Good Wednesday 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 — May 1, 2024.

• 8:15 am: Morning Notes | 🗣️ Comments
• 9:30 am: Expanded Route 7 is now fully operational from Reston to Tysons | 🗣️ Comments
• 10:30 am: Vienna to open farmers market, sell native plants this weekend | 🗣️ Comments
• 11:30 am: Fairfax County board approves real estate tax hike, laments state under-funding | 🗣️ Comments
• 1:30 pm: Herndon cements vision for development of transition zone near Metro station | 🗣️ Comments
• 2:30 pm: Sushi Umi’s new Tysons restaurant is now open | 🗣️ Comments
• 3:30 pm: Police arrest Alexandria man for shooting in Bailey’s Crossroads | 🗣️ Comments

📅 Upcoming events

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

• 7:00 am: Freaky Friday at Westfield High School
• 2:00 pm: Introducing Generation Z: What Teams Need to Know
• 7:00 pm: Romeo and Juliet at Lake Braddock Theatre
• 7:00 pm: Thursday Poker Night Fairfax
• 7:30 pm: Big Fish at South Lakes High School
• 7:30 pm: Improve your Communication and Leadership with Fairfax Toastmasters

☀️ Thursday’s forecast

Expect sunny conditions and a high around 89 degrees alongside a west wind blowing at 5 to 9 mph. As for Thursday night, the sky will be partly cloudy with temperatures dropping to around 63 degrees. Initially, the wind will be light and variable, but it will shift to a northeast direction at 5 to 7 mph after midnight. 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.

A 24-year-old man from Alexandria is facing multiple criminal charges for allegedly shooting a man he was trying to rob in Bailey’s Crossroads.

Alexandria City police arrested Abner Neftali Selen Barrera of Del Ray yesterday (Tuesday) after detectives identified him as the suspect in the shooting, the Fairfax County Police Department announced today.

FCPD officers responded to the 3400 block of Lake Street around 5 a.m. on April 12 after getting a call for a person who had been shot, according to a news release.

“The victim, an adult man, exited his vehicle and was approached by the suspect who displayed a firearm and demanded the victim’s property,” the FCPD said. “A struggle ensued and the victim was shot in the lower body.”

The victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

According to police, Selen Barrera is in custody without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center on charges of malicious wounding, robbery and using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 5, according to Fairfax County General District Court records.

Sushi Umi has arrived in Tysons.

The Japanese restaurant began accepting pick-up orders at 7615 Colshire Road in the Scotts Run neighborhood on April 19 and quietly opened to dine-in customers on April 22.

Operations manager Jung Song says Sushi Umi hasn’t started advertising the opening, in part because it’s still in the process of hiring employees, but the team is working to set a date for a more formal introduction to the community.

“We want to make sure that we fully have everything we need to do the grand opening,” Song told FFXnow. “So, we don’t have a date yet, but we’re trying to plan everything out.”

This is Sushi Umi’s second location, following its launch at Worldgate Centre in Herndon in December 2020. When looking to expand, the business was drawn to Tysons by the urban center’s reputation as an office hub.

“With all the businesses and different companies located in Tysons, I believe that it was a great opportunity to serve our customers even better,” Song said.

The Tysons location is smaller than its Herndon counterpart, seating 40 to 45 people indoors with the capacity for more diners on a covered outdoor patio.

The menus at both restaurants are similar, featuring a variety of sushi, sashimi and rice bowls, but they offer different specials “to capture a different audience of customers,” Song says. For instance, the Tysons location’s signature dish of unagi kabayaki — a whole broiled eel served with an egg omelette over sushi rice — isn’t available in Herndon.

All of the food is curated by Song’s father-in-law, Sushi Umi’s owner and executive chef. The Song family has over 30 years of culinary experience, operating restaurants in Alexandria in the 1990s and in Manassas in the early 2000s before they started Sushi Umi.

“Our goal is to provide the freshest fish and ingredients to satisfy our customers’ needs,” Song said.

Though still in its soft opening phase, the Tysons location has gotten a warm response from early customers, according to Song.

He noted that dining options within walking distance remain limited for residents of Scotts Run, which is home to the Kingston and Haden apartments as well as the 410-unit Heming that finished construction last fall. Another Japanese restaurant, Modan, is expected to open in the new high-rise this year.

“I think a lot of our customers are glad that we’re open,” Song said. “It took us a long time, some difficulties with construction and permits and so on, but…the vibe is that they’re just glad to have somewhere [that they can go].”

Sushi Umi is open for lunch in Tysons from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays. Dinner hours are 4:30-9:30 p.m. on weekdays, 3-9:30 p.m. on Saturday and 3-9 p.m. on Sunday.

Hat tip to Rich Arnold

In the future, Herndon hopes to see a vast swath of land near its Metro station transformed from aging, auto-centric commercial lots into a mixed-use, interconnected neighborhood.

That vision solidified last week when the Herndon Town Council adopted a plan on April 23 that will guide the redevelopment of the 94-acre Transit-Related Growth Area (TRG), culminating about two years of planning, meetings and community discussions.

“The town has been talking about this for a very long time, but until we got the Metro out here, it was definitely not going to totally happen,” Herndon Mayor Sheila Olem said just before the unanimous vote. “So, this is a very exciting step for Herndon indeed.”

Focused on 25 privately owned, mostly office or industrial properties, the TRG Small Area Plan will create a transition zone between the more intense Herndon Transit-oriented Core (HTOC) directly outside the Metro station to the south and the Downs of Herndon’s single-family homes to the north, Ahmad Zaki, the town’s long-range lead planner, told the council.

About 5.4 million square feet of development, including 2,789 residential units, are proposed for the TRG, according to a final draft report dated Feb. 12. With height limit of 12 stories, the tallest buildings would be allowed in a mixed-use core along the section of Herndon Parkway facing the Metro station, anchored by a central, retail-lined arrival plaza.

The plan calls for townhomes topping out at three to four stories adjacent to the existing single-family neighborhoods, which will be separated from the TRG by a 50-foot-wide forested buffer. Multi-family buildings with five to eight stories are proposed along Herndon Parkway west of the Spring Street intersection.

The Sunset Business Park east of Herndon Parkway will be “revamped” as a new Sunset District, retaining its role as a retail center while adding outdoor amenities and landscaping to encourage pedestrian activity.

“A reduced roadway and widened sidewalks with street trees and outdoor seating would bring to this area the ‘small town feel’ that Herndon residents are so enamored with, but with the industrial (and funky) vibe that brings about the unique identity of the Sunset District,” the report says, likening the district to D.C.’s Union Market. Read More

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has signed off on a 3-cent bump in its real estate tax rate, a move it said was partly forced by insufficient state funding.

The board approved the new rate yesterday (Tuesday) as part of a mark-up session on the fiscal year 2025 budget, which will be formally adopted next Tuesday, May 7. The 3-cent hike is expected to generate about $97 million in additional revenue for the county — about $32.3 million less compared to the 4-cent increase initially proposed.

With much of that money going towards county and public school employee salaries, the supervisors acknowledged a need to retain skilled workers and maintain quality public services, but many voiced concerns about the county’s overreliance on real estate taxes.

As a Dillon Rule state, Virginia limits counties to the taxing authorities explicitly granted by the General Assembly. In guidance for next year’s budget, the Board of Supervisors noted that it will continue advocating for broader authority from state lawmakers, while also directing County Executive Bryan Hill to determine what additional revenue options are currently available.

“I think it’s incredibly important that we try to diversify our tax base, and we try to take the tools available to us that the state has given us to us as limited as they are,” Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said.

The supervisors said the board was compelled to raise the real estate tax due to a lack of funding at the state level, particularly criticizing state officials for underfunding Fairfax County Public Schools.

According to a study conducted last year by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), Virginia schools receive $1,900 less per student in kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) funding than the national and regional averages. FCPS alone is shortchanged an estimated $345 million.

“We cannot do this alone…We also can’t hold our breath for them to step up,” Palchik said. “So, we are pushing, and we hope that they will finalize a budget and bring us more state champions who will help us bear the burden of funding those services that keep us a great community, our schools, our public safety, our parks, and everything that we do here.” Read More

The Vienna Community Center will be abuzz with activity this Saturday (May 4), thanks to the simultaneous return of the town’s farmers market and native plant sale.

Operated by the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna, the Vienna Farmers Market will launch at 8 a.m. in the community center’s parking lot at 120 Cherry Street SE. More than two dozen food and produce vendors have been lined up for the new season, which will continue on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon through October.

This week, the farmers market will be accompanied by a Spring Native Plant Sale sponsored by the Vienna Conservation and Sustainability Commission (CSC). Seasonal plants will be available for purchase, and there will be a free drawing to win a native tree.

“All plants are raised and sold by Hill House Garden Nursery and include flowering perennials, native shrubs, and small trees available for purchase,” the town said in a press release.

The CSC is a 10-member group of appointed residents who promote environmentally friendly practices, support community initiatives and education, and recommend policies to the town council. The commission meets once a month at the community center.

New vehicle lanes and a shared-use trail are officially open to travelers on Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) after almost five years of construction.

The Virginia Department of Transportation announced last night (Tuesday) that it has finished expanding the roadway from four to six travel lanes — three in each direction — between Riva Ridge Drive in Reston and Jarrett Valley Drive just north of the Dulles Toll Road in Tysons.

A 2-mile segment between Riva Ridge and Reston Avenue has been open to traffic since October 2022, but the additional five miles of lanes were completed well ahead of VDOT’s target date of July 31.

Work has also wrapped up on 10-foot-wide paths for pedestrians and bicyclists along both sides of Route 7, as anticipated by the Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn’s office. Cyclists will get a chance to try out the amenity during Alcorn’s annual Tour de Hunter Mill community bicycle ride this Sunday (May 5).

“The shared-use paths tie into those on Route 7 beyond the eastern and western limits of the project, providing a direct bicyclist/pedestrian connection from the Fairfax County Parkway Trail to Tysons,” VDOT said in a press release. “In addition, Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail users now have a new route under the Difficult Run bridge to safely cross Route 7.”

The Route 7 Corridor Improvements project redesigned intersections, including at Lewinsville Road in Wolf Trap and Baron Cameron Road in Reston, and added a pedestrian underpass for Colvin Run Mill Park, though a trail connecting to the south side of the tunnel still needs to be built by Fairfax County.

The $313.9 million project broke ground in June 2019 with the goal of improving safety, reducing traffic congestion and expanding mobility, according to VDOT, which says the affected, nearly 7-mile section of Route 7 averages 50,000 vehicles a day.

Though construction is finished, a reduced speed limit of 45 mph will remain in early May, allowing crews to remove temporary signs that were posted throughout the work zone.

“Once this work is complete, the speed limit between Reston Avenue and Wolftrap Run Road will be restored to 55 miles per hour,” VDOT said.

Man Gets Life in Prison for N. Va. Gang Killings — An MS-13 leader was sentenced to life in prison yesterday (Tuesday) for giving orders that led to multiple murders in Northern Virginia during the summer of 2019. Prosecutors say Melvin Canales Saldana told gang members to kill rivals “more aggressively,” prompting some to target “random civilians so they could increase their status within the gang.” [Associated Press/WTOP]

Tysons Satellite Company Will Be Acquired — “Intelsat SA said Tuesday it has reached a deal to be acquired by SES SA for $3.1 billion in cash…The deal will position SES to better compete with broadband satellites of SpaceX-owned Starlink and Amazon.com Inc. The combined company will have a fleet of more than 100 geostationary and 26 medium orbit satellites.” [Washington Business Journal]

Vienna Sticks With Current Real Estate Tax Rate — “Vienna homeowners, on average, have to pony up an additional $135 because of rising property assessments, but the town’s real-estate tax rate will stay the same this year. The Vienna Town Council on April 29 unanimously agreed to keep that rate steady at 19.5 cents per $100 assessed valuation.” [Gazette Leader]

FCPS Revives Prom for Students With Disabilities — Fairfax County Public Schools recently held a day prom for around 100 special education students at the CrystalView Wedding and Events Banquet Hall in Fairfax. Returning from a five-year hiatus, the event drew students “from Centreville, Chantilly, Edison, Hayfield, Justice, Lewis, Oakton and South Lakes high schools.” [WUSA9]

Asian Food Market Draws Crowd in Annandale — “More than 500 people enjoyed Thai food at the Asiantque Market behind the Masonic lodge at 6911 Columbia Pike Sunday evening. This was the biggest crowd yet at the monthly food festivals, said organizer Nelson Figueroa Velez.” [Annandale Today]

It’s Wednesday — It will be a sunny day with high temperatures near 81 degrees and a northwest wind moving 7 to 9 mph. Night will be mostly clear, with a low around 59. The wind will shift to the southwest around 5 mph after midnight. [NWS]

Fairfax County is now bringing nature to residents’ doorsteps.

Last week, the Fairfax County Park Authority launched a new, fully electric mobile nature center called the Wonder Wagon. The tricked-out nature-themed van, operated by park staff, is intended to bring outdoor wonders to underserved communities and Title 1 schools.

According to spokesperson Ben Boxer, the park authority hopes the van will bring people closer to nature by using hands-on activities to deepen local residents’ connection with the environment, especially for those without immediate access to parks.

“Our Wonder Wagon staff are experienced programmers who specialize in providing engaging, thought-provoking experiences for people of all ages,” Boxer told FFXnow. “With the tools and exhibits contained in the Wonder Wagon, they will be leading a variety of activities from catching bugs and observing birds to identifying and learning about local flora and fauna.”

In 2022, the Board of Supervisors approved $114,640 for the FCPA to hire staff and purchase supplies, but that was only half of what was needed to get the program off the ground.

Over the last year, the Fairfax County Park Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the park authority, raised the remaining funds, securing an additional $177,742 from donors for staff, the van and operational expenses. Contributions included an environmental fund grant from the Community Foundation of Northern Virginia and the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways Grant.

The Wonder Wagon officially launched on April 20 during Earth Day Fairfax, an Earth Day festival held at Sully Historic Site in Chantilly.

The van won’t be available for events at private schools or residences, such as birthday parties. Instead, it’ll be making appearances at public events and school activities, according to Boxer.

All requests may be submitted online. The park authority’s website also has a calendar of upcoming Wonder Wagon appearances.