Anne/Tall Oaks District director, and North Point district director are open. [RA]
Photo via vantagehill/Flickr
Fairfax County’s work release program has been shuttered since March 2020 due to the pandemic. But when the transitional program restarts, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office is unsure how it will be able to manage it.
Faced with an uncharacteristically high vacancy rate of 11.4%, the sheriff’s office says it’s changing how it operates to make basic functions possible. The office is tasked with operating the detention center, providing security for the courthouse and courtrooms, and serving the civil law process.
“Whenever the health department recommends that we can safely restart work release, we need to evaluate if we have sufficient staff to actually restart it,” said Andrea Ceisler, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
To manage, the office has redeployed staff from other areas to the Adult Detention Center and eliminated assignments to specialized units like the fugitive task force and gang unit. Hiring is ongoing, but the number of applications has dipped.
“Even with mandatory overtime, our squads are short-staffed,” Ceisler said. She says the office is also turning down new requests to take part in programs by community groups and schools.
The order to shut down the work release program — which allows some inmates to work and take part in community programs as they transition out of incarceration — came from the Fairfax County Health Department. It’s unclear when it will restart, but the decision will be guided by when community transmission levels are reduced from substantial to moderate or low.
Over the last three years, the number of inmates enrolled in the county’s work-release program has decreased significantly.
In 2017, 112 inmates were enrolled and 44 successfully completed the remainder of their sentence while in the program. In 2019, just 48 inmates were enrolled, though 32 completed the remainder of their sentence.
Over the last 10 years, the need for more staff has also grown — particularly at the detention center.
Cell blocks that can house 20 inmates typically hold 10 inmates, a configuration that dramatically reduces the number of fights and encourages more compliance with rules. An increase in training — including crisis intervention and mental health first aid — also takes off staff from their line of work.
“Should the pandemic end, we will have to evaluate staffing in the Alternative Incarceration Branch where the staff-to-inmate ratio is much smaller for programs such as Work Release, the Community Labor Force and STAR, our addiction treatment and recovery program,” Ceisler said. “For the safety and security of our staff, inmates and the people who live and work in the county, sufficient staffing in the Adult Detention Center must remain a top priority.”
Public safety and law enforcement departments have reported high vacancy rates nationally. Staffing has declined for the past eight years, with 86% of departments across the country reporting a shortage last year.
Major Tamara Gold, the sheriff’s office assistant chief, told the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last month that the problem is expected to intensify in the coming months.
The office’s staff are paid between 2.5 and 7.5% less than equivalent positions in the Fairfax County Police Department. Many staff has left the office for employment with FCPD, which is grappling with its own staff shortage.
The sheriff’s office did resume its community labor force program earlier this year, where inmates work outdoors in crews of five under the supervision of an armed deputy sheriff. Crews complete landscaping, emergency snow removal, litter pick up, and other tasks.
Photo via Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Two office buildings are listed for sale, following an eight-figure transaction in 2016.
At the time, prior owner Brandywine Realty Trust, now headquartered in Philly, sold Herndon Metro Plaza I and II at 196 and 198 Van Buren St. for $44.5 million.
The owner is listed as ERGS HMP, LLC, which has an address in a Virginia business registration database that’s the same as investment firm Goldman Sachs’ global headquarters in New York.
The buildings currently have seven tenants, making the properties 53% leased and “offering investors a true value-add, transit-oriented office investment opportunity in a rapidly transforming, high-growth Northern Virginia submarket,” commercial real estate giant JLL says on its listing.
JLL, which didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment, touts the benefits of the property as ranging from prominent Dulles Toll Road signage opportunities to below-grade parking and being next to the Herndon Metro station, which the company says is slated for access in early 2022 (despite how numerous delays in completing it have already occurred).
The 6.5-acre site features a net building area of over 204,000 square feet, nearly four times the square footage of the White House.
The listing also notes the site is at the “intersection of federal spending” and Big Tech, with Amazon, Microsoft and Google continuing to expand along the Dulles Toll Road corridor.
While Democrats fared well in Fairfax County, sweeping the local delegate races, Virginia will return to a Republican governor with Glenn Youngkin after former Gov. Terry McAuliffe failed to replicate his 2013 victory.
McAuliffe conceded today (Wednesday), congratulating the governor-elect, thanking supporters, and stressing the need to improve Virginia.
The results are still unofficial and won’t be certified until Nov. 15. Ballots are still being counted too, though many news outlets, including the Associated Press, called the race last night.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay told FFXnow that the election results will not alter the pride that the county takes in its diversity or his commitment to the One Fairfax policy, which advocates for equity.
In a statement, McKay said he will “always fight for the interests of Fairfax County and will work with our statewide leaders to ensure we continue to have one of the best education systems in the country, provide high-quality services, prioritize public health and safety, and ensure Fairfax County is a place where everyone has access to opportunity and growth.”
The county’s lone Republican supervisor, Pat Herrity, who represents Springfield District, said it’s a good day for Fairfax County residents.
“I think this election marks the beginning of a movement to bring all Virginians together to focus on common sense solutions to everyday problems instead of partisan politics and rhetoric,” Herrity said in a statement. “This includes a new focus on public safety, our education system, the economy and the cost of government.”
Youngkin’s victory will have a direct effect on future Fairfax County elections.
State law dictates that two seats of the county’s three-member Electoral Board represent the political party that won the most recent gubernatorial race. The runner-up party gets the third seat. Board members serve three-year terms with one seat opening up each year.
The board’s duties include administering absentee ballots and conducting elections.
While voting in Fairfax County unfolded smoothly for the most part, technical issues led to a delay in reporting some results from in-person early voting.
Approximately 20,000 electronic ballots had to be re-scanned because thumb drives were corrupted and didn’t work, affecting four machines at voting sites, said Brian Worthy, a spokesperson with the Fairfax County Office of Elections.
“That’s why we have paper ballots,” he said, noting that the backups allowed the rescanning to occur.
Fairfax County Turnout for Democrats Weakens
Turnout in Fairfax County was nearly the same as the last gubernatorial race in 2017, when 56.1% of active voters cast a ballot. Unofficial results from Tuesday showed around 437,000 ballots cast out of over 780,000 registered voters, a 55.99% turnout, according to a county elections report.
While early voting was significant, influenced by a 2020 change in state law to allow no-excuse absentee voting, it failed to reach the level of turnout seen last year, when there was a presidential race on the ballot.
Support for McAuliffe from voters in Fairfax County, the state’s most populous area, was strong, but not quite as robust as it was for previous Democratic candidates, including in the last gubernatorial race and last year’s presidential election.
Fairfax County voters favored McAuliffe with 64.6% of the vote in this year’s general election, whereas they supported Joe Biden’s bid for the presidency in 2020 with a 69.4% majority. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam won Fairfax County in 2017 with 66.5% of the vote.
Once the results are certified, Youngkin will be sworn in for his four-year term on Jan. 15.
Matt Blitz contributed to this report.
A new day care is preparing to open in Reston.
A franchise for Celebree School, which features digital reports for each child daily and helps prepare kids for kindergarten, is slated to open at a low-rise office building at 11109 Sunset Hills Road, Unit 150 near Wiehle Avenue.
“We researched different schools and it was a no-brainer that Celebree was the right choice for us,” franchisee Josephine Kibe-Johnson said in an email.
The schools’ curriculum strives to incorporate not just academic needs but emotional, physical and social factors, too. It’ll serve infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school-age children.
“We were amazed with the creative curriculum that is followed at Celebree that offers tailored lessons to meet the unique needs of children; curriculum that is comprehensive, based on research and [provides] developmentally appropriate content for children with different skills and [backgrounds],” Kibe-Johnson also wrote.
The business is currently looking to hire a director and an assistant director and teachers for the school’s different age groups.
It comes as childcare challenges during the pandemic caused centers to close and left many looking to fill positions and retain workers.
According to a survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, which surveyed providers in the industry in part of June and July, more than one in every three respondents said they were considering “leaving or shutting down their child care programs this year, and over half of minority-owned programs are reckoning with the possibility of permanent closure.”
In Virginia, many day cares reported having staffing shortages, serving fewer children, having a longer waitlist than usual and having reduced their operating hours, the association’s survey found.
Federal COVID-19 relief money has gone to governments, parents and child care centers, and Fairfax County aid has sought to use its portion of that money to keep day cares open. County staff noted in July that child care programs could close at a time when more parents are returning to work.
For Kibe-Johnson, she said her business could be part of helping address a shortage in childcare services.
“We believe that we are part of the solution of helping parents, especially women, go back to work, by providing quality childcare services for their children,” she wrote.
A groundbreaking event at the proposed location is slated for 11 a.m. this Tuesday (Nov. 9), where community members are able to attend for refreshments, activities and more.
The day care is projected to open in the first quarter of 2022.
Photo via Google Maps
Man Wanted in Connection with Elden Street Robbery — Local police have issued an alert for a suspect in connection with the Oct. 17 robbery of a business on Elden Street. Police are searching for Abraham Bresner Porres, who has tattoos on his left hand. [Herndon Police Department]
Police Investigate Reston Crash — Local police are still investigating a crash that seriously injured the driver of a car. The car crashed on the 1700 block of Fountain Drive. Fountain Drive was closed between Spectrum Center and Bowman Towne Drive, but has since reopened. [FCPD]
Appraisal Roadshow Cancelled — Reston Association has canceled its annual appraisal roadshow, which was set to take place on Nov. 6 at 11 a.m. [RA]
Photo by Marjorie Copson
Democrats continued to hold onto their trifecta of power in local races for the Virginia House of Delegates.
With 12 of 17 reporting, Democrat Ken Plum retained a stronghold over challenger Matt Lang, a Republican veteran, retaining nearly 72 percent of the vote for the 36th District. Lang secured a little over a quarter of the total vote.
Plum has served as House Delegate for the 36th District since 1982. He turns 80 the day after the election.
Democratic candidate Irene Shin — who knocked off incumbent Ibraheem Samirah in the June Democratic primary — also had a dominant lead over her Republican opponent, Julie Perry for the 86th district seat.
Shin clenched 66 percent of the vote while Perry had just 33 percent of the vote as of around 9 p.m. today. Just two of the county’s 13 precincts remain open.
Perry is a public school history teacher while Shin is the executive director of a nonprofit organization on civic engagement. The seat covers Herndon, Oak Hill, and Chantilly and some parts of Loudoun County.
Plum handily defeated a primary challenge with more than 77 percent of the vote in June.
After an otherwise uneventful day, the county’s Office of Elections had to rescan 20,000 in-person early voting ballots. Spokesperson Brian Worthy said there was “corrupted electric media” where votes were recorded in the machine used at early voting sites. The issue affected four of 38 machines.
Roughly 66 percent of Fairfax County voters voted for Democrat Terry McAuliffe — cementing its historically blue history. But Republican Glenn Youngkin appears to be inching ahead, with around 55 percent of the vote across the state.
The county’s elections office reported a turnout of 49 percent overall. But that number is expected to rise, as it did not account for three hours of voting.
All 100 House of Delegates seats were on today’s ballots. Currently, Democrats have a majority with 55 members to 45 Republicans.
This story was updated at 10 p.m. Angela Woolsey contributed to this report.
Construction crews have turned a wooded area into a building site for a new 6,525-square-foot chain restaurant.
The Outback Steakhouse at 365 Elden St. will be less than half a mile from another restaurant with the chain that’s already in Herndon (150 Elden St. #100).
A project manager with Belisle Construction said it’s slated to be done and open around February.
Officials with the parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, refused to answer questions, such as its plans for relocating staff with the opening of the new restaurant.
Since early September, the company has posted 11 part-time positions for the existing restaurant, ranging from line cooks to servers, as well as a full-time manager.
It previously had a listing for a bartender on May 10, 2020, which is still on its jobs website.
The new location takes over a 1.46-acre site, having businesses on both sides of it: a Residence Inn by Marriott and a four-story office building at 381 Elden St.
The new restaurant is slated to have an 82-space parking lot, an outdoor seating patio and signage noting its takeout service that the town’s Architectural Review Board approved in August.
It’s still working its way through permitting and received a permit with the county for an underground fire service line on Oct. 1.
