At the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday, County Executive, Bryan Hill, presented the FY 2022 Advertised Budget. The proposed budget includes a one-cent Real Estate Tax Rate reduction and modest increases in expenditures for County and FCPS operations. There will be several opportunities to learn more about the budget proposal, ask questions and provide comment. See below for more information on the budget process and other items from the board meeting.

This email also includes an update from the Health Department on expanding partnerships for vaccination options and Governor Northam’s announcement to ease COVID restriction. In addition, the County is seeking input on the Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan; the Board of Zoning Appeals has two vacancies open, and the Federal Aviation Administration is seeking public comment on their neighborhood environmental study.

Please share this email with your friends and neighbors, and do not hesitate to contact my office if we can be of assistance; email Dranesville@fairfaxcounty.gov or call 703-356-0551.

Sincerely,

John

The FY 2022 Advertised Budget Plan maintains the streamlined, conservative approach reflected in the revised FY 2021 Budget approved last May.

County Executive Hill said the proposal builds upon the County’s success utilizing federal stimulus dollars to implement public health programs, assist vulnerable residents and support nonprofits and small businesses hit hard by the pandemic. The plan includes a recommended $20 million unappropriated reserve for economic recovery, giving the County some flexibility to deal with continued impacts of the pandemic.

Among items of note, the FY 2022 Budget proposal includes:

Budget town hall meetings will be held virtually to provide residents with the opportunity to learn more about the revised proposal and to ask questions. Fairfax County Chief Financial Officer Joe Mondoro will join Supervisor Foust to discuss the proposal and answer your questions at two meetings in the Dranesville District:

Monday, March 1 at 7:30PM

Register Here or watch live on MCA Facebook

Monday, March 22 at 7:00PM

Channel 16 (Cox Channel 1016; Verizon/Comcast Channel 16)

and streamed online

Budget committee meetings take place in March and April, and public hearings are scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday, April 13-15. The Board makes changes to the advertised budget at the Tuesday, April 27 board meeting, and adopts the FY 2022 Budget on Tuesday, May 4. The full budget timeline is available here.

In addition to the Budget the Board also received:

The Board held a public hearing and approved amendments to Fairfax County’s Solid Waste Management ordinance to prohibit using plastic bags for yard waste. Licensed waste collectors operating in Fairfax County must send collected yard waste to commercial composting facilities in the region. When plastic bags are introduced into the compost process, it is very difficult to remove plastic shreds from the final product entirely, resulting in compost contaminated with plastic. Plastic in the compost, even in small amounts, reduces overall product quality and provides a pathway for the plastic to get into the environment. Removing this plastic from our yard waste process is one step towards reducing the impact of microplastics on our natural environment. 

More details will be forthcoming from the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. Strategies for managing and bagging yard waste without the use of plastic bags can be found here.  

Following a public hearing, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an amendment to the Workforce Dwelling Unit Policy (WDU Policy) contained in the County’s Comprehensive Plan. The policy amendment comes as the result of a two-year effort which included the formation of a multi-disciplinary WDU Task Force and extensive public engagement.

The Countywide and Tysons WDU Policies incentivize developers to include affordable units for households with low- and moderate-incomes within their market-rate residential developments.

The WDU Policy provides developers with a “density bonus” in exchange for the inclusion of committed affordable units as a component of their residential development. Simply put, developers can build more market rate rental units if they commit to the provision of WDUs at below-market rents to serve residents with low- and moderate-incomes. Today’s amendment enhances the County’s affordable housing policies by increasing the affordability of the committed rental units to households earning between 60 and 80 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI).  

“This is a very positive development and really helps us adapt the WDU policy to the realities of the 2021 housing market in fulfilling the housing needs across income tiers among our residents,” said Dranesville Supervisor John Foust, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Housing Committee. “In recalibrating the allocation of affordability in the WDU Policy, we are ensuring that future WDUs provided by the program are being targeted for our essential workers earning low-to-moderate incomes.”

For more information see the full press release here.

Giant Pharmacy and MyDr.’s Pharmacy have joined the list of vaccination partners who are assisting the Health Department in its efforts to vaccinate eligible individuals in its queue.

These two partners join Inova Health System, George Mason University, and Trusted Doctors to get vaccines into the arms of eligible people in the Fairfax Health District. All vaccinations occur by appointment only, there are no walk-ins.

The addition of Giant Pharmacy is significant because they will use vaccine supply allocated to them from a federal vaccination program to inoculate people registered in the Fairfax County Health Department’s queue. Beginning today, people invited from the queue will be able to select from several Giant locations within the Fairfax Health District. Locations and details will be included in the appointment scheduler email.

MyDr.’s Pharmacy will work from vaccine supply allocated by the state of Virginia and redistributed to the Fairfax County Health Department, which is the same process used by other partners: Inova, George Mason University, and Trusted Doctors. These partners supply the staff, facilities and logistics necessary for vaccination.

Each partner might have a slightly different process for scheduling first and second dose appointments.

The federal government has begun a vaccine distribution program at select CVS locations and Safeway Pharmacy locations. This is separate from the Fairfax Health District vaccination efforts and requires you to register with them directly.

The COVID-19 vaccine is free however, your vaccine provider may charge insurance an administration fee. Concerned individuals should contact the vaccine provider with questions about administration fees. Again, vaccination is at no cost to you and involves zero out-of-pocket fees.

If you are a member of a group eligible for vaccination, please register on the Health Department’s COVID-19 vaccine website. If you already registered, please keep an eye on your email as we will send you a link to schedule an appointment when we have supply and an opening for you.

For more information see:

In the meantime, continue to mask up, social distance and stay safe.

Gov. Ralph Northam today announced that as COVID-19 hospitalizations and infection rates continue to decline and vaccinations rise in Virginia, certain outdoor sports and entertainment venues may begin to operate at increased capacity starting Monday, March 1. He amended Executive Order 72 with the next steps to safely and gradually ease public health restrictions while mitigating the spread of the virus.

The key changes in Executive Order 72 include:

For more information read the Governor’s Announcement here.

Fairfax County is in the midst of developing its first-ever Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP). The CECAP will outline greenhouse gas reduction goals for the community and will include recommended strategies and actions community members can take on a voluntary basis to help achieve the goals. Implementing the CECAP will be a multi-year process.

Join a public meeting devoted to the discussion of transportation, development, and waste issues as they relate to the development of the CECAP:

This meeting will be facilitated by experts from the management consulting firm ICF. Participants can expect a portion of the meeting to be dedicated to brief presentations of relevant information, followed by periods of discussion

To capture public feedback on issues of particular importance, three different, short public surveys have been developed. The first relates to energy issues and topics, the second is dedicated to transportation, development, and waste-related issues, and the third includes open-ended questions to invite free-form feedback on the climate planning process in general. The surveys will remain open until March 14. For more information and to take the surveys click here.

To learn more about CECAP click here.

Fairfax County is looking for two members for the Board of Zoning Appeals. Members meet weekly and their duties include making decisions on zoning cases, special permit applications and more. One position will be effective until April 15, 2023, and the other position will be effective for a full five-year term. Interested candidates must apply by Monday, March 1, 2021 to the Fairfax Circuit Court, which appoints the board’s seven members. For more details on the duties of the Board of Zoning Appeals and how to apply, click here.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is requesting public comments on the results of its Neighborhood Environmental Survey (NES), a nationwide survey regarding annoyance related to civil aircraft noise. The research could potentially inform future federal aircraft noise policies. The FAA will not make any policy determinations until it has considered public and other stakeholder input and other research needed to improve their understanding of the effects of aircraft noise exposure on communities.

The public comment period is open until March 15, 2021:

Fairfax County is closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation. Residents are strongly encouraged to utilize the resources listed below: