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,

For early birds out there and those interested in staying updated on the new high school and 10 acre projects, the monthly Campus Coordinating Committee is meeting this morning at 730 am, School Board offices. For everyone else just waking up – this will be a short and sweet post with the scoop from our last meeting of October – the headlines being the updates on Big Chimneys Park I wrote about last week and the City Hall construction project. ICYMI the other much awaited construction project in town – we got the good news yesterday that we received occupancy permits for Mt. Daniel and move in is eminent!

With five Mondays this month, we get a week off next week and will resume City Council meetings on November 5 (reminder: right before November 6, Election Day). And November 5 will be an important work session! We expect we’ll hear from the evaluation committee on their recommendation for the top ranked developer and then City Council will cast formal votes later in November. Due to confidentiality and to protect the city’s negotiating position – the recommendation from the evaluation committee will be discussed in closed session on November 5. Until then – the city continues to be in deliberations and negotiations with both finalists.

See you in 2 weeks,
Letty

PS – Clean out your medicine cabinets on the rainy day ahead. The FCCPD is hosting National Prescription Drug Take Back Day tomorrow – Saturday October 27 from 10-2 outside the Community Center.

What Happened This Week:

(1) Last Sunday’s town hall video is up: https://youtu.be/bbJ28cgoE2c

(2) Big Chimneys Park 

We heard compelling comments from a large turnout of Winter Hill residents about Big Chimneys, who advocated for the full funding and one phase construction of the park. I wrote last week why I would support the project, and the rest of City Council was in agreement. We asked staff to develop options on funding the $1.35M ($350K over original budget). While some scope reductions were already made, I’m glad to hear that the new project budget should fund lighting, stormwater work, grading, new paths, and new play equipment and we’ll have separate grant money committed to traffic calming on Annandale coming in FY2020. The additional $350K will still require a formal budget amendment and votes in November.

Thank you to the many, especially the kids, who turned out on a late school night and shared your thoughts with us.

(3) City Hall Project Update 

We heard an update on the City Hall construction project, now with a completion and move in date of February 2019 (vs the original plan December 2018). In the same meeting this week, we did authorize the city manager to extend the leases at temporary City Hall at 400 N. Washington given the delay.

Check out the latest project video showing the work in progress – especially notable will be new/more meetings spaces and easier wayfinding for the public.

(4) Other: 

Among other business we covered: we adopted a purchasing resolution allowing Falls Church to more easily ride other jurisdictions’ construction contracts (enabling faster construction and delivery of work while maintaining competitive bidding) and the annual arts and cultural grants.

“Art in the Park” installation in Howard Herman Stream Valley Park, one of many projects and groups funded by these grants

What’s Coming Up:

November is #LiveLocalFC month! Are you up for the challenge of keeping 20% more of your spending in the City during November?

• TODAY, October 26 – Campus Coordinating Committee (730 am, School Board Office)
• Monday, November 5 – City Council Work Session (730 pm, Community Center)
• Tuesday, November 6 – Election Day
• Tuesday, November 13 – City Council Meeting (730 pm, Community Center)