July 9 - 15, 2015
Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free
Founded 1991 • Vol. XXV N o . 20
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Inside This Week New Things Virginians Can, Can’t Do as of July 1 Effective July 1, your life probably changed, at least a little, as new laws went into effect across Virginia. See page 5
Students Urge J.E.B. Stuart H.S. Name Change An online petition is urging Mason District School Board member Sandy Evans to spearhead a name change for the J.E.B. Stuart High School in the Sleepy Hollow section of greater Falls Church.
Plans for Huge Broad-Washington Project Submitted to F.C. City Hall R ockets’ R ed G lare
Hitt & Partners Want 324 Residential Over Mega-Whole Foods
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
next week. Ever since the Council and Schools voted to reject an unsolicited proposal from Clark Construction to develop the site in May, the City-Schools team hired a consulting firm to begin extracting public opinions about how to develop the site. Under the terms of its annexation into the City as part of the sale of the City’s water system to Fairfax County, 75 per-
Described as “a residential and commercial anchor for the City’s Arts and Cultural District,” the Todd Hitt company of Kiddar Metz, recent purchasers of three acres at the northeast corner of Falls Church’s downtown crossroads, the intersection of Washington (Rt. 29) and Broad (Rt. 7), announced it has filed an application with the City of Falls Church for the redevelopment of that property. The new project would include over 100,000 square feet of commercial space to include a grocery anchor (earlier reported as a Whole Foods store), restaurants with outdoor dining, neighborhood-serving retail stores, 36,000 square feet of commercial office space, and 324 apartments. “This mix of space will yield a net fiscal surplus of $3.3 million each year and over $60 million in the next 20 years,” Hitt, president and CEO of the Restonbased Kiddar Metz, said in a press release last Thursday. “Additionally, we expect the office and retail to support over 200 full time jobs.” The venture involves also the Arlingtonbased Insight Property Group, whose CEO Richard Hauser added in the release, “In addition to the fiscal surplus, this project will bring new life and energy to downtown Falls Church. This project falls within the City’s core entertainment area, which already includes existing restaurants and the State Theatre. We believe this area of the community will really come alive with
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See News Briefs, page 9
Paul Krugman: Ending Greece’s Bleeding
Europe dodged a bullet on Sunday. Confounding many predictions, Greek voters strongly supported their government’s rejection of creditor demands. And even the most ardent supporters of European union should be breathing a sigh of relief. See page 14
Press Pass with The Honey Dewdrops
Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish met in college while playing in a band together. That was in 2003. Now, 12 years later, they are married and touring together as the members of the duet The Honey Dewdrops. See page 25
THE STATUESQUE RENDERING of the Mustang, the mascot of George Mason High School, basked in the glow of the annual City of Falls Church Fourth of July fireworks thousands enjoyed at the high school last Saturday night. (Photo: Claudette Brown)
Town Hall Meeting Saturday Precedes City Issuing ‘RFP’ for Annexed Land
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Index
Editorial..................6 Letters....................6 Business News....10 News & Notes.12-13 Comment........14-17 Calendar.........20-21
Food & Dining......22 Classified Ads .....28 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword...........29 Critter Corner.......30
A 20-page “request for proposal” document that is scheduled for a final fine tuning and release to prospective developers of the City of Falls Church’s newly-annexed near 40 acre site that currently houses its high and middle schools will be the subject of a town hall meeting this Saturday, July 11, from 10 – 11:30 a.m. at the Council chambers of the Falls Church City
Hall, 300 Park Avenue. That town hall meeting, to which the public is invited and urged to raise questions or make comments, will be followed by a regular business meeting of the Falls Church City Council on Monday night at 7:30 p.m., and those will be the final chances for the public to provide input into the final version of the request for proposal, or RFP, that will hit all the places where serious developers go to look for new business