Reston-area residents will have a chance to get more details about a septic waste receiving site that county officials are planning for Lake Fairfax Park land.
The current county dumping site is located on Colvin Run Road in Great Falls. Tank trucks deliver sewage from homes not tapped into the county sewer system — mostly ones on acreage in Great Falls and Oakton — and grease from area restaurants to the facility.
However the facility is outdated, has a flooding risk and other issues, says Fairfax County Park Authority Chair Bill Bouie.
The community meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Bechtel’s Conference Center, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston. Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins is expected to provide more information and answer questions.
Fairfax County’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services briefed park authority officials last week on its Septage Receiving Site Feasibility Study that found several reasons to move to a new site in Reston.
The county is proposing a secure, modern, odor-controlled facility off Hunter Mill Road. It is important to have the new plant located off a major road to minimize the impact on traffic, county officials said.
While the proposed new site is on park land, it is not in a part of Lake Fairfax Park that is accessible to citizens, said Bouie.
The Park Authority’s Area 6 Park Operations / Lake Fairfax Maintenance area is located in an isolated, employee-only part of the park. The septage facility would be heavily screened by trees and is not in a floodplain, according to the county’s proposal.
Fairfax County Executive Ed Long presented a proposed $3.99 billion budget Tuesday to the county Board of Supervisors that includes a real estate tax increase of 4 cents (to $1.13) for every $100 of value for Fairfax County homeowners.
That will represent a tax bill increase of about $303 for the average county homeowner, Long said.
And while that increase will provide an additional $23.31 million to the county’s coffers, the county is still offering far less than the 6.7-percent increase Fairfax County Public Schools requested for Fiscal Year 2017.
Long, who said Fairfax is still suffering from a sluggish economy and slow growth in the real estate market, also said the county will start off FY 2018 with a $74 million deficit.
See an executive summary of the 2017 budget — including other county spending and savings — on Fairfax County’s website.
Long is proposing the county transfer a total of $2.08 billion to the schools. That number is a 3-percent increase from Fiscal Year 2016. Included in that number is a school operating transfer of $1.88 billion (a 3 percent, or $54.75 million, increase from 2016).
The county is also offering $13.1 million in construction support and a school debt service transfer of $189.87 million.
Earlier this month, the Fairfax County School Board requested an FY 2017 operating transfer of $1.95 billion — a $122.7 million increase (6.7 percent) over the FY 2016 General Fund transfer. Read More
A Fairfax County septic tank disposal site may be relocating from Colvin Run Road road to land owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority in Reston.
Fairfax County’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services briefed park authority officials Wednesday on a Septage Receiving Site Feasibility Study that found several reasons to move the site to Reston.
Septic tank customers (mainly homes on large lots not tied into the county sewer system), portable toilet companies and restaurants who must properly dispose of grease have for decades pumped waste safely into the Colvin Run plant.
But that site is aging, prone to flooding and “stinks,” said Park Authority Chair Bill Bouie. About 22 trucks visit the site daily.
The county is proposing a secure, modern, odor-controlled facility off Hunter Mill Road. It is important to have the new plant located off a major road to minimize the impact on traffic, county officials said.
And while the proposed new site is on park land, it is not in a part of Lake Fairfax Park where citizens would be using the park, said Bouie.
The Park Authority’s Area 6 Park Operations / Lake Fairfax Maintenance area is located in an isolated, employee-only part of the park. The septage facility would be heavily screened by trees and is not in a floodplain, according to the county’s proposal. Adding the septage facility would also be a chance to make needed improvements to the current site, which currently is a tree debris and solid waste disposal area, as well as mulch storage.
The new location would also provide convenient access from areas without sewer service (i.e., Great Falls and Oakton), as well as Reston and Vienna restaurants, the presentation noted.
Bouie said most trips to the plant would be grease disposal as home septic customers usually only get cleanouts about once every five years.
Residents can learn more and offer feedback at a community meeting with Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m., at Bechtel Conference Center, 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston.
When the sun is down, your dog should go home. And you both should sleep in on the weekend.
That is the message from Fairfax County, which has slightly altered the hours of county dog parks to align with the county’s new noise ordinance. The Fairfax County Park Authority says new operating hours will go info effect on Feb. 17.
In the past, operating hours at the county’s off-leash dog parks, including Reston’s location at Baron Cameron Park, were consistent with overall park operating hours, which are dawn to dusk.
The new hours will be 7 a.m. to one half-hour after sunset Monday through Friday. On weekends and federal holidays, the hours will be 8 a.m. to one half-hour after sunset.
All of the county dog parks will have signs posted showing the new operating hours.
After several years of discussion, Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors in November voted on a new ordinance. The new rules provide guidelines on everything from lawn mowers to garbage collection to dogs. Read More
County officials say Reston is going to need more than $2.6 billion in transportation improvements to keep up with development and population growth in the next 40 years.
How to pay for them? For the first time, the word “Reston Special Tax District” has been mentioned.
County transportation and planning officials have not itemized what the improvements will be, but said in a recent presentation that Reston roadway improvements (overpasses, widening, extensions, and interchanges) will cost $1.28 billion. Intersection projects will cost $65 million and the enhanced grid network will cost $1.28 billion, the report said.
According to the presentation (see below) by the Fairfax County Transportation Department to Fairfax County’s Reston Network Analysis & Funding Plan Advisory Group, money to pay for those infrastructure improvements may come from a wide array of sources. Among them: developer proffers, taxes, bonds, federal transportation grants and state funding, as well as a potential county meals tax.
But the concept of a special tax district for Reston’s roads is a new one.
Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins says a special tax district is just one of the “tools we are exploring in transportation improvements. We have done it with rail; we are doing it in Tysons.”
Tysons has a special tax district in place since 2013. Businesses and residents of Tysons are taxed in order to help raise about $810 million of the estimated $3.1 billion necessary for longterm changes. The Tysons Special Tax for FY2016 is $0.05 per $100 of assessed real estate value.
Erosion has contributed to the exposure of eight sewer lines in the hillside leading from South Lakes Drive to Lake Audubon. If significant action is not taken, Reston could face serious environmental and public health situation.
That was the takeaway from a long discussion at Reston Association’s Board of Directors meeting Thursday, where the board passed several motions to commit money to study the issue and continue pressing Fairfax County officials to act on the issue.
“This is a health hazard waiting to happen,” said RA land use attorney John McBride, who warned that recent events in Flint, Mich., where a money-saving effort to change the water supply resulted in dangerous lead contamination.
Granted, Reston does not get its drinking water from Lake Audubon, but it is a popular recreational spot, and boaters, swimmers and pets who enter the lake could be severely affected. Read More
On Sunday, the snow stopped, the sun came out and the cleanup began.
Monday will also be a work in progress as Reston and the entire Washington, D.C.. area tries to get back to business after the two-day blizzard. Reston received nearly 30 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
Here is some news to know this morning.
Fairfax County Public Schools and Government are closed.
Reston Association is closed.
The Federal Government is closed with most employees teleworking.
Metro is running a very limited schedule with no Silver Line service as above-ground stations are closed. Trains will run every 20 to 25 minutes on these routes:
- Orange Line: Ballston to Eastern Market only
- Red Line: Medical Center to Union Station only
- Green Line: Fort Totten to Anacostia only
Fairfax Connector bus service will be operating with limited service on a Sunday schedule with buses running from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be changes to some Reston routes, including:
- 950 – Bypasses Herndon-Monroe Park & Ride, Alabama Dr, Florida St, Center St
- RIBS 1/3 – Bypasses Beacontree Ln, Herndon-Reston Heath Center, Cameron Glen Dr, Hunters Woods Village Center/Fellowship House, Lake Anne Fellowship House, Tall Oaks Village Center
Reagan National and Dulles International Airports expect to reopen Monday on a limited schedule. Many delays and cancelations are still expected. Check with your airline. Read More
Fairfax County officials say they do not have an explanation about what went wrong on area roads when an inch or so of snow fell during Wednesday night’s rush hour.
People reported being stuck in their cars for hours as they tried to get home. Twenty-minute commutes turned into two-hour ordeals all around the Beltway.
The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), and not the county, is responsible for treating most area roads.
Since VDOT — as well as Northern Virginia residents — have had about five days of preparation and warning about the storm expected to begin Friday afternoon, road treatment should be much more effective than on Wednesday, officials said.
“Do they [VDOT] need to do better? Absolutely,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. Read More
Several Reston-area residents have reported coyote sightings in the area in recent days.
While there is no way to verify whether the animals were actually coyotes, the reports have similarities, and Fairfax County wildlife officials say they are getting an increase in the number of calls reporting coyotes countywide.
Wildlife officials say coyotes are established and widespread in Fairfax County.
A resident of Becontree Lane contacted Reston Patch last week to say she saw a coyote in her backyard near a wooded area.
“At first I thought it was a fox because we’ve seen those, but no bushy tail and the face and coloring were different,” the resident said. “Seeing the coyote photo on your article, I now know it was a coyote!”
More recently, several Fox Mill Woods residents say they saw coyotes in that area off of Lawyers Road in the last few days.
Abby Reed told her neighbors on a neighborhood message board that she saw a coyote on Blue Spruce near Riders Lane about 7:15 p.m. Sunday. Another neighborhood resident, Eliza Beaulac, said she saw one hit by a car on Sunset Hills Road near Target on Monday.
Another Fox Mill Woods resident said this after his dog was making lots of noise about 11:15 p.m. Monday night: “I saw either a very large fox or a coyote in the tip of the park behind my backyard between Grey Birch and Blue Spruce. … I put my head over with a flashlight and shined it right into the animal’s eyes about 50 feet away. It looked to be the size of a husky when it finally turned to the side and decided to leave. I haven’t seen a fox that big so either it was a loose dog or a coyote.”
County wildlife officials say keep an eye on your house pets just to be safe.
“The best way to safeguard pets in areas where coyotes are active is to keep them indoors and do not leave them outside without supervision,” Katherine Edwards, Fairfax County Wildlife Management Specialist, said in a release. Read More
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has approved a $1.7 million plan to bring a bikeshare network to Reston and Tysons.
The approval, at the supervisors’ regular meeting on Tuesday, was the final step in getting financing in place for the project, which could be operational by late 2016.
In October, the supervisors OKed the county’s application for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s FY 2017 Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) Grant Application. The grant will give the bike program $400,000 as seed money for bike share program. The money will go to pay for needed equipment such as bicycles and station hardware.
Sharon Bulova, chair of the Board of Supervisors says the county’s investment will help get cars off the road, boost local economy and contribute to a healthier community. Read More
This is an opinion post by Reston resident Terry Maynard, who serves as the Co-Chair of Reston 2020. It does not represent the opinion of Reston Now.
The newly re-elected County Board of Supervisors is at it again: They are proposing a “Priority 1” zoning ordinance amendment (ZOA) that would allow development density in a number of areas in the County to increase to a floor-area-ratio (FAR) of 5.0 plus a 0.5 bonus density for meeting key County priorities. The ZOA includes all of Reston’s Metro station areas (TSAs) and Lake Anne, a Commercial Revitalization Area (CRA).
In fact, the ZOA proposal covers an entire alphabet soup of about 20 urbanizing and redeveloping “Selective Areas” across the county: TSAs, CRAs, CRDs, CBCs, PDCs, and PRMs. Together, the County calls all these “Selective Areas” and the ZOA makes no distinction among them. That’s a potential half billion gross square feet (GSF) of new development and redevelopment added to the County’s current roughly one billion GSF of total existing development of all kinds.
And the “Selective Areas” cover only about five percent of the county’s total 400 square mile area. If you are interested to learn about this proposed ZOA, there are opportunities for you to hear more and provide your comments as early as this Wednesday, Jan. 13. Read More
Fairfax County needs poll workers to help at Reston precincts on March 1 — the “Super Tuesday” primaries.
Any registered Virginia voter who isn’t an elected official or an employee of an elected official is eligible to work the polls. You must be available all day — from about 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. or later.
Elections officers will receive training prior to Election Day, and will do such jobs as
set up voting equipment; check photo IDs and check names on the electronic poll book;
provide assistance and instructions in using the voting machines; tabulate the results at the close of the polls.
Election officers are paid $175 for working a full Election Day. Election officers must work at least one general election before being considered for an assistant chief election officer ($200) or chief election officer ($250). You can also volunteer your time instead of being paid.
For more information, Email [email protected] with your name, political party affiliation, home address, date of birth, telephone number and email address, or call 703-324-4735 (TTY 711), or fill out this online interest form.
For complete details visit the Fairfax County Government website.
Reston Association and residents who live in neighborhoods across from South Lakes High School are increasing their efforts to bring awareness — and hopefully, action — about stormwater runoff eroding the land nearby.
Water from the school area runs under South Lakes Drive to a steep, downhill drainage ditch that runs between Cedar Cover Cluster and Wakerobin Lane into Lake Audubon. Fairfax County Public Schools officials say a planned 40,000-square-foot addition, as well as more than 100 additional parking spaces, will not add to the stormwater runoff.
Residents say they have dealt with soggy ground for years, and they expect the planned addition for the high school will only make the problem worse. Meanwhile, the school system applied for and received a waiver to meet updated runoff regulations, rather than new ones that went into effect last summer.
“Residents of Wakerobin and Cedar Cover Cluster have been plagued for more than two decades with the ever-growing ditch between our two developments,” Terry Maynard, a Wakerobin resident, told the RA Board in December.
Fairfax County may find an issue as it presses forward with the development of Reston Town Center North. Original county documents show that according to the Reston Deed, 10 acres of the 50-acre project must remain in its natural state.
The county approved a land swap with Inova last fall, clearing the way for future development of the area from Baron Cameron Avenue to New Dominion Drive.
County planners have held several community meetings to discuss future plans, which are likely to include a new Embry Rucker Community Shelter; a new Reston Regional Library; a new building for community health, social and mental health services; a 90,000-square-foot indoor recreation center; and more housing and retail. A multi-acre park is planned for the center of the parcel.
While Reston Town Center North still has to go through a lengthy rezoning and approval process and is not expected to be completed for a decade, it may run into a problem soon.
The entire parcel is subject to the Reston Deed. In 1974, 50 acres of land were sold and conveyed to the Board of Supervisors by Gulf Reston, the developer of Reston at that time, county records show.
However, the 10 acres running along Baron Cameron Avenue and is subject to many restrictions, that say the space must remain in its natural state.
“No building, structures or improvement shall be built or placed on the property conveyed herein, except structures which may be required for storm drainage or sanitary sewage purposes, or any building, structure or improvement which, in the aggregate, covers no more than 10 percent of the land area of this parcel and which is intended for recreational uses,” 1974 county documents state.
“The property shall otherwise be left in its natural state,” the document reads. “This covenant shall run with the land and be binding on the Grantee and its successors and assigns, for a period of ninety-nine (99) years from the date hereof.”
Fairfax County offices are closed Dec. 24 and 25 for Christmas and Friday, Jan. 1 for New Year’s Day.
Some county departments will be on a different schedule. Here are some to note:
Public schools (including offices) are closed until Jan. 2.
Fairfax County Public Libraries will be closed Dec. 24 and 25. Branches will close at 5 p.m. on Dec. 31 and will be closed on Jan. 1.
Some Fairfax County Parks will be closed on Dec. 24. All will be closed Dec. 25. See the Park Authority website for information.
Reston Community Center Hunters Woods will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 24 and will be closed on Christmas Day. It will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 31 and noon to 5 p.m. on New Year’s Day.
RCC Lake Anne will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as well as New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
For more information, see the Fairfax County website.
