News

Depending on who had the microphone, last week’s public hearing on the proposed redevelopment of Metro’s West Falls Church station suggested it will either overwhelm local roads or avert “climate arson,” to use one speaker’s phrase.

As they did earlier in the planning process, supporters of the project seemed to have an edge over skeptics at the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s meeting on Wednesday (Feb. 8), arguing that the over 1-million-square-foot development would deliver needed housing and amenities, while making the transit station area more accessible and vibrant than the parking lots that it would replace.


News

The nearly 24-acre, mixed-use development planned for the West Falls Church Metro station will come with at least a few upgrades to the surrounding transportation network in Idylwood, if it’s approved.

Developers EYA, Rushmark Properties, and Hoffman & Associates — known collectively as FGCP-Metro LLC — have agreed to construct a shared-use trail along the north side of Haycock Road over I-66, according to a draft proffer agreement in Fairfax County’s Jan. 24 staff report on the development plans.


News

A proposed shared-use path on Haycock Road over I-66 is among several pedestrian and bicycle projects in the West Falls Church Metro station area that the McLean Citizens Association believes Fairfax County should prioritize for funding.

The organization, which routinely weighs in on issues affecting the greater McLean area, approved a resolution on Wednesday (Jan. 4) endorsing 19 projects recommended by an advisory group that the county convened to study the West Falls Church Transit Station Area’s (TSA) active transportation infrastructure.


News

Fairfax County’s plan to develop Ruckstahl Park in Idylwood with new amenities came into clearer focus this month.

Building off a 2015 master plan, the Fairfax County Park Authority board approved a scope for the approximately $2 million project at its final 2022 meeting on Dec. 14, the agency announced on Wednesday (Dec. 21).


Countywide

With winter on the horizon, Fairfax County is still racing to suck up the last leafy vestiges of autumn.

Specifically, the county’s crews have yet to pick up leaves in McLean and Idylwood, as a combination of staffing shortages, equipment issues and an early leaf fall have delayed collections, the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services acknowledged yesterday.


News

The pedestrian and bicycle network around the West Falls Church Metro station in Idylwood is uncomfortable to use in some places and nonexistent in many others, a newly released report found.

The West Falls Church Active Transportation Study confirms community complaints that local roads are unsafe and inadequate for current residents, let alone the influx of newcomers anticipated with 1.8 million square feet of new development planned in the transit station area (TSA).


News

A special education teacher at Marshall High School in Idylwood has been arrested for allegedly assaulting a student more than once, Fairfax County police announced Friday night (Dec. 2).

Two different employees reported seeing Amy Bonzano, a 50-year-old Falls Church resident, assaulting a student with disabilities, according to the Fairfax County Police Department.


News

A massive array of solar panels could provide cover for the office building that developer Rushmark Properties and the construction company HITT Contracting are planning to build at Virginia Tech’s campus near the West Falls Church Metro station.

In a final development plan recently submitted to Fairfax County, the two companies — collectively known as Converge West Falls LLC — propose installing a photovoltaic array canopy on top of the building, which will house HITT’s corporate headquarters and laboratory space for Virginia Tech’s planned National Center for Smart Construction.


Around Town

Jason’s Deli will close up shop for good next month after more than a decade at Idylwood Plaza.

The last day of business for the sandwich restaurant will be Dec. 12, though a separate location at Fair Lakes Shopping Center will remain open.


News

A major redevelopment has been suggested for Fallfax Center, a retail strip anchored by El Tio Tex-Mex Grill on the edge of Idylwood near Jefferson District Park.

Property owner Schupp Companies has put forward a proposal to replace the existing shopping center with a residential and retail “donut” building.


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