News | FFXnow - Part 498

Morning Notes

Published August 29, 2023 at 8:15AM | Updated August 5, 2024 at 10:41AM

The Trillium, a senior living facility, is taking shape in the expansion of The Boro in Tysons (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Emergency Task Force Called for Florida Hurricane — “VA-TF1 has been activated by @fema as an 80-person Type I urban search and rescue team in response to #Hurricane #Idalia. The team will leave to assist the affected region [Monday] evening.” [Virginia Task Force 1/Twitter]

Senior Housing Complex Opens in Kingstowne — Fairfax County and developer Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing recently celebrated the grand opening of Oakwood Meadow Senior Residences, a 150-unit apartment building for low-income adults aged 62 and older. Located at 5815 South Van Dorn Street, the development is aimed at seniors earning 60% of the area median income or less. [FCRHA]

Two more teens charged with Memorial Day homicides in Idylwood

By Angela Woolsey

Published August 28, 2023 at 3:45PM

Tysons View Apartments (via Google Maps)

Four people — all teenagers — now face charges in connection to a fatal stabbing and shooting at the Tysons View Apartments in Idylwood on Memorial Day (May 29).

The Fairfax County Police Department announced today (Monday) that detectives have arrested a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old man from Falls Church as well as an 18-year-old from Vienna as suspects in the double homicide, which left 20-year-old Ashburn resident Jonas Skinner and 18-year-old Braden Deahl from Arlington County dead.

FCPD: Man arrested for rape in Kingstowne townhome

By Angela Woolsey

Published August 28, 2023 at 2:15PM

Fairfax County police vehicle (file photo)

A Kingstowne man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he met online at a townhome in the Manchester Crossing neighborhood.

Fairfax County police officers were called to the 6000 block of Alexander Avenue around 5 a.m. today (Monday) after getting a report of an adult woman who had been raped and “maliciously assaulted,” the department said in a news release.

Vienna’s revised zoning code gets planning commission support, but parking concerns loom

By Angela Woolsey

Published August 28, 2023 at 1:30PM

The Danor Plaza parking lot in Vienna (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Vienna’s proposed new zoning code got a critical vote of confidence last week.

At its meeting on Wednesday (Aug. 23), the Vienna Planning Commission unanimously approved a letter to the town council recommending that it adopt the latest draft of a document three years in the making, one that will guide everything from development on Maple Avenue to the amount of space a backyard deck can occupy for the foreseeable future.

Morning Notes

By FFXnow.com

Published August 28, 2023 at 8:15AM

A woman walking to the Dunn Loring Metro station entrance (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Fire Burns Down Wolf Trap Area Home — “The Fairfax County Fire Department responded to a massive fire at a home in McLean Friday night. The home, located in the 1100 block of Windrock Drive caught fire shortly before 7 p.m. The dispatcher for the incident said the caller believed the house was struck by lightning. However, firefighters told 7News it’s too early to verify that.” [ABC7]

CIA Trainee Convicted of Assault at HQ — “[Ashkan] Bayatpour was convicted Wednesday of a state misdemeanor charge of assault and battery in a case that was remarkable for breaking through the CIA’s veil of ultra-secrecy and playing out in a public courtroom where it has emboldened a sexual misconduct reckoning.” [Associated Press]

More dragonflies than average reported in annual Reston count

By Fatimah Waseem

Published August 25, 2023 at 2:15PM

The annual dragonfly count yielded higher than average numbers (Photo via Utsav Srestha/Unsplash).

This year’s annual dragonfly count by Reston Association yielded higher than average numbers of the tiny critters.

Volunteer counters spotted 573 individual dragonflies from 16 species, the organization recently shared.

Tysons self-storage facility disputes county fines for commercial vehicle parking

By Angela Woolsey

Published August 25, 2023 at 1:30PM

Self Storage Plus in Tysons (via Google Maps)

The storage functions offered by Self Storage Plus in Tysons weren’t meant to extend to the parking lot, the Fairfax County Department of Code Compliance (DCC) says.

The self-storage facility at 1764 Old Meadow Lane faces potentially hundreds of dollars in fines for keeping mobile storage units and other commercial vehicles in its parking lot, according to a notice of violation issued by a code compliance investigator for the county on July 26.

Fairfax County furthers push to replace gas leaf blowers with electric devices

By Fatimah Waseem

Published August 25, 2023 at 11:45AM

Gas-powered leaf blower (photo via Wikimedia Commons/Cbaile19)

Fairfax County is steadily making progress on efforts to cut its use of gas-powered leaf blowers.

By the end of June next year — the conclusion of the 2024 fiscal year — the county plans to ensure that the supply of electric blowers and string trimmers is nearly 50% electric, according to John Silcox, a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination.

New pedestrian bridge opens in Sugarland Run park

By Fatimah Waseem

Published August 25, 2023 at 11:00AM

The new Sugarland Run Bridge in Herndon gets a ribbon-cutting ceremony (courtesy FCPA)

A new pedestrian bridge at Sugarland Run Stream Valley Park has officially opened.

The steel bridge, located in a section of the park between Heather Down Drive and Eddyspark Drive, was added to connect the community to the Sugarland Run Stream Valley Trail on the opposite bank of the creek.

Fairfax County to unveil its first all-electric trash truck today

By Acacia James

Published August 25, 2023 at 9:30AM

Fairfax County has acquired its first all-electric trash truck (courtesy DPWES)

The Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) is unveiling its first electric refuse trash truck today (Friday).

The truck will “pick up residential trash and yard waste on routes throughout the county,” DPWES announced. The county says the truck is “a move that will save money and protect the environment.”