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Residents will have a new opportunity this summer to express their thoughts on Dominion Energy’s long-delayed effort to rebuild the Idylwood Substation at Shreve Road in Falls Church.

The State Corporation Commission has scheduled a hearing for June 10 at 7 p.m. after Fairfax County requested one in response to a new construction schedule that Dominion proposed earlier this year.

“My office and Fairfax County have strongly advocated for a new public hearing due to Dominion’s substantially delayed construction schedule,” Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said in a newsletter. “This will be an opportunity for the community to convey concerns and frustrations.”

Dominion will replace the existing substation that was built in the 1950s with a new “gas insulated substation” that accommodates growth in the area without expanding the substation’s footprint, a Dominion Energy spokeswoman said during a community meeting earlier this year.

The project dates back to 2014, but the timeline for completion has kept getting pushed out.

“The length of construction time estimated by the company has tripled — from three years in 2017 to now almost nine years in total,” the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors said in a response to Dominion’s application to the SCC for a new in-service date. “The ‘end date’ that the residents were looking forward to — the date by which the daily disruption to their lives would be over — has jumped from mid-2020 to the end of 2026.”

During the virtual community meeting on Jan. 27, the Dominion spokesperson attributed the project delays to the permitting process, as well as an adjustment in scope and staffing changes. It is also a complex project, she said.

“Since Idylwood Substation is in an important area, it is necessary we keep most of the equipment energized while we work to keep reliable power in the Northern Virginia area,” her presentation said. “To perform this safely, we must work in limited space and even temporarily relocate certain equipment at times to install new equipment.”

This year, Dominion plans to tackle updating the building and begin construction on the first phase of a permanent brick wall along Shreve Road.

In its response submitted to the SCC on Feb. 23, the Board of Supervisors expressed appreciation for the status updates over the last eight months but said maintains its concerns “about the lack of urgency in the company’s commitment to actually completing this project.”

“The disruption and uncertainty of this process has taken a daily toll on the Idylwood community for years in the past and is now projected to continue for years in the future,” the board said. “The community deserves another chance to be heard publicly, especially given the radically different construction estimation that the company is now requesting this Commission approve.”

Here are the details for participating in the upcoming public hearing :

Telephonic Public Hearing Details:

Date: June 10, 2021 at 7 p.m.

To submit testimony:

To register to speak as a public witness in the proceeding, please submit the online Public Witness Form directly, OR complete and email PDF for PUR-2017-00002. Deadline to sign up is June 8.

To access audio for the hearing:

Visit: https://scc.virginia.gov/pages/Webcasting

Community members who attended a public meeting on the future elementary school in Dunn Loring last week appeared to favor replacing the existing administrative center at 2334 Gallows Road with a four-story building.

Samaha Associates, an engineering firm contracted by Fairfax County Public Schools, presented two primary design options for the planned school, which is expected to be 118,000 square feet in size with the goal of addressing crowding in the Tysons area.

One proposal would shift the school further away from Gallows Road onto what’s currently Murphy Field, a popular facility for local youth soccer groups. The building would be mostly two stories tall with a third story of classrooms on the west side.

The site would have room for an athletic field by Gallows Road as well as playgrounds, a play area, and an outdoor classroom, but they would be scattered around the property.

Slated to begin in spring 2024, construction could start sooner with this option, since the Dunn Loring Center building wouldn’t have to be completely demolished first, Samaha principal Tom Lee said at the meeting on Thursday (Nov. 10).

“More importantly, we’re able to get three site entrances off of Idylwood [Road], one aligning with Greenbriar Way and then two more for the bus loop, so you see a complete and independent separation between the kiss-and-ride traffic and the bus traffic with parking on both sides,” he said.

The other option would construct a four-story building in the existing Dunn Loring Center footprint with play areas consolidated to the west, away from Gallows.

Both options eliminate the site’s current entrance off of Gallows, but the four-story one would have a longer kiss-and-ride queue that could accommodate about 50 vehicles compared to the 30 spaces in the other design. However, drivers would have to go back out the way they came in when buses are using the loop at the front entrance.

Most attendees expressed support for the four-story design, in part because it keeps the athletic field away from Gallows Road and has a smaller footprint, likely allowing more trees to be retained, though a full tree survey hasn’t been conducted yet.

“That field that’s currently there is used all the time, some of the only good green space in the area, and to replace it with fields that are right on Gallows Road and have kids playing at one of the busiest intersections in the area, I think, is a terrible idea,” one man said to applause. “…I think it really shifts the burden of this school on all the people who live there.”

Lee noted that a four-story building would be “slightly more expensive” to construct. The project has a $36.8 million budget covered by bond funds that were originally earmarked for a school in the Oakton area.

The design also leaves no room for an expansion, but the school would be constructed with an internal “shell” on the fourth floor that could fit three to four more classrooms “as the need arises,” Lee said.

Samaha had suggested a third option to a Design Feedback and Engagement Committee that met on June 9, but it retained an entrance on Gallows for a limited kiss-and-ride lot, leading to concerns about traffic back-ups. That design has now been taken off the table.

In response to a resident who said turning right onto Gallows or coming left off Gallows onto Idylwood Road “is a problem already,” Lee said he doesn’t see any opposition to adding turn lanes at the intersection, but the project team would have to consult with the Virginia Department of Transportation.

“We just need to get it through the next level of design,” Lee said. “…We can show an intent to add those now. I don’t think there’s any pushback to that idea.”

The nearly 24-acre, mixed-use development planned for the West Falls Church Metro station will come with at least a few upgrades to the surrounding transportation network in Idylwood, if it’s approved.

Developers EYA, Rushmark Properties, and Hoffman & Associates — known collectively as FGCP-Metro LLC — have agreed to construct a shared-use trail along the north side of Haycock Road over I-66, according to a draft proffer agreement in Fairfax County’s Jan. 24 staff report on the development plans.

The proposed trail would replace the road’s existing asphalt sidewalk and one of its westbound lanes. It would be at least 10 feet wide — exceeding the 8 feet recommended by a county study of the area’s pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

A concept plan shows the trail being separated from the road by a 3-foot-wide jersey barrier on the I-66 bridge and a guardrail and buffer strip to the east of the bridge. With the trail, the developers would also add a crosswalk across Turner Avenue, where the trail would begin.

Under the proffers, which are conditions tied to the development, the Haycock Metrorail Connector Trail must open before the county issues a 40th residential-use permit for the townhouses planned on the Metro station site, though the deadline can be deferred if needed to get required approvals and easements.

Other improvements that the developers say they’ll provide include:

The developers have also agreed to conduct a traffic signal timing analysis and contribute $20,000 that the county can use to install traffic signal preemption devices on traffic lights within a 5-mile radius of the development site.

The development’s traffic impacts have been a top concern for many in the community, who argue that the existing infrastructure is insufficient even without the over 1 million square feet of residential, office and retail space that FGCP-Metro hopes to build on the Metro station’s parking lots at 7040 Haycock Road.

Another 820,000 square feet of development has been proposed on Virginia Tech’s adjacent Northern Virginia Center campus.

Metro’s West Falls Church redevelopment will bring up to 810 multifamily units, 90 townhomes, and a 110,000 square feet office building with up to 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

The developers intend to build the project’s eight blocks in four phases. Individual plans have been submitted for the grid of streets, townhouses, the office building and one multifamily building, along with two proposed parks, but the blocks could be completed in any order under the proffer agreement.

Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust’s office will hold a virtual community meeting on the project at 7 p.m. today (Tuesday). The application is set to go to the Fairfax County Planning Commission for a public hearing on Wednesday, Feb. 8.

A growing fast-casual, Mediterranean restaurant chain that started in New York City will open a location in Pimmit Hills next year.

Taïm Mediterranean Kitchen will bring its lauded falafels to Virginia for the first time with a 1,849-square-foot restaurant in the Tysons Station shopping center at 7502 Leesburg Pike. The company anticipates opening the new location this coming spring, possibly April.

“People are craving better, more flavorful meal options and we knew this busy area serving residential and office communities would be a perfect fit,” Untamed Brands founder Phil Petrilli said. “…Whether guests are heading out for a quick lunch or looking for a family-friendly dinner option, taïm is versatile and unique.”

A former Chipotle regional manager, Petrilli created Untamed Brands with fellow veterans of the fast-casual scene to support restaurants seeking to grow long term. The company partnered with Taïm in 2018 as the eatery embarked on an expansion.

Run by chef Einat Anthony and her husband, Taïm launched as a modest, all-vegetarian storefront focused on Israeli street food in New York City’s West Village in 2005. It gained a following for its falafel, adding more locations and a food truck in the Big Apple, and was named the eighth best restaurant in the West Village by GrubHub in 2018.

The company expanded outside of New York for the first time in 2019 with a restaurant in Georgetown. That location closed this year, but D.C. still has a branch in Dupont Circle.

With a New Jersey restaurant that opened in June, Taïm now has a total of eight locations and is planning to double that this year with added sites in New York, New Jersey and Maryland, according to QSR Magazine.

The Pimmit Hills Taïm will be adjacent to China King in a newly subdivided space that once housed Pet Supplies Plus. Two other suites created out of the former pet supply store — one with 1,518 square feet of gross floor area and one that’s 2,130 square feet — are still available, according to property manager Federal Realty’s site plan.

Petrilli says the menu of build-your-own pita and rice bowls will complement the existing tenants at Tysons Station, which is anchored by Trader Joe’s, and retailers like Whole Foods in Idylwood Plaza across the street.

Outdoor seating will be provided, according to Petrilli.

In addition to falafel, the menu includes chicken and cauliflower shawarma — a fan favorite, Petrilli says — as well as crispy eggplant, roasted meatballs, vegan kebabs, and a variety of sides, such as fries. Dishes come as rice bowls, pitas and salads.

“We introduce new menu items, seasonal dishes, and toppings or sauces around three times per year,” Petrilli said. “We just introduced sweet potato fries with whipped garlic. There are family meal options and menu items for kids.

According to Petrilli, all dishes are made from scratch with ingredients “sourced from the best growing regions in the world,” including 18 herbs and spices that are all imported and pita sourced from a baker.

“There are few options in America like taïm where craveability meets better for you with high quality, scratch-made menu items served quickly at an affordable price,” he said. “We offer the rare intersection of what people want and what’s good for them and the first bite always leaves customers raving about the quality.”

A shake-up may be coming to the EastBoro offices, where companies like Booz Allen Hamilton and Alarm.com are currently headquartered.

The building that houses Alarm.com, which shared plans to expand back in February, is one of two that The Meridian Group has proposed razing to make room for housing and retail development on the block bounded by Solutions, Greensboro and Pinnacle drives.

In a proposal submitted for Fairfax County’s Site-Specific Plan Amendment (SSPA) process, the developer asks the county for the flexibility to favor residential uses in the block, instead of offices, a shift that would more closely align the site with The Boro, its growing Tysons neighborhood to the west.

“This amendment seeks to further the mixed-use environment that has been successful in the submarket already,” Venable land use lawyer Zachary Williams wrote in the Oct. 24 application, citing “the continuously fluctuating office market resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors” as justification for the request.

Right now, the four parcels in question — collectively referred to as “The Boro-East” — are occupied by five office buildings and parking. They’re designated as a transit station mixed use area in the Tysons Comprehensive Plan, which recommends an overall mix of 65% office and 20% or more residential uses.

With no upper limit set for housing, Meridian has proposed transforming EastBoro with approximately 1.9 square feet of development, 32% of which would be office, 64% residential, and 4% retail.

Described as “one of several potential redevelopment scenarios,” the concept plan calls for the buildings at 8251 and 8281 Greensboro Drive to be demolished, leaving 611,158 square feet of office space.

The resulting development would have seven buildings with a total of 974 residential units and 96,000 square feet of retail. Constructed in three phases, the buildings could range in height from a two-level retail podium to a 14-story residential high-rise.

The plan also shows a central plaza and four parking structures, providing 3,291 spaces, including 52 surface parking spots.

“Additional residential development helps buoy retail traffic and office traffic creating a node that is attractive not only to work, but also to live,” Williams wrote. “This nomination would create flexibility in the designated percentages for office use to be below 65% and residential use to exceed 60% to reflect current market trends.”

While office-to-residential swaps have been trendy in Fairfax County, Meridian’s request comes as a slight surprise when the developer is also seeking the option to build offices in place of an approved residential tower on a different section of The Boro.

With Boro Tower fully leased, Meridian says it’s still getting demand for more office space in the neighborhood, but it hasn’t necessarily settled on one option or the other for that planned high-rise.

“While the pandemic resulted in a time when remote/hybrid work is dominant, trends show that more companies plan to bring their employees back into the office and are seeking modern, tech-enhanced buildings to do so,” Meridian Vice President of Asset Management Charlie Schwieger said by email. “TMG understands and will implement this concept into a new office building, if we decide to go that route.”

The application was among dozens that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted on Dec. 6 to advance to a screening phase. The SSPA proposals will now be more closely reviewed by county staff, with community meetings expected early next year.

Other advanced nominations in the Tysons area include a redevelopment of the Koons auto dealerships and mixed-use projects in Idylwood and Merrifield.