Countywide

Summer in Fairfax County means a break from school, an abundance of outdoor music options and, in recent years, the return of the spotted lanternflies.

The invasive insects started to reemerge earlier this month, but they are still in their young “nymph” stage, resembling small beetles with white spots on their black bodies instead of the larger, winged form they take as adults, according to the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES).


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Land in Lorton that once served as a waste disposal site has been transformed into Fairfax County’s largest solar power project so far.

After about a year of construction, a completed 5-megawatt solar array now sits on 37 acres in a closed portion of the I-95 Landfill Complex at 9850 Furnace Road, the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) announced Wednesday (May 19).


Countywide

Fairfax County leaders appear to have largely abandoned controversial efforts to impose a future countywide residential trash district.

“We’ve heard pretty loud and pretty clearly that this is not the model,” said Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who chairs the Board of Supervisors’ Environment Committee and presided over its May 12 meeting.


Countywide

The end is within sight for Fairfax County’s nearly decade-long push to convert all streetlights to more energy efficient LED fixtures.

Dominion Energy, which owns, operates and maintains about 96% of the county’s 60,000 streetlights, has upgraded approximately 93% or 52,100 of them to LED, as of March, the county announced earlier this week.


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A new pedestrian safety measure will soon help slow down drivers as they approach a Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail crossing in Herndon.

The Town of Herndon announced last week that it’s working to install a Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) for the crosswalk connecting the trail across Crestview Drive near Old Heights Road.


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By Tram On and James Jarvis

Inside a small storefront in Vienna, neatly labeled dispenser bins line the walls. Wooden shelves are laden with bulk containers of everything from hand soap to vinegar, reusable bags to pasta.


Countywide

Fairfax County is teaming up with the Arbor Day Foundation to give away free trees to residents as part of its efforts to nurture the local tree canopy.

Starting today (Tuesday), all county residents can sign up online to receive up to two one-gallon trees that will be delivered directly to their homes, according to the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services’ (DPWES) Urban and Community Forestry Division.


News

After an extra one-day delay due to Sunday’s snowfall, the Town of Vienna will begin construction today (Tuesday) on a stormwater project that’s more than a decade in the making.

To address ongoing flooding challenges, the town is replacing an underground culvert along Nutley Street near Marshall Road SW, a process expected to unfold in five phases over nearly a year.


Countywide

Please stop flushing wipes down the toilet, even if they’re labeled “flushable,” Fairfax County said in a recent message to community members.

The county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services urged residents late last week to avoid flushing anything other than toilet paper after a mass of non-disposable wipes clogged a regional sewer pipeline, exacerbating overflows into the Potomac River.


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Scott’s Run Nature Preserve will be off limits to visitors for a third consecutive spring to allow more sewer upgrades.

The park at 7400 Georgetown Pike in McLean is scheduled to close on Monday, Feb. 16 for an “urgent” project to rehabilitate a siphon facility that carries wastewater across the Potomac River to D.C. Water’s Potomac Interceptor in Maryland, according to the Fairfax County Park Authority.


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