Good Tuesday evening, Fairfax County. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Apr 23, 2024.

• 8:15 am: Morning Notes | 🗣️ Comments
• 9:30 am: FCPD: Third arrest made in Springfield ‘street takeover’ incident | 🗣️ Comments
• 10:30 am: McLean Starbucks reopens after extensive interior renovations | 🗣️ Comments
• 1:15 pm: Herndon hires new economic development director to support businesses | 🗣️ Comments
• 2:30 pm: Vienna Town Council mulls changes to improve downtown parking and traffic flow | 🗣️ Comments
• 3:30 pm: FCPD: Lincolnia school counselor charged after allegedly head-butting student | 🗣️ Comments

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Wednesday throughout the county, from our event calendar.

• 10:00 am: Oakton Library Big Book Sale April 24 – 27
• 7:00 pm: Peter and the Starcatcher

🌦️ Wednesday’s forecast

Showers are likely mainly before 7am, followed by cloudy skies which will gradually clear later in the day, reaching a high of about 69 degrees. Winds will come from the northwest at 9 to 14 mph, gusting up to 21 mph, and there’s a 30% chance of precipitation. For Wednesday night, expect partly cloudy conditions and a low of around 42 degrees, accompanied by a north wind at approximately 10 mph. See more from Weather.gov.

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.

(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) A counselor at Glasgow Middle School in Lincolnia is facing criminal charges after he allegedly head-butted an 11-year-old student last week.

Detectives began investigating the reported assault on April 16 and found that Craig Small, a 44-year-old Lorton resident, assaulted the student and “carried him out of the cafeteria” in response to the student calling him “a derogative name,” according to the Fairfax County Police Department.

Small has been served warrants for misdemeanor assault and battery, police said.

According to the FCPD, Small has been a school counselor at Glasgow since August 2021, but he no longer appears to be listed in the school’s staff directory or its webpage for student services staff.

“He remains out on leave,” a Fairfax County Public Schools spokesperson said when asked about Small’s employment status.

Vienna is considering several options to improve parking availability along its commercial corridor.

At a conference session on April 15, the Vienna Town Council reviewed recommendations to its update zoning laws, promote shared parking and improve signage, aiming to optimize downtown parking usage and reduce traffic in busy areas.

The recommendations were informed by a recent parking study conducted by the town’s consultant, Nelson Nygaard. The study included a survey completed in February 2023 that got responses from over 700 residents and visitors who shared feedback about their experiences parking in the town.

According to the survey, respondents most frequently visit areas between Maple Avenue and Church Street. They typically park in free lots or garages — with only about a third parking for more than two hours — and often no more than a block from their destination.

Survey participants noted that, while many businesses they visit have ample private parking, there is a significant lack of free public parking.

According to the study, 5,033 of the 5,221 parking spaces in the area are privately owned, leaving only 94 publicly owned spaces.

“During existing peak demand, many parking spaces are available in most locations,” town staff said in a presentation. “This is not a parking supply problem — it’s a parking management problem.”

To address the issue of under-utilization, the consultant suggested the town modify its zoning laws to allow more flexibility in parking requirements and encourage higher-density development.

For example, office and retail uses, including grocery stores, currently need one parking spot per 200 square feet of space. Staff recommended amending the minimum to four spaces per 1,000 square feet.

Another suggestion is to make better use of existing parking spaces by promoting shared parking agreements between different businesses and property owners. This would allow visitors to use the same parking facilities, tailored to different peak hours and specific parking needs.

Other potential strategies include improving signage to guide people to available parking spots, introducing metered on-street parking to encourage quicker turnover, promoting the use of public transit among visitors and adopting parking design standards to “achieve a vibrant streetscape and attractive walking conditions.”

After some discussion about the difficulties of finding parking for the town’s most popular shopping areas, such as the strip housing Chipotle and Crumbl Cookies, Councilmember Chuck Anderson cautioned against making “hot spots” the norm for parking requirements.

“Overall, we’re over-parked, and what that does, it drives up our rates, our leases. It reduces the amount of space we have. It doesn’t come without a cost,” Anderson said. “There’s always going to be hot spots — always. You try to work around those and minimize those by doing the shared parking that we eventually got around to at Chipotle. But essentially, if you try to solve the problem by going to the spaces that have the worst parking and considering that the norm, you’re going to end up with a lot of empty parking spaces in the rest of town.”

Mayor Linda Colbert confirmed that those areas are “outliers.”

Council members didn’t vote on any recommendations and plan to continue discussing the next steps.

The Town of Herndon is getting a new director of economic development.

Marc G. Smith will assume the position starting on May 13, the town announced today (Tuesday). He will succeed previous economic development manager Dennis Holste, who was appointed to that newly created position in 2013 and vacated the job last year to move to his native Florida.

Previously the senior business development manager for Arlington County, Smith will be responsible for promoting Herndon as a destination for new businesses, maintaining relationships with existing ones, and leading initiatives “related to economic development and business vitality,” according to a Town of Herndon press release.

He will also serve as the town’s liaison to Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce and other organizations involved in the commercial sector.

“Marc brings an exceptional mix of experience and expertise to his new role,” Town Manager Bill Ashton said. “He has held both county- and state-wide positions throughout the Commonwealth, which have resulted in solid connections as well as deep knowledge of Virginia’s commercial landscape. Herndon’s business community will be well-served with Marc in this key position.”

According to the town, Smith’s prior work in Arlington involved oversight of a team responsible for attracting and retaining businesses. Their efforts brought in $28 million in investments and 6,400 new jobs, including a net addition of 650 jobs with CoStar Group relocating its headquarters to Rosslyn from D.C.

More from the town on Smith’s resume:

He also managed the county’s lead generation and business development portfolio and created a new strategic plan for the division. Previously, Smith was a business manager for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), the economic development authority for the Commonwealth, where he developed and executed lead generation strategies and served as project manager for significant prospects, amounting to $7 billion in capital investment and 9,400 new jobs; and served as business development officer for Stafford County, where he oversaw business attraction, development and expansion. He holds a BS in Political Science with a minor in History from Radford University.

The Starbucks at the Chesterbrook Shopping Center (6214 Old Dominion Drive) in McLean has reopened after an extensive facelift.

Starbucks closed in early March to get some interior design improvements.

According to a release, the improvements brought a new bar set-up, a redesigned second story and more:

• Alterations to the current bar setup
• Updated partition arrangements
• Installation of new lighting
• Incorporation of modern furniture and fixtures
• Application of fresh finishes
• New, inspiring artwork
• Redesigned second story seating

Fairfax County Police have arrested another individual involved in a “street takeover” in Springfield earlier this month.

On Friday, April 19, Baltimore County Police Department detained a 20-year-old man from Parkville, Maryland, according to FCPD. He faces charges of abduction, assaulting a law enforcement officer, wearing a mask in public and obstruction of justice.

The individual is currently held in Baltimore County, awaiting extradition to Fairfax County.

The arrest is part of a series following an incident earlier this month when Fairfax County Police encountered a “mob” of people in a parking lot at 6600 Electronic Drive around 3 a.m. on March 31 (Easter Sunday).

According to police, the group blocked an officer’s vehicle, climbed on it, and aggressively banged on the windows. The situation escalated when an individual was seen brandishing what appears to be a rifle from a car.

Police have made three arrests so far, with additional arrests expected as the investigation continues.

Demolition begins at burned hust of Oud Resto and Hall — “The site of the Main Street restaurant that burned down in 2020 is where Ox Hill Companies will build a seven-story mixed-use development with condos, retail spaces, and a drive-thru bank. The company said a Truist Bank regional branch will be relocated to the new building.” [Northern Virginia Magazine]

Driver in crash that killed two Oakton High School students only had learner’s permit — “Usman Shahid, who police say was driving a BMW at 81 miles per hour southbound on Blake Lane just before the crash, only had a learner’s permit at the time. Virginia law requires that drivers must be 21 or older, or 18-years-old and accompanied by a legal guardian or sibling when they’re driving. At the time of the crash, Shahid was 18 and a resident of Fairfax County.” [Patch]

Students at Annandale Terrace Elementary School plan Arbor Day tree planting — “Students, faculty and staff at Annandale Terrace Elementary School are gearing up for a big Arbor Day celebration on April 26, 2024, at 8:50 a.m. The event will take place simultaneously with the County’s 41st consecutive year being designated a Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation.” [Fairfax County]

Firefighter sustains minor injury in Loudoun County warehouse fire — “A significant warehouse fire in Sterling drew a fire department response, causing one firefighter to be evaluated for heat exhaustion Monday afternoon.” [Patch]

It’s Tuesday — Frost is expected in the early morning until 8am, followed by sunny skies and a high temperature of around 71 degrees. The light southwest wind will shift to the south at 6 to 11 mph during the morning. Scattered showers are likely after 2am Tuesday night, accompanied by increasing clouds and a low temperature of about 56 degrees. The south wind will blow at 9 to 13 mph, gusting up to 20 mph, with a 50% chance of precipitation. [NWS]

Good Monday evening, Fairfax County. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Apr 22, 2024.

• 8:30 am: Morning Notes | 🗣️ Comments
• 9:30 am: Fairfax City car wash proposal advances with architectural review board approval | 🗣️ Comments
• 10:55 am: ‘Profs and Pints’ coming to Fairfax next month with examination of the musical Hamilton | 🗣️ Comments
• 12:45 pm: Smallest and largest homes sold in Fairfax County (March 2024) | 🗣️ Comments
• 1:30 pm: Fairfax golf pro Larkin Gross to compete in 2024 PGA Professional Championship | 🗣️ Comments
• 2:30 pm: OmBaked set to host holistic health fair next month at Lake Anne Plaza | 🗣️ Comments
• 4:05 pm: Smoke billowing into sky from two-alarm fire in Sterling | 🗣️ Comments

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Tuesday throughout the county, from our event calendar.

• No events today. Have one to promote? Submit it to the calendar.

❄️ Tuesday’s forecast

Frost is expected in the early morning before 8am, followed by sunny skies and a high temperature near 71 degrees. The light and variable winds will shift to the south, reaching 5 to 10 mph later in the morning. Tuesday night will see scattered showers mainly after 2am, with increasing clouds and a low temperature around 54 degrees. A south wind of 9 to 11 mph is anticipated, and there’s a 30% chance of precipitation. See more from Weather.gov.

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.

(Updated 4:50 p.m.) Firefighters are battling a two-alarm fire with possible hazardous materials at a warehouse in Sterling.

Smoke is billowing into the skies over Fairfax from a fire at Prospect Waterproofing Company (118 Acacia Lane). It is possible that a gas line was struck, per scanner traffic. Police said at 3:31 p.m. that the gas exposure has been controlled.

The building reportedly contains ion batteries and diesel generators.

Hazmat units were requested to assist.

The fire was reported around 3:10 p.m.

LCFR is on scene of a structure fire in the 100 block of Acacia Ln. in Sterling. No reported civilian injuries. One FF evaluated on scene for heat exhaustion. Media staging is at Moran Rd. & Acacia Ln. pic.twitter.com/b0EQ0mNkUP

— 𝑳𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒏 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒆 (@LoudounFire) April 22, 2024

https://t.co/EWjrJuOqct pic.twitter.com/8iu3Lt9Tth

— Alan Henney (@alanhenney) April 22, 2024

The two-alarm warehouse fire in Loudoun County can be seen for many miles and involves hazardous materials. https://t.co/A0jI4e6WeK

— Dave Statter (@STATter911) April 22, 2024

⁦@WTOP⁩ Massive fire in Sterling/Dulles. Any ideas? pic.twitter.com/3rbnR3UyxX

— Michael Kurtzke (@MKurtzke) April 22, 2024