Sun Gazette Fairfax, August 18, 2016

Page 1

4

15

PANEL LOOKS AT POLITICS, BUSINESS

RESULTS OF LOCAL ALL-STAR SWIMMING

4 6 6 12 13 18 22

Tuesday Tours

Business Editorial Letters Real Estate Public Safety Classified Crossword

9am Every Tuesday Walk-Ins Welcome

703-759-5100

www.FairfaxChristianSchool.com

Sun Gazette VOLUME 37

GREAT FALLS McLEAN OAKTON TYSONS VIENNA

NO. 50

AUGUST 18-24, 2016

Illegal Dumping Leading to Closure of Recycling Center

GETTING A FOOT IN THE DOOR OF THE ART WORLD

BRIAN TROMPETER Staff Writer

Leah Peterson, 16, of Tysons (foreground) and Ani Kalousdian, 16, of Vienna practice drawing copies of a human foot Aug. 11 during a summer class in the McLean Project for the Arts’ Emerson Gallery. See story, Page 3. PHOTO BY BRIAN TROMPETER

Vexed by persistent illegal dumping problems at the Blake Lane Park recycling drop-off center, Fairfax County officials have decided to shutter the facility permanently effective Sept. 15. “Illegal dumping creates a health hazard, is unsightly, pollutes our waterways and requires extra collection services,” officials said in a media statement. “Despite signage and monitoring, illegal dumping at the site has become a chronic problem, resulting in a high number of resident complaints.” The county established the drop-off site, located at 10033 Blake Lane in Oakton,

in the 1980s before curbside recycling became available to residents. That latter service greatly reduced the need for the Blake Lane site, officials said. The Sun Gazette reported on the problems in July 2015. Supervisor Linda Smyth (DProvidence) said county officials had set up cameras to monitor illegal dumping, but the equipment was stolen. “It’s very hard to catch the culprits who are doing these things,” she said at the time. County officials had tried to combat the problems by dispatching a dump truck from a facility in Newington once or twice per week to clean up the messes at the Blake Lane Park Continued on Page 17

Mid-Summer Real-Estate Market Slightly Down in Fairfax

Both home sales and average sales prices were down slightly across Fairfax in July from a year ago, with total sales volume dipping just over 7 percent, according to new figures. A total of 1,617 properties went to closing last month, down 4.7 percent from the 1,697 transactions reported a year before, according to figures reported Aug. 10 by RealEstate Business Intelligence, an arm of the local multiple-listing service.

FHA-backed loans (172) and cash (167). Inventory, which has been running below mid-2015 figures across Northern Virginia, was down 15.5 percent to 3,749 available properties at the end of the month. Figures represent most, but not all, homes on the market. All figures are preliminary, and are subject to revision. – Scott McCaffrey

www.insidenova.com l Like us on Facebook: sungazettenews l Follow us on Twitter: @sungazettenews @sungazettespts

*Any job over $3000. Good only when presented at time of free inspection. Not to be combined with any other offer.

PAID

$500 Off!*

Free Inspection & Estimate! Call 888-579-7454 Today!

Stella & Jesse Waltz, P.E., Owners

PRSRT STD ECRWSS U.S. POSTAGE

of free inspection. Not to be

ROTTED WOOD combinedWET BASEMENT with any other offer. MUSTY SMELLS BOUNCY FLOORS STICKING WINDOWS MOLD & FUNGUS CRACKED DRYWALL BUGS & RODENTS

Owned & Operated by Professional Engineers!

PERMITNO.1371

FOUNDATION REPAIR•CRAWL SPACE *Any ENCAPSULATION job over $3000. Good BASEMENT WATERPROOFING only when presented at time

FOUNDATION REPAIR CRAWL SPACE ENCAPSULATION BASEMENT WATERPROOFING

LAUREL, MD

WETBASEMENT? $500 off!* SETTLING FOUNDATION CRACKED BRICKS UNEVEN FLOORS NASTY CRAWL SPACE

Add up the sales and prices, and total sales volume for July stood at $882.3 million, down 7.3 percent from $951.4 million a year before. Homes that sold in July spent an average of 41 days between listing and ratified sales contract, up from 40 a year before, and garnered 97.4 percent of listing price, unchanged. Of homes that sold, conventional mortgages were the means of transacting the sale in 937 cases, followed by

Local Postal Customer

ONLINE

The average sales price also dipped slightly, declining 2.7 percent to $545,668. All three segments of the market posted declines, dropping 2 percent to $706,414 in the single-family sector, 0.6 percent to $378,637 among townhouses and down 2.7 percent to $280,590 in the condo market. In the upper brackets, a total of 203 of the homes countywide sold for more than $1 million.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.