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• Fairfax County Police Drones Take Flight
• Pick Walking & Biking Projects to Fund
• VDOT Begins Repaving
• Common Greenbrier Nature's Barbwire
• What's News in Vienna
• Events and Activities

Skydio photo of an X10 drone used by the police.

What’s happening: The Fairfax County Police are now using drones to more quickly respond to emergencies and gather information, such as crash scenes, missing persons, and fire and medical emergencies. Their Drone as a First Responder Program launched earlier this month.

Currently, the Reston District Police Station is only one of four locations countywide with a drone. (See the photo of the drone that’s based here.)

Why it matters: In the program’s first month, it’s already demonstrated its effectiveness. Just a little over a week ago, the drone helped officers catch a suspect who was peeping into bedroom windows at a Reston apartment complex. After receiving a call for service from our 911 call center, the drone was dispatched and arrived on scene at the 12000 block of Waterside View Drive in 38 seconds. It spotted the suspect and guided officers to his location as he was peeping into windows. (Watch the video below.)

Tell me more: Trained and certified police staff operate American-made Skydio drones from the department’s Real Time Crime Center. The police plan to deploy at least one drone at each district station with about 18 sites overall expected to be operational by this summer. Guardrails regarding privacy and safety are incorporated into the program, including use of camera equipment only for the specific emergency for which it was called.

Watch footage of the police drone catch the suspected peeper in the act.

Have your say on walking and biking projects to fund in the Hunter Mill District! 🚶‍♂️🚲 Take a survey by Tuesday, March 31 at 4:30 p.m.

Several years ago, the Board set a goal to invest $100 million in Active Transportation Plan projects, and the projects currently proposed for the last tranche of funding include new sidewalks and crosswalks:

• Reston/Herndon: New bike lanes on Coppermine Road; trail and crosswalk upgrades on Reston Parkway, Sunrise Valley Drive, Colts Neck Road, and Ridge Heights Road.
• Safety & Parks: A new signalized crossing at Frying Pan Farm Park (West Ox Rd) and a mid-block crosswalk on Fairway Drive for access to the Hook Road Recreational Area.
• School Zones: Enhanced crosswalks, lighting, and refuge islands at Floris Elementary and Stevenage Road.
• Transit Connections: Improved pedestrian signals and crosswalks near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro and the Tysons/Westwood Center area.

What’s happening: Every year, VDOT repaves roads across the county starting in the spring, and this work may also include limited shoulder and crosswalk improvements with signs and markings.

If streets in your neighborhood will be repaved, VDOT will post signs. To learn more about the project in your area, please call the VDOT phone number on these signs.

VDOT’s contractors are supposed to notify each household 30 days before works starts in their neighborhood. If parking restrictions are needed, they’re also required to post “no parking” signs a minimum of three days before repaving begins.

Paving projects: VDOT says the streets in the Hunter Mill District that they’re repaving or plan to repave this season include:

In Progress

• Fox Woods Dr.
• Thunder Chase (Colts Brook to Sunrise Valley Dr.)
• Brafferton Ct. (cul-de-sac)
• Fallon Dr. (cul-de-sac)
• Camberwell Ct. (from end of street to Monroe Manor)
• Dwight St. (cul-de-sac)
• Locksley Ct. (cul-de-sac)
• Monroe Manor (Monroe St. to New Parkland)

Scheduled

• Babcock Rd.
• James Madison Dr. (from end of street to Chain Bridge Rd.)
• Johns Hollow Rd (cul-de-sac)
• Lindel Ln.
• Links Dr. (from South Shore to North Shore)
• Little Run Farm Ct. (from Chamberlain Dr. to cul-de-sac)
• Newkirk Ct. (cul-de-sac)
• Old Courthouse Rd. (from county line to Gosnell Rd to Chainbridge Rd)
• Olde Crafts Dr. (from South Lakes Dr. to Sout Lakes Dr.)
• Orchard Ln.
• Putter Ln.
• S Shore Rd. (cul-de-sac to both sides of Fairway Dr.)
• Shagbark Cir. (cul-de-sac)
• Victoria Farms Ln. (from end of street to Crowell Rd.)
• Water Falls Ln. (from Hunter Mill Rd. to cul-de-sac)
• Hook Rd. (between Fairway Dr.)

• Wedge Dr. (from end of street to Links Dr.)
• Greenbriar Cir. (cul-de-sac)
• Frying Pan Rd (from Fox Mill Rd. to Monroe St.)
• Barrel Cooper Ct. (from Old Crafts Dr.)
• Beaver Cir. (cul-de-sac)
• Beulah Rd. (from Leesburg Pk. to Trap Rd.)
• Chamberlain Dr. (from Hunter Mill Rd to cul-de-sac)
• Golf Course Sq. (from Soapstone to Golf Course Dr.)
• Cobble Mill Rd. (from Hunter Mill Rd. to Cobble Pond Wy.)
• Cobble Pond Wy.
• Country View Ct. (cul-de-sac)
• Chamberlain Woods Wy. (from Chamberlain Dr. to cul-de-sac)
• Dunn Meadow Rd.
• E Meredith Dr.
• Fairway Dr. (from Wiehle Ave to North Shore)
• Forest Maple Rd. (cul-de-sac)
• Deercrest Meadow Pl. (cul-de-sac)

Native Plant Spotlight: Common Greenbrier 

What to know: While it can be a hassle for gardeners thanks to its thorns and twisty vines, common greenbrier (Smilax rotundifolia) is actually a beneficial, native plant in Northern Virginia. It’s commonly mistaken for the highly invasive multiflora rose — but common greenbrier is a vital plant for wildlife including songbirds, small mammals and insects, says the Fairfax Invasive Removal Alliance. So if you can avoid it, don’t cut back “nature’s barbed wire” in your garden.

Participate in the Town Clean Up Day April 4

Help clean up Vienna parks and trails with Parks and Recreation at the Town Clean Up Day, Saturday, April 4, at 9 a.m. Volunteers will meet at the Town Green and be assigned locations around town that need some attention. Staff will provide supplies and assistance throughout the morning. 

Town Budget Public Hearing April 6

The Vienna Town Council will hold a public hearing on its proposed FY 2026-27 proposed budget on Monday, April 6 from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. The hearing will be at Town Hall, 127 Center Street South, Vienna. This date is also when the council will concurrently hold hearings on the proposed FY26/27 tax rates and water and sewer rates. (The council previously held two public work sessions on the proposed budget on March 14 and 16.) To provide feedback on the budget, email the Town Council.

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🎭 Attend “Stage and Score: Performing Arts of Reston” tonight at Reston Community Center to get an overview of performing arts organizations in Reston, plus enjoy live performances.

🍸Join the Tysons Community Gathering on March 26 at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse.

🎭Watch “Guards at the Taj” starting March 26 at NextStop Theatre.

👩Join a Women’s History Month Reception on March 26 at the Tower Club.

🍽️Attend the BreadBreakers community dinner on March 26 at Reston Community Center. 

🎭Reston Community Players present “What the Constitution Means to Me” on March 26-28 at Reston Community Center.

🕺 Free line dancing on March 27 at The Winery at Bull Run.

🌟 Stargaze on March 28 at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

❼❾❿ Play bingo on March 29 at the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department.

𝄞 The Vienna Presbyterian Church choir performs Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah” on March 29. 

📖Cassandra Good discusses her book “First Family: George Washington’s Heirs And The Making Of America” on March 29 at the Vienna Police Station.

🎵Travel to the “Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey” on March 29 at George Mason University Center for the Arts.

🖼️Check out a “A Really Trashy Art Show” on view from April 1 – 29 at the Reston Gallery. 

🔎Participate in the Green Reston Scavenger Hunt from April 1-30.

🎭Watch the play “All Things Equal: The Life and Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” on April 5 at Capital One Hall.

🥚Join the Easter Egg Hunt on April 5 at Christ the Servant Lutheran Church in Reston.

🎞️Watch the Pixar movie “Soul” on April 6 at Reston Community Center.

👶 Take hands-on training for safely installing child passenger seats on April 7 at Reston Hospital Center.

𖠵Learn about the history of the W&OD Railroad on April 7 at the Vienna Town Hall.

🩸 Attend the Stop the Bleed Check-off to demonstrate your knowledge of proper techniques on April 8 at Reston Hospital Center.

🎶 Virginia Chamber Orchestra performs Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals on April 11 at Capital One Hall.

🌎Celebrate at the free International Festival and culinary experience on April 11 at the Vienna Seventh-day Adventist Church in Vienna.

♻️Attend the eco-friendly Green Reston event on April 11 at Reston Community Center Hunters Woods Plaza.

🎞️Watch the award-winning documentary “The Flowers That Bloomed Through Concrete” about Lorton Prison’s “most incorrigible inmate” on April 12 at Vienna Presbyterian Church.

🩰 Reston’s Festival Ballet Virginia premieres “Cinderella” on April 17-18 at the Richard J. Ernst Cultural Center in Annandale.

Find all events for these local organizations: Reston Community Center, Town of Vienna Parks and Recreation Programs, Tephra ICA and Arts Fairfax. Find other community events in the Reston Letter.