October 15 – 21, 2020
FA LLS CHUR C H, V I R G I NI A • WW W. FC NP. C OM • FR EE
FOU N D E D 1991 • V OL. X XX NO. 35
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Downtown Project Goes Forward With 5-0 Vote Agreements From Nearby Restaurants Seal Deal BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
There was a silent but incredibly seismic upheaval that shivered through the City of Falls Church Tuesday night. It came around 9 p.m. when the City Council was given a key new game-changing piece of information by the Insight Property’s developers seeking Council approval for a 3.1 acre large scale mixed use project at the corner of N. Washington and E. Broad with a 55,000 square foot mega-Whole Foods grocery as its anchor. Immediately the calculus of everything in the Little City was set askew, but in a good way. Scott Adams, speaking for Insight at Tuesday’s online Council meeting, calmly announced shortly into his presentation of the latest modifications to the plan that Insight had obtained in the last few days written agreements from two local restaurants adjacent the site — Clare and Don’s and Thompson’s Italian — supporting the project and to become “a team moving forward as partners together.” It marked hatchet burying of what had become the biggest stumbling block in the whole process for months, centered on Insight’s need to bring into its plans the small, 65-space parking
lot behind the two restaurants and that has served as their primary source of their customer parking. Months of a heated impasse based on the perceived harm taking that lot out of commission would inflict on the two small restaurants had gone as far as it could. Support for the popular small restaurants was strong in the community, and even campaign signs were sprouting up all over town saying, “Save Our City Parking Lot & Our Small Businesses.” Numerous among the nowfive member Council threatened no votes, a project kill, despite the fact it would increase the tax yield to the City of the land from $116,000 per year to a whopping $2.2 million annually, almost double what the earlier proposal had involved including considerable Class A office space. But so much has changed since that April 2019 plan that won unanimous Council approval, including this year’s Covid19 pandemic that could send the office market in this region, and nationally, into a deep tailspin for over a decade. “The fact we have a national anchor in the midst of a recession is not lost on me,” Council mem-
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U.S. CONGRESSMAN GERRY CONNOLLY (center, thumbs up) arrives at the Providence Community Center on Wednesday, one of the 13 new early voting locations set up by Fairfax County. Connolly, a true man of the people, even waited in the winding line to cast his ballot. (P����: N���-P����)
Sluggish Return to School Wears on F.C. Parents BY MATT DELANEY
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Next month’s gradual return for most elementary-age students in and around the City of Falls Church will serve as their parents’ final, white-knuckled lap in guiding their kids’ education. Raising children challenges parents to be many things. When the coronavirus pandemic forced most of public life to shut down
in March, it forced them to not only bring their professional lives home, but take up a side job as teachers. The “new normal” for parents had them assuming a new role depending on whichever room of the house they were in. “During this time, I can’t be 100 percent a good employee, 100 percent a good parent or 100 percent a good spouse,” said City resident Amanda Alderson, who has a third grade son at Thomas
Jefferson Elementary School and a daughter in kindergarten at Mount Daniel Elementary School. “You’re trying to make sure that you are all of those things, and unfortunately it feels like you just fail at all of them.” “Chaotic,” “horrible” and “traumatic” are just some of the words parents used to describe the first few months running a
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Braving a global pandemic isn’t enough excitement for some, which explains why the powersports industry’s sales have spiked nationally during the coronavirus pandemic. It’s no exception locally either, as Coleman PowerSports has enjoyed its own sales jolt. See Automotive, page 8
P��������� P������ H��� T�� 3 P���������� H����������� �� W. S���� ��� 1�� T��� S���� M���� B���� A������� “Tonight is an adventure and we ask you to keep that in mind” was the apt message delivered by Providence Players of Fairfax President Danine Walsh ahead of the show’s first ever outdoor performance for two, one-act plays in the parking lot of The Italian Café. See Arts & Entertainment, page 19
An adult and two minors were hit by a car at the intersection of W. Annandale Road and W. Broad St. around 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to police. F.C. City police said all three victims were taken to Virginia Hospital Center to be treated for non-life threatening injuries. See News & Business, page 17
INDEX
Editorial............................................... 6 Letters........................................... 6,19 Comment ................................ 7,12,13 News & Notes................................... 11 Crime Report .................................... 12 Calendar ........................................... 14 Business News ................................. 15 Classified Ads ................................... 16 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ......... 17 Critter Corner.................................... 18
