At its meeting on Saturday (January 26), the County Board is expected to approve the award of a contract for the reconstruction of a playground at Tuckahoe Park (2400 N. Sycamore Street).
County staff recommends awarding the $666,650 contract to Jeffrey Stack, Inc. There would also be more than $66,000 approved for change orders, for a total contract authorization of more than $733,000.
A power outage is affecting the northwestern section of Arlington County this morning.
Dominion is reporting that 1,673 customers in Arlington are currently without power. The company’s power outage map says the outage is a result of a circuit problem, and estimates that power will be restored between 10:00 a.m. and noon.
Police arrested two Arlington men on Saturday and charged them with assaulting the driver of a party bus.
According to police, the incident happened around 9:20 p.m. after the party bus — also called a “keg bus” — had returned to the East Falls Church Metro station from the West Virginia University/James Madison University football game at FedEx Field in Maryland. The bus had been “trashed,” according to police, and the driver demanded extra payment for cleaning and for the extra hour and a half the bus had been in use over the original scheduled time.
Tri360 is located at 2121 N. Westmoreland Street, just off of the W&OD Trail. The store is built, stocked and ready for customers, but it’s awaiting its Certificate of Occupancy from Arlington County before it can open, according to the Tri360 Facebook page.
Tri360 will sell athletic apparel, accessories and shoes, and will also feature a “full-service” bike store — everything a triathlete needs to swim, cycle and run.
(Updated at 10:00 p.m.) The suspect in a shooting at the Family Research Council in D.C. might have parked at the East Falls Church Metro station, ARLnow.com has learned.
FBI agents and Metro Police officers blocked off part of the parking lot at the East Falls Church Metro station with crime tape this afternoon. When we photographed the scene, investigators were still in the process of obtaining a warrant to search a car in the parking lot that they believe belongs to the shooting suspect, according to FBI Washington Field Office spokeswoman Rebecca Callahan. Later, news footage showed a silver Dodge Neon being searched and photographed.
More on Possible Shirlington Walmart — Three months after ARLnow.com reported exclusively that Walmart was eying a site for a possible store in Shirlington, County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman is acknowledging that the county is aware of Walmart’s interest in Shirlington. This weekend the County Board is expected to discuss changing the zoning ordinance in order to prevent “big box” stores like Walmart from being constructed without Board approval. When the ordinance change was first advertised, the word “Walmart” was never mentioned. [WTOP]
Fire Station Open Houses This Weekend — Arlington’s 10 fire stations will each be conducting an open house between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. The kid-friendly event is organized as part of Fire Prevention Week 2011. [Arlington County]
This morning, just before 8:30, a small deer was struck by a vehicle on a ramp from Sycamore Street to I-66, in East Falls Church. The gravely injured deer apparently stumbled down to the corner of Sycamore Street and 19th Street, where it collapsed and died in a grassy yard next to the southbound Sycamore Street sidewalk.
Three and a half hours later, the deer is still there and visible to passersby.
HOT Lanes Lawsuit Bill Reaches $2 Million — The county emerged victorious in February when VDOT abandoned its plan to build High Occupancy Toll lanes on I-395. But the legal battle has proven costly. The lawsuit Arlington filed against the project has cost county taxpayers nearly $2 million. [Sun Gazette]
East Falls Church Dissent Goes Both Ways — Sometimes it can be hard to please everybody in Arlington. Charlie Clark reports that there were three different camps at Saturday’s County Board meeting with respect to the board’s vote on the East Falls Church development plan. One group wanted more development than was called for, another vocal group wanted less development, and the people who drafted the plan thought it struck a good balance. [Falls Church News-Press]
The plan calls for the creation of a mixed-use “neighborhood center” with open spaces, a public plaza and ground level retail. Some of the new development will be built on the Metro Park and Ride lot. The single family neighborhoods surrounding the station, meanwhile, will be preserved.
The height of the new residential buildings — a major source of concern for East Falls Church residents — will range from nine stories along I-66 to three stories closer to the single family homes. Lee Highway, Washington Boulevard and Sycamore Street will be redesigned to add bike lanes, on-street parking, trees and pedestrian improvements. The plan is also expected to add 100-250 units of committed affordable housing to the East Falls Church area.
First, the board is scheduled to vote on its FY 2012 budget, which has been the subject of numerous work sessions, public forums and community discussions. Then the board is scheduled to vote on the controversial East Falls Church development plan, which is several years in the making.
A significant amount of citizen input is expected for both items.
Sign Goes Up at Penrose Square Giant — The Giant supermarket that will be opening at the corner of Columbia Pike and South Adams Street this summer is teasing residents with a new sign. The sign went up recently on the side of the new Penrose Square apartment complex, in which the 60,000 square foot store will be located.
Fitness Center Coming to the Pike This Summer — Just up the street from the aforementioned Giant, a new 12,000 square foot Xsport Fitness Center is planning on opening on the ground floor of the Siena Park apartment building this summer. Xsports plans to stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. [Pike Wire]
The change will affect anybody who normally travels to Dulles Airport via the Washington Flyer bus from the West Falls Church station. A free shuttle bus will be provided between East and West Falls Church, but officials advise Metro customers to add 30 minutes to their travel time.
From Arlington County:
