Angela Woolsey | FFXnow

Richmond Highway barricaded for hours as police negotiate with armed woman

Published March 28, 2023 at 8:00PM

Police have shut down Richmond Highway for a woman with gun who has barricaded herself in a vehicle (via Google Maps)

Richmond Highway (Route 1) has been closed off to traffic in the Hybla Valley area for over eight hours now due to a woman who has barricaded herself in a vehicle with a handgun, police say.

Crisis negotiators and officers in the Fairfax County Police Department’s Special Operations Division are still working to resolve the situation in the 7400 block of Richmond Highway peacefully, the department said in a 7:33 p.m. update.

Countywide

Here’s where Fairfax County ranks among the ‘Best Counties to Live’ — and the neighbor it couldn’t beat

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 28, 2023 at 3:30PM

Fairfax County is the healthiest county in Virginia, according to the data platform Niche (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fairfax County fared well overall in recently released rankings of the best places to live in America, but it couldn’t quite compete with neighboring Loudoun County.

Fairfax County was named the 25th best county to live in nationally and the third best in Virginia by Niche, an online data platform that reviews localities with the goal of helping families choose schools and neighborhoods.

News

Merrifield recommended as priority for redevelopment, but one proposal raises displacement concerns

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 28, 2023 at 2:15PM

A concept plan to redevelop the Merrifield at Dunn Loring Station apartments (via Fairfax County)

Redevelopment proposals in the Merrifield area will likely get high-priority consideration by Fairfax County planners, as the county nears the finish line of its reconfigured site-specific plan amendment (SSPA) process.

After a nearly four-hour-long workshop on Thursday (March 23), the Fairfax County Planning Commission gave its support to staff’s recommendation that the pitches for Merrifield and an AT&T office site in Oakton be designated as “Tier 1” in the SSPA work program.

News

Vienna among first Metro stations to get taller gate doors in crackdown on fare evasion

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 28, 2023 at 10:15AM

Metro is retrofitting its new fare gates with taller doors intended to prevent fare evasion (via WMATA)

Saloon-style doors are coming to the Vienna Metro station’s fare gates.

The Orange Line terminus is one of nine stations in the first phase of Metro’s fare gate retrofits, which will install taller, glass doors on all of the transit agency’s recently modernized gates to deter people from jumping over to avoid paying to ride the rails.

News

Virginia Tech’s proposed expansion near West Falls Church Metro will require change to county plan

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 27, 2023 at 2:15PM

Virginia Tech's Northern Virginia Center in Idylwood (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Less than two years after overhauling its plan for the West Falls Church Metro station area in Idylwood to allow more development, Fairfax County needs to make a relatively limited but critical revision.

During its meeting last Tuesday (March 21), the Board of Supervisors authorized a study of an amendment to the comprehensive plan for the West Falls Church Transit Station Area (TSA) that would allow more office on Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center at 7054 Haycock Road.

Countywide

UPDATED: Some FCPS students stay inside as burnt smell reported across D.C. area

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 27, 2023 at 1:20PM | Updated March 27, 2023 at 2:07PM

A Fairfax County Fire and Rescue truck (file photo)

(Updated at 2:05 p.m.) Many D.C. area residents who have ventured outside today (Monday) have reported a smoky or burning smell from a wildfire unfolding in North Carolina.

The scent has been reported from D.C. to Arlington and into McLean. The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department confirmed that it has gotten calls from around the county, as previously reported by FFXnow’s sister site ARLnow.

News

Teen arrested in Merrifield after fatal shooting in Fairfax Village

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 27, 2023 at 10:15AM | Updated March 27, 2023 at 11:13AM

Fairfax County Police Lt. James Curry discusses a fatal shooting in Oakton (via FCPD/Facebook)

An 18-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in connection to a fatal shooting in the Fairfax Village Apartments on Saturday (March 25).

Fairfax County police officers were called to the apartment complex in the 10400 block of Viera Lane in Oakton at 7:47 a.m. by a family member of the victim who reported the shooting to 911.

News

Police: Shots fired incident on I-495 still under investigation, started as road rage

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 24, 2023 at 3:15PM

Police closed northbound I-495 at Little River Turnpike after a shooting incident on Sunday (via VDOT/Twitter)

Police are still looking for a driver who fired multiple gunshots at other vehicles on the Capital Beltway (I-495) in the Annandale area on Sunday (March 19).

The shooting was preceded by “aggressive driving behaviors” by occupants of a Mercedes and a silver Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that were traveling north on I-495 shortly after 5 p.m. that day, according to the Virginia State Police.

Around Town

McLean Community Center throws ‘fiesta’ to celebrate Latin American and Caribbean cultures

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 24, 2023 at 2:30PM

Fiesta del Sol will feature live music, food and drinks, and local artisans (courtesy McLean Community Center)

The sun will shine into the night this Saturday (March 25), as the McLean Community Center hosts its first-ever Fiesta del Sol.

The inaugural celebration of Latin American and Caribbean cultures will kick off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4:45 p.m. before the doors at 1234 Ingleside Avenue open 15 minutes later.

Countywide

JUST IN: Fairfax County reverts to old zoning code after Va. Supreme Court nixes 2021 update

By Angela Woolsey

Published March 24, 2023 at 1:15PM

Fairfax County set height limits for flag poles, among other changes, with its zoning ordinance modernization in 2021 (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

A day after neighboring Arlington County made waves by ending single-family exclusive zoning, Fairfax County saw its own zoning reforms reversed two years after they were approved.

The Virginia Supreme Court declared the county’s Zoning Ordinance Modification Project (zMOD) void yesterday (Thursday) because the new code was adopted at a mostly virtual meeting — a ruling could have consequences for other actions taken during the first years of the pandemic, as noted by Inside NoVA, which first reported the decision.