Vienna officials keep moving forward on stream-restoration effort

The town of Vienna three years ago undertook a stream-restoration project to repair part of Hunters Branch, and now is gearing up for the project’s second phase.

The Vienna Town Council on June 17 unanimously approved an up-to-$377,654 contract with Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions to perform engineering-design work for the project’s second phase, located on the section of Hunters Branch between Tapawingo Road, S.W., and Virginia Center Boulevard.

That section of the stream is considerably eroded and has experienced stream-bank failure, town officials said. The town in 2016 spent eight months restoring a 2,000-foot-long section of Hunter’s Branch just to the north, largely between Tapawingo and Courthouse roads, S.W.

Fairfax County will finance the project’s second phase under a 2013 agreement to share with the Vienna government stormwater-service-district fees collected within the town. The Vienna Department of Public Works requested that the county provide $400,000 for the initiative, and the Town Council last October approved a funding agreement with the county for the project’s design.

Town officials on Feb. 13 began requesting bids for the initiative and received eight responses, the top two of which showed more detailed proposals to a three-person review panel.

Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions’s tasks include cultural- and natural-resource studies of the site, state and federal permitting, design and survey fees, public meetings, pre-bid and pre-construction meetings with contractors, oversight of the project’s construction and doing an as-built survey, which compares original engineering plans with what was constructed.

When the design work is completed, the county will grant the town an additional $1.52 million for the project’s construction. The town’s Department of Public Works staff will lead and manage the project, but Fairfax County staff have offered to assist with planning and review efforts, if needed.

Then-Council member Carey Sienicki, who was attending her last meeting before stepping down at the end of June, asked if a pathway would be provided along the restored stream.

Vienna Public Works Director Michael Gallagher said town staff would examine that possibility during the project’s design phase, and noted that residents in the nearby Townes of Moorefield subdivision would be most affected by a pathway’s inclusion.