The proposed Tommy’s Express Car Wash at Fairfax Blvd and Lion Run in Fairfax City passed its first hurdle last week and will advance to the planning commission next.

The Fairfax City Board of Architectural Review has unanimously recommended that the city council approve a proposal for a 4,553-square-foot car wash at 9917 Fairfax Blvd. The site was formerly home to The Espositos, a 40-plus-year-old Italian restaurant that closed permanently last month.

Behind the project is D.C.-based private equity firm Olympus Pines, which submitted an application for a special-use permit to repurpose the 1.15-acre site earlier this year.

According to a city council staff report, the car wash is designed to process up to 200 vehicles per hour, anticipates serving a “peak volume” of 50-75 cars per hour with a maximum staff of four to five. The site, which currently features a one-way entrance and exit on Fairfax Blvd, would also include three “stacking lanes” to prevent backups.

During a January work session, city council members expressed concerns that the high volume of traffic at the site might lead to congestion. However, at their April 17 meeting, the developer’s attorneys informed the architectural review board that no changes have been made to the design.

The city planning commission must review the application before it makes its way to the city council.

A new ordinance being considered by the Board of Supervisors could require drivers to be more careful around pedestrians.

The new ordinance aligns Fairfax County with a 2023 Code of Virginia change requiring drivers to stop — rather than yield — for pedestrians crossing in the driver’s lane, in an adjacent lane, or approaching the driver’s lane.

The change would require changing signage around the County with an estimated $95,000 bill.

At a Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday, Acting Fairfax County Department of Transportation Director Gregg Steverson said while the policy is enforceable by police County-wide, failing to stop for pedestrians can only have additional fines at intersections with the sign.

Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay said the County will need to work to ensure information gets out about the change.

“It’s complicated for people to understand and complicated for our police to do enforcement,” McKay said. “This is a good thing; it’s an additional tool in our toolbox to prevent pedestrian fatalities and raise awareness about pedestrian laws, but at the same time, it’s going to be a hard one to communicate.”

Supervisor James Walkinshaw said the change sounds relatively simple, but involved extensive behind-the-scenes bureaucratic back and forth over what authority Fairfax County did or didn’t have.

“[We] had many meetings to get this issue resolved,” Walkinshaw said.  “It’s more complicated than it sounds when you dig into it, but I’m excited to see us moving forward.”

The ordinance change is scheduled for a public hearing on May 7.

A proposed express car wash at Fairfax Blvd and Lion Run in Fairfax City faces an uphill battle after council members expressed concerns about its potential traffic impact.

“I’m not sure that this is the right location for this kind of business — whether it’s yours or someone else’s — given that the location is the primary access and exit for the public school system and for people south of that area,” Fairfax City Councilmember Thomas Ross said during a work session last Tuesday, Jan. 9.

Under consideration is a special-use permit that would allow the national franchise, Tommy’s Express Car Wash, to redevelop 1.15 acres at 9917 Fairfax Blvd, which has been home to the Italian restaurant The Esposito’s Fairfax since 1982.

Maria Esposito, the owner of the restaurant, told FFXnow that the restaurant currently has no intention of closing.

“We have no information yet,” she said.

The lot also has a second retail building that was built in 1978 and is currently vacant.

The applicant, D.C.-based private equity firm Olympus Pines, initially submitted a pre-application for the project in November 2021, and the Board of Architectural Review conducted a work session last month.

Designed to process up to 200 vehicles per hour, the proposed 4,553-square-foot car wash anticipates serving a “peak volume” of 50-75 cars per hour with a maximum staff of four to five, according to the city council staff report.

The site currently has a one-way entrance and one-way exit along Fairfax Blvd. The applicant has also proposed incorporating three “stacking lanes to avoid backup.”

While several council members, including Mayor Catherine Read, agreed the site should be redeveloped, there was some debate about whether the volume of vehicles served might lead to traffic issues along the route.

“Fairfax Blvd is so heavy with traffic already…There may not be a queue to get the car washed, but there may be a queue getting out of there,” Councilmember So Lim said during the work session.

Councilmember Kate Doyle Feingold pointed to other examples of businesses along Fairfax Blvd, such as Chick-fil-A, which has stacking lanes to mitigate the queuing issue.

“So, if there was an analysis where people can say, ‘Oh, I see how this could function differently,’ that might help alleviate some of those concerns,” she said.

Olympus Pines co-founder Trevor Sperry emphasized that the car wash is engineered for quick service, with vehicles in and out within minutes. He noted that other locations have washed thousands of cars daily without causing traffic disruptions.

“If people are backing up on our site, people are going to stop coming,” Sperry said during the work session.

“So, I think the main concern is, will we cause a backup on Fairfax Blvd?” he continued. “We’ve never had that happen in all of our locations, and we will provide camera data in which we served 3000 vehicles in a day without backing up the road.”

The proposal remains under review. A public hearing, which will be held before any voting takes place, has not yet been scheduled.

(Updated at 3:30 p.m.) A car wash site on Route 7 in Tysons is ready to roll with a fresh coat of paint and a new company in charge.

Mr Wash Car Wash began operating at 8218 Leesburg Pike on Thursday (Dec. 7), replacing the long-standing Champion Hand Car Wash. To celebrate the opening, the facility is providing free car washes through Sunday, Dec. 17.

“We’re thrilled to serve the Tysons Corner community,” Evan Harris, executive vice president of Mr Wash Car Wash, said in a statement. “As a family-owned business, we’re dedicated to delivering a top-tier car wash experience, creating meaningful job opportunities, and fostering impactful partnerships within our communities.”

When announcing the opening, Mr Wash noted that customers on its unlimited membership plan “automatically have access to all locations.”

Unlimited members get one vehicle wash a day for a monthly payment.

The Tysons center is Mr Wash’s 11th location overall and its fourth in Fairfax County, joining sites in Merrifield, Bailey’s Crossroads and Centreville. Aside from one Delaware car wash, the business is concentrated in the D.C. area, with facilities in Alexandria, Arlington and Maryland.

Construction on the Tysons car wash began in July, according to Scott-Long Construction, which says in a press release that its team overhauled a “previously dilapidated structure.”

Based on its Yelp page, Champion Car Wash had occupied the site since at least 2007, but it appears to have closed around October 2021. The business provided auto detailing in addition to cleanings.

The existing structures were demolished to make way for the 4,703-square-foot Mr Wash facility, per Fairfax County permits. Construction finished on Dec. 1, Scott-Long Construction said.

“We are thrilled to have been involved with the planning and execution of this new state of the art car wash in the heart of Tysons,” Scott-Long CEO John Scott said in the press release.

Mr Wash is adjacent to an office building that’s co-located with Reston Hospital Center’s Tysons emergency room, which opened in June 2022.

Local police are investigating a spree of thefts from unlocked cars in Reston.

Police believe suspects have entered more than 30 unlocked cars and stolen valuables, like purses, credit cards, cash and electronics, between May and June. The suspects were captured on surveillance footage recently, the Fairfax County Police Department announced yesterday (Tuesday).

The issue is not isolated to the Reston District, police said, adding that vehicle break-ins and unlocked cars have become “easy targets” for suspects.

“It is important that the community works together to prevent easy access to unattended cars,” police said. “Often, suspects will walk around a community and check for unlocked cars. Sometimes these suspects get lucky because keys are left inside the vehicle.”

FCPD issued the following tips to protect vehicles:

• Lock your car and avoid leaving your keys in the car.
• Park in public places with lots of streetlights.
• Keep the windows rolled up when you park.
• Install car alarm systems and/or GPS systems.
• Do not leave any personal or valuable belongings inside your car.
• Do not leave your car turned on and unattended.
• Do not leave a spare key where it can be found.
• Utilize Security Cameras and floodlights.
• Know where you’re going.
• Practice proper automotive maintenance.
• Always stay aware of your surroundings.
• Do not store important personal documents in your vehicle.
• Report suspicious activity to our non-emergency number at (703) 691-2131. If you have an emergency, call 911.

Fairfax County has officially welcomed two new Flagship Carwash locations.

The regional car washing and detailing company recently added shops in Fairfax City and Annandale. Another location opened in Woodbridge, bringing the number of locations in Virginia to 23.

The Fairfax and Woodbridge locations are now open. A grand opening weekend event is set for the Annandale location at 7333 Little River Turnpike today through Sunday (June 16-18).

Free car washes, prize raffles and giveaways will be offered. Annandale residents will also get 50% off of the first month of unlimited membership through June 30.

Previously a Soaps & Suds Carwash, the Annandale location was renovated to “bring equipment and technology up to Flagship standards,” according to the company.

The Fairfax location is located at 10874 Fairfax Blvd. It’s open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

“We’re thrilled to open our doors to three more communities in Virginia, meeting a long-time, growing demand for an efficient and high-quality car washes,” Flagship Carwash Vice President and General Manager Dave Dittman said. “We understand the toll the DMV’s climate takes on our cars so we’re proud to offer the flexibility and convenience of our subscription programs with so many locations to choose from around your home or work.”

The company was founded in 1986. Flagship Carwash owns and operates more than 30 full-service and express car wash locations, including in Vienna and Herndon.

A Vienna warehouse recently vacated by the U.S. Postal Service is being eyed as a potential storage site for classic cars.

Roadhouse Development Company LLC is seeking to lease the existing, 34,241-square-foot warehouse at 831 Follin Lane SE for indoor car storage, according to a certificate of occupancy application scheduled to go before the Town of Vienna Planning Commission tonight (Wednesday).

The USPS exited the warehouse earlier this year after utilizing it “on an irregular basis when mail loads are high,” town staff said in a report to the commission.

“This is an opportunity for owners of classic and exotic vehicles to store their vehicles in a climate-controlled environment and use them as desired,” Walsh Colucci lawyer Lynne Strobel said in a statement of justification for the applicant.

Dating back to at least the 1960s, the warehouse is located at the rear of the site where it backs up to the Washington & Old Dominion Trail. The parcel also has an office building that’s currently occupied by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, according to town staff.

Designated by the town’s comprehensive plan as a corporate office park, the site has been approved for additional office development, but staff concede that that vision is unlikely to materialize soon.

“The market for such office development is weak, and the location of this building is particularly challenging in terms of marketability as it is not easily visible from any major transportation corridor,” the staff report says.

Roadhouse Development has proposed operating the storage facility as an interim use until the future office development moves forward.

According to the application, the business will operate daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Vehicle owners will be required to provide 24-hour notice for deliveries and pickups, and only the approximately four on-site employees will be allowed to actually drive the vehicles into and out of the building.

Owners can park other vehicles on the site for up to 48 hours while using their stored car. Storage contracts will be available on a monthly or annual basis.

In addition to storage, the warehouse will have an interior detailing bay and provide maintenance services, such as weekly tire pressure checks and battery monitoring, according to Roadhouse.

The application says only “cosmetic” improvements are proposed to the building’s exterior, and no road or driveway changes are needed.

Even though the business is focused on vehicle storage, it’s expected to have “little to no impact on the surrounding road network,” because most trips will be scheduled outside of peak traffic hours, according to Strobel.

“Owners typically want to use their vehicles on weekends or for a specific trip and not on a daily basis,” Strobel wrote. “Given the requirement of 24 hours advance notice…the Applicant can easily stagger arrivals as needed. It is anticipated that the proposed use will generate tax revenue for the Town and will also bring people to the Town who will patronize restaurants and businesses.”

Town staff said they concluded the proposal is a “reasonable” use for the site. However, after getting the planning commission’s recommendation, it must be approved by the Vienna Town Council because warehouse storage isn’t a permitted use in the property’s current zoning district.

Photo via Ryan De Hamer on Unsplash

Vienna residents who own a Hyundai can now obtain a free steering wheel lock from the town’s police department.

The Vienna Police Department has “several” wheel locks on hand from Hyundai Motor Company, which launched a national campaign in response to a TikTok challenge that has inspired an increase in thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles.

“The Town of Vienna Police Department is taking a proactive approach to combat the uptick in thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles across the United States,” police said in a news release. “Owners of these cars may be wondering how to make their vehicles less appealing to thieves. Locking a vehicle’s doors is a very effective deterrent but, adding a steering wheel lock may provide an additional layer of protection.”

The locks are available to Vienna residents in the zip code 22180 who own a Hyundai vehicle with a key ignition that was made in 2010 to 2021.

Starting today (Monday), the devices can be picked up in the lobby of the police station at 215 Center Street South from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday through Friday.

Thefts began to surge in 2021 when TikTok users started posting videos under the hashtag “Kia Boyz” encouraging teens to steal Kia and Hyundai vehicles by taking off their steering wheels and hotwiring them with a USB cable, according to CNBC.

The videos revealed that models manufactured from 2010 to 2021 that use mechanical keys — rather than push button ignitions — are vulnerable to theft due to their lack of immobilizer systems, which prevent hotwiring using computer chips in key fobs that communicate with the engine.

The Fairfax County Police Department reported 28 carjackings last year, up from 16 in 2021, and seven to open 2023, as of Feb. 10. The data that the department shared with FFXnow didn’t specify how many incidents involved Hyundai or Kia vehicles, but it confirmed those were targeted in a series of stolen or damaged vehicle reports in Lorton on Jan. 14.

At that time, the FCPD said its officers had taken 24 reports for stolen Hyundai vehicles and 13 reports for stolen Kia vehicles between Nov. 22 and Jan. 17.

Hyundai and Kia announced in February that they will provide free software upgrades for approximately 8.3 million vulnerable cars.

The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is expanding the use of automated license plate reader technology across the county, despite concerns from civil rights groups.

The department will install 25 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) around Fairfax County by the spring, FCPD spokesperson Sergeant Hudson Bull confirmed to FFXnow.

This expansion of the program comes after an eight-week “test period,” where the camera system was placed in two locations and assisted in “over 35 cases which have led to over 60 arrest charges,” Bull said.

Based on that data, the trial period has now been extended an additional 10 months to Oct. 31, 2023.

Over the next nine months, cameras will watch more than two dozen “high-crime” areas in the county.

“The camera placement is based on data showing where most stolen vehicles are recovered and where most crime occurs that we believe these cameras could assist us in solving,” Bull said.

The camera system comes from Flock Safety, which has installed ALPRs in more than 2,000 localities across the country.

The ALPR cameras capture license plates, vehicle color, make and model, and send a “real-time alert” to law enforcement when a stolen car or a vehicle used in a crime is detected within a database.

During the initial trial period in November and December, FCPD says the system helped it recover six stolen cars worth an estimated $350,000. In one car, fentanyl and methamphetamines were found, and another had more than five pounds of marijuana, police say.

The system also helped police locate two missing persons when the cameras detected vehicles associated with those cases.

“Two persons were quickly located by officers and safely returned home after alerts were sent,” Bull wrote. “The officers can also search the cameras in cases when a person has been missing for several hours but there is a delay in reporting.”

While Flock Safety and FCPD tout ALPRs as crime prevention and solving tools, local civil rights groups have a number of ethical and privacy concerns about the county expanding the program.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU-VA) said it wasn’t aware of the program’s expansion prior to being contacted by FFXnow.

“The ACLU is always concerned about the efforts to expand mass surveillance,” ACLU-VA senior staff attorney Matt Callahan told FFXnow. “We consider the privacy of individuals and their freedom of movement to be a core value of society.”

He noted that the organization believes decisions to use ALPRs and other tracking or surveillance technology should be “in the public’s hands” and not solely left to law enforcement or individual vendors like Flock. Read More

Fairfax County is again asking the state for money to offset anticipated reductions in resident vehicle tax payments.

At a meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 24), the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a letter written by Chairman Jeff McKay for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, asking him to include money in his budget for localities to blunt the impact of a 15% decrease in car tax revenue.

“We all heard last year the complaints that came in. I don’t think people understand that we don’t set the value of cars. They are set by others,” Chairman Jeff McKay said. “So, the tool that we had in our toolbox was to automatically put a reduction in value on all those vehicles in the county. Even with that, most people’s…tax bills went up.”

Over the last several years, used car prices have increased dramatically, though they’ve started to come down in recent weeks. Because of that, many county taxpayers are paying significantly more in personal property tax — also known as the “car tax.”

Last year, the Board approved assessing vehicles at only 85% of market value in order to give some relief to county taxpayers. That came after Youngkin signed legislation giving localities express permission to do that, in accordance with the Dillon Rule.

However, the county relies on that money as part of its tax revenue to fund services. In 1998, Virginia passed the Personal Property Tax Relief Act, which dictates that the state should offer car tax relief and subsidize localities for lost revenue owed on the first $20,000 of a vehicle’s value.

But the amount of funding provided to localities hasn’t changed since 2007, and Virginia now provides 20% less relief. In other words, both taxpayers and the county government are getting significantly less money from the state than they did 16 years ago.

After cutting another 15% for fiscal year 2023, which began July 1, 2022, the Fairfax County board is asking to get more money back from the state — a request also made to the governor last year, McKay’s board matter notes.

Youngkin has suggested cutting the car tax entirely, but county officials have expressed some trepidation about the consequences unless the money is reimbursed. McKay said reimbursement might be possible now considering the state’s nearly $2 billion surplus.

“While either the state or county could eliminate car taxes all together, the state should honor its pledge of 1998 to eliminate the car tax while reimbursing local governments for lost revenue,” the letter to Youngkin says. “It is essential and possible, particularly as the state currently sits on a significant surplus, to allocate adequate funding to provide residents with effective personal property tax relief.”

Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw argued that the state can’t truly claim to have a surplus until “the Commonwealth pays its bills…and this is an example.”

“If it doesn’t happen this year with the surplus that exists, it ain’t going to happen next year or the year after that,” he said.

While the governor already released his budget last month, amendments — including one to offset lost vehicle tax revenue — could still happen at the direction of the General Assembly.