October 8 – 14, 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. 34
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Downtown Site Developers Tighten Up Plan Before F.C. Council Vote Design Changes, Parking Issues Addressed In Proposal Being Presented To Council Tuesday Night BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Developer Insight Property Group who are captaining the proposal for the Broad and Washington project are still making changes in the days leading up
to a critical vote before the Falls Church City Council this next Tuesday. The proposed development in the center of the City of Falls Church with a mega-Whole Foods market as its anchor will come before the Council on Tuesday to
F.C. Council Skeptical About Stormwater Project’s Costs BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
City of Falls Church residents are faced with the prospect of up to a doubling of stormwater fees in the next few years, the fact that such an added financial burden will benefit in the range of only 48 houses in the City, and that such benefit will be only for modestly-sized storms in an era of violent climate change-driven weather events. The Falls Church City Council, considering approving a bond issuance later this month to cover some immediate needs, was briefed on this mix of options for prospective stormwater capital improvements by City Manager Wyatt Shields, the City’s interim public works director Zak Bradley and members of the City’s Stormwater Task Force last month. Given Council concerns expressed then, Bradley provided the Council with a four-page memo with more details of the prospects presented at this week’s Council work
session that confirmed the parameters of the issues involved. Council members Letty Hardi and Ross Litkenhous led the concerns expressed by the Council for the combination of high costs to all City residents and limited benefits, including the narrow impact on homes in the City’s flood plain and the limited benefit given the recent years’ growing severity of weather events. The current policy is to “maintain the standard 10-year, 24-hour storm protection” (from a hypothetical once-every-10-year storm, a metric that has been obliterated by the recent years’ climate-change instigated weather events). Hardi and Litkenhous urged the Public Works staff to explore more adequate options to simply putting larger pipes underground at six key areas around the 2.2-square mile City, which is essentially the limit to what the current plans are calling
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vote on whether or not to move the process toward a potential approval. The project’s supporters are cautiously optimistic that a majority of the five Council members who will vote next week will send the plan to the next step, which is a two month review by all the
City’s relevant advisory boards and commissions and groups like the independent F.C. Chamber of Commerce and Village Preservation and Improvement Society. If it is moved along Tuesday night, the final destiny of the plan
won’t come until just after the new year, when a second vote on the special zoning exceptions being sought, and an even more critical vote on the sale of a half-acre of City-owned land at the location
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THE FIRST WAVE of Falls Church City Public School students began phasing back into class this week using a hybrid return model, with special student populations being prioritized in the early going. Come November, grades as a whole will be reintroduced in a similar hybrid model throughout the elementary level. (P����: FCCPS P����/P���� N�����)
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The 2020 Fall Real Estate Guide takes a deeper look into the Cram House and its possible avenues for its sale, as well as how the housing market in Falls Church has rebounded throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. See Real Estate, page 11
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Attention outdoor recreators: Culture clash just off the Washington & Old Dominion trail. Certain mountain bikers have blazed new unauthorized trails down the historic hillock known for 300 years as Brandymore Castle and have angered tree stewards. See Column, page 9
3 P���������� H����������� �� W. B���� A������� 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........................................... 6,22 Comment ...................................7,9,10 News & Notes..................................... 8 Crime Report .................................... 10 Calendar ........................................... 19 Classified Ads ................................... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ......... 21 Critter Corner.................................... 22 News Briefs ...................................... 23
