(Updated at 5:35 p.m.) Fairfax County will install six new historical markers over the next year honoring Black and African-American history. The markers will highlight local civil rights activists, enslaved peoples, educators, and a famed four-star general.
At last week’s Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting, it was revealed that a Board-appointed committee had chosen the winners of the inaugural “Historical Marker Contest.”
(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) New draft policies that would limit schools’ ability to support transgender students are currently under review by Fairfax County Public Schools.
Unveiled Friday afternoon (Sept. 16), the Virginia Department of Education’s proposed 2022 model policies directs schools to defer to parents in determining accommodations for LGBTQ students, including the names and pronouns staff can use for them.
Extended Route 50 Lane Closure in Seven Corners Starts Today — “The northbound lane of the bridge over Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) just west of Route 7 (East Broad Street/Leesburg Pike) that connects the eastbound Route 50 service road with the westbound Route 50 service road will be closed from 9 a.m. Monday, Sept. 19 through Friday, Oct. 7 for cleaning and painting” [VDOT]
Four Sentenced in 2019 West Falls Church Gang Murder — “Four individuals were sentenced Monday and yesterday to multiple life terms and 26 years in prison for numerous charges relating to a murder, a violent gang enterprise, and a drug trafficking conspiracy operating in Virginia, California, and several other states.” [DOJ]
One year ago, Capital One Center launched The Perch, a 2.5 acre park with mini-golf and a biergarten adjacent to the Capital One headquarters. To celebrate the anniversary, Capital One Center is launching a weekend-long festival.
Capital One Center said guests are invited to come play elevated mini-golf at Perch Putt or drink at Starr Hill Biergarten while musicians perform at the venue’s amphitheater stage. Other features of the festival include a meet-and-greet with adoptable puppies and a pie-eating contest.
Trash troubles keep piling up with the county out of trash cans for at least another two months.
Fairfax County has “exhausted” its inventory of trash cans and won’t be able to provide new ones to residents until later this fall, Dept. of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) spokesperson Sharon North told FFXnow.
A local project will receive $2 million in funding from Amazon to secure 18 affordable housing units in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County.
Amazon has awarded Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services, an Alexandria-based nonprofit organization that offers assistive housing services, with the grant to acquire 18 homes in the Colchester Towne Condominiums community of the county.
Crews Extinguish Fire in Mount Vernon Home — A fire broke out at a house on the 8700 block of Oak Leaf Drive in the Mount Vernon area around 2:30 a.m. today (Thursday). No injuries were reported. An investigation is underway. [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department]
Trail Upgrades Planned Near Dulles Access Road — “In just about two weeks, a Fairfax County Park Authority trail improvement project will get underway on the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail in Difficult Run Park near the Dulles Access Road. On or around Sept. 22, 2022, site prep work will begin on a trail maintenance project that will alleviate the issue of constant standing water on the trail, reinforce the trail to protect it from washouts, and overlay the existing trail.” [Fairfax County Government]
Construction on a new hospital next to Inova’s existing Franconia-Springfield HealthPlex is expected to begin late next year after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the rezoning plan at a meeting yesterday (Tuesday).
The board voted unanimously to bring 985,000 square feet of medical space to the 21-acre campus on the intersection of Beulah Street and the Franconia-Springfield Parkway. Two representatives recused themselves from the vote due to their tie’s with Inova.
After several years of discussion, the county has officially selected the likely path for the Soapstone Connector, a major $237 million connection planned between Sunrise Valley Drive and Sunset Hills Road in Reston.
At a board meeting yesterday (Tuesday), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors selected one of several options for the layout of the project. The motion was approved without any discussion.
The theater at the Founders Row mixed-use project could be scaled down from earlier plans, but the tradeoff is that Falls Church could be getting a new arcade and bowling alley.
At a meeting of the Falls Church City Council on Monday, the Council reviewed requested changes for Founders Row. The development was approved for 59,493 square feet of ground floor retail, 4,946 square feet of office space, 394 apartments and a 32,079 square foot, 2-story movie theater. That theater, though, has become something of a sticking point.
