With 2021 soon to be in the history books and 2022 arriving soon, the Sun Gazette takes a look back at some of the issues that the paper was covering during the past year, two months at a time.
MAY
• The Board of Supervisors on May 4 unanimously approved a special exception to allow Tri-State Chain Bridge LLC to build Chain Bridge Estates, a 35-unit independent-living facility just west of downtown McLean. The 3.26 acre property is located on Chain Bridge Road just west of the McLean Community Business Center and across from Davidson Road.
• Vienna Town Council incumbents Howard Springsteen, Steve Potter and Nisha Patel won new two-year terms May 4, fending off a challenge from Vienna Planning Commission member David Patariu.
• McLean Community Center Executive Director George Sachs retired May 7 to move to Palm Coast, Fla. Sachs, 70, had held that post for 11 years and oversaw the facility’s renovation and expansion, which was completed in December 2018.
• To give the public a sense of how smaller “cottage” housing might be arranged, the Vienna Planning and Zoning Department from May 8 through 23 displayed a scale-model development using dog houses at the Vienna Town Green.
• Vienna’s commercial market continues to perform well in its unique niche, but might be enhanced with more diverse housing, right-sized retail, additional Class A office space and perhaps a boutique hotel, consultants told the Vienna Town Council at a May 10 work session.
• Fairfax County officials announced they had “paused” negotiations with an applicant over the proposed installation of a telecommunications monopole at Wolf Trap Fire Station in the Vienna area. Milestone Tower Limited Partnership IV had filed a special-exception application seeking to place an unmanned monopole and a 50-by-50-foot equipment area on the southeast corner of fire station’s parking lot at 1315 Beulah Road.
JUNE:
• Vienna Town Council members on June 7 approved an up-to-$76,405 contract with Vertex Roofing Contractors to replace the roof, gutter and downspouts of the historic Bowman House. The building, located at 211 Center St., S., was built in 1890 and originally served as a school.
• Vienna Town Council members on June 7 reconfirmed the town’s participation in an agreement with Fairfax County to building a new Patrick Henry Library with a parking structure that will accommodate public as well as library parking. Plans call for a two-story, 20,490-square-foot library and a parking structure with 125 spaces for library users and 84 for the public. Construction is slated to begin in 2023.
• Fairfax County supervisors on June 8 authorized Department of Planning and Development Barbara Byron to execute licensing agreements allowing local small-scale-production businesses to make limited use of the county’s blue-and-white “Made in Fairfax, Va.” logo.
• Fairfax County supervisors on June 8 granted a special exception allowing Madeira School to add a new science building, more faculty housing and improved equestrian facilities on its McLean campus. Madeira will build a new, three-story science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) building, which will be up to 45 feet tall and have 23,374 square feet of space, plus a 9,850-square-foot cellar.
• A 21-year-old Loudoun County man who was found shot in the head June 10 at an apartment in the 100 block of Patrick Street, S.E., died June 14, Vienna police said. Vienna police officers in the early morning hours of June 10 responded to the reported shooting and upon arrival found the victim, Matthew Hayes Chadwick, inside the apartment.
• Officials from The Langley School broke ground June 18 for a new state-of-the-art building on its 9.2-acre McLean campus. The facility will house Langley’s preschool, junior-kindergarten, kindergarten, fifth-grade and after-school programs, and will have a library/media center and a multipurpose space.
• The Vienna town government kicked off its first-ever Liberty Amendments Month celebration on Juneteenth (June 19) at First Baptist Church. The celebration, which lasted through July 19, celebrated the U.S.
Constitution’s 13th Amendment (which abolished slavery), 14th Amendment (which pertained to citizenship and equal rights), 15th Amendment (which ensured voting rights) and 19th Amendment (which gave women the right to vote).
• Despite opposition from some residents at the June 22 public hearing, Fairfax County supervisors unanimously approved a comprehensive-plan amendment aimed at revitalizing McLean’s Community Business District. The plan calls for three development zones, with the highest-intensity development near Elm Street and Beverly Road surrounded by two successively less-dense zones.
• Fairfax County supervisors on June 22 approved new agritourism rules that will allow certain by-right commercial operations in agricultural settings. The zoning-ordinance amendment, which took effect July 1, applies to properties where at least 7 acres are involved in agricultural production.
• A study of Fairfax County police use-of-force cases, presented June 29 to the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety Committee, found some disparities by race and district station and recommended a host of changes – from better data collection to enhanced de-escalation training – to address the issues.
• The town of Vienna on June 30 received $8.5 million of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Another installment in June 2022 will bring the town’s total ARPA haul to $17.1 million.