Blog posts are the personal views of Letty Hardi and not official statements or records on behalf of the Falls Church City Council

Dear Friends,

With the last day of school here, I’m going to keep it light this week. There is a lot of activity with projects around town so I’ll share photos and highlights, as well as the Community Center HVAC upgrade and renovation that will start this fall – read on as there will be location changes for some of your favorite Rec and Parks programming like the Farmers Market, Senior Center, classes, etc. We had our first review of the timelines this week, so more communication to come.

Today is the start of #WearOrange weekend for National Gun Violence Awareness – ICYMI, Arlington and Falls Church are partnering on our first gun buyback event tomorrow morning. And I hope to see many of you at the Tinner Hill Music Festival also tomorrow!

Best,
Letty

PS – Sunny days like today are a good time to remind you about free solar assessments and trusted, vetted installers. Right now, solar power is easier and more affordable than ever for residents and businesses, thanks to the city’s partnership with the non-profit Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) and Northern Virginia Regional Commission – more info at www.solarizeva.org

What Happened This Week:

(1) Community Center HVAC Upgrade

As I wrote in March (and last July), we authorized staff to pursue a more energy efficient HVAC system which will include a new geothermal system, new ductwork, and renovation of the gym since it will be impacted by the installation. Geothermal HVAC is a cleaner option that supports our adopted Government Energy Action Plan (GoEAP) to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035, not to mention long term utility and maintenance cost savings. Current cost estimate of the project is $3.9M.

(Letty’s note: this was a relatively easy decision for us as federal tax credits offset the initial upfront cost and make geothermal HVAC comparable in cost to a traditional gas/electric system. The real test will be when the greener choice is more expensive upfront! Our commitment to lowering our greenhouse gas emissions is especially important in the backdrop of disheartening news of record-breaking CO2 levels this month.)

The presentation includes more details. At a high level, here are estimated impacts based on current timelines:

• November 2024 – February 2025 – Farmers Market will move to the Community Center parking lot (and parking will be in City Hall) during the installation of the geothermal wells.
• February 2025 – June 2025 – Rec and Parks staff will relocate to trailers at Oak St, ongoing discussions with churches and other civic groups for alternative sites for Senior Center programming and rec classes.
• No impacts anticipated for Nov 4th election and work is scheduled to complete before summer camps in 2025.

(2) Happy Pride Month!

It’s been a lovely tradition to raise the Pride Flag in front of City Hall for 5 years now during the month of June, as a symbol of our community’s commitment to inclusion and diversity. While June is a great month to celebrate our LGBTQ+ neighbors, let’s be allies all year-round. Read our proclamation here, which has been updated this year with more community input.

And this is year 3 of adding more color (and safety) with rainbow crosswalks on the City Hall campus – thank you to the great artistic volunteers who worked hard last weekend!

(3) New Stuff Around Town

We opened a new hotel last week, the Hilton Home2Suites, a 147 key hotel at the West Falls project underway. This is the 4th hotel in our 2.2 square mile Little City and the 1st building we’ve seen with the new West Falls Station Blvd address. More photos here.

The new streetscape is going in at the Broad & Washington project, aka future home of Whole Foods and Creative Cauldron.

W&OD Trail crossings work is wrapping up at Little Falls and Great Falls and moving to the crossing at Oak Street.

New work at Columbia & Lawton project by our Public Works’ Rapid Response Team. These are meant to be small-scale and quick improvements to slow down fast turning cars and address other intersection safety concerns.

You also may be seeing lots of crosswalks and new ADA compliant curbs added all over the city this summer.

What’s Coming Up:

Monday, June 10 – City Council Meeting*

Monday, June 24 – City Council Meeting*

Friday, June 28 – Letty’s June Office Hours (9 am, TBD)

Monday, July 1 – City Council Work Session*

Wednesday, July 3 – Ask the Council Office Hours (9 am, CIty Hall)

Monday, July 8 – City Council Work Session*

*Mondays (except 5th Mondays and holidays) at 7:30 pm. You can access the agenda and livestream here, including recordings of past meetings