The Town of Herndon will welcome a new parks and recreation director this month for the first time in two decades.
Appointed Monday (Jan. 8), Bob Williams will assume the position on Jan. 16 after longtime director Cindy Roeder retired from the job she’d held since 2003, per her LinkedIn page.
Town Manager Bill Ashton, who will oversee Williams, acknowledged that Roeder will be a tough act to follow, but he believes the town’s new hire will be up to the task.
“No question, Cindy Roeder’s shoes are hard to fill,” Ashton said. “We are confident that Bob has the experience, insights and expertise to maintain the department’s high quality of operations and programming while bringing new, fresh ideas that further its legacy. In particular, I look forward to new initiatives under his leadership that establish new events and traditions, build on our vibrant sense of community and celebrate the myriad cultures represented in Herndon.”
A certified parks and recreation professional, Williams most recently served as parks and recreation director of Martinsburg-Berkeley County in West Virginia, where he created the department’s first-ever strategic plan and “improved processes that greatly increased productivity as well as community and employee engagement,” according to Herndon.
He has also worked in the parks and recreation divisions for Alexandria City, Licking County, Ohio, and Chester County, Pennsylvania. He earned a bachelor’s degree in parks and recreation from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Robert Morris University, also in Pennsylvania.
When he takes over Herndon Parks and Recreation next week, Williams will be charged with stabilizing a department in flux. On top of finalizing the retirement of its longtime leader this month, the parks and recreation department has undergone a complete staff turnover since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, officials told the town council on Dec. 12.
The turnover contributed to the town’s decision to permanently end its popular Herndon Festival, which was sponsored by the parks department, officials said.
According to the town, as parks and recreation director, Williams is responsible for:
staff management, recreation program planning and development, facilities operation and maintenance, and capital improvement planning. Williams will also oversee operations of Chestnut Grove Cemetery; will foster collaborative relationships with Herndon’s sports, schools, arts, non-profit and business organizations; and will provide leadership and oversight to the department’s five operating divisions: administration, recreation programs, facilities, aquatics and parks.
Williams will also oversee an update to the department’s strategic plan, since the current one ended in 2023.
“The department has been working on an update, in alignment with the Town Council’s strategic plan, and will continue the work with Bob Williams’ direction and input,” Herndon spokesperson Anne Papa said.
The best path forward for saving Lake Accotink might to let it shrink, a Fairfax County task force has proposed.
Created by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in May, the 30-person group was charged with exploring alternatives to fully dredging the sediment that has accumulated in the man-made body of water or converting it to a wetland, as recommended earlier this year by county staff.
In a final report delivered to the board yesterday (Tuesday), the Task Force on the Future of Lake Accotink suggested that 20 to 40 acres of the lake could be preserved with “a program of regular maintenance dredging,” which would allow kayaking and other water recreation to continue at the popular Springfield park.
The remainder of the lake could be turned into “some combination of a managed wetland and a grassland,” the task force proposed. Originally 110 acres in size, Lake Accotink has already been reduced to 49 acres, thanks to sediment build-up from the area’s development, the report says, citing Fairfax County Park Authority project manager and senior planner Adam Wynn.
“There is no doubt that preserving a smaller lake meets significant community and social goals,” a task force subcommittee charged with analyzing alternatives to a full dredging wrote in the report. “Even a small lake would allow the maintenance of the current marina area, a community gathering place for picnics, birthday parties, and many others who enjoy the calming effects of a lake environment. And, importantly, a small lake would still preserve the beauty that so many find in a lake for generations to come.”
Frequented by over 250,000 visitors a year, Lake Accotink Park (7500 Accotink Park Road) is one of the park authority’s top attractions. It features miles of trails, a carousel, a mini golf course, a picnic area, bicycle rentals and a recently updated playground in addition to a marina, where visitors can rent canoes, kayaks and paddle boats.
However, sediment carried into the lake by Accotink Creek needs to be periodically dredged, a process undertaken in 1985 and 2008. The Board of Supervisors approved a plan in 2019 to conduct an initial $30.5 million dredging operation, followed by annual maintenance dredges that would cost an estimated $2 million per year.
But the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) and its consultant, Arcadis, reported in February that 43% more sediment would need to be removed than initially estimated, and the costs of both the initial dredgings had skyrocketed to roughly $95 million.
The first 20 years of the annual dredging program would require an additional $300 million in funding, according to the February report, which was based on data collected since 2021.
As a result, DPWES staff recommended letting the lake fill up and revisiting the park’s master plan to determine how it might be maintained in the future as a “wetland and/or floodplain forest complex” — a proposal that alarmed community members. Read More
(Updated at 6:55 p.m. on 2/28/2024) Another suspect in the 2016 murders of two teens at Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in Lincolnia has pleaded guilty.
Edwin Orellana Caballero, a member of the gang La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, pleaded guilty yesterday (Wednesday) to one count of maiming in aid of racketeering activity in connection to the kidnapping and killing of a 14-year-old from Alexandria, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced.
An Alexandria resident who was 16 years old at the time, Orellana Caballero is one of 17 people who have been charged in the case, which also involved the murder of a 17-year-old Falls Church resident.
According to the Department of Justice, Orellana Cabellero and other members of an MS-13 clique known as the Park View Locos Salvatrucha kidnapped and killed the 14-year-old, who’s identified only as S.A.A.T., on Sept. 26, 2016.
“The gang lured S.A.A.T. to Holmes Run Stream Valley Park in Fairfax County and murdered him in a wooded area there with knives, machetes, and a pickaxe,” the DOJ said in the press release. “Specifically, Orellana Caballero struck S.A.A.T. multiple times with the pickaxe. Once S.A.A.T. was dead, the gang buried him in a shallow grave.”
Prosecutors have said that S.A.A.T. was targeted based on an unfounded suspicion that he was a police informant. The 17-year-old, identified as E.E.E.M., was killed at Holmes Run park in a similarly brutal manner on Aug. 28, 2016.
Five of the individuals involved in the murders were convicted by a federal jury in July 2022 and received lifetime prison sentences that November. Including Orellana Cabellero, 10 defendants have now pleaded guilty before a trial, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis joined U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Jessica Aber and Wayne Jacobs, the special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s criminal division to announce Orellana Cabellero’s plea after it was accepted by U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston Jr.
Orellana Cabellero is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 28, 2024. He faces a potential sentence of at least 20 years and at most 25 years in prison.
Image via Google Maps
Reston’s Hunters Woods ballfield has finished its transformation from an underutilized baseball diamond into a park with walking paths, new trees and other features is now complete.
Construction on the redevelopment started on Aug. 11 and wrapped up last week, coming in not only four months ahead of schedule, but also about 10% under approximately $400,000 budget, according to Reston Association, which owns the park.
Chris Schumaker, RA’s director of capital projects, attributes the speedy timeline and cost efficiency to “good weather” and an absence of unexpected site issues that could’ve caused delays.
“This redevelopment project gives new life to valuable greenspace in Reston,” Schumaker said. “We’re thrilled to be able to work directly with the community to create a space that is beneficial to the surrounding neighborhoods. It’s really a win-win effort.”
RA approved a concept plan to repurpose the ballfield in 2020 at the request of the Hunters Woods Neighborhood Coalition. Though once used by Reston-Herndon Little League, the facility’s lack of parking and locked-in location near Breton Court behind the Hunters Woods Village Center made it difficult to access and inhospitable to larger gatherings, like a ball game.
While the new park still doesn’t have parking, it was designed to serve pedestrians and the immediate neighborhood instead of drivers, with footpaths and seating areas that encourage walking and other forms of passive recreation.
“We want people to travel there on foot, so that’s definitely doable with the walkways we added and the connection points to other pathways in the area for sure,” Schumaker told FFXnow.
The roughly 1-acre site is now encircled by a broad asphalt walkway, and a concrete path divides a new rain garden and a meadow reseeded with native plants, though they mostly won’t emerge until the spring. To emphasize the nature-focused setting, the concrete has been stamped with leaves from native trees.
Other amenities include benches, trash receptacles and a Little Free Library Nearby residents started to stock the green box with books as soon as fences around the site came down, according to Schumaker.
In addition to hopefully encouraging more usage, the new park designed by the architecture and landscaping firm Kimley Horn brings environmental and stormwater benefits, RA says.
The rain garden will control and filter runoff from the park and adjacent houses that previously just flowed into streams, Schumaker said. The project also led to 12 new trees getting planted on the site and preserved several existing, mature trees.
“It’s kind of just a nice place to look at right now,” Schumaker said. “I think once the meadow area…kind of grows in through the winter and early spring, it’ll really kind of add a big pop of color and a nice place to walk around and kind of see all the birds and the insects and things of that nature that will traverse the area now versus before.”
After the meadow grows out next spring, RA plans to host a formal ceremony celebrating the new Hunters Woods park.
The Town of Vienna is moving forward with the creation of a parks system master plan.
The Vienna Town Council authorized parks and recreation staff on Oct. 23 to spend $236,230 to hire the consulting firm Kimley-Horn, which was selected from four potential vendors to develop the plan that will guide the town’s facilities and services over the next decade.
“The parks and recreation department has a strong commitment to provide fair and just access to high-quality parks, green space, recreation facilities and programs for all members of the community,” Vienna Parks and Recreation Director Leslie Herman told the council. “The park system master plan will set a vision to guide long-term future development, redevelopment and improvements to the town’s park systems, open space, trails and recreation facilities over the next five to 10 years.”
In addition to creating an inventory of existing amenities and their conditions, Kimley-Horn has been tasked with evaluating town-owned properties that could be used for parks or recreation in the future, including the Annex site (301 Center Street South) where the former Faith Baptist Church is set to be demolished and the Robinson family property at 124 Courthouse Road SW.
According to Fairfax County property records, the Town of Vienna bought the property where former mayor Charles Robinson and former council member Maud Robinson had lived for $1.4 million in December 2019, not long after Maud Robinson died. The 31,688-square-foot site has been designated as future park land.
As part of the parks master plan, the town has asked Kimley-Horn to recommend three options for developing the Robinson property, complete with conceptual designs and cost estimates.
Councilmember Chuck Anderson suggested that the consultant also look at how much the town could potentially get if it sold the property and used the resulting funds to support parks and rec initiatives.
“That, I think, is one option for that property,” Anderson said. “That’s just one I want to make sure is on the table.”
The council was initially scheduled to approve the funds at an Oct. 2 meeting, but the vote got deferred after members raised questions about the project’s cost and scope.
After getting a 23-page report from Kimley-Horn responding to those questions, council members said they’re now satisfied with the firm’s proposal for the master plan, which it anticipates will take about 16 months to develop.
In response to a question about the timeline from Councilmember Howard Springsteen, the firm said the project could take less time, but it recommended considering “this a 16-month effort at the outset so as to set realistic expectations.”
Springsteen said he was “ready to support” the master plan project after Kimley-Horn reassured him it would provide operating, maintenance and capital costs for its recommendations, along with comparisons to the town’s annual budget.
Springsteen said the master plan needs to provide “a good roadmap,” especially since it will be developed and implemented under a different council. All six council seats and Mayor Linda Colbert, who’s running unopposed, are on the ballot for this year’s general election, which will take place next Tuesday (Nov. 7).
Early voting has been ongoing since Sept. 22, with in-person locations operating through Saturday, Nov. 4.
“We have a lot of expectations out there, and we have to put things down in writing,” Springsteen said. “I too would like to have five extra homes, go to Europe 10 times a year, but there’s a cost involved [to] what we can or cannot do, so I look forward to you racking up these ideas.”
The town didn’t respond by press time to an FFXnow inquiry regarding a possible kick-off date for the parks master plan process. Public engagement efforts are expected to include surveys, stakeholder interviews and community workshops.
The tennis court renovations at Bready Park (814 Ferndale Avenue) in Herndon are officially complete.
The renovation project includes the addition of four pickleball courts — an effort to meet growing demand for the sport in the area.
Other updates include new fencing, the application of a new surface called ProBounce.
The park now has four pickleball courts and five tennis courts, two of which are contained in the park’s temporary indoor tennis facility.
“We are pleased to publicly open the newly renovated Bready Park Tennis Courts, featuring the innovative ProBounce® surface which will add many years of use to the courts and enhance player comfort with the cushioned surfacing for both tennis and pickleball enthusiasts,” Herndon Parks and Recreation Director Cindy Roeder said in a press release. “The addition of pickleball courts is a testament to our commitment to meeting the diverse recreational needs of our community.”
A maximum of one reservation per day is allowed per individual. Each reservation is $10 per hour.
Scheduled sessions for pickleball players are available on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Courts are available from sunrise to 10 p.m. daily, allowing both reservations and drop-in play.
Reservations can be made online or by calling the town’s parks and recreation department at 703-435-6868.
The project kicked off in July after a design phase was completed in August of 2022.
Fairfax County is on the verge of approving the first residential, mixed-use development to be put forward under its nascent plan to revitalize downtown McLean.
The Astoria project to redevelop three commercial buildings next to the Mars headquarters on Old Dominion Drive got the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s endorsement on Oct. 18, setting it up to be approved by the Board of Supervisors at a public hearing tomorrow (Tuesday).
“It’s going to make a big difference in this stretch of Old Dominion and on Elm Street,” said Dranesville District Commissioner John Ulfelder. “…I think it hits all the marks in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish now in the McLean [Community Business Center] in order to revitalize it and widen it and to bring in more residents, who can then support more local restaurants and other shops and stores.”
Filed in December 2022, the rezoning proposal from property owner JAG Partners LLC would replace the existing office buildings and standalone restaurant — currently occupied by Moby Dick — on the 2-acre site with a seven-story, 130-unit residential building.
The ground floor will be devoted to commercial uses, including 3,109 square feet of retail and 1,692 square feet of office space. Topping out at 92 feet, the building will drop to six stories on the Elm Street side to allay community concerns “about the visual mass of the building,” the developer’s legal agent, Michelle Rosati, said.
According to Rosati, when it conceived the project, JAG Partners focused first on ensuring the pedestrian experience meets the county’s new design guidelines for McLean, which aim to turn the 265-acre downtown into a “neighborhood village” with a small-town feel and streetscapes that encourage non-motorized travel and social interaction.
In addition to a 12-foot-wide pedestrian and bicycle pathway along Old Dominion Drive and an 8-foot-wide sidewalk on Elm Street, the developer will construct an 8-foot-wide pedestrian pathway along its shared property line with Mars, which got the planning commission’s support for a headquarters expansion on Oct. 11.
Accompanied by urban park amenities like seating and public art, the “Connector Courtyard” will provide a much-needed connection from Old Dominion to Elm Street between Moyer Place and Beverly Road, Rosati said.
“That is a superblock. It’s a very long walk to go all the way around, and this cuts through the middle of the block,” she said, noting that the Elm Street end of the pathway is directly across from a park associated with The Signet condominiums. Read More
An homage to Ellanor C. Lawrence Park could take root in place of a partially developed business center in the Westfields area of Chantilly.
Developer Pulte Homes is seeking to transform the Park East Corporate Center (14150 Parkeast Circle) into a new residential neighborhood with green spaces “that follow a theme designed to be consistent” with the 650-acre park south of the property, according to a rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County.
While totaling a comparatively small 5.5 acres, the proposed common green and linear and pocket parks will reflect Lawrence’s identity as “an avid gardener” who appreciated “the beauty of nature,” an Oct. 12 statement of justification for the application says.
“The amenity system within Park East commemorates her passion by creating a network of different intimate gardens where not only residents, but also the community at large, can experience passive spaces to retreat from everyday life,” the development plan says. “It also provides active recreation opportunities through several fitness stations.”
With a common green as a “focal point,” the six planned park areas will be linked by sidewalks and trails. Proposed amenities include gardens for bird-watching, butterflies and vegetables, a wildflower meadow; a trail around the site’s perimeter; and “historical elements that introduce visitors to the significance” of Ellanor C. Lawrence Park.
Replacing two office buildings and a warehouse, the housing development will consist of multi-family residential buildings, 124 stacked townhomes and 86 single-family attached townhomes.
At a proposed maximum height of five stories or 56 feet, the multi-family buildings will be mid-rises with 32 units each, giving the development a total of 338 units of housing. About 40 units will be affordable or workforce dwelling units in accordance with the county’s policies.
The proposal continues a shift toward housing in the Westfields area, which was zoned to be primarily industrial in 1985.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a plan amendment in 2019 that added options for retail and residential uses in the 1,156 acres around Route 28 (Sully Road) and Westfields Blvd known as Land Unit J. A plan to build more townhomes in the area near Westfield High School got approved last summer, despite skepticism from some planning commissioners.
Redeveloping the Park East Corporate Center into a residential community would address the county’s need for housing that serves different demographics, according to Walsh Colucci land use lawyer Lynne Strobel, who’s representing Pulte.
“The multi-family residential buildings are attractive to mature Fairfax County residents who are downsizing but wish to remain in the area,” Strobel wrote in the statement of justification. “…The multi-family stacked townhomes are ideal for singles and young couples, while young families will be most interested in the traditional townhomes.”
Not everything in Westfields is going to turn into housing, though. The owner of the Westfields Corporate Park on Stonecroft Blvd wants to add more office space, per an application filed earlier this month.
The county hasn’t formally accepted Pulte’s rezoning proposal for review yet.
After the 2019 plan amendment, Land Unit J could be developed with up to 4,250 residential units and an additional 200,000 square feet of retail.
Fairfax County will add its voice to the chorus of local governments touting the presence and benefits of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail.
The Board of Supervisors authorized staff on Tuesday (Oct. 10) to sign an agreement committing the county to developing, maintaining and promoting its segments of the trail, which spans almost 900 miles from the Allegeny Highlands in western Pennsylvania to the Potomac River’s mouth in Northern Neck.
The roughly 137-mile Northern Virginia section includes segments in Great Falls, McLean and along the George Washington Memorial Parkway and Route 1 (Richmond Highway) from the City of Alexandria to Lorton.
“This is a mostly unknown trail connection that we’ve all been working on, believe it or not, for years,” Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck said before the board’s unanimous vote.
Designated in 1983, the Potomac Heritage Trail is overseen by the National Park Service, but it has enlisted local governments to manage segments in their borders under the memorandum of understanding (p. 413), which was initially developed in 2020.
In addition to Fairfax County, participating localities include Arlington, Loudoun and Prince William counties, along with Alexandria and the towns of Dumfries, Leesburg and Occoquan.
Per the MOU, the county’s park authority and transportation and public works departments will maintain trail segments, place markers at key points like major trailheads, promote the trail with media and way-finding or interpretive exhibits, and report on “visitation, volunteerism, and challenges and needs for completed segments.”
“The purpose of the agreement is to recognize the Trail network in northern Virginia and to realize fully the benefits associated with such recognition, including increased opportunities for outdoor recreation and nonmotorized transportation; for education, health, and heritage tourism; and for contributions to a vibrant regional economy,” county staff wrote in a summary for the Board of Supervisors.
The MOU also directs trail managers to “consider requests to plan, acquire lands and easements for, and develop segments of the Trail within respective jurisdictions.”
Fairfax County recently filled some gaps with the Mount Vernon Highway Trail Project, which added a shared-use path from Route 1 to Southwood Drive and was completed in May.
Storck said at Tuesday’s board meeting that his office has been working over the last few months to adjust some of the new trail segments “so they’re not right on Route 1.”
Working with Fort Belvoir to move its segments off the road has proven to be a challenge due to Defense Department rules on “what you can do and where,” but Storck said there has been “great progress” made on the trail.
“We’ll need to continue [that progress],” he said. “This will be something that gets worked on long after I’m gone, to find better ways to have it be more scenic and less urban…We’re doing the right thing, and as you see, it’s taken 50 years just to get this far, so we’ll keep plugging away.”
According to a trail map maintained by the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, Fairfax County still has gaps in the Mason Neck Trail along Gunston Road, on Old Colchester Road to connect Route 1 to the Mason Neck Peninsula, and between Great Falls Park and Scott’s Run Nature Preserve.
The Great Falls-to-Scott’s Run segment is unfunded, though one needed easement has been obtained at the Madeira School in McLean. The Gunston Road segment will cost an estimated $9 million and has gotten $4 million funded so far.
The route connecting Route 1 and Mason Neck may be tweaked as the county updates its overall trails map as part of its ActiveFairfax Transportation Plan, which is “tentatively” expected to get adopted in 2024, according to NVRC.
(Updated at 2:20 p.m. on 10/31/2023) The end is nigh for Vienna’s former Faith Baptist Church.
The Vienna Town Council gave town staff the green light on Monday (Oct. 2) to pay a contractor $327,608 to demolish the building at 301 Center Street South, where it has stood since the 1950s and remained vacant since the police department finished moving out in January.
The town’s public works department anticipates that the demolition will take place three to four months from now, according to Town of Vienna Public Information Director Karen Thayer.
“Unless something unexpected comes up, the building will likely be removed by early February,” Thayer told FFXnow.
Vienna bought the 3-acre property for $5.5 million in September 2020 to temporarily house its police officers during construction on a new, $14 million police station just down the road at 215 Center Street South.
However, the town has yet to settle on a long-term plan for the site, now known as the Annex. Council members debated whether to keep at least the church’s gym, but they ultimately voted on June 5 to tear it all down after seeing escalating costs of maintaining the two-story building and bringing it up to code.
The demolition budget increased as well from an initial estimate of $250,000. Coming out of a 2022 capital projects bond, the funds approved this week include a 10% contingency and the cost of removing asbestos that a survey found in August, acting public works director Adam Lehman told the town council.
“The asbestos has to be removed out of the building prior to tearing down the building itself,” Lehman said.
The demolition will be done by The Berg Corporation, which will also be responsible for removing the asbestos and “all concrete slabs and walkways” belonging to the building, town staff said.
“The contractor will provide tree protection, erosion control measures and will import clean fill and topsoil as necessary to provide positive drainage after the building has been demolished,” staff said in a summary for the council. “The contractor will provide seed/straw to stabilize areas disturbed by the demolition work.”
The property’s parking lot and driveway won’t be included in the demolition.
A study conducted this spring and summer to gather public input on a long-term use for the Annex suggested community members favor a recreational facility, but with a new parks master plan on the horizon, the council held off on a more in-depth evaluation of a potential project’s operational and financial needs.
The council deferred a vote on Monday that would’ve kickstarted the development of the new parks plan, by hiring the consultant Kimley Horn for $236,230.
“The Park System Master Plan will set a vision to guide long-term future development, re-development and improvements to the Town’s parks systems, open space, trails and recreation facilities over the next 5 to 10 years,” town staff said. “…The project will also update the inventory of existing parks, open space and trails, and provide a conditions report for each park and its facilities.”
The Annex is one of several town-owned properties that staff have suggested considering for recreational uses, including the water towers on Tapawingo Road and Wall Street and the Beulah Road site previously used for mulching.
As part of the planning effort, the town has asked Kimley Horn to propose three development options for the Robinson family’s property at 124 Courthouse Road SW. Already identified by the council as a site for a future park or recreational facility, the house has been vacant since former councilmember Maud Robinson died in 2019.
