Citizens Advisory Committee Discusses Fast Eddie's Permits, Fort Belvoir Construction Headache

 permit expiration and upcoming construction at Fort Belvoir were discussed at the Mount Vernon Citizen Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday. Newly-installed District Captain Randy Joyce ran the event and answered questions with Lt. Mike Wall and Crime Prevention Officer Gregory Kottemann.

According to Joyce, Fast Eddie's dance hall permit will expire on April 14, meaning the establishment must operate only as a restaurant and billiards room. The infamous establishment on Richmond Highway has a bad reputation, according to the officers, for occupancy violations, drunken brawls and inviting a boisterous clientele into the residential neighborhood.

"What the Board of Zoning Appeals decided last week was that they were going to close the dance hall, so it is going to go back as a restaurant and billiards (hall). They also set another hearing for June about the special permit for it to be a billiard hall," Joyce said. 

Joyce said he believes the establishment will eventually become simply a restaurant.

"We don't need it to turn into a night club, and that's what it was turning out to be," Kottemann said. "It overflows into the neighborhoods, and that's when we get complaints."

Steel beams over 100 foot long will be delivered to Fort Belvoir between now and the end of the month, Joyce said, causing parts of Route One to close down. Joyce will release the exact schedule as soon as it becomes available.

"They're scheduled for between 10 and 11:30 (a.m.) and then 12 and 2 (p.m.), and they've got them staggered on various dates. Find alternate routes of travel because it's going to be a mess," Joyce said. "We're probably looking at significant traffic impact because they're going to narrow the roadway so they can get the equipment out there."

Despite continuously encouraging crime prevention in the district, valuable electronics are still being stolen from unlocked cars all over Mount Vernon. Joyce urged citizens to lock their cars and remove anything valuable from their vehicles at night.

"We still have a lot of vehicles that are being broken into, or simply opened because people leave them unlocked," Joyce said. "And they leave things like GPSs, change, laptops, or things in the car that people walk down the street, open the car, and take."

Officers also warned the CAC to watch out for increasing solicitors and reminded them to call the non-emergency police number in case of suspicious activity. In Fairfax County, it is illegal to solicit without a permit, and this area is known for drawing scams and unlicensed door to door salesmen.

"We know that when the weather gets warm, we start getting these solicitors who come into the neighborhoods," Kottemann said. "We're looking at an officer we have to try and target information and those particular type crimes."

The next CAC meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mount Vernon Government Center.