CIRS Mold Toxicity Treatment in Lake Barcroft, VA

MANASSAS, VA — During Women's History Month in March, we want to highlight the contributions of women-owned businesses and the contributions women have made in the business sector.

One of these businesses is Farrell & Croft PC, a law firm founded and led by Kathy Farrell and Cathy Croft specializing in family law, mediation, wills, trusts and estates. Farrell & Croft PC is a team of six lawyers and four support staff. Croft and Farrell focus their practices in family law, while other lawyers on the team provide either family law or wills, trusts and estates services. Attorney Whitney Bolton provides additional legal representation in the family law practice area. The firm also has a vibrant and growing wills trusts and estates practice area serviced by attorneys Andrea Morisi, a partner, and Sherie Kristiansen.

"What we offer to the community is primarily family law, which includes custody, divorce, adoption, property distribution, child support and spousal support," Croft told Patch. "We also offer mediation in the realm of family law. And of course we offer wills, trusts and estates legal representation."

Croft, who grew up in the Lake Barcroft community of Fairfax County, turned to a career in law after planning to go to college for math and later to become a probation officer. Farrell, who is from Vienna, always intended to be a lawyer. Although they attended different law schools — Croft at George Mason University School of Law (now named Antonin Scalia Law School) and Farrell at University of Richmond TC Williams School of Law — they ended up working for the same law firm in Manassas in 1988 and 1989.

Realizing they work well together and had mutual respect for each other’s work ethic and legal acumen, Croft said they decided to start a law firm. So Farrell & Croft was established on June 1, 1992.

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"Back in the day, we hadn't been practicing very long, but we received some excellent mentoring," said Croft. "We both wanted to manage and have control over how we operated a law firm."

In Manassas, the two lawyers found a different place than where they grew up in Fairfax County.

"I knew there was distance between Fairfax County and Manassas. I didn't appreciate at that time that the culture would be a bit different as well," said Croft. "Fairfax County and Vienna were more urban than what Manassas was — a small town — and there was a lot of farmland in Prince William County back in the day. But we both recognized that it was a high growth area, so it was a really good area to open a business and maintain a practice."

Today, Farrell & Croft PC is a law firm "respected by the bench and the bar," according to Croft. She attributed the law firm's success to hard work, networking and leadership positions she and Farrell held at different organizations over the years. The law firm for many years has received Martindale-Hubbell's Platinum Client Champion rating and the AV Preeminent rating, the top rating for peer reviews.

"Wills, trusts and estates and family law are very compatible areas of practice," said Croft. "Both require a high attention to detail and strong people skills, because the people you serve are often fragile and in transition or planning for transition in their personal lives."

Croft said not everyone may choose to seek counsel in family law matters or preparation of wills. But she says it can be difficult for people who aren't familiar with legal procedures who could easily overlook things when trying to get a property settlement agreement or will online.

"Some of the most intense and costly cases that I've represented people in were those where the clients initially tried to represent themselves or prepared their own settlement agreements," said Croft.

Croft said the most rewarding part of the profession is seeing clients' transitions during the legal process.

"You can imagine when people first become acquainted with us, they are in a very vulnerable situation, whether they decided they wanted out of a marriage or were surprised when their spouse wanted that change," said Croft. "We get very pleased and excited when almost universally throughout the process, we start with one fragile person, and he or she becomes stronger and more empowered as the process moves forward; that's the reward."

For aspiring lawyers, Croft has some advice about how to make it in the profession.

"My words of advice are to expect to work hard and tirelessly; to be able to manage your work-life balance and to be diplomatic at every turn," said Croft. "One of the most important things to be conscious of is that you can learn new things in every interaction. There are always new things to learn."

Patch is featuring small businesses like from Farrell & Croft PC for a free business spotlight. If you'd like your business to be featured, fill out our Q&A form. Feel free to pass the form along to any businesses that should be spotlighted in our community.

A strong storm is approaching Arlington from the west, prompting a Severe Thunderstorm Warning.

Fueled by today’s heat and humidity, the storms are packing potentially damaging winds, torrential rain and lightning. The current warning covers most of Arlington County, except the northernmost portion, through 7:30 p.m.

More from the National Weather Service:

The National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for… The southeastern District of Columbia… West central Prince Georges County in central Maryland… Arlington County in northern Virginia… The City of Falls Church in northern Virginia… East central Fairfax County in northern Virginia… The City of Alexandria in northern Virginia…

* Until 730 PM EDT.

* At 653 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Lake Barcroft, or over Falls Church, moving east at 15 mph. HAZARD…60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE…Radar indicated. IMPACT…Damaging winds will cause some trees and large branches to fall. This could injure those outdoors, as well as damage homes and vehicles. Roadways may become blocked by downed trees. Localized power outages are possible. Unsecured light objects may become projectiles.

* Locations impacted include…

Arlington, Alexandria, Annandale, Springfield, Fort Washington, Fort Hunt, Groveton, Falls Church, Huntington, Coral Hills, Pimmit Hills, National Harbor, Reagan National Airport, Crystal City, Nationals Park, Lincolnia, Franconia, Oxon Hill, Merrifield and Lake Barcroft. HAIL THREAT…RADAR INDICATED MAX HAIL SIZE…1.00 IN WIND THREAT…RADAR INDICATED MAX WIND GUST…60 MPH

Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Arlington VA, Alexandria VA and Reagan National Airport VA until 7:30 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/Xv2tj6JU7K

— NWS Baltimore-Washington (@NWS_BaltWash) July 27, 2023

6:50p: A ton of lightning with the storms west and NW of DC, especially in Fairfax County. Many of the strikes are occurring outside of where rain is reaching the ground. If you can hear thunder, you’re close enough to get struck by lightning. (image from WeatherBug Spark) pic.twitter.com/5zbHU2nt1L

— Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) July 27, 2023

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — The cleanup continues in the Lake Barcroft area Friday morning after a strong storm Thursday brought down trees and power lines throughout the community.

Photos: August thunderstorms roll through the DC area

Here are some images of Thursday’s severe weather shared by listeners (and by some of WTOP’s own).

“It’s about the strongest I’ve seen since I have been here in 40 years,” resident George Erikson told WTOP. “It’s the first time I ever went into the basement to wait it out.”

Many streets in the neighborhood are still covered in tree shrapnel from broken branches. Some streets remain blocked by downed trees.

Tree-clearing crews are making their way through the neighborhood to get the trees cleared. They will be followed by utility crews to replace power lines and cables.

Erikson said there were four large trees that were down on his property, including several that blocked the cart path down to his dock on the lake.

He was up early Friday to meet with the tree removal team to clear out those felled trees.

“Called him while the storm was going on!” Erikson said.

The damage wasn’t nearly as bad for others.

Ken Leventhal was in D.C. at the time of the storm but came home to large branches down all over his property.

“I didn’t anticipate and I was ultimately surprised by the force that must have been here,” said Leventhal. “It didn’t hit any cars and it didn’t break the roof.”

He is clearing most of the debris himself.

“Probably doing the easiest first quarter of just picking up leaves and loose debris,” he said. “My son will probably be over on the weekend and maybe we’ll get a saw.”

Leventhal noted that several roads were closed when he tried to get home Thursday from all of the damage left behind by the storm.

But overall, he’s grateful that it wasn’t any worse.

“Gotta be thankful that nobody was hurt and, in the end, the damage was not that crazy.”

The story of what happened at the lake last year is a touchy subject in this part of Fairfax County.

WAMU/Michael Pope

Over a six-week period last year, a series of massive infrastructure failures sent more than 300,000 gallons of raw sewage into Lake Barcroft, a private lake next to Bailey’s Crossroads near the border with Arlington and Alexandria. Neighbors who live on the lake say they knew there was a problem because they could smell it, although they say they never received official notice from Fairfax County.

“The smell was overwhelming. You knew there was a problem,” says Sheila Wayman, a longtime resident of Lake Barcoft. “It was like a toilet overflowed and nobody took care of it on a hot summer day, and it was just bacteria and gassy smells and it was disgusting.”

The four spills into Lake Barcroft were part of a larger problem with the sewer lines in that area, which included six spills in 2013 and 2014. State regulators say the county dumped more than 600,000 gallons of sewage into Holmes Run, Lake Barcroft and an unnamed tributary of Hunting Creek. The Department of Environmental Quality hit Fairfax County with a $27,300 civil charge, a case that was closed late last month after county officials submitted a plan to fix the problem.

“There were people swimming in Lake Barcroft after it had been contaminated,” says Del. Kaye Kory (D-38). “There were pets drinking the water. There were people using the water to water their gardens. All these activities were going on, and every time a citizen touched or used the water they were being exposed to a danger and I know of a number of people who really became sick, became ill.”

Fairfax County officials say the infrastructure problem has now been solved. They say they were in the process of retrofitting old 1950s-era pipes when the spills happened. The temporary pipes they set up to handle the sewage were able to take the massive weather events that happened in 2013 and 2014, which led to the overflow. All that temporary equipment has now been removed because the permanent pipes have been improved and are now operating at full capacity.

“Since this event, we’ve worked out an arrangement where we notify the water improvement district as soon as the event occurs,” says Randy Bartlett, deputy director of the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.

Created in 1973, the water improvement district is a Virginia government agency that acts as a special tax district to raise money for the purpose of maintaining the private lake. Although Fairfax County officials notified state regulators when the spills happened, they did not directly notify residents. Bartlett says the county has no plans to directly notify residents in the future.

“I’m not sure I have the means or method right now to make sure that I notify all the proper people and to identify who might be impacted by a sewer spill,” says Bartlett. “If there’s 40 a year, do I notify everybody in the county every time one occurs even though it may not be in their area?”

The politics of notification

The story of what happened in Lake Barcroft last year is a touchy subject in this part of Fairfax County, a community that includes about 1,000 homes. About 270 of those homes are directly on the lake. When the spill happened, the county posted several paper signs at gathering spots on the lake known as “beaches.” Bartlett says the signs were an effort to improve notification efforts.

“I think if you go back probably 10 or 15 years, we were probably not doing notification after we would have a sanitary sewer overflow,” says Bartlett. “We would notify the Department of Environmental Quality, but we would not be out there trying to put signs in all the different places.”

Neighbors say the signs did not accomplish the goal of notifying neighbors.

“The temporary signs that the county placed on the beaches were small and not sufficiently weather-proof and did not adequately alert the membership to the situation,” wrote Lake Barcroft Association President Jim Kilbourne in a letter to state regulators. “In particular, the signs placed at the beaches did not provide notice to the more than 270 homeowners with lakefront property who do not access the lake from the beaches.”

Several neighbors viewed the signs as an inadequate response to a serious problem.

“On at least one occasion, the county tacked a small paper sign to a single telephone pole warning the public of the water hazard,” wrote resident Kimberly Smith in a letter to state regulators. “It was a small sign, easily overlooked if one didn’t know to look for it … a bit of rain or dew would destroy the paper sign.”

What happens next?

Kory, the member of the House of Delegates who represents Lake Barcroft, says she believes Fairfax County dropped the ball. She says the county’s new policy of notifying the watershed improvement district is an insufficient response to the problem.

“I don’t agree with it,” says Kory. “I think it’s inadequate. I don’t think it’s in the public interest. It’s not what citizens expect.”

Kory says she’s already working on legislation for the upcoming session of the General Assembly.

“I think the state should require that those residents who would be adversely affected by a sewage spill need to be informed in a timely fashion,” says Kory. “I think that has to be part of our state code.”

Meanwhile, back at the lake, residents are concerned that the county’s aging infrastructure will be able to handle all the new growth and development planned for the area. Many say they are specifically concerned about a proposal to redevelop the strip malls and big box stores at Seven Corners, where developers want to construct as many as 6,000 new homes.

“I think that when it comes to infrastructure, whether it’s sewers or roads or whatever, I think we have a problem,” says Rita Babon, longtime resident of Lake Barcroft. “I hope they are going to be on top of it this time.”

[Music: “Lakehouse” by Guitar Tribute Players from Acoustic Tribute to Of Monsters and Men ]

This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Neighbor News

Glory Days Grill Announces New Restaurant Planned in Falls Church, VA

Charissa Costa, Neighbor

|Updated Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 12:23 am ET

Gaithersburg, MD — October 4, 2016 — Glory Days Grill, a sports-themed family restaurant operating 27 corporate and franchised restaurants in 4 states, will open a new restaurant adjacent to Lake Barcroft in Falls Church, VA. This will be the company’s seventh location in Fairfax County and will be located at Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center at the intersection of Columbia Pike and Lincolnia Road. Glory Days Grill will anchor the east end of the center with an anticipated opening during the summer of 2017.

"We are thrilled to welcome Glory Days Grill to the Lake Barcroft neighborhood. I am sure our community will enjoy their sports themed and family-oriented restaurant, and neighbors will also benefit from Glory Days' commitment and deep ties to our local schools,” said Kari Glinski, Director of Asset Management at Federal Realty. “Glory Days Grill further rounds out Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center’s already robust lineup of family-driven convenience retail including Harris Teeter, Chico's Natural Pet Market, Subway, and Starbucks to name a few,” Glinski added.

The new Falls Church location will feature over 7,000 square feet of dining, bar, and private banquet seating, with an abundance of TVs broadcasting the latest sports, news and entertainment programming. Guests will enjoy a comfortable, family-friendly yet modern atmosphere utilizing warm colors and tones. Like all Glory Days Grill restaurants, the Falls Church location will focus on product excellence with the highest standards in food quality and safety, a love of sports, and a dedication to the community. The Falls Church restaurant will provide fundraising programs for schools and teams, and managers will accept applications for team sponsorships starting in the fall of 2017. Last year, Glory Days Grill restaurants donated over $480,000 to schools and teams through sponsorships, fundraising and other community programs.

For more information regarding this new location, contact Glory Days Grill at info@glorydaysgrill.com.

More About Glory Days Grill:

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

Glory Days Grill is a full-service, sports-themed family restaurant featuring great food at very affordable prices, outstanding service and real-time entertainment. Every restaurant brings together award-winning menus accompanied by numerous large screen televisions tuned to a variety of sports, cartoons, news and entertainment offerings. Tables and booths have individual volume-controlled speaker stations adding to the guest’s enjoyment. Many locations have private banquet facilities and all feature catering services. Glory Days Grill has been named Best Casual Theme Restaurant, Best American Restaurant, Best Sports Bar, and has also received accolades for Best Ribs, Best Chili, Best Burger and Best Bartender. Glory Days Grill founders, Richard Danker, Bob Garner, and Jeff Newman currently own and operate 20 Glory Days Grill restaurants in the tri-state area comprising Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Glory Days Grill also supports 7 franchised restaurants in Richmond, VA and Tampa, FL. For more information, visit www.glorydaysgrill.com or www.glorydaysfranchising.com.

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For more information on Glory Days Grill:

Charissa Costa Bauhaus

330-338-3040

ccosta@glorydaysgrill.com

For more information on Barcroft Plaza Shopping Center:

Andrea Simpson

617-684-1511