July 19 — 25, 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. 22
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P������� OK C����� I� F������’� R�� P��� By a unanimous vote Monday, the Falls Church Planning Commission recommended approval of the plan changes to Mill Creek’s 4.3-acre Founder’s Row project, switching up a proposed hotel with a 72-unit senior age-restricted apartment building.
F.C. School Supporters Wowed by Design-Build Bid Winners’ Vision New High School Look Unveiled as Board Votes ‘Yes’
BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
Park and the Mary Riley Styles Public Library for the purposes of converting the acreage into a City parking lot. The idea belongs to the City’s creative economic development specialist James Snyder, but concerns obviously go to the cost. But the cost-perparking space there needs to be compared to other approaches to expand the parking capabilities in the area immediately around City Hall and the library. At its work session this Monday, the Council mulled the status of various projects underway or in their planning stages. Many of the projects are designed to “add to the vibrancy and place
Falls Church Schools Superintendent Peter Noonan called Tuesday’s School Board meeting a cause for celebration, and the reason became clear for everyone who squeezed into the School Board conference room when the animated visual renderings of the proposed look for the new George Mason High School were showed off by the team chosen and announced today to do the job, Gilbane Construction with Stantec and Quinn Evans Architects. After the show, some comments and questions, the unanimous vote of 6-0 to approve the selection of the design/construction team seemed an obvious afterthought. The process to select the team began last November and involved a painstaking evaluation of five quality teams that bid for the job. The field was narrowed to three in February and two in May, and Gilbane was selected by a select team of City and School Board officials earlier this month. The contract, which began being developed in February, was hammered out and the announcement made Tuesday. “It is unbelievably clear that no other team matched Gilbane’s qualifications,” Noonan said, citing three critical areas: the design, the budget and the timeline. Features involve a “sympatico” relationship between the new school (including its integration with the existing Henderson Middle School) and the 10 acres on the campus site set aside for
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SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
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Farifax County Police say 17-year-old Sandra Lopez was last seen in Falls Church on Monday, July 16 and is considered endangered due to mental and/or physical health issues. SEE NEWS BRIEFS, PAGE 9
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Four years ago, on the 50th anniversary of Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty, House Republicans led by Paul Ryan issued a report declaring that war a failure. Poverty, they asserted, hadn’t fallen. Therefore, they concluded, we must slash spending on the poor. SEE PAGE 14
INDEX Editorial............... 6 Letters................. 6 News & Notes 10–11 Comment ...... 12-14 Crime Report ......13 Business News . 15
Calendar ..... 18–19 Classified Ads ... 20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword ........ 21 Critter Corner....22
A RENDERING OF THE proposed new George Mason High School as designed by the design-build team of Gilbane and Stantec, chosen by the F.C. School Board’s unanimous vote Tuesday as its partners in the project, was part of a virtual tour of the plans presented at the board meeting. (I����: �������� F���� C����� C��� P����� S������)
25 New On-Street Parking Spots In Downtown F.C. May Be Added BY NICHOLAS F. BENTON
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS
City of Falls Church public works staffers have identified 25 potential new on-street parking locations in downtown Falls Church, and the City Council is moving to authorize the designation of eight such spaces around the intersection of Park Avenue and N. Maple Street. The new on-street spaces are designed to ease the parking pressures on a popular new City eatery, Northside Social, at the Park and N. Maple corner, and on businesses close by. Office building parking lots in the immediate area have resisted efforts to share their spaces so far, as the epidemic of
predatory towing that has been a blemish on downtown business activity persists. The eight new spaces will be created by new on-street markings, shifting the center line to make room for the spaces, four on N. Maple and four on Park. The 25 total potential spaces will be created the same way if the Council moves ahead with such plans. They could impact parking in the area of the Winter Hill condominiums behind the HarrisTeeter and further west on Park, and elsewhere in the immediate downtown area. The News-Press has also learned that the Council is considering acquisition of a residential property adjacent Cherry Hill