Community Corner

Week In Review: Noise Ordinance Moves Forward; School Board Passes Budget

Town purchases land behind Vienna Elementary School

A months-long debate about changes to Vienna's noise ordinance as Town Council voted 5-2 to send proposed changes to the sections that deal with hours, construction and contractor lawn maintenance equipment forward for adoption. 

"This seemingly innocent proposal has generated probably more e-mails and conversation then anything we’ve done for a long time," Mayor Jane Seeman said.

The council will vote to adopt the ordinance at a future council meeting.

Find out what's happening in Viennawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Under the proposed ordinance, , work in residential areas would not be permitted on Saturdays until 9 a.m., instead of 7 a.m. as the current code states. It would continue to ban contractor work on Sundays, along with lawn mowing, excavation, demolition and other construction activities, and would also specifically ban this work on six federal holidays: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Any of these activities that are done for pay would be prohibited on Sundays, according to the proposed code. Residents would be permitted to do this type of work on their own home on Sundays after 9 a.m. The ordinance also makes exceptions for recreational facilities, like Westwood Country Club and Vienna Little League fields.

NEWS

Find out what's happening in Viennawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

An elderly couple Around 11 a.m., after church services, an 88-year-old man began to back his car out of a space in the church's parking lot. For "unknown reasons," the man told Vienna Police, his car began to accelerate and struck a number of vehicles.

The Vienna Town Council authorized the purchase of a small plot of land behind Vienna Elementary School at its meeting Monday night. -- located near the back of the school, the Community Center and the W+OD Trail -- in equal installments during the next three years.

Adding to Vienna's pedestrian network has become among the top town priorities for many residents in recent years. But finding agreement on the placement of those sidewalks, some council members noted Monday night, is proving to be a more difficult task. two of them drawing objections from nearby residents who said they supported sidewalks but they weren't necessary on the proposed streets.

A 5-year-old boy was taken to the hospital Tuesday afternoon

A vehicle's run-in with a utility pole off of Vale Road on Tuesday  The vehicle hit the pole, near the intersection of Vale and Lakevale near Hunter Mill Road, at about 6:30 a.m. , said Dominion Power Spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson. Dominion restored power to about 1,500 of those customers within one minute, she said. All power was restored just after 10 a.m.

For the nearly 2,000 people that rallied around Norm's Beer and Wine store on Facebook , and the many more who ventured to the store to sign petitions, Friday was a small victory. Fresh Market, a grocery store chain that will open in the same shopping center as the local shop on Branch Avenue, had originally put a non-compete clause in its lease, which would have forced Norm's to find another location.

SCHOOLS

At least one of the Fairfax County School Board candidates who did not receive an endorsement Tuesday night from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee will run anyway. Allen, a long-time schools advocate and parent, first entered the race for the Hunter Mill District seat in February, but a month later said she would run as an at-large candidate instead.

, Allen did not receive enough votes to move onto the second round of voting. Ballots cast in that second round — which did not include the votes of 60 members who had already left the meeting — did not give a majority to any of the remaining four candidates. After debating whether to push ahead with endorsements or delay the vote to a future meeting, members voted 138 to 85 to settle the endorsements that night, said Rex Simmons, chair of the FCDC. They then voted 144 to 72 to endorse the next top two vote-getters: Ted Velkoff, a computer software engineer and former president of the Chantilly High School PTSA, and Charisse Espy Glassman, an attorney and school activist in Falls Church.

All the endorsement decisions were determined with a fair vote of FCDC members after several weeks of exceptional campaigning by all our candidates," Simmons said.Allen called the endorsement an example of partisan politics.

"[Glassman and Velkoff] had lots of endorsements from prominent elected officials," Allen said. "This is intended to be a non-partisan election in order to limit control by the party machine. But it is the most partisan it can be. This way a committee decides."

The Fairfax County School Board A handful of parents supporting full-day kindergarten, all dressed in white shirts as a show of solidarity for their cause, cheered when the budget finally passed. They hoisted placards thanking school officials for implementing “full-day K” after the vote was final. The vote will put full-day kindergarten in place at by the start of the next school year. The school board did not address how the system would hire, or make space for additional classrooms. The budget did include a

A challenge to both students and parents to go "old school" and ditch their cars when traveling to class,  as well as a challenge between the three schools helping to lead the Safe Routes to School charge in FCPS and Fairfax County. More than 2,500 students walked or biked to school last week: Vienna had almost 600, Cunningham Park just over 900 and Wolftrap had more than 1,000. 

The James Madison High School softball team ended its season Friday night

SPORTS

and after a rain delay Friday, They'll play Lake Braddock at 4 p.m. Monday.

Madison High School Crew , with four boats competing in the finals and the womens second eight bringing home a medal.

The Madison High School girls soccer team met its match Wednesday night,

It was an exciting week for Madison Girls Lacrosse, as they squeezed past Chantilly in the regional semi-finals and past Oakton to win the Northern Region Championship. They'll move on to states this week.

COMMUNITY/ARTS

Walkers in Vienna raised nearly $91,000 to support Cystic Fibrosis research through

The Click Five brought their tunes, hooks and songs from their new album, "TCV," where audience members could hear influences from The Beatles, to Elvis Costello, to various indie bands.

. Three choirs -- including the Vienna Choral Society -- unite as one to sing local composer's requiem.

There are the Groupons and Living Socials, which offer discount deals en masse. There are dating web sites such as Match.com, which help singles become couples. But nothing to help couples get out and have fun. Now, Larry Roth of Vienna, Robert Schumann of Oakton and Richard Wittemore of Herndon -- founders of local tech company Cinea Inc. -- recently created Date Night, a new startup that offers "date packages" to couples.

Twenty-five years ago, Viva!Vienna! was a festival that turned little profit, and drew mostly only those that lived in town. Vendors barely filled up half of a Church Street block; a handful more sold food in the parking lot adjacent to the Freeman Store, or ran rides in the Caboose parking lot.As it celebrates its quarter-century anniversary this long weekend, the festival has grown into a celebration that draws tens of thousands of people. Are you at Viva!Vienna? to the festival, or come visit our booth on Dominion Road.

. Parents weigh in on “Click It or Ticket” national highway safety campaign that kicks off this week

We are always on the prowl in our communities for great photos and local stories. This week, we captured the James Madison High School Band.

Looking to see some live music this weekend? We've

Looking for someplace fresh on the Internet? Here is Patch's weekly round-up of must-see Web destinations — many of which are geared specifically for Fairfax County.


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