April 5 — 11, 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 N O. 7
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The Spring edition of the NewsPress’s real estate special is here with a focus on affordable housing, rain barrels and potential new mortgage costs. SEE PAGES 13-20
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The Falls Church community is on high alert after a home burglary on Grove Ave. Tuesday night where the residents were home during the incident.
Broad-Washington Plan Due for Final F.C. Council OK Monday O� ��� H���
Concerns Arise Over Why Developer Wants Longer Time Frame
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Church city limits, the tax bill that City residents could be liable for would be that 5.5 cent increase, from $1.33 per $100 now to $1.385, and that is what the Council voted for in a preliminary step last week. Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields, when he presented his recommended budget last month, cautioned the Council then, “This proposed Budget assumes a worst-case scenario in terms of state funding for WMATA, and it
The Falls Church City Council is scheduled to vote on whether or not to grant a final approval for construction of a 2.68-acre mixed use project on the northeast corner of Broad and Washington Streets, the City’s premier central intersection, at its meeting this coming Monday night. As per the way things are normally done in the Little City, this has been a long time coming. The first submission of the plan came in August 2015. But if it’s seemed like a long time so far, it may be much longer than anyone has anticipated, if that’s the way to read the developer’s latest request. The Insight Development Group, acting as the Broad and Washington LLC, came to City Hall with their latest set of revisions on March 26, and in addition to 23 changes from its November submission, when it earned a preliminary OK from the Council, it is now asking that the special exception it is seeking will “expire in 60 months (five years) instead of 36 months (three years).” Virtually every member of the City Council, in its work session consideration of the matter last Monday night, zeroed in on this one change, and even though Scott Adams, the developer’s representative from McGuireWoods, was present, no explanation for the change was provided. It led most of the Council members to wonder why, and to speculate that perhaps the developer is not planning to actually get started on the project as soon as has been expected until now.
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SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
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These days almost everyone has the (justified) sense that America is coming apart at the seams. But this isn’t a new story, or just about politics. Things have been falling apart on multiple fronts since the 1970s. SEE PAGE 22
M��� F���, D���� A�������� C����� �� F.C. Over the next few months, the Little City is set to welcome a bakery, a brewery and a cafe and winebar to its ever-increasing lineup of food, dining and drinking establishments. SEE FOOD NEWS, PAGE 25
A TINY EGG HUNTER drops her prize into her basket last Saturday morning at the City of Falls Church’s annual Easter egg hunt at Cherry Hill Park. Hundreds turned out over the weekend to chase down eggs, pose with the Easter Bunny and enjoy the park’s newly renovated playground. More photos on page 8. (P����: C�������� B����)
Will F.C. Citizens Have to Foot $1.1M WMATA Bill?
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
INDEX Editorial.................6 Letters...................6 News & Notes10–11 Comment ..12, 22-23 Business News ...24
Calendar .......26–27 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ..........29 Critter Corner......30
The unanimous vote recorded at the Falls Church City Council meeting last week — the one that gave a preliminary OK to a Fiscal Year 2019 budget with a 5.5 cent tax rate increase — could not have been more meaningless, Council members have commented to the News-Press. That’s because there is one as yet totally-indeterminate but king-sized facet to the proposed budget, as
presented by City Manager Wyatt Shields last month. It has to do with the demand of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) for a major boost in funding to fix its many woes. The total it is demanding from Virginia is $154 million in new money, and Falls Church’s share of that would be $1.1 million, or at least 2.5 cents on its real estate tax rate (per $100 of assessed valuations). It is with that gigantic bite for WMATA’s Metrorail line, which does not even touch into the Falls