October 25 – 31, 2018
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 • VOL. XXVIII NO. 36
F���� C����� • T����� C����� • M��������� • M�L��� • N���� A�������� • B�����’� C���������
I����� T��� W��� T�������� C��� H��� L���� E�������
The Falls Church City Council Monday voted to extend the lease of the City’s temporary City Hall offices by three months to the end of March 2019. The three additional months will be at a cost of $39,400 at 400 N. Washington. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
Winter Hill Neighbors Get Their Way, City’s Big Chimneys Park Will Get It All Council Agrees to
Meet Higher Costs
Of Overdue Upgrade
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
E���� ��� U���� F������� C������
Wyatt Shields told the forum that the final choice among the two finalists — the EYA, P.N. Hoffman, Regency group and the Rushmark group — will be made in early November, set back a little from the originally-targeted late October time frame. A 15-story building would be, by far, the tallest in the 2.3-square mile City of Falls Church, but being at the west end, and in the center of a 10-acre dense mixeduse development, Shields said it
A large contingent of neighbors living adjacent the Big Chimneys Park in downtown Falls Church showed up at Monday’s F.C. City Council meeting to plead for full funding and swift development of the long-neglected park, and their efforts paid off. The Council had learned the week before that cost estimates for fixing up the park with playground equipment, walkways, lighting, benches and tables, mosquito abatement and important improvements to its water drainage system, were considerably over budget, and that the result might be that fixing its stormwater and drainage system would be about the only thing it could afford. In short, $1 million had been allocated for the park’s improvements and, according to City Manager Wyatt Shields, the estimates came in at $350,000 more than that. A proffer from developers of the adjacent Harris Teeter/301 West Broad project prompted the City Council to allocate $1 million for the longoverdue improvements to the park in 2016. Charlie O’Hara, who has served on the City’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for 28 years, appealed to the Council at its work session Oct. 15 that there are 1,035 dwelling units within a third of a mile of the park out of the City’s total of 5,000. But the park has been unimproved since it was originally supposed to be included in the ambitious $315 million City Center project which fell through in 2006
Continued on Page 4
Continued on Page 5
The Falls Church Tree Commission has voted to change its name to the Urban Forestry Council, its chair Dennis Szymanski announced to the City Council Monday night. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
D�������� P��� G��� � F���-L���
The Discovery Park outside of Mount Daniel Elementary School got a face-lift last Saturday making the Falls Church park safer, more accessible and appealing to the eye. SEE PAGE 15
M���� V��������� K���� R������ A����
A LARGE CONTINGENT of the Winter Hill condo community showed up at Monday’s Falls Church City Council meeting to advocate for the full renovation of the Big Chimneys Park. Speaking is neighborhood resident Lana Murawiec. (P����: N���-P����)
SEE PAGE 15
2 Finalists’ Plans Both Include 15-Story Building at West End
It’s been a red-hot October for the Mustangs as they’ve hunted down their Bull Run District opponents and haven’t lost a game since a road match up with Madison County High School all the way back on Oct. 2.
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
INDEX Editorial............... 6 Letters................. 6 News & Notes 10–11 Comment ..... 12–13 Business News . 16 Sports ............... 17
Calendar ..... 18–19 Classified Ads ... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ........ 21 Crime Report ......22 Critter Corner.... 22
It has been in the public portions of the submissions made in late August by two developers selected to be the finalists in the bidding to develop 10 acres of Falls Church’s economic development, but it was aired openly for the first time last Sunday at a monthly public briefing and community engagement at the Community Center. That is, among many other things, both of the projects call for one of
their buildings to be 15 stories in height. Both submissions also provide for an open public area directly in front of the entrance to the proposed new George Mason High School, and both either do, or intend to, include a linkage of the 10 acres to the adjacent Virginia Tech grad center, perhaps reaching even further into the eventual commercial development of what is now a surface parking lot at the West Falls Church Metro station. Falls Church City Manager