January 18 – 24, 2018
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOU N D ED 1991 • VOL. XXVI I NO. 48
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City residents took to the streets for the second year in a row during Monday’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day March for Unity, Racial Healing and Justice organized by the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation. SEE PHOTOS, PAGE 10–11
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George Mason High School’s boys basketball team played two close games in a row, topping Madison County by two on Tuesday after falling to Central by four last week.
In Watershed Vote, F.C. Planners OK Broad-Washington Plan Unanimously B������� G����� Recommendation Now Goes to Council for Final Vote in April
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
plans. Falls Church City officials said they were caught off guard by the WMATA plan, especially as it appears to undercut the City’s desire for a collaborative approach on its own development with neighbors to its site, including WMATA. But the WMATA plan, while well-developed and thought out, was submitted in December to the Fairfax County Planning Department as a nomination for a Comprehensive Plan change and reviews will begin in March with
In a surprise unanimous 6-0 vote, the Falls Church Planning Commission Tuesday night recommended in favor of the approval of the 2.68 acre mixed-use project at the central intersection of downtown Falls Church. With the overwhelming OK from the Planners, the matter comes back to the F.C. City Council for a final OK which is due to occur on April 9. But the decision by the Planning Commission Tuesday night was seen by many in the City as the critical watershed moment for the project, which has been a long time coming and now appears on the brink of a final OK from the City. Comprehensive Plan and zoning changes are required, plus a special exception to allow a height of up to 90 feet at one end of the project when the Council takes up the matter for a vote. The project is slated for the dead-center of the City of Falls Church at the intersection of Routes 7 and 29, also known as Broad and Washington Streets. At the location now is the four-story Robertson building, an Applebee’s restaurant and some small retailers. Stiff opposition to the project especially from neighbors to the site at its back end on Lawton Street has held up the plan while deliberations on modifications to allay the neighborhood concerns were worked through. They resulted in lowering the height of the project at its back end, and the inclusion of a 9,000 square feet pocket park open to the public leading off of Lawton.
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SEE SPORTS, PAGE 21
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The parallels between antiimmigrant agitation in the mid-19th century and Trumpism are obvious. Only the identities of the maligned nationalities have changed. SEE PAGE 16
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Justin Trawick talks about how he developed his band’s sound that covers every angle of Americana and the key ingredient to the group’s success ahead of their show in Washington, D.C. next week.
THE OFFICIAL GROUNDBREAKING for the year-long renovation and expansion of Falls Church City Hall took place with a ceremonial �irst shoveling that all major City of�icials participated in out front of the building Wednesday morning. (P����: G��� M�����)
Fairfax Supervisor Foust Also Surprised by WMATA Plans
SEE PAGE 24
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes12–13 Comment ....... 14–16 Sports .................21 Business News ...22
Veteran Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust, who represents the Dranesville District sharing the boundary with the City of Falls Church at its northwestern edge, told the News-Press yesterday that he was unaware and surprised by the move taken by the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) last month to submit an aggressive mixed-use development plan for its 24 acres adjacent the West Falls Church Metro Station.
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
INDEX
Calendar .......26–27 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner......30
The WMATA property, now little more than a surface parking lot, is entirely within Foust’s district of the county and adjacent the City of Falls Church and the 36-acre school development site that includes 10 acres the City is pushing to develop in hopes of yielding tax revenues needed to help fund the construction of a new George Mason High School. “I think that Falls Church would be more surprised (by the WMATA plan) than me,” Foust said, because they’ve been in contact with WMATA about matters related to their own development