Pfizer Booster Shots Now Available — Beginning today, the Fairfax County Health Department will begin providing booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Four groups of people are eligible for the dose. [Fairfax County Government]
Reston-based Company Makes List of Top Employers – Maximus, a government service provider, was included in Forbes’ annual list of America’s best employers for diversity. JLL, a business services and supplies company, topped the list. [Forbes]
Local Tennis Courts Closed — The tennis courts at Lake Anne will be closed today and tomorrow due to court painting, according to Reston Association. [RA]
Public Hearings on RA Budget Set — The Board of Directors will hold public hearings on its proposed budget on Oct. 13 and Nov. 10. The budget is currently under development. [RA]
County Issues Statement on Georgia Shootings — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay says his thoughts are with the families and friends who lost loved ones in Tuesday’s shootings in George. He called the attack and the rise in violence against Asian Americans “horrifying, deeply disturbing, and unacceptable.” [FCPD]
Steward of Reston-based Engineering Firm Dies — “Stephen D. Bechtel Jr., who led his family’s engineering and construction firm for three decades, expanding an already sprawling operation into an international behemoth with projects including the Channel Tunnel linking Britain and France and Jubail Industrial City in Saudi Arabia, died March 15 at his home in San Francisco. He was 95. Bechtel announced his death but did not cite a cause.” [The Washington Post]
Northam Restores Voting Rights for Ex-Convicts — “Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has cleared the path to the ballot for tens of thousands of ex-felons by officially reinstating their civil rights.” [WTOP]
Registration for Reston Association Tennis Resumes — RA has officially opened up registration for tennis lessons for kids, teens and adults. New sessions will start soon. [RA]
Reston Association recently kicked off a comprehensive evaluation of its recreational facilities. The organization is seeking members for a new recreational facilities working group that will evaluate the current inventory, condition and usage of RA facilities.
Members who are interested in applying should do so by March 31. Interviews will be conducted by the Board Operations Committee on May 4 at 6:30 p.m. at RA headquarters (12001 Sunrise Valley Drive). The application is available online.
The workgroup is tasked with the following:
- Evaluate the number, condition and use of facilities like pools, tennis, ballfields, playgrounds and pavilions
- Review the long-term operational, maintenance and capital costs for RA facilities
- Evaluate usage trends for RA facilities using existing data
- Recommend to the board a process for closing or converting existing facilities to other uses.
The Park & Recreation Advisory Committee is temporarily suspended until Feb. 2021 as the new workgroup begins the analysis.
Photo courtesy Reston Association
Reston Association’s tennis programs are getting a nod from a national organization next month.
The Professional Tennis Registry, a South Carolina-based organization that aims to educate and certify tennis teachers around the world, named RA the “Public Facility of the Year.”
Here’s more from RA on the award and its tennis offerings:
RA tennis programming had a solid 2019, with 550 junior (ages 3-17) lesson-takers from beginners to 4.5-level advanced players. More than 350 adults took lessons. RA works hand-in-hand with the USTA to hosts tournaments for all age groups and levels of play. More than 350 players participate in GWTA, NVTL, Reston Team Tennis and senior leagues. The associatioon also promotes tennis via its scholarship program.
RA has 52 tennis courts across more than 1,300 acres of land, including six permanent courts for children’s tennis.
PTR will present the award at a symposium in South Carolina next month.
Photo courtesy of RA
The Herndon Town Council will consider increasing fees for indoor tennis programs and cremation at Chestnut Grove Cemetery later this year.
The council will consider a motion to increase fees for cremation at the park cremation garden and ground areas due to an increase in demand for cremation sites.
“While the site fees for the park area were reduced in 2017 due to underperformance, that adjustment achieved the desired result and salves have increased,” wrote Cindy Roeder, the town’s Director of Parks & Recreation. “It is now appropriate to make a modest upward adjustment to those rates to continue to maintain sufficient balance between costs, desirability, and long-term upkeep of the cemetery itself.”
If approved, fees would increase from $2,195 to $2,700 on July 1. The proposed fee schedule is available online.
The council will also consider a $2 increase for all hourly fees for residents and non-residents.
In a memo to the council, Roeder wrote that the increase would help the department “continue to offset all operating and personnel costs.” Fee increases for tennis programs are expected to go into effect in September.
The council meet’s tonight (Tuesday) at 7 p.m. in the Herndon Council Chambers building.
Image via Google Maps
As the mid-year point before next year’s budget cycle approaches, Reston Association’s Board of Directors and staff will discuss how to approach a comprehensive analysis of RA’s recreational facilities.
The analysis, requested by Director Julie Bitzer in March, would be the first comprehensive examination of RA’s recreational facilities in 13 years.
Larry Butler, acting CEO and senior director of land use and planning, said the last study was done in 2005 and examined issues like cost utilization trends, usage, maintenance, repairs and suggested upgrades.
Staff recommended hiring a consultant to complete the study due to limited staff resources over the next two-to-three months and ongoing summer projects like the Hook Road working group and the lakes, docks and boats working group.
The board will hold a work session on June 5 to discuss the scope of the analysis, whether a consultant is needed to complete it and better define the goals and scope of the work.
Other recreation-related decisions may be more pressing.
Board members suggested a timely decision on the future of Lake Thoreau pool, which Director Sherri Hebert said was “falling into the lake,” was necessary. Hebert said an expenditure of $1 million is estimated to bring the aging pool up to go code. No decision on the future of that pool has been reached.
The longterm examination will guide the board’s budget decisions on replacement, repairs and upgrades to facilities.
Photo by Mike Collins
Is 2014 the year indoor tennis moves forward in Reston?
Reston Association’s Tennis Advisory Committee has urged the RA Board put indoor tennis as a high priority for this year. The board said at a planning meeting this week that it will make indoor tennis part of a broader conversation as it looks at the community’s recreation needs as a whole.
“We should talk about what amenities [Reston] needs to support a diverse community,” said At-Large Director Michael Sanio, who has been an advocate for tennis in Reston. “We have a whole slew of amenities here. But there are clearly amenities that would make us a world-class community. We need to look broadly and prepare for when someone says they want to build here, we’ll be able to say ‘this is what we want.’ “
Reston Association currently has 52 outdoor courts, but no indoor courts. Indoor tennis has been a much-debated topic in Reston over the last several years.
In 2008 and 2009, RA and Reston Community Center jointly studied building a $65 million recreational facility at RA’s Brown’s Chapel Park. That was met by resistance from neighbors and ultimately dropped by the board.
In 2010 and 2011, RA researched covering five courts at Lake Newport at a cost of $3.8 million — much of which would be borrowed by RA. After board debate and feedback from the community, the RA board voted in late 2011 not to put the issue to referendum and to direct RA staff to look for public-private partnerships in the future.
Meanwhile, Reston Community Center has been studying building an indoor recreation facility at Baron Cameron Park for more than a year. That facility would feature a 50-meter indoor pool, but indoor tennis is not currently part of the plan. Baron Cameron Park, owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority, is also undergoing its own Master Plan revision that may or may not include building the indoor rec center.
RCC currently has a 25-meter indoor pool at Hunters Woods, but RCC officials and the swim community say the 35-year-old facility is outdated and overcrowded.
The Baron Cameron indoor pool plans have also been met with mixed reaction from community members. Big issues often mentioned: cost (about $30 million) and the location’s impact on noise and traffic.
Sanio says indoor tennis is just one of several amenities Reston could use, along with the 50-meter pool, basketball courts and an indoor track.
With major development planned for Reston as Metro’s Silver Line prepares to open here, the timing may be right to not only assess Reston’s needs, but also obtain developer proffers to held finance them.
“RA staff, with the assistance of the re-created [RA] Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, will develop and implement a community-wide needs assessment to evaluate future amenities of all types,” said Sanio.
“The data compiled will not only assess the current needs of the community, but will also assist the board as it addresses future development, redevelopment and the impact and benefits of all proposed projects. Having organized and structured input from the community will provide a road map for RA priorities which we can then share with developers, the county and with our community partners and stakeholders.”
Photo: 2010 rendering of Lake Newport indoor tennis/Credit: Reston Association
