Coraggio Consulting
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, June 9, 2026

Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Place: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 3h 59m (video)
Official meeting video (Fairfax County): https://video.fairfaxcounty.gov/player/clip/4174
Official Board of Supervisors page (Fairfax County): https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/boardofsupervisors/

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-27. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:01] All right. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our June 9th, 2026 Board of Supervisors meeting. We're going to go ahead and get started. I'm going to just acknowledge that Supervisor Dan Stork will be joining us shortly. He had a morning graduation to get to and then is going to be joining us at the conclusion of that.

[00:00:22] We are going to begin our day as we always do, which is to recognize those who have passed away or family members that we'd like to keep in our thoughts and prayers. Following that, we will do a moment of silence, and then for all who are able, we will rise for the Pledge of Allegiance before we begin our presentations.

[00:00:39] And so let me ask if any of my colleagues has anyone they would like to keep in our thoughts this morning. Well, we've had a series of good couple weeks. Normally, we have a lot of those. So we're starting the day off really well.

[00:00:55] So if all who are able to at this time could rise to be followed by a moment of silence, to be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Please face the flag.

[00:01:26] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. This morning we do have five presentations, so we'll try to move through them rapidly.

[00:01:51] And our first resolution this morning is a really exciting, positive one and has some amazing props here in front of me, which is a resolution to recognize the Fairfax County Public Schools teams at the Robotics World Championship. And this was requested by myself, our speaker.

[00:02:09] This morning is Joey Kearns, robotics team coach at Hayfield Secondary School. And he is also joined by Andrew Linnecom, robotics team coach from George C. Marshall High School and a lot of other folks. If you all could come on down, I am going to hand the gavel to Supervisor Smith.

[00:02:28] And I know our school board member, Kyle McDaniel, is here, too. Kyle, if you want to come on down, too, that would be great. Thank you for joining us this morning. And I'm going to read the following resolution. Whereas from April 29th through May 2nd, 2026, the first robotics world championship in Houston, Texas, brought together 600 teams from more than 10 countries to compete in one of the world's premier student robotics competitions.

[00:02:55] And whereas Fairfax County Public Schools proudly sent two outstanding teams to represent our community, Team 614, the Nighthawks from Hayfield Secondary School, and Team 5549, Griffin Robotics from Marshall High School. And whereas Team 5549, Griffin Robotics completed a historic season by earning its first world championship appearance in the team's 11-year history, securing the third seed among 75 teams in the Newton Division, serving as an alliance captain, leading its alliance to a seventh-place finish overall, and earning the Innovation and Control Award.

[00:03:32] And whereas Team 614, the Nighthawks, demonstrated resilience, teamwork, and strategic excellence throughout the competition, overcoming a challenging qualification round and advancing through the playoffs to conclude the championship as a member of the third-place alliance.

[00:03:50] And whereas robotics programs challenge students to solve complex problems, work collaboratively, and explore careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the Fairfax County Public Schools is committed to expanding these opportunities to every school in the coming years.

[00:04:08] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on behalf of all residents, does hereby congratulate Team 614, the Nighthawks, and Team 5549, Griffin Robotics, on their exceptional accomplishment at the 2026 FIRST Robotics World Championship, and commends them for representing Fairfax County with distinction, innovation, and excellence.

[00:04:32] I'll second the motion, along with Supervisor Palczyk, discussion on the motion. Thank you very much, Madam Vice Chair, and I'm going to allow Joey, our speaker, in a moment to explain some of what I just read to everybody else who isn't as familiar with what all these things mean but what I do know is that we have amazing robotics programs in our Fairfax County Public Schools and I know before us are two of the absolute best I also know having attended regional robotics championships right here in Fairfax County how much work goes into this both the coaches the administrators but the students and the teamwork in

[00:05:11] camaraderie that is displayed not just even within the teams and we have two teams here but when the teams cross paths and are there to help each other and to try to make everybody do better to to be successful and these skill sets that we're celebrating here are so much of what our future employment and job needs in our country are going to be and so for you all to be doing something this fun, this engaging, this innovative, not only puts you, sets you aside from all of your peers in FCPS, but I know it's something that you love and something that you really look forward to do and put in a tremendous amount of time.

[00:05:50] I don't think people understand just how much time it takes to build one of these machines, to refine it, to compete and to compete well. And so for all of you who were able to go to the World Championship in Houston, let me thank you on behalf of Fairfax County and tell you how proud you made us to see two of our teams out there competing in such an exceptional way. So thank you all for being here this morning and congratulations to each and every one of you. Supervisor Palchuk. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair and thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to congratulate all of you, especially long time no see with Marshall High School and Principal Litz is here with us today. I know that as our high schools

[00:06:29] continue to really lead in every area I know you all have IB but I think it's really important to show that you've learned how to apply those skills math engineering and teamwork to what you do and I'm guessing not too many seniors in the team so a few seniors who is the senior here awesome well congratulations next year you as well and how many seniors on the hayfield all right so you're still leaving quite a large team and we hope to see you again again next year and perhaps continue to grow the work we do because we know as industry looks for

[00:07:04] our workforce development the skills that you've learned here are absolutely what they're looking to be able to apply to the work the cutting edge work that's happening in our county so congratulations to all of you to principal litz and the whole team and all the families thank you for being here and we're very excited to see you thank you supervisor lusk thank you madam vice Chairman. Let me start by saying I want to echo my colleagues in recognizing the outstanding students and advisors who proudly represent Fairfax County on a national level. I would like to especially recognize the Hayfield Secondary Robotics Team, the Nighthawks, for

[00:07:41] their accomplishments. The Nighthawks have represented Hayfield Secondary School in competition since 2001. And I had the pleasure of meeting the current team members at the march at the first robotics competition held at Hayfield Secondary School. They not only succeed at competition, but they also give back to the community by mentoring young robotics teams and hosting STEM events. Success at this level doesn't just come from talent and engineering and coding, but also problem-solving, collaboration, and perseverance.

[00:08:18] These skills are foundational for success in any career field that you will choose to pursue. The students from Hayfield Secondary School and Marshall High School showcase the strength of FCPS's STEM education programs and the dedication of the teachers, the mentors, and families who supported them.

[00:08:39] Their success brings pride to Fairfax County and inspires the next generation of students to follow in their footsteps. So with that, I want to say congratulations, and thank you as well, Madam Vice Chairman. Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

[00:08:56] Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much, Vice Chair Smith, and we've all acknowledged all the folks that make these teams excellent. Some are here, some are not here. I want to thank all of them. But in particular, we have our speaker, Joey Kearns, who I know has been at this at Hayfield for a very long time.

[00:09:17] And having seen him in his element, I know how excited he gets about this, which is really wonderful. And I know the work, Joey, you're doing to make sure that this opportunity gets to expand to other areas in Fairfax County. So welcome. The floor is yours. Good morning. Thank you, Chairman McKay and members of the Board of Supervisors.

[00:09:39] First, I want to thank you for this recognition. It is truly special, and also to Fairfax County Public Schools for your continued support of robotics and STEM education. The two teams being recognized today compete in the first robotics competition. It is an international program in which high school students design, fabricate, program, and operate competition robots for a new engineering challenge each season.

[00:10:05] Teams work within strict design rules, limited budget or limited build timelines, and real-world constraints involving mechanical systems, electrical integration, software development, manufacturing, strategy, and project management. This year, teams built robots weighing approximately 130 pounds to collect six-inch foam game pieces and launch them into an eight-foot-tall goal.

[00:10:29] Matches were played on a field roughly the size of a basketball court, with three team alliances competing against one another. During each two-minute and 40-second match, students must combine autonomous programming, driver control, precision mechanisms, and rapid decision-making to score as many points as possible.

[00:10:47] Both teams had outstanding seasons that culminated in deep playoff runs at the first World Championship. The Nighthawks from Hayfield Secondary School earned both the Quality Award and the Imagery Award, and at any of their competitions, they never finished below fourth place this season, including at the World Championship.

[00:11:05] Griffin Robotics from Marshall High School, they earned the Excellence in Engineering Award. They were the winners of the first Chesapeake District Championship, which was all D.C., Maryland, and Virginia teams. And then also they ranked third in their division at the World Championship and captained their alliance during the playoffs there.

[00:11:24] These accomplishments reflect not only competitive excellence, but also technical skill, creativity, teamwork, and perseverance of the students, mentors, families, and school communities who support these programs. It is an honor to recognize both teams for representing Fairfax County Public Schools with such distinction.

[00:11:43] Thank you. Thank you very much, Joey. Thank you very much, Joey. Super proud of you. I will share with everybody else that they did threaten to have these robots throw these foam balls at the board members.

[00:12:04] But we trust you that they're very accurate. We trust that it's very accurate. We trust in the accuracy. You wouldn't be here if they didn't work. So with that, I think we're ready for a photo. And if all of you could come forward towards me and turn and face the audience, I'll come down and join you.

[00:12:20] The board could rise and we can get OPA to make sure that the robots make their way in the photo, too.

[00:12:26] All right. We next have a proclamation to designate June 2026 as Pride Month in Fairfax County,

[00:15:07] and this was requested by myself and Supervisor Beerman. Our speaker is Leo Augustus Miller, co-executive director of Safe Space Nova, and if anyone else is here with you, they're welcome to come on and down and join you at the podium. We would appreciate that if you all could come on down, and while you're doing that, I am going to recognize Supervisor Beerman to read the proclamation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Whereas across the United States, June is recognized as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and plus pride month, a time

[00:15:41] to recognize the ongoing struggles faced by the LGBTQIA plus community and celebrate their contributions to society and culture. And whereas June is observed as pride month in recognition of the Stonewall Uprising of 1969, which took place from June 28 to July 3, 1969, and marked a defining moment in the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States, with the first Pride March held June 28, 1970, commemorating the anniversary of the uprising and beginning a tradition of Pride events that celebrate and advocate for justice and inclusivity.

[00:16:18] And whereas, despite significant progress in laws and societal attitudes since that first Pride Month, LGBTQIA+ individuals, especially transgender youth, continue to face escalating legal and social threats to their privacy, health and safety, as evidenced by the more than 500 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills proposed nationwide, a significant number of which directly target the transgender community.

[00:16:43] And whereas Fairfax County remains committed to protecting the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals as part of its broader commitment to safeguarding the rights and privacy of all Fairfax County residents by fostering an equitable and inclusive community through its policies and practices.

[00:16:59] And whereas Fairfax County is committed to promoting a culture of openness and inclusiveness and acceptance for all people by continuing to achieve high scores on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on behalf of all residents of Fairfax County, does hereby proclaim June 2026 as Pride Month and encourages all residents to reflect on equality, celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQIA plus community, and work towards a just and inclusive society. Madam Chair, we'll second that along with Supervisor Palczyk. Discussion on the motion? Let me start with Supervisor Beerman.

[00:17:39] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So later next month, later this year, and in keeping with some of the other things on the agenda this morning, America will be celebrating its 250th birthday. And I think that it's important to recognize what happened 250 years ago when a very famous Virginian who later went on to become president wrote, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights that among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these

[00:18:15] rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers, their just powers from the consent of the governed. It actually goes on even longer. It's the greatest run-on sentence in history. And I think that during Pride Month, we should recognize that celebrating life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, whether you're lesbian, you're gay, you're bisexual, you're queer, you're straight, you're transgender, it doesn't matter, is very much firmly within the American tradition. I think we should also recognize that when those words were written, it was an extremely

[00:18:54] radical notion. It's also one of the most ironic sentences in history because it was self-evident, but it really wasn't self-evident at the time. Heck, it wasn't even self-evident to the guy who wrote it about everyone. We've been working on that for 250 years. But that radical notion that being American, that being a part of this was all about pursuing life, liberty, and happiness.

[00:19:22] And that radical notion, which some people don't also like to acknowledge, that the government was being instituted and it was supposed to help you secure those rights. That mattered. That was all radical. And it was radical, by the way, when during the Stonewall uprising, people in the LGBTQ community demanded more from their government. They demanded that their rights mean something.

[00:19:48] So I think that Pride Month really does fit very perfectly within that American tradition. And it's really fun to be here celebrating Pride Month as we celebrate America 250.

[00:20:03] And it's also great to be celebrating it in Fairfax County. I was doing some research in preparation today, and I found a news article April 23, 1990. And the headline may make you chuckle a little, but I have to read it.

[00:20:20] It's from the Washington Post. Cable show on gays set in Fairfax. This news article with the headline not quite holding up under the test of time was about a show on Fairfax Public Access Television, Gay Fairfax, News, Views, and Pride.

[00:20:39] It was the first show devoted to gay issues in the DMV, started right here in Fairfax County. It was the first show of its kind in a non-urban center. It ran, it was started by Bart Forbes, who was a member back in the day of the Lee District Democratic Committee, and Karen Brown.

[00:21:03] It ran for three years as Gay Fairfax, and it became Gay Spectrum in 1994. The show interviewed Tipper Gore and Eleanor Holmes Norton during the D.C. AIDS Walk. So the history of of the LGBTQ plus community here in Fairfax County is a really is a really rich one.

[00:21:28] It's a really long one. It's part of why we celebrate pride here every year. It's part of why we are so, you know, we tout the fact that we now have 100 on the Human Rights Campaign's Municipal Equality Index.

[00:21:45] I will simply close by saying that I was also doing research on this the other day, yesterday, and I was thinking about a campaign that's about 16 years old now. It was started by Dan Savage, a columnist, the It Gets Better campaign.

[00:22:02] And I was thinking about some comments recently made by our senator here in Virginia, Tim Kaine, and the It Gets Better campaign, which 16 years ago told kids that it gets better. That was the whole point. It was a simple line. And I fear that in recent years, there are lots of people who very much do not feel like it's getting better.

[00:22:25] And they do not trust that. But I want anybody who's watching at home, all three of you, whoever it is, the kids to know that it may not always get better, but it will eventually get better.

[00:22:42] And I want you to know that there's someone in your life who really cares. There are lots of people in your life who really care. They care about your life, your liberty, and your pursuit of happiness. They care about your ability to live authentically. They care about your ability to love who you love.

[00:23:02] Seek them out. Find them. They exist. We exist here in Fairfax County. We want you to live full, happy, healthy lives. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Sizemore Heiser.

[00:23:19] Thank you. I will be briefer than that. I just wanted to say something that struck me this weekend. I went to several events on Saturday around the community, and one of the events was the City of Fairfax Pride celebration.

[00:23:35] And out of the, I think, six different events I went to on Saturday, that was the only one where my bag was checked and where there was police presence. And that made me really sad. It made me really sad for what our society has become.

[00:23:51] It made me really sad for what our LGBTQ plus brothers and sisters and people are enduring and facing. And it's a testament to the strength of the community. But despite that, when I walked inside, it was an atmosphere of joy and celebration.

[00:24:12] There was a band playing that just brought so much happiness. And I mean, it was infectious, the atmosphere in there. And every table I went to, everybody I spoke to was strongly and proudly and happily their authentic selves and celebrating that.

[00:24:30] And so the juxtaposition of the police presence with a community that refuses to let the reality dampen the amazing awesomeness that is this community was really meaningful. And I just wanted to share that, that, you know, the resilience is amazing.

[00:24:49] You are amazing. The community is amazing. And we've got your back. We've got your back because, as my colleague said, everybody should have the right to live their authentic selves fully and openly. But I just wanted to share with you that that moment, despite the world we're living in now, you made my day better.

[00:25:10] Thank you. Supervisor Sizemore, Supervisor Belchick. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you, Rachna. Thank you all for being here. I think it's the first time my friend Robert Rigby isn't here for this work. I was just thinking back, it's been 10 years now since I first served on the school board.

[00:25:30] And I think partly thanks to my additional vote, we were able to increase our non-discrimination policy. I know now it seems, you know, there's history, there's long history, but there's more recent history where we did not have the support and where it was very contentious.

[00:25:48] and there were very horrible things said as we passed adding gender identity to our non-discrimination policy. Those who are former school board members know that there are certain times when we talk about sex education, family life education, that we hear some really horrific things said to our youth.

[00:26:09] So I'm so grateful that we have two of the best senators in the country. Unfortunately, it would have been much better if one had been a vice president, in my opinion. And I think what's amazing about them is that they are both loving parents first.

[00:26:27] They absolutely love their children. Their wives have raised them well, I think, to do what's right for their kids. And that Senator Cain, those words he shared, he must have been reading our policies and the work that we do to protect our youth.

[00:26:46] But clearly we know that showing that people care about you, knowing that you are worthy of love, that there are adults who care about you, and to seek them if you don't see them around you. I loved his words. I want to add to what Supervisor Bierman said, you are a beautiful, precious person, worthy of love as you are.

[00:27:08] And I think those of us, it means even more when you become a parent and you realize just how precious every single life is. So I'm so thankful that you are here. And I'm extremely thankful, especially because for me, being able to see the vulnerability in our students, though it's stark, and our non-binary, transgender, gay, lesbian, and bisexual students continue to show every year that we've tracked it in the youth survey, much higher incidence of depressive symptoms, considering suicide and attempting suicide.

[00:27:44] There's a little hope in that the trend is going in the right direction, slowly but surely. I know there are some members here from NCS and who work with our youth every day. They're here for my brother's keeper, but they also work so hand-in-hand with our schools and with our community.

[00:28:03] For me, the safety of our kids is paramount in ensuring that they have safe, caring environments and adults who do that. So thank you for being here. Thank you for helping us realize the fight continues every single year, every single day. And we on this board are here with you.

[00:28:21] Thank you, Supervisor Paucik. And let me wrap up. I think Jimmy said exactly what needed to be said for all of us. And so thank you for that, Supervisor Bierman. I do want to circle back to a couple things, though, I heard and just reiterate a few things. First, for people watching, the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Index, Equality Index, In 2020 was the first year I focused on it and learned that Fairfax County was scoring in the mid-range in 2020, just six years ago.

[00:28:54] And starting in 2021, our score went up to nearly 100, and after that has been at 100% every year since. And that is really important, because that's not just us saying we believe in these things. This is our county government's mission and focus of our agencies and a strong message to our community about what the culture in Fairfax County believes.

[00:29:19] And that is really powerful stuff because it's not just what we say, it's what we do. It's what we do every single day in this county to respect and protect all people. It's pure humanity at a certain point, and that's what we believe in very strongly in Fairfax County.

[00:29:35] I also want to thank two other groups that have been mentioned. One, I share the anger over the juxtaposition that was described in the event in Fairfax City. But I also want to thank our police department and our public safety agencies for being aware enough that we live in a community where there is still hate.

[00:29:58] Hate towards people who don't look and act like the perpetuators of violence. And we have a proactive public safety department here in Fairfax County that knows where events are being held, knows where there's vulnerabilities, and know how important it is to be present and protect the rights of all people in this county, to be able to do simple things like to gather and celebrate safely.

[00:30:22] You shouldn't have to worry about that. And that is part of why we scored where we did in our equality index, municipal equality index. And the second one is, and Supervisor Pouchik mentioned this well, is our school system, because I have great hope in our future.

[00:30:39] You know, it's graduation season. We've just watched thousands of graduates cross the stage and the confidence of these young people. And when I was watching them pass, and I had one that graduated this year, so the House of Teenagers. But as I watch them pass with their confidence, diploma in hand, how proud they can be to be graduating from a school system in a county that cares about all of them, not just some of them, but all of them, every kid that gets a diploma.

[00:31:09] We hope that they have a successful future. And, you know, when that was most seen is when we had our last gubernatorial administration who decided to make kids the target of political philosophies and anger and drive up hatred.

[00:31:25] And what we saw in our schools is our kids walking out in quiet protest. Not our LGBTQ plus kids alone, but entire student bodies of kids who just supported each other And wanted to know why adults can't figure this out, why we can't just embrace the humanity of every individual person in our community.

[00:31:47] And that's really what we celebrate this month is Pride Month, but we really celebrate every day of the year here in Fairfax County. And then finally, and I want to end on a really positive note, because having been in this county for a long time and listening to Supervisor Beerman's history of the cable channel show that he talked about, and I remember that show.

[00:32:10] In some ways, I feel like it was yesterday, but we know it was a long time ago in other ways. And when I look at the events that are held throughout this county, and I look at the businesses who are proudly supporting this community unapologetically because they know it's the right thing to do, and I look at our residents who are vocal and not afraid to speak up and protect the most vulnerable people in our community, that's not what it was like not that long ago, even here in Fairfax County.

[00:32:39] And so look around you, not just this month, but every day of the year at the way our community embraces all of our residents and something to be really proud of. We can't control everything that happens in our world, but we certainly can control a lot of what happens here locally. And there's a lot here that that should make us proud.

[00:32:56] And so I thank my colleagues for their support of this important proclamation every year. And with that, we're ready for a vote. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? And that motion carries. And we have with us, as I mentioned earlier, Leo Augustus Miller, co-executive director of Safe Space Nova, and a lot of friends here with you, including school board member Kyle McDaniel. Thank you for joining us. Welcome. The floor is yours.

[00:33:26] Is it on? Okay. I hope it's on. Okay. On behalf of Safe Space Nova, I just want to start off by just saying a thank you for this Pride Month proclamation and recognizing the importance of LGBTQ people, specifically in Fairfax County.

[00:33:42] And Safe Space Nova is a youth-driven nonprofit organization that is dedicated to developing and building affirming spaces, fostering community, and empowering LGBTQ plus and allied youth throughout Northern Virginia. And we've been doing this work for the past 10 years.

[00:33:59] And through social events, educational opportunities, leadership opportunities, as well as community partnerships, we really make sure that LGBTQ youth themselves know that they are not alone and that they belong. And Pride itself is a true celebration of joy, authenticity, and community, and it's also a reminder of what becomes possible when we choose inclusion, when we choose advocacy, and when we choose compassion.

[00:34:24] And at Safe Space Nova, we've had the great privilege of working alongside LGBTQ youth from across the region, and every day we meet young people who are creative, resilient, and determined to build lives that reflect who they truly are. We see them finding community and building confidence, and we also hear stories of wondering if they'll be valued, accepted, and supported.

[00:34:47] And for many, LGBTQ youth, as the board stated, is at a higher risk for suicidal thoughts, suicidality broadly. And that really truly shows us that we need spaces that affirm and empower their lived experiences, and that's why this proclamation really matters here today.

[00:35:08] When our community leaders really affirm LGBTQ people, youth themselves are listening. When schools, families, and organizations create spaces where LGBTQ youth can thrive, again, youth are listening. And what they hear is a really powerful message, a simple one, that they belong here.

[00:35:28] And I just want to say to all the LGBTQ youth who may be listening today, either recording or live, I want you to know that your identity is something to celebrate. Your voice matters, your experiences matter, your future matters, and this community in Fairfax is stronger because you are a part of it, and you have the power to change this community for the better.

[00:35:49] And to those in powership, or leaders in positions, in leadership and influence, I really encourage us to view this proclamation as more than just a recognition. I want it to be a commitment to ensure that LGBTQ youth have safe schools, supportive communities, and opportunities to reach their full potential.

[00:36:07] And I also want to ensure that our programs and policies and resources really reflect the needs of all our young people, including LGBTQ youth. And the young people we serve do not need perfect allies, right? They need consistent advocates, people willing to show up, speak up, and help create communities where every young person can flourish.

[00:36:30] And so, finally, I just want to thank Fairfax County Board of Supervisors here again today for this recognition and the continued support of all of our LGBTQ plus residents. And I also want to thank our many educators, parents, community partners, volunteers, and youth leaders who really make this work possible every single day.

[00:36:50] and we can continue to build a Fairfax County where every LGBTQ young person knows they are valued, supported, and connected. And that's it. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Leo. So well stated. I think we're ready for a photo, and if you all could come forward and face the

[00:37:16] audience, Supervisor Beerman and I will come down. The board will rise. Great. Next, we have a

[00:39:16] proclamation to designate June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month in Fairfax County, And this was requested by myself. Our speaker is Sarah Placino Burke Fairfax Moms Demand Action and a lot of friends of hers that are here. Come on down. And while you're doing that, I am going to hand the gavel to Vice Chair Smith so that I can read the following proclamation.

[00:39:39] Whereas every year, on average, more than 1,200 people in Virginia and more than 46,000 people nationwide die from gun-related injuries, including homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings.

[00:39:55] And whereas Americans are more than 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high-income countries, and firearms remain the leading cause of death for American children and teenagers.

[00:40:12] And whereas mass shootings continue to occur across the United States, causing devastating loss of life, lasting trauma for survivors, families, and communities, and underscoring the urgent need for prevention efforts, And whereas, support for Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens is fully compatible with common-sense efforts to keep guns out of the hands of children and individuals with dangerous histories.

[00:40:40] And whereas, we must remain committed to reducing gun violence and pledge to do all we can to promote safe and responsible gun ownership and ensure firearms are kept out of the wrong hands. And whereas on National Gun Violence Awareness Day, observed annually on the first Friday of June, people across the country wear orange to honor the lives lost to gun violence and to show solidarity with the survivors and their families.

[00:41:09] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on behalf of all Fairfax County residents, does hereby proclaim June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month in Fairfax County and urges all residents to take action to help end gun violence and to honor and value human life.

[00:41:32] I'll second that motion along with Supervisor Palchuk and probably the rest of the board here. Discussion on the motion, Mr. Chairman? Yeah, thank you, Madam Vice Chair. It saddens me every year to read the first part of this in so many ways, because there's a lot of numbers in there, but behind those numbers are actual real people, and a lot of people who have died accidentally, a lot of people who have died at an instinct moment, and it is a lifetime effect, not just for them, but for their loved ones as well.

[00:42:05] We're sitting here in Virginia at a time where we've made major strides here because of your work. Here, when I think about things like our red flag law and this pure number of guns that have been taken out of the hands of people in our community, who many of which are probably still alive or people they know are still alive to this day because of that law and because of the aggressive actions that take place in Fairfax County to utilize that law for what its intended purpose was.

[00:42:39] That is huge and takes an all-of-government approach to protecting people's lives. But when I think about the numbers and I think about what's going on in Richmond right now with all the progress that we made and the laws that were just passed that are already under attack and in our courts, I just hope that we prevail as we did here in Fairfax County when the National Rifle Association sued this Board of Supervisors for implementing gun bans in parks and rec centers and places that we had a right to ban guns to protect everyone in.

[00:43:18] that the first instinct of gun manufacturers was to sue Fairfax County. And with the NRA right here in our backyard, we wore it as a badge of honor that not only did they sue us, but that we won that case on the merits because protecting the public is a fundamental responsibility of local governments in any way that we possibly can.

[00:43:41] And so we will continue to fight for what this proclamation reads, which is common sense gun laws. When I talk to people across this county, it is surprising to me when members of our community hear what you can do in the United States and Virginia to get your arms, get your hands on a firearm if you want to.

[00:44:02] It's stunning to a lot of people who don't have experience in this area. How easy this country has made that for so many people for so long, unchecked. And now we're starting to get layers of common sense solutions in place. And what's happening is we're saving lives as a result of it.

[00:44:19] And so I want to thank Mom's Demand because there's a lot of groups who have worked on this. A lot of organizations that partnered with us in our lawsuit to defend the rights of this board to ban weapons in insensitive places. But the advocacy groups around this issue are as strong as any issue that there is out there.

[00:44:40] And you have been there since day one nationwide here in Virginia and here in places like Fairfax County. You have been there since day one. And I hope all of you feel that major progress has been made. We know we've got a lot of work still to do, and a lot of bills that recently were passed that are still to be defended and implemented.

[00:45:01] But, man, we've made a lot of progress, and most of that is because of your advocacy. So thank you. Sorry, Supervisor Pelczyk. Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for being here, and I know you're here every single meeting, and it really matters.

[00:45:19] You know that we hear issues across the board every single day And to know that you're committed to the safety and the progress of our county is incredible Also as the chair the council to end domestic violence I cannot go today without adding and ensuring that we know we cannot talk about Gun violence without talking about domestic violence. We have seen some very high-profile cases, but we know there are cases every single day. And we know that the presence of a gun in a home makes it five times more likely

[00:45:53] that a woman will be murdered by an abusive partner, generally a woman, but an aggressive partner. We know that gun violence in relationships extends beyond the pull of a trigger. We know that strangulation often leads to lethality and greater impacts on the community, and that millions of Americans have reported being threatened in their home.

[00:46:17] So that is the sad part, but as the chairman said, and I always have to look at hope, and because of your advocacy, because of the work, because elections matter, and we have a General Assembly and a governor who are committed to helping reduce gun violence, we are making slow but steady steps.

[00:46:38] From closing the boyfriend loophole to enacting safe storage, Really obvious things that responsible gun owners do anyway. And passing the landmark assault weapons ban, who needs a military-style weapon in their home?

[00:46:56] There's no reason for it other than to cause additional harm. So whether in our schools or shopping centers, our public spaces, our parks, we know that everything we do, every single step, And your continued commitment here across the state and in Richmond makes a huge difference.

[00:47:15] So thank you for being here. Thank you for helping us. We are only a handful of voices. Your voices really amplify the work and what we know Fairfax County looks for. So thank you for being here every single day. Thank you. Supervisor Luss. Thank you, Madam Vice Chairman.

[00:47:31] Today, gun violence remains one of the most significant public health and public safety challenges facing our community and our nation. Gun violence directly touches families, neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces. Before 2020, motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States. Since then, gun-related injuries have taken that place. In 2022, more than half of all firearms-related deaths were suicides. That is a stark reminder that

[00:48:09] Gun violence is driven by the silent crisis happening in many of our homes. We know there is no single policy that will end gun violence, but that does not mean we are powerless. And I appreciate the Chairman's note about the Virginia's Emergency Substantial Risk Order, or ESRO, commonly known as the Red Flag Law.

[00:48:29] ESRO allows law enforcement with judicial oversight to temporarily remove firearms from individuals who pose an immediate danger to themselves. It is a balanced, legally sound approach that prioritizes safety while respecting due process.

[00:48:48] In 2025, there were 110 red flag cases ordered in Fairfax County, and over three quarters of those reported were granted. I encourage residents that if you are concerned that your family member, roommate, or partner poses a substantial risk to themselves or others and is in possession of a gun, please, please call the police or the Commonwealth Attorney's Office in regard to this red flag law.

[00:49:19] And thank you all for being here today. Thank you for your commitment to addressing this very vexing problem. And to the point that were made, we are seeing some changes here in Virginia. I think this is very helpful, and I'm excited to see what comes in the future.

[00:49:36] Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Bierman. Supervisor Lusk mentioned what I was going to mention, which was emergency substantial risk orders, our red flag laws. I want to thank you all for being here and for your advocacy, and also thank our public safety agencies here in Fairfax County for their work on emergency substantial risk orders, which have saved lives in the county.

[00:50:01] And Supervisor Loss mentioned 110 this year, but it's been hundreds over several years. So thank you for your work and all that you do. Thank you. And just real quickly, for those watching, since that law was enacted in 2020, the county has obtained 481 ESROs and during that same period of time has removed 947 firearms from people.

[00:50:26] It is a lot. and it is significant. Thank you. Supervisor Sizemore Heiser. I won't add to everything that I agree with my colleagues, but I just wanted to say one thing I'm really proud of that the school board did when I was on it that has now become a statewide bill was a requirement that the school system let parents know about safe storage options and ability to save storage and how it saves kids' lives.

[00:50:53] And that was something I know you all worked on significantly, And we champion it here in Fairfax, because here in Fairfax, we really recognize the importance of safe storage for keeping kids safe. And my former colleague, Laura Jane Cohen, took it up on the state level, and it is now a state bill. But I want to thank you guys for that advocacy and just lift up the number of children that has probably saved.

[00:51:14] Thank you. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. And as I noted, we have Sarah Pluccino, Burke Fairfax Moms Demand Action with us.

[00:51:30] Welcome. The floor is yours. Hi. My name is Sarah. I'm a Moms Demand Action volunteer, a former elementary school teacher, and a mom to two young kids, soon to be three. Thank you to the board for this opportunity.

[00:51:46] When I was asked to speak today, I thought at first that I would focus on the great progress that Virginia has made this year, 25 gun safety bills and how many lives that will save. But you already know this, and I thank you. So instead, I will share that I am a mom raising little kids in America, the only country where gun violence is the leading cause of death in children.

[00:52:10] And that absolutely terrifies me. Every time I have looked at a school for either of my children, elementary school, preschool, daycare, the first and most important factor that I consider is building security. How hard would it be for a person with a gun to get into this building and shoot at my child?

[00:52:31] Every public place that I go, I think, where would I run if somebody started shooting here? Would my mom reflexes kick in fast enough to grab my kids and get us out alive? No one wants to talk about these things. They're horrific and morbid and sound like irrational fears, ones that should be rooted only in anxiety and not in reality.

[00:52:53] But are they irrational when mass shootings in this country have become so common that no one is surprised when they see a headline of yet another. Two years ago, I raised a concern at my son's daycare. I would regularly find the front door unlocked at pickup. I brought it up to the owner, who shared that it was a design flaw. The door would not re-lock automatically when somebody exited through it. And it kept happening. It kept arriving to find it unlocked, and I refused to let it go, continually mentioning that it was a huge safety concern and I was not comfortable. Eventually,

[00:53:28] The daycare paid a large sum of money to have the door replaced. At the time, I felt like some people who I told about this thought I was being a little bit irrational, a little bit overly dramatic by harping on this so much. But I don't think so, because just a couple of months later, a few miles away in Springfield, an armed man approached a kinder care and fired multiple shots at the front door while there were 70 children and toddlers inside, injuring two women.

[00:54:00] if the front door had been unlocked. After Uvalde, when my oldest child was two, I heard a mother named Kimberly Mata Rubio speak on the news. She had just lost her daughter, Lexi, and she was advocating for stronger gun safety laws. She said, somewhere out there, a mom is hearing our testimony and thinking to herself, I can't even imagine their pain, not knowing that our reality will one day be hers, unless we act now. And I will never forget that. And so I do what I can

[00:54:39] control. I stay hypervigilant, and I speak up if something doesn't sit right, and I try to do as much as I can with Moms Demand Action within the limits of my capacity while raising young kids. And I hope that it will be enough. And because I am still raising young kids, and I'm choosing to bring another one into this world, I have to have hope. I want to talk more about these 25 new laws but my time is up so I will end by saying that while I still live with a lot of fear as a mom in Virginia right now is a very good time to feel hopeful thank

[00:55:16] you so well said Sarah and thank you for for sharing your personal story with this too because that that is what changes people's minds so never being apologetic for being a parent who cares about our young people and you make a a difference. So thank you. With that, I think we're ready for a photo. And if all of you could

[00:55:47] come forward and the board could rise. Cheers. All right. Next, we have a proclamation to

[00:57:43] designate June 19th, 2026 as Juneteenth in Fairfax County. And this was requested by myself and Supervisor Lusk. Our speaker is Mark Anthony Nelson, member of the Fairfax Steering Committee for My Brother's Keeper initiative and a lot of folks here with him, which is great to see.

[00:58:02] If you all could come on down, and while you were doing that, I am going to turn to Supervisor Lust to read the proclamation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The proclamation reads, whereas the Emancipation Proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declared persons as slaves in Confederate territory free and led to the ratification of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States.

[00:58:32] And whereas word of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation did not reach authorities and African Americans in the South and Southwest United States for nearly two and a half years until June 19th, 1865.

[00:58:49] And whereas Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, and Liberation Day, has been celebrated by the African-American community for more than 150 years. And whereas the theme of the 2026 National Juneteenth Celebration is Juneteenth brings balance to America's celebration of freedom, honoring the full story of freedom in our nation and recognizing the ongoing work to eliminate systematic racism, discrimination, and inequities that continue to affect black Americans and other

[00:59:28] people of color. And whereas through one Fairfax, our county and our community has committed to promoting fairness and justice in the formation of public policy that results in equity for all residents. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, on behalf of all residents of Fairfax County, does hereby proclaim June 19, 2026, as Juneteenth in Fairfax County, and encourages all residents to celebrate this day, celebrate the contributions and

[01:00:04] achievements of African Americans, and reflect on the enduring promise of freedom, justice, and opportunity for all motion along with a lot of other board members discussion on the motion supervisor Lusk thank you Mr. Sherman I'll just make the point that it's so important that the Board of Supervisors recognizes Juneteenth as a time to honor the end of slavery in the United States and to acknowledge the ongoing work of building a more just and equitable society here in Fairfax County we are surrounded by local stories that reflect the resilience and determination of newly freed black families.

[01:00:43] One of the most inspiring stories is that of Laurel Grove's colored school located off of Beulah Street in the Franconia District. If you're not aware, in the 1880s, formerly enslaved residents William and Georgina Jasper donated land to build a one-room schoolhouse.

[01:01:02] The school building was built by formerly enslaved residents, and the material and labor were all provided by the community. Their collective efforts ensured that education and opportunity were within reach despite barriers of segregation and, in doing so, create a place of learning for the first generation born into freedom.

[01:01:26] To honor this legacy, we've named a community room in our new Franconia Governmental Center after Laurel Grove. This measure is important in ensuring that the story of those families and their commitment to education and community was highlighted and remains part of our civic life today.

[01:01:44] Juneteenth reminds us that freedom does not come all at once and that each generation has had to fight to make it real. We honor that history by continuing to work on expanding opportunity and equity for all who call Fairfax County home.

[01:02:02] Thank you very much. Thank you, Supervisor Lusk, Supervisor Stork. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I wanted to also acknowledge the work of so many people in our community and the challenges of so many decades and really centuries, to be honest, to get us here when we all recognized that it wasn't really, it wasn't until the 1960s that Fairfax County truly even recognized and treated African Americans without segregating them.

[01:02:34] Our school system and in so many other ways, Gump Springs was a representative of that as well as the Quandter family, and there's so many other families. I hesitated going there, but I want to at least acknowledge the two key families in the Mount Vernon District community, West Ford.

[01:02:52] And then one other individual I wanted to mention because I know for many of us here was a huge part of our community and a huge part of helping us, I guess, realize the potential, I think, not only Gum Springs community, but also of our Mount Vernon District community in Fairfax County, that's Maddie Palmore.

[01:03:09] of Matty Pomor passed this past year. We have a Juneteenth celebration at Gum Springs. It'll actually be on the 20th, and really all are invited to come. It's truly a community celebration, a community-wide celebration, and one that I have enjoyed attending for so many years.

[01:03:28] It'll be from 11:00 to 4:00 p.m. Again, this year it's to honor and really truly celebrate the life of Matty Pomor who gave so much for so many for so long. And just wanted to acknowledge that and also thank you all for being here to honor an important day in our history.

[01:03:47] Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Stork. Supervisor Palczyk. Very briefly, because we usually speak before, but I think we all recognize and are so humbled to see Mark Nelson here. I believe a recent Fairfax graduate and a familiar face at many of our meetings and committee meetings.

[01:04:04] And it's really heartening to see one of our youth, one of our students, be so engaged with local government, show how important it is to support our students, to support the future. And I think Juneteenth shows not just a commitment and understanding and education of the past, but also a commitment to the work that still needs to be done to ensure opportunity, access, and equity, especially for those in our community who have been left out or excluded in the past.

[01:04:36] So congratulations, and I know your mom is a proud service member, and we are so thankful to have you here and thank her and wishing her safety and the best as she serves in our armed forces. So thank you, Mark. Thank you, Supervisor Palchuk.

[01:04:51] And let me wrap up and just mention Maddie again because Supervisor Stork rightly stole my thunder. And Mark, for that matter, because this is kind of a full circle moment.

[01:05:06] Maddie spent her life really fighting for young people at the core of what she really believed in. And I know for her to see Mark standing here passing this torch to the next generation is really powerful to see right in front of us.

[01:05:23] So we're getting ready to celebrate all that Maddie did, but we also celebrate Mark, that you're here today. And I was going to embarrass him a little bit, so I'll just go ahead and do it. He is a senior at Fairfax High School, and I introduced him as the member of the Fairfax Steering Committee for My Brother's Keeper to keep it simple.

[01:05:41] But the reality is, is that he's the current chair of My Brother's Keeper Youth Advisory Council in 2025, served as a member of the Advanced Academic Programs AAP Advisory Committee and Minority Student Achievement Committee for Fairfax County Public Schools. So he has more than earned the right to be standing here in front of us.

[01:06:01] But I do want to just close by, you know, just reflecting for a moment because I wanted the downsides of my childhood was but was also an upside was growing up with a mom who was a middle school history teacher. You can imagine how the conversations were, but the lasting impression she always left me about the role of history.

[01:06:22] I try to reiterate all the time, which is our history was radically imperfect. But our obligation and why we teach and learn history is not just to reckon with the past, but to think about how we can always do better.

[01:06:41] We have to always improve. And if we're not teaching our entire history, including some of the struggles that happen right here in Fairfax County with so many of our families, we're missing the opportunity for that self-reflection that Juneteenth and other holidays bring us. But we also might be missing the opportunity to think about how we can all do better. And that, to me, is the most important part of celebrating Juneteenth and celebrating the holidays that we have around our history. And I hope everybody spends a minute, especially in this 250th year, looking back at our history, making sure they're getting the

[01:07:20] complete full picture of what happened and asking themselves what role they can play in doing better uh like people like mark are doing here today um and and that's really important for all of us and so with that uh all those in favor of the motion please say aye aye any opposed any abstentions that motion carries and uh as i mentioned mark anthony nelson is our speaker and now that i've read his resume. You all are getting ready to be dazzled by this young man. Mark, the floor is yours. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good morning. Before anything else, I'd like to thank

[01:07:59] the whole Board of Supervisors, the Chairman, Mr. McKay, and Mr. Brian Hill. Thank you so much for having me. It's nice actually being here on time, not when there's school, and so my mom's not going to get an email after this saying, where was your son? It's nice to be a graduate. The fact this proclamation returns to the board each year is a show of Fairfax County's commitment to equality and more importantly equity which cannot be undermined. It's extremely important to recognize that there is a difference between the two. Equality might open doors but equity makes sure everyone can actually get through it. One is a promise and one makes sure the other one is kept and it's extremely important to recognize the goal of this equity centered work cannot be done alone.

[01:08:39] So as I stand here I'm followed by the minority student achievement oversight committee which is one of the square festival board committees. They're here to support me along with my brother's keeper's steering committee, which is integral to my development. And our youth council, I mean, I'm here. I guess he's going to make it, but it's still important. They were there during the meetings. It was an amazing first time, and I feel like that committee really has a long way to go, and I think we can really achieve some great stuff with that. And I would like to thank every single person who attends the June meetings online, in person or anything, just to see this proclamation.

[01:09:15] You are not spectators. You guys are all practitioners and voices of equity in Fairfax County. And it's exactly what this county needs to keep the residents feeling like they have a community to keep them feeling welcomed and to keep them feeling like they belong here, which is extremely important.

[01:09:31] Speaking of community, I'd be doing a disservice if I stood here and only spoke in celebration of Fairfax County, although it's amazing because the truth is more urgent than that. Right now, our civil rights and our civil society are under real strain. As most of you know, or at least hope, I hope most of you know, in April of this year, Louisiana v. Kallis, the Supreme Court by a vote of 6-3 rewrote Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allowed black voters to challenge maps drawn to dilute their voice and silence their vote.

[01:10:01] It's the whole redistricting issue. It's back again. In dissent, Justin Keegan warned that this threatens half a century's worth of gains in voting equality, it is about 60 years worth of work and hard voting and hard representation gone in less than seven months of deliberation from one administration. That is completely insane, and the fact that most people don't even know it happened is even more shocking and more should genuinely make everyone scared. So why does this belong in a Juneteenth address? Because Juneteenth was never about looking back at Freedom One. It was about defending freedom now, and our rights are Rights are not defended by accident.

[01:10:40] As the illustrious Cheryl Lee Ralph said during her speech at the Human Rights Campaign, just because you have rights today does not mean that you will have rights tomorrow. The fight is not over, it has only just begun. Rights are defended by people who pay attention, and the earlier we start to pay attention, the harder it is for those rights to be taken away.

[01:10:58] The more we build as a community, the more that we bring people into spaces where they are not comfortable, the more that we engage our fellow students, the more we engage our fellow peers, the more we create a more aware environment and the more that we can create a better community. The real danger we face as a community is apathy, a community which shows up and argues is far stronger than one that stays silent and uninformed.

[01:11:20] I would rather be in a county which asks the hard questions rather than a county that stays at home and lets things pass them by and lets policy pass that they do not feel is represented to them, but they have no idea because they don't show up. For any of this to mean anything, we need each other and we need community.

[01:11:36] So I'll leave you with some more wiser words than my own. Dr. King told us, if you cannot fly, run. If you cannot run, walk. And if you cannot walk, crawl. But whatever you do, keep moving forward. And Fairfax County needs to keep moving forward. Well said.

[01:12:01] Well said, as always. Mark, thank you for inspiring us, as you always do. And I think we're ready for a photo. And if you all could come join us. And I'd like our county executive, Mr. Hill, to join us for the photo as well. Supervisor Lusk and I will come down. The board will rise.

[01:14:02] All right. Finally, this morning, we have a proclamation to designate June 12th, 2026 as Declaration Day in the county in honor of the enduring legacy of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and its significance to our community, the Commonwealth and the nation.

[01:14:22] Our speaker is Christopher R. Eck, executive director of George Mason's Gunston Hall, who was prompt and is right here ready to go. And at this time, I am going to recognize Supervisor Stork to read the proclamation. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[01:14:38] It is a pleasure and honor to do so. Whereas Fairfax County joins the Commonwealth of Virginia and the nation in commemorating the 250th anniversary of America's founding and recognizes the enduring contributions of Fairfax County to the history of Virginia and the United States.

[01:14:54] And whereas on May 15, 1776, Virginia's Fifth Revolutionary Convention adopted a resolution directing the drafting of a Declaration of Rights and Constitution, establishing a new government grounded in the authority of the people.

[01:15:13] And whereas George Mason of Gunston Hall was appointed to the drafting committee on May 17, 1776 and became the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, one of the most influential documents in American history. And whereas on June 12, 1776, Virginia Declaration of Rights was unanimously adopted, affirming fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of the press, religious liberty, the rights of the accused, and civilian control of the military.

[01:15:45] And whereas, as the Declaration established, enduring principles of democratic governance, affirming that power is vested in and derived from the people, and that government exists to serve, protect, and secure the rights of its citizens.

[01:16:02] And whereas the ideals first articulated 250 years ago continue to influence declarations of rights and democratic movements throughout the United States and around the world. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on behalf of all Fairfax County residents does hereby proclaim June 12, 2026 as Declaration Day in Fairfax County and encourages all residents to reflect upon and celebrate the enduring principles of liberty, equality, and self-government embodied in the Virginian Declaration of Rights.

[01:16:38] And the chair will second that motion. Discussion on the motion. Supervisor Stewart. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure and honor to really even to think about this because you cannot think about America 250 without thinking about the Declaration of Rights.

[01:16:57] It's not possible. The Bill of Rights is why we are still here as a country and as a community that's committed to each other and committed to some basic core principles. So one does not happen without the other. Obviously, Abraham Lincoln, one of my heroes, talked a lot about that, particularly when he did the Gettysburg Address.

[01:17:17] He summarized that in just a couple hundred words. But the core of that, we the people, couldn't happen without the other many elements that really we just talked about. Freedom of the Press, Religious Liberty, the Rights of the Accused, Civilian Control of the Military, and really truly so many more.

[01:17:32] So it's a pleasure to welcome Mr. Eck here for the first time. It's an honor to be working with him at Gunston Hall, and it's a pleasure to have you as the new leader at Gunston Hall and really the icon, the iconic institution that it is in Virginia, but especially in Fairbanks County.

[01:17:54] And I obviously love saying the Mount Vernon District as well. So, sir, thank you very much and appreciate you being here. Thank you, Supervisor Stork, Supervisor Behrman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to add something to what Supervisor Stork just said, because he was mentioning the Bill of Rights.

[01:18:12] But, you know, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Section one of the Virginia Declaration of Rights says that all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into estates of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity, namely the enjoyment of life and liberty with the means of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

[01:18:39] Seems like Tom copied that a little bit, a little later. So, again, just a really great thing to be celebrating today, a key component of America 250. And thank you so much for being here.

[01:18:54] Thanks. Thank you, Supervisor Beerman. And let me also express my gratefulness to Christopher for joining us because this is not just a historic property. This is George Mason's Gunston Hall. And we all know that George Mason was one of the principal authors of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.

[01:19:11] And so there's so much rich history right here in Fairfax County that while the nation is celebrating our 250th, it's really special in a place like this. And seeing all the events and festivities happening, we're going to get a report after this on some of the 250 activities.

[01:19:31] But this means a lot more to us probably than most parts of the country just because of the rich history that we have. And so, Christopher, thank you for what you're doing to protect, preserve, and educate at Gunston Hall. It's a Fairfax County treasurer that we're all very proud of.

[01:19:48] With that, I believe it's time to vote. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. And as I mentioned with us is Christopher Eck, Executive Director of George Mason's Gunston Hall.

[01:20:03] Welcome. The floor is yours. Good morning, and thank you for the honor of appearing before you. I've had the pleasure to work with Supervisor Stork already, and thank you and I hope to have in the coming years a great opportunity to work with the rest of you. It is a momentous year in the 250th of George Mason's authorship of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and so many other things.

[01:20:26] And you're right, Supervisor Behrman, Tom did copy a bit. In fact, he actually visited George Mason just a few days before his death. So they were great friends along with Madison and Washington, and unfortunately, because of his principle that they did not include a Bill of Rights in the Constitutional Convention, that friendship of many decades was fractured for a while.

[01:20:48] But nonetheless, it was George Mason and his influence over Thomas Jefferson and his friendship with Patrick Henry and George Washington and James Madison and so many others that led us to where we are today. And since you've already had a wealth of words spoken this morning, and brevity is the soul of wit, I will leave you with just thanking you for this honor of proclaiming June 12th, Declaration Day in Fairfax County.

[01:21:14] And we have a great celebration going on at Gunston Hall this weekend from the 12th and 13th. You're all invited. I know you have a naturalization ceremony here, but we're also welcoming a naturalization ceremony at Gunston Hall. We'll be bringing in nearly 50 new citizens to the country from over 22 countries.

[01:21:31] So it'll be a great experience for everybody. And on Saturday, since you'll be busy here on Friday, I'd welcome you all to come out to Gunston Hall. Thank you. Thank you very much, Christopher, for that and for that invitation and for all you do. I think we're ready for a photo. And I know immediately following this, we have the 250 Commission semi-annual report presentation.

[01:21:53] And I can see the whole crew that's here for that. If you all want to come down for this photo, please come on down and join us as well. And Supervisor Stork and I will come on down if the board could rise.

[01:23:15] And next, we have a presentation on the Fairfax County 250th Commission semi-annual report. And with us, of course, is Elizabeth Maurer, chair of the Fairfax County 250th Commission. Liz, welcome. The floor is yours. I'm Liz Maurer.

[01:23:34] I'm a Fairfax County resident, and I'm also the chair of Fairfax County 250th Commission. And I am so pleased to be here with you this morning along with some of my fellow commissioners so we can tell you about what's been happening since we saw you last year at the same time.

[01:23:54] We are celebrating 250 years of American history here in Fairfax County. And our 17-member commission represents all nine magisterial districts as well as several different history organizations across the county.

[01:24:12] And we are so proud to be able to represent and serve Fairfax County in creating, supporting, and amplifying 250 events throughout the county. And what a difference a year has made.

[01:24:29] Last year, we were here with fifers and drummers and George Washington himself, right, to kick off those festivities. And today we are in the midst of the semi-quincentennial season with events occurring nearly every day this week, let alone the rest of the year.

[01:24:51] We are going to be celebrating a new exhibit at George Washington's Mount Vernon. We're going to be in the city of Alexandria for the tall ships in the Virginia 250 Museum in the little history village. We're going to be at Gunston Hall this weekend for their declaration festivities.

[01:25:11] We also have two naturalization ceremonies, the release of the Fairfax 250 beer, a flag day celebration in Vienna, and the 251st anniversary of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir and the National Museum of the United States Army.

[01:25:32] It is amazing to look at our plans just for June, wait till you see July, right, and the rest of this year. We are committed to creating opportunities for our neighbors and visitors to experience the past, the present, and the future of Fairfax County.

[01:25:53] We are so thankful for our many and varied partners who have been helping to create and all of these wonderful things. They include Arts Fairfax, Fairfax County Park Authority, the Fairfax County Public Library, the History Commission, Fairfax County Public Schools, where last month and this month, 64 elementary schools will be having end of the year 250 themed school picnics.

[01:26:26] And about a third of them were Title I schools. It's fantastic. We're also so pleased to be able to be in partnership with these different history and arts organizations across the county. We've interacted with the staff in many of the supervisory offices.

[01:26:44] I'm looking at you, Supervisor Paulczyk, who are also planning great events and telling us about them. And then, of course, we wouldn't be where we are today without the fantastic support of County Executive Brian Hill. so some of these programs are looking back at the past some of them are historic some of them are looking towards the future we are definitely celebrating the moment whether it's with the world cup watch parties and bar trivia events as well as all of these creative projects that keep our

[01:27:23] eyes on the future our pop-up booths engage the community in this moment as we appear at events across the county, reaching as many people as we can in their own neighborhoods. We've brought some examples today of community involvement, including our dear future Fairfax postcards, and then the people who've affixed their very bold signatures on the Declaration of Independence.

[01:27:54] And some of these things will be included in our time capsule, right? So after July 1st, we will be standing up a new committee on the 250 Commission to look towards the legacy projects that we expect to get off the ground in 2027. We want to thank you all very much for this opportunity to organize and participate in this remarkable moment in time, the semi-quincentennial year of our nation's independence. Thank you.

[01:28:33] Thank you very much, Liz. You and your team are doing an amazing job. This is a major undertaking. And, you know, as we mentioned in the previous presentation, this is really just so important to our community. I mean, it's obviously a nationwide birthday, but the rich history that we have here, the moment that we have to celebrate and highlight that is is tremendous and and what you and all the partner agencies that you mentioned are doing um it is amazing honestly i see references to uh these events everywhere i go um you know i see

[01:29:11] them in chamber newsletters i see them at visit you know visit fairfax at their at their events i see them on channel 16 and social media campaigns and you know plastered all over the place and so uh getting the message out is sometimes the hardest thing and and you guys are doing an an amazing job with that. With that, I'm going to ask my colleagues if they have any questions or comments they would like to share. Supervisor Stork. I just wanted to thank really the commission and really all the work that they've done, and particularly thank them for last Saturday and being part of our Summerpalooza. We had, I would say, a couple thousand plus people there, and I

[01:29:48] think that's a chance for people to connect and understand not only what is happening, you know, for 250, but also just what's happening in their community, and you all have been a key part of that. I cannot not say something about Tammy Murnarino and how much she's been part of that, not only for the 250, but also so involved with Fort Belvoir and the many other steps there.

[01:30:12] And Tammy, I hope I'm not embarrassing you, but I do love your socks. So thank you. As a fellow sock official. Yes, yes, of course. Very patriotic. Thank you. All right. Anyone else? Supervisor Palachuk. I just want to add my thanks and congratulations. And I especially appreciate you sharing that this is the kickoff. This is the big year. But as we continue to move forward, I know as we were speaking earlier, there's a lot of history that's known. Mount Vernon is known. But there are other areas in the county, as you know, that are less known for their history. And I would say within Providence, we have history and the future. We've got the old courthouse. And as it goes

[01:30:49] through, you know, the future renovations, being able to continue to work with highlighting, right? We have the wills of both George and Martha Washington there. Very few people know that. And so I think the partnership with us, with the county clerk's office, with the courts to do that, as well as to look at the future of, I think, the server line really looking at what are the next 250 years of Fairfax County.

[01:31:16] So thank you for all your work and for stepping in when we lost Delegate Boulevard to Richmond. You're doing incredible work. Thank you very much, Supervisor Pouchek, and if there's no other comments or questions, again, thank you very much and we'll continue to amplify. Thank you. All right. I believe our next, okay, our next item is a final report on General Assembly activities and Jennifer Van E and her team are here. While they're coming down, I'm going to recognize Supervisor Jimenez, Chairman of the Board's Legislative Committee.

[01:31:54] Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. And before we get started, I do think there is a quick announcement from one of our board colleagues today. I think there's a birthday, and I was told by some staff that they absolutely loved being acknowledged for their birthday. So with that, real quick, happy birthday, Mr. Stork. I hope you're having a great day.

[01:32:18] How could it not be great? He's here with us. All right. Following the 2026 regular session adjournment on Saturday, March 14th, the General Assembly returned to Richmond on April 22nd for the reconvened session to take up the governor's actions on legislation.

[01:32:35] At the reconvened session, the General Assembly accepted the majority of the governor's recommendations, but returned 53 bills to the governor for further consideration. Of those 53 bills, the governor vetoed an additional 23 bills. All legislation for the 2026 General Assembly is now final, with the notable exception of the state budget.

[01:32:57] As of June 5, 2026, an agreement has not been reached in the state budget, though both the House and the Senate are scheduled to return to special session later this month. The data center sales and use tax exemption continues to be a point of contention, as well as the possibility of certain vetoed legislation, including a retail cannabis market through the budget.

[01:33:20] The 2020-2026 General Assembly was marked by a significant statewide change in a renewed focus on affordability, public safety, education, environmental protection, and an evolving state-local partnership. This session was also marked by an increased presence by myself and my fellow board colleagues reinforcing that in Fairfax County, we strive to be a county of, yes, a county grounded in collaboration, committed to working alongside our state counterparts to better advocate for our shared constituents. Fairfax County played an essential leadership role in this session,

[01:33:59] advancing its priorities, safeguarding local authority, and successfully shaping legislation with broad impacts on residents, regional partners, and the Commonwealth. Of the 3,646 bills and resolutions introduced, 1,832 bills were reviewed by county operational and legal staff.

[01:34:20] the board took formal positions on 227 bills. Of the 135 bills the county supported, 68% of those bills were enacted. And of the 53 bills the county sought to oppose, only 24% of those bills were enacted, demonstrating Fairfax's influence and effectiveness of our legislative engagement.

[01:34:43] As an additional measure of success, the county achieved a 100% success rate on its three county legislative initiatives, each of which passed in some form. These include important efforts to improve transportation safety through noise abatement monitoring systems, expand authority to better protect our parks, and advance work on public-private partnerships to support future investments in our community. Demonstrating how the Board's legislative positions translated into action during this session, the final legislative report is structured to mirror the priorities,

[01:35:20] guiding principles, and topic areas established in the county's adopted 2026 legislative program. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move that the board adopt the 2026 final legislative report. And the chair will second that, along with a lot of board members.

[01:35:38] Discussion on the motion, Supervisor Jimenez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So first, I want to thank our legislative team, as always, and the staff for their hard work this session. Their careful analysis of thousands of bills each with real impacts on our residents ensured we were well positioned to effectively advocate for our communities.

[01:35:57] At the beginning of the session, I said I wanted to focus on delivering meaningful results for our residents while strengthening our relationships with our state delegation. I'm proud of the progress we have made on both fronts, and I appreciate the partnership of my colleagues and legislative partners throughout the process and look forward to continuing those efforts moving forward.

[01:36:17] Thank you, Supervisor Menezes. Supervisor Beerman. Thank you. Thank you for all your work down in Richmond this session. I can't go anywhere without people saying so when are you going to implement the muffler bill? Which Rip Sullivan who has passed a lot of really important legislation finds it very funny that that's also what he hears about most.

[01:36:40] So I don't see Deputy County Executive Tom Arnold in here, but obviously our public safety agencies, we got to get that muffler bill going because people were really excited about that. I also obviously hear about the veto of the casino bill. So thank you for your work down there as well, advocating the county's position on that. And thank you for all the hard work. It was really fun, Christine, to have you helping me go testify on the muffler bill as well. So that was a little fun thing going down. And And I got to tell you, folks, you know, sometimes it's fun being on the other side and testifying.

[01:37:20] So if there are opportunities next year, I hope everybody on the board gets involved. Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Beerman. And having done that fun is one descriptor. I'll leave that open-ended. Supervisor Palchek.

[01:37:36] I, again, want to thank Team Awesome. Thank you for your incredible work down there in Richmond. Both of the ensuring that we improved some bills that needed some improvement in order for them to work a little bit better at the local level to partner with those delegates who understand local government and the impacts of the legislations.

[01:37:58] They have to pass very quickly, right? They have a broad set of things they need to do in just a few weeks. And I know that often leads to maybe the devil in the details not being what we and the residents hope for. So thank you for your diligent work and your meetings to help improve that.

[01:38:16] Thank you to the chair of the committee, Jimenez, for his work on this. And I have one question. I think I know the answer. How is the state budget doing these days? So they met last, Jennifer Vanney, legislative director.

[01:38:32] There were meetings between leadership last week. It did not sound like they ended well. But there was a news article out this morning that the governor has said, and all three leaderships have continued to say there will be a budget by July 1.

[01:38:47] Okay. Well, hearing that there is an even larger surplus than they expected, we all hoped and were disappointed that that meeting didn't go well. But looking forward to the budget, as you know, we've passed ours but are waiting for the state to support, especially areas around transportation and education.

[01:39:05] So I appreciate all your work. Supervisor Alcorn. Thank you. I also want to thank the staff and legislative committee chair and really all the board members who worked on this over the last months, many months. My question, actually, Jennifer, is about schedule, going forward, looking forward.

[01:39:25] I've heard from several members of the delegation a desire to have earlier meetings, to actually have discussions earlier. Can you tell us how is that looking right now from your perspective? Are we going to be able to have some of these conversations sooner rather than later?

[01:39:46] That's an excellent question. And Legislative Chairman Jimenez and I have talked about how to move all the schedules earlier, which is we've set up some meetings with your offices before the summer break to try to get the ideas and get the ball rolling on all of that.

[01:40:02] I've also given the housing task force report, reached out already to start trying to discuss with some of the major people, both in the Fairfax delegation as well as statewide around some of the efforts around that housing, what that housing report and the actions were taken are.

[01:40:18] And so it is our goal to keep moving things more forward. And so the September 1 is our first hearing this year, first legislative committee, and then on, we are going to be doing the, um, delegation work session already in October to try to also help with communications and fostering the relationship, as Legislative Chairman Jimenez has said, of really focusing on that relationship building.

[01:40:45] Thank you very much. I'm really pleased to hear that. I knew there was some work to try to move something. I mean, frankly, I think we work better with our delegation when we're proactive and we're working collaboratively with them as opposed to just reacting to other people's ideas, which sometimes might not be the best ideas in the world.

[01:41:05] So thank you so much for working on that accommodation and really updated schedule. So I look forward to that. And, Supervisor Alcorn, to add to that, I would just say I think one of the things we all need to emphasize to our delegation is that awareness is a two-way street.

[01:41:23] And so many times we see bills for the first time when they're dropped in Richmond. And, you know, we have a session with our General Assembly, was not very well attended this past year, but we always give them an opportunity to share with us the things they're working on.

[01:41:40] And so I would just say to our delegation, it's very important for us to know what initiatives they're going to be working on as well so that we can provide input not once they're already in Richmond, but provide input at the beginning of the process of drafting a bill.

[01:41:57] And so our staff does an excellent job, but many times they're seeing things once they're dropped and aren't really brought into the fold before then. And so I think that's something we all can individually emphasize with our own delegation members. I do want to just, you know, focus a couple of things that have been said.

[01:42:15] There were a lot of good things that happened during this session. The gun bills we just talked about a few minutes ago. Certainly the noisy muffler issue. I'm with Supervisor Beerman. get asked about that everywhere I go. You talk about a real granular quality of life issue that people are shocked to hear we just couldn't do something about until we had to get a bill passed in Richmond over multiple sessions to just institute a pilot to prove that this is a problem and enforcement is necessary. So this is a core quality of life issue. And so it may sound funny to some

[01:42:51] people, but it was a Herculean effort, and certainly Delegate Sullivan, Delegate Watson, Boulava, and Senators Aird, who played major roles in making sure that we got that flexibility. There were some good bills on affordable housing. There are other ones that we'll see how they play out, but I think the only disappointing thing, let me add one more positive thing, certainly from this board member's perspective, was the veto the casino bill, which, you know, again, want to thank Governor Spanberger for that because it should have never passed in the first place but this is why we have checks and balances system in Virginia

[01:43:28] and the governor I believe heard us very loud and clear on that issue and I'm grateful to her for that but what is upsetting is that we don't have a budget yet and you know you can imagine if our board was sitting here and just decided to all head home and keep postponing when we adopted a budget and what our bond rating agencies would be saying and what the staff would be saying about how do we plan for next year and close our books.

[01:43:54] And there are local governments across Virginia right now not knowing what is happening and not knowing what's going to happen when they need funds to be flowing into their jurisdiction. So this is not a trivial issue. It's unfortunate that it's come down to be quite trivial, but the reality is it's very serious business.

[01:44:15] It's serious to Virginia's reputation, and it's not the way a state like Virginia should be acting. And so I'm very hopeful that there is a quick resolution when the House and Senate reconvene, and hopefully we can move forward because, you know, when I talk to our colleagues at VACO, some of the ones, especially from rural parts of Virginia, that are far more reliant on state funding than we are, this is a really desperate moment for them and a level of uncertainty that they really shouldn't be facing.

[01:44:45] But no reflection on the great work that our staff has done that we appreciate you for doing and we'll continue to always look for progress. So thank you. With that, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions?

[01:45:01] And that passes 9 to 0, Supervisor Herity being out of the room. Thank you. And we are now going to move on to our board matters. and these have been compiled digitally and circulated to the board.

[01:45:18] We'll follow our normal order. I'm going to hand the gavel to Vice Chair Smith so that I can read my two board matters. One is I move to approve without objection the proclamation request listed in this document. I'm not going to read all those.

[01:45:35] All those are in front of you. But again, I appreciate my colleagues who have brought these forward, and we are offering those jointly. Without objection, it's so ordered. Thank you. And my next board matter is recognizing the need to protect the Occoquan One water system.

[01:45:52] Ensuring the continued quality, reliability, and affordability of drinking water is vital to our continued success of our community. As we heard last week at our meeting with Fairfax Water, Fairfax Water Authority provides safe, exceptional quality drinking water to more than 2.2 million people in northern Virginia, and the Occoquan Reservoir is one of Fairfax Water's two key water supply sources.

[01:46:17] Through land use regulations, responsible wastewater and stormwater management, public outreach, and regional partnerships, The county actively protects the quality and quantity of water in the Occoquan Reservoir as a shared regional resource. The Board of Supervisors' long history of protecting the Occoquan Watershed includes a 1978 Board resolution affirming our commitment to ensuring the wastewater return flows to the Occoquan are maintained.

[01:46:44] A unique nationally recognized component of this is the indirect potable reuse system that ensures adequate flow in the Occoquan Reservoir for the people of Fairfax County. In this one water system, highly treated wastewater from the Upper Occoquan Service Authority, UOSA, is returned to the Occoquan Reservoir and accounts for up to 90 percent of all inflows to reservoir during drought conditions.

[01:47:11] However, recently there's been an interest by some entities in the region to divert UOSA return flows for consumptive uses. This would reduce the supply of water in the Occoquan that has already been allocated by Fairfax Water and is being relied upon by the millions of Fairfax Water customers.

[01:47:31] Therefore, I move that the Board adopt the attached resolution to be sent to the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Board Upper Occoquan Service Authority, and the Board of Fairfax Water that affirms our commitment to ensuring that no diversion of wastewater from the Occoquan one water system be permitted that adversely impacts Fairfax County or the Fairfax Water Authority.

[01:47:58] I'll second that motion along with Supervisor Palchuk discussion on the motion. Just very briefly, my colleagues won't be surprised to see this come forward. We circulated this in the resolution early. This does come in response to what I thought was a great meeting with Fairfax Water last week with a lot of good information and grateful to the Fairfax Water Board and the executive director for meeting with us and sharing with us the proactive ways that we can get involved in this issue.

[01:48:26] Certainly there's other ways, but it starts with adopting this resolution and making the position of the Fairfax County Board clear, and so I would respectfully request my colleagues' support for this. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

[01:48:42] Aye. Any opposed, any abstention, that motion carries. Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. I do have just two quick announcements. First, as many of you already know, Anna Nissenen has been selected as the Chief Economic Development Officer and Director of Arlington AED Economic Development.

[01:49:02] She will begin her new role later this month, and on behalf of the Board, we want to extend our congratulations to Anna on this well-deserved opportunity. Thank her for her vital and important service and partnership to the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, and we certainly look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with her in advocating regional economic development efforts that benefit both Fairfax County and the broader Northern Virginia community, and while it was sad to see her leave the EDA, it is great to see her staying locally, where she can still be working with us on so many things.

[01:49:37] So on behalf of the Board, congratulations, Ana, and we look forward to continue working with you. And then secondly, I do have a summer intern in my office, Amy Theum, who is a resident of Sully District and rising senior at UVA.

[01:49:56] She's majoring in public policy, leadership, global development studies with a minor in French. And meeting with my office during the hiring process, she reflected on how One Fairfax policy shaped her experience as a Muslim American student and deepened her understanding of how local government directly impacts everyday life.

[01:50:15] Amy has a strong interest in affordable housing, the intersection of public policy and community engagement, and fostering connections across diverse and faith-based communities, as well as strengthening communication and relationships throughout Fairfax County. We certainly look forward to having her here on Team Fairfax, and I just ask my board colleagues to join me in welcoming Amy.

[01:50:41] She is a resident of Sully District, so Vice Chair Smith, don't try to steal her. And with that, next up is you, Supervisor Smith. Thank you. I have one board matter about NACO credentials. Mr. Chairman, the board has received a request from the National Association of Counties, NACO, regarding designating a voting delegate and alternate voting delegate to represent the county at the NACO Annual Conference and Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana, on July 17 through 20.

[01:51:11] Therefore, I move that the board designate Chairman Jeff McKay as the voting delegate and Vice Chair Kathy Smith as the alternate voting delegate. You've heard the motion. Seconded by Supervisor Pouchek and Supervisor Stork.

[01:51:26] Any discussion on the motion? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Supervisor Smith. Thank you, Supervisor Smith. And next up is Supervisor Sizemore-Heiser.

[01:51:44] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a board matter and a couple introductions as well. So I'm presenting a joint board matter with Chairman McKay, Vice Chair Kathy Smith, and Supervisor Dalia Palchek. It's a review of the consolidated community funding pool process.

[01:52:00] And a little bit of background, Mr. Chairman. Established by the Board of Supervisors in fiscal year 1997, the Consolidated Community Funding Pool, CCFP, has served as a competitive funding process for a broad range of community-based health and human service programming delivered by the community-based organizations.

[01:52:17] Operating on a two-year competitive award cycle, the CCFP is responsive to changing community needs and provides a unified process for setting categories and awarding funding to a variety of community-based health and human service programs, including new or emerging needs, thereby expanding the community's capacity to deliver a range of needed human services.

[01:52:38] The CCFP is funded from a portion of the county's Federal Community Development Block Grant, CDBG Award, Federal Community Services Block Grant, CSBG, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF funds, and local Fairfax County general funds. As the board is aware, last month the CCFP announced the successful awards for the next cycle beginning July 1, 2026, fiscal year 2027-28.

[01:53:03] Historically, the CCFP has continued to evolve in response to changing community needs. As discussed at the June 5, 2025, Board of Supervisors' Health and Human Services meeting, the County regularly refines the initiative to include a consistent review of community needs in category setting, enhancing training provided to the Resident Selection Advisory Committee, improving support from the Staff Technical Advisory Committee, strengthening program outcome measures and reporting, and implementing continued process improvements to eliminate potential service gaps.

[01:53:32] A significant change in fiscal year 2027 was the removal of the emergency fund and emergency housing categories from the CCFP, ensuring that emergency basic needs are resourced throughout the county and are no longer competed against other community-identified human service needs.

[01:53:48] While significant enhancements have been made to the current CCFP cycle, in the spirit of continual review and improvement, additional considerations for future improvements are always welcome. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, we move that the Board direct county staff to review the CCFP process and implementation, including but not limited to reviewing the recommendations from the June 5, 2025 Health and Human Services Committee meeting, many of which did not have sufficient time for discussion before the current funding cycle, as well as additional stakeholder engagement.

[01:54:17] As a result of this review, staff discussion should include recommendations for possible changes to the program's structure and processes, accountability requirements, including metrics, goals, and key performance indicators, and program sustainability measures. Staff should return to the October 2026 HHS committee meeting for a plan for discussing these recommendations as well as implementation timelines in case the Board chooses to implement these recommendations for the fiscal year 2029 to 2030 CCFP cycle.

[01:54:45] Second. I'm happy to second that motion as well. Any discussion on the motion? Supervisor Seismorheiser. Thank you. I just briefly wanted to say, you know, since its inception, CCFP has been a community-led process. And the Consolidated Community Funding Advisory Committee, CCFAC, has conducted oversight of the use of these CCFP funds and been an integral part of this process and the funds and the community resources being allocated.

[01:55:10] And I really want to thank them for their vital work now and in the future. Throughout the cycle, CCFAC meets with community providers, with the Selection Advisory Committee and the Staff Technical Advisory Committee members and has worked to update the program. So I expect this to move forward as part of the community engagement envisioned in the motion.

[01:55:28] Staff will work with CCFAC and other stakeholders as we go through the review process. So CCFAC is an integral part of that review process. So I look forward to checking in on the progress as HHS Chair as the work continues. Thank you, Supervisor Beerman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[01:55:44] i'm very glad that you're bringing this motion uh continually looking at these programs and making sure that uh we are doing them correctly and that they they work is is really important uh it was disappointing uh this cycle uh when there were some inaccurate statements made publicly about what had happened with the ccfp uh in fact ccfp funding um while we went from having two lanes directly in the ccfp and we pulled one of those lanes out the total funding went up by five percent which was very clear in our budget documents there were some people who did not read that and that

[01:56:21] bothered me um but it that is also why i think this is important for us to look at this process to look at stakeholder engagement to try and get the right information out there and while i don't have a formal addition to the motion. I just will also note that given the timeline of this, and given the fact that we do this on a two-year cycle, one thing that can be considered when it comes back to the Health and Human Services Committee, Dan Stork knows what I'm about to say, is perhaps this would also be something that could be looked at by our Audit Committee down

[01:57:00] the line as well as a consideration of of how we best utilize and and deploy these funds there's plenty of time to to get this on a future audit work plan if we want to make sure that we're doing it right thank you thank you supervisor Patrick thank you mr. chairman first of all thank you to chair seismor heiser who has done a great job taking the committee and I think has taken the right approach to try to review this program as supervisor chairman has said This is a program we've had for about 25 years now and speaking to some of the people who were around at its inception understanding, right,

[01:57:37] some of the issues that this was created to address have been addressed and are maybe coming back because we're not addressing it. I think also, second, some of what led to the confusion about the funding is because, And I believe Mr. Smith helped lead the efforts to take out the portions for critical housing, emergency housing, and food.

[01:58:01] And we've seen that that step has really worked. That piece is functioning in a way that we know is meeting the needs of our residents and ensuring that there's work from the staff and the nonprofits to meet those needs. And to me, this is the next step that we tried that.

[01:58:20] didn't break things and made that piece work well. And now we many of us have heard and are frustrated with some of the outcomes that we are seeing for programs that are critical to our community. And unfortunately, our funding, some of them only through this program. And I think this review is really important. I don't know how I feel about jumping to audit, but I think really starting with this, and I thought you were going to address perhaps looking at time cycles is something that I've heard from some of the nonprofits is there there are a couple of areas that do need review and I think knowing that we're now starting the next cycle this is the appropriate time to do that so thank you for bringing

[01:59:00] this forward I know we continue to hear from our nonprofits I know that there's quite a bit of frustration from those who are not funded and I think there's fear from our end of who will be left behind and fall through the cracks but I think this is the right way for us to review it and our staff I know continue to work with non-profits who maybe were not funded through this cycle.

[01:59:20] Supervisor Alcorn. Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate the motion maker's comments, particularly about CCFAC. I'd like to ask if the motion could incorporate the review not just by staff but also CCFAC and that we hear back from CCFAC when we hear from staff at the October meeting.

[01:59:41] Would that be possible? I think that's how it was always contemplated to work, so I don't mind expressing it. I think it's a regular review CCFAC does, and that comes back to the board anyway, so I think that's already happening, so we can put it in there.

[02:00:00] Okay, yeah, I just want to make sure that that, because it's not in writing. I know it was in your comments, but I want to make sure that the group, the citizens group we set up basically to review this also gets a chance to make recommendations. I think I would only be careful not that we don't have competing sets of recommendations is my only concern about having that as part of this, right, where we have.

[02:00:20] So I think incorporating the recommendations as part of this work is important, and I think they do their own work to review it as it is. I just worry about competing sets of recommendations. Mr. Chairman, if I could, I worry about that, too, because the elephant in the room here is whether or not staff does this or a citizen's group of nonprofits does this.

[02:00:39] And I know there are differing opinions on this board. That's why I want to make sure that the citizens are given a chance to weigh in as well as staff, because there is, I think, a tendency, whenever we have challenges, and we've been through this before, and we've reviewed, you know, this program before, that we not just hear from staff, I want to hear from the group that we actually have asked to provide us as well.

[02:01:01] Yeah, and I have no objection to that. I think the spirit of that is embodied in this, and how that mechanically is going to work, I think we'll have to work on just to make sure that's smooth. But I don't disagree. I mean, first, I appreciate the work that's been done on this motion.

[02:01:19] As was said earlier, I think it always makes sense to look at your processes. I would also just offer a cautionary tale a little bit, though, because what happened this cycle has happened in other cycles before. And we add a lot of money to this in the last couple budget cycles.

[02:01:39] There's going to be winners and losers. This is not a if you apply, you get money. And we don't want to get to a situation where everyone who applies gets a tiny amount of what they ask for and then can't perform what it is they've proposed to do for our county residents.

[02:01:55] And I think the change that we made recently is a good change in separating that out. But I, for one, have an approach to this with great caution because I know that there are some groups that are upset. They have a reason to be upset.

[02:02:10] But there are also a lot of groups who got funding for the first time ever who are elated to have an opportunity to serve residents in a different way. And this healthy competition inspires our community-based nonprofits to do better, to be more innovative, and to come forward with good ideas to serve as many people as we can.

[02:02:30] And I've said this, you know, repeatedly, and I know others share this, too, that, you know, our nonprofits take a dollar of county contribution and stretch it into multiple dollars of services performed within our community and say they are so vital to this process.

[02:02:47] And so I'm not at the conclusion point yet necessarily that any changes have to be made. And so one of the things I like about this is that we're doing a review to see what worked, what didn't work, soliciting ideas maybe to make this better. But ultimately, you know, that's going to be a decision that the board has to make.

[02:03:04] And I don't want our nonprofits out there thinking somehow that we're going to upend this system and give them uncertainty about what the future looks like. And so it's just a cautionary tale I put on the table because I, like some others here, have been through this multiple times.

[02:03:23] And every time something happens and somebody doesn't like, doesn't mean we start the program over and redo the whole program and try to be responsive to that. Because, in fact, it's designed to help weed out the best use of county dollars to serve as many people in a geographically balanced way as we can throughout the county.

[02:03:43] And I appreciate that, you know, we'll get the CCFAC board's input on this, too, about what worked and what didn't work. But I think it remains to be seen if changes need to be made. But we won't know that until we get the data back that is being requested in this board matter, which is why I think it's important that we do this.

[02:04:02] And I'm going to try to wrap this up really quickly, guys, because we're not going to do this work here from the dais. Let me first start with anyone who has not commented yet on this. Supervisor Smith. I appreciate, Supervisor Slasmoorheiser, bringing this together. I do think it is important to get that feedback from staff.

[02:04:20] We had problems in the past finding citizens to serve on the committees, and so it's always good to look and tweak. And as the chairman said, CCFAC will take a look at whatever gets proposed. And the other thing I think it's important to say is we're not doing this review based on who didn't get money.

[02:04:37] We're doing the review because that's something we need to do to ensure the process works really well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I should have added, I do want to thank Chris Leonard for his work with Supervisor Sizemore-Hyser as well, because he has that long history on this and will be an important part of our look at this.

[02:04:56] Supervisor Palcic. Mr. Chairman, I do want to add, because I think it's important, the conversations we've had is, yes, we want input, I would say, from all the stakeholders. CCFAC is one of those. Staff is one of those. I've had many conversations with our Human Services Council, with many different groups, Across the county. So I do think as was said a review is needed. It's timely and Just want to ensure and I know staff will do that as we do have experts and different types of experts Whether they are in the county in the nonprofits on the ground And we need to hear holistically because I'm worried about the voices that maybe are not on just one of those

[02:05:36] Councils and that we do look at what is working and not breaking that as well as looking at what could use some improvement So I think we're all on the same page, but I want to make sure that we're not leaving out any of those critical expert voices that make this function well.

[02:05:52] Supervisor Herity. Just real quick, I'd echo your comments, Mr. Chairman, and I do like the idea of having our board auditor, because they have the nonprofit background, taking a look at this also. I think it gives us a different view, so I appreciate both of those. Thank you. If there's no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion from long ago, please say aye.

[02:06:13] Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Supervisor Sizemore Heiser. Thank you. I have no other board member, but I do have a couple of announcements. I would like to introduce my interns as well. I'm pleased to introduce our two Braddock District Summer interns, Alyssa Gonzalez and Gabriela Stuxer, Gabby, as we call her.

[02:06:35] Alyssa joins us from California, having graduated from UC San Diego with a degree in urban planning. Her experience includes serving as a planning management intern for National Cities Planning Division, where she evaluated zoning compliance and research data-informed policy recommendations.

[02:06:52] Alyssa is really dedicated to serving our local communities and applying her skill set toward Team Braddock's mission. And I will say I really appreciate Alyssa's thoughtfulness and listening and lifting up the priorities that she hears around her. She's been a great addition already. And then Gabby is a proud Braddock district local who grew up in the community, attending Terra Center Elementary School and Robinson Secondary, which I don't hold her against her as a, like, Braddock parent.

[02:07:17] She is now a rising junior at George Mason University, where she studies government and international politics. Most recently, she served as district office intern for Congressman James Walkinshaw, gaining hands-on experience in event planning and constituent services. Gabby's excited to bring those skills and her deep connection to the community, to the Braddock District team, and we're very lucky to have her.

[02:07:37] Please, one last one. I have to reintroduce Ethan Mitchell, who was an intern in my office and now is joining our office as our new junior legislative aide. A lifelong Braddock District resident, Ethan was born, raised, and continues to live in the district while completing his final semester at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.

[02:07:58] Ethan brings valuable experience from his service as a field organizer on James Watkinshaw's congressional campaign, as well as a congressional intern in Congressman Watkinshaw's Washington, D.C. office, and most recently as a Braddock District intern in our office this spring. During his internship, Ethan demonstrated exceptional dedication, professionalism, and commitment to serving our community and willingness to jump in and do anything and everything that was asked for him quickly and excellently. I'm excited to welcome him as a permanent part of the Braddock District team and look forward to the contributions he'll make in this role. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you very much.

[02:08:38] Next up is Supervisor Behrman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With apologies to Reese Witherspoon, I have to say that on Saturday night, I was lucky to be at the Alden Theater at the McLean Community Center for a screening of probably the greatest movie ever made about an election. And And of course, I mean, Napoleon Dynamite and had the pleasure of meeting John Hader, John Grise, Efrem Ramirez, who were just fantastic.

[02:09:13] So with that, I will bring a board matter about the McLean Community Center election. See it all ties back, Mr. Chairman, the McLean Community Center MCC recently concluded open voting for six positions on the MCC's Governing Board of Directors, including three adult three-year terms, one adult unexpired two-year term, one youth one-year term for the Langley High School area, and one youth one-year term for the McLean High School area. Attached to this board matter is a copy of the letter sent by the MCC Executive Director providing certification of the results of the election. Pursuant to the memorandum of understanding between the Fairfax County Board

[02:09:53] of Supervisors and the Governing Board of the McLean Community Center, the Board of Supervisors, after determining that it is in the public interest to do so, shall appoint those persons receiving the highest number of votes to the McLean Community Center Governing Board.

[02:10:08] Therefore, Mr. Chairman, based on the results of the election as certified by the MCC's Elections and Nominating Committee, I move that the Board of Supervisors find that it is in the public interest to appoint those persons receiving the highest number of votes in this election governing board members and that the following individuals be appointed to the McLean Community Center governing board: adults three-year terms Minoo Razavi, Pascal Siegel, Michael Signer, adult unexpired two-year term Michael Solomon, youth one-year term Langley High School area Bryn Smith, and youth

[02:10:43] one-year term McLean High School area Yingjie Zhao. I'll second that motion. Any discussion on the motion? All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. I'm surprised nobody said vote for Pedro. Anyway, next board matter is APB Woodland Park LLC rezoning and proffered condition amendment application authorization to act as agent. This one's a mouthful, but I'll try and get through it quickly.

[02:11:16] APB Woodland Park LLC, the applicant, has filed rezoning application RZ-FDP-2025-DR-00017 and proffered condition amendment applications PCA-77-C-098-06 and PCA-80-C-028-09, collectively the application.

[02:11:47] in the Herndon Transit Station area to permit a mixed-use development consisting of residential and office uses, the proposed development. The property is located at 2121 Cooperative Way, 2219 Wood Oak Drive, and 2251 Corporate Park Drive, and includes parcels identified on Fairfax County Tax Map 16-3 Double Circle 1, 29A, and 16-3 Double Circle 11, 6B, 6D2, and 6F, collectively the property.

[02:12:19] On July 15, 2025, the Board's supervisors authorized the inclusion of approximately 35,284 square feet of Wood Oak Drive right-of-way within the application to facilitate modifications to the roadway network. As part of the proposed development, the applicant intends to incorporate this area and is therefore seeking to vacate and abandon those portions of the Wood Oak Drive right-of-way that will no longer be required for public roadway purposes.

[02:12:48] In light of the Board's prior authorization and the applicant's coordination with the Fairfax County Department of Transportation regarding the feasibility of vacating and abandoning the subject right away, the applicant requests the Board's concurrence with the application. As part of the rezoning and proper condition amendment application process, the applicant has submitted proffers.

[02:13:08] The application is scheduled for a public hearing before the Planning Commission on July 15, 2026. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move that the Board of Supervisors authorize the County Executive and or his designee to act as agents of the Board in conjunction with RZ-FDP-2025-DR-00017, PCA-77-C-098-06, and PCA-80-C-028-09,

[02:13:42] Subject to the execution of an agreement indemnifying the board as to any proper conditions associated with the rezoning application, this motion should not be construed as a favorable recommendation on the application by the board and does not relieve the applicant from compliance with the provisions of any applicable ordinances, regulations, or adopted standards.

[02:14:01] This actually in no way prejudices the substantive review of the application. And the chair will second that motion. Discussion on the motion. Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Supervisor Behrman.

[02:14:17] Thank you. No further board matters. Thank you, Supervisor Behrman. Supervisor Lusk. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On June 10th, 2025, the Board of Supervisors directed staff in the Department of Planning and Development, DPD, evaluate a comprehensive plan amendment for tax map parcels 92-1 double circle 1 parcels 220C at 6801 telegraph road the site formerly owned by the federal government and contain a vacant office building with a parking garage has been sold to a private entity the site is currently

[02:14:53] planned for public facility use and encourages consideration of affordable housing with any redevelopment. The board placed this nomination on the comprehensive plan work plan as a tier two item to evaluate repurposing the existing office building for residential use and adding new residential uses on the site. On December 9th, 2025, the board adopted updated countywide policies of the comprehensive plan that includes new criteria to support the repurposing of vacant or underutilized commercial buildings. As a result, proposals that meet these criteria may be deemed in conformance with the comprehensive plan without requiring a

[02:15:31] plan amendment. The nominator proposes to repurpose the vacant office building on the site and senior affordable housing and redevelop the site under the newly adopted comprehensive plan criteria which would make a plan amendment unnecessary. Staff within DPD will continue to monitor the proposal as it proceeds through the zoning evaluation process and revisit the need for a plan amendment if the proposal cannot meet the repurposing criteria of the comprehensive plan.

[02:16:01] Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move the Board of Supervisors amend 2025 comprehensive plan amendment work plan program to reprioritize PA 2025-4RH1 to a Tier 3 inactive item while retaining the original authorization for residential use.

[02:16:21] Staff may remove the item from the work program without further board action if further entitlement is approved and satisfies the criteria for commercial building repurposing. This motion should not be construed as a favorable recommendation by the board, the plan amendment, or any future entitlements, and does not prejudice their substantive review.

[02:16:41] Further, this action does not require the nominator, does not relieve the nominator from compliance with the provisions of any applicable ordinances, regulations, or adopted standards. So moved. Second. You've heard the motion. It's been seconded by Supervisor Bierman.

[02:16:57] Discussion on the motion. Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Supervisor Lusk. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this year marks the 50th year for the Alexandria Fairfax Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., which has served the Alexandria City and Fairfax County communities.

[02:17:22] Among their contributions to our community during the time include over $1 million in higher education scholarships awarded through its endowment fund and annually hosting Thanksgiving food distribution events through their Project Give Back initiative. It is important to note that last year's Thanksgiving food distribution was held at Hayfield Secondary School in the Franconia District.

[02:17:45] The chapter has also nine active youth programs spanning diverse areas such as scuba diving certification, an introduction to aviation program, Lego robotics, leadership development, and mentorship. Over 7,000 families in our community have benefited from the community service and education initiatives provided by the Alexandria Fairfax Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.

[02:18:10] Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move the Office of Public Affairs prepares a proclamation, recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Alexandria Fairfax chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, their commitment to community service in our area to be represented within or outside the boardroom.

[02:18:29] And the chair will second that motion. Discussion on the motion? Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Supervisor Luss. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to welcome two summer interns here today.

[02:18:45] so I've got them behind me. I'd like to first welcome back Adriana Albritton. As a summer intern in my office, Adriana is now in her third year at the University of Virginia, where she intends to major in finance. We're happy to have Adriana return, where she will continue conducting research on policy issues, preparing briefing notes, and attending community events throughout the Franconia District. And she's already begun that, and I will note, successfully has impressed a major corporation who is interested in maybe considering her for future employment. So

[02:19:21] congratulations, Adriana, glad to have you back. And then second, I'm also pleased to welcome a second new summer intern, and that is Zayan Ali. Zayan is a second year student at Tuskegee university, pursuing a degree in computer science and information systems.

[02:19:40] He joins our office with a strong interest in local government and public service, and we look forward to having Zion on our team, putting his technology skills to help us better improve some of our services and support our residents.

[02:19:55] So please join me in welcoming Adriana and Zion to the office and to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. And then, Mr. Chairman, if I could make one additional note, there's a Pride Night Out event that will be held at the Springfield Town Center benefiting Safe Space Nova.

[02:20:19] The event will be held on June 24th. It will be from 5 to 7 p.m. For those who are in the kind of the Springfield area, I hope that you will be able to come and join us, and I'll look forward to seeing you there. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Supervisor Lusk.

[02:20:36] Supervisor Alcorn. No board matters. Well done. Supervisor Jimenez. Not that well done. I have no board matters. I just have a quick announcement. Just following all of our conversations about America's 250th anniversary.

[02:20:55] So, Mr. Chairman, I'm pleased to announce that this summer the Mason District Arts Council is leading a community-wide celebration of America's 250th anniversary. Through the arts, music, culture, and a community mural project, Mason residents will have the opportunity to explore the ideas and values at the heart of the American Revolution.

[02:21:13] Kicking off the celebration of Nova Lights Chorale, we'll present a free concert this Friday, June 7th at 4 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Bailey's Crossroads. The performance will feature songs reflecting our nation's history, beauty, and ongoing pursuit of freedom.

[02:21:31] We're excited to support these events and the important role they play in bringing our community together through arts and culture in Mason District. I encourage residents to visit the Mason District's Arts Council website for a full schedule of programs and activities throughout the summer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[02:21:47] Thank you very much, Supervisor Mene, Supervisor Stork. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do have a written one and a verbal comment. Little Hunting Creek, this is jointly with yourself and Rodney and Supervisor Lusk. Little Hunting Creek has long been a vital natural resource in Mount Vernon and Franconia districts with history dating back to the lands once owned by General George Washington.

[02:22:10] By the early 2000s, the creek had become one of the most degraded streams in Fairbanks County. Recognizing the urgent need for action, staff from the county's stormwater planning division partnered with dedicated residents and environmental advocates to develop the Little Hunting Creek Watershed Management Plan.

[02:22:26] Many passionate community leaders contributed to this groundbreaking effort, including Betsy Martin, Glenda Booth, Paul Siegel, and then Franconia District staff member, Little Jeffrey McKay. That was great. Those were good days, Dan. Those were good days. Well, we're thankful for your involvement because it's launched as well.

[02:22:48] Their collaboration resulted in the first watershed management plan of its kind in Fairfax County, which was adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2005. The plan went on to serve as a model for future watershed planning efforts across the county, demonstrating the power of community-driven environmental stewardship and collaborative problem-solving.

[02:23:05] The plan established a framework to protect natural resources, improve water quality, reduce stormwater runoff, and restore the ecological health of Little Hunting Creek. Over the past two decades, 20 projects identified in the plan have been completed, resulting in measurable environmental improvements throughout the watershed.

[02:23:24] While important work remains, this anniversary provides an opportunity to recognize the vision, perseverance, and stewardship of the residents, volunteers, and county staff whose efforts have helped protect this treasured community resource. To commemorate this milestone, Friends of Little Hunting Creek, Nature Forward, Defensoras de la Cuenta, thank you, are hosting a celebration of both the progress achieved and the work that lays ahead.

[02:23:52] On June 27th, community members will gather for a guided tour of the watershed and the historic vibrant neighborhoods that surround it, fitting tribute to two decades of environmental stewardship, civic engagement, and community partnership. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, we ask without objection that the Office of Public Affairs prepare a proclamation recognizing the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Little Hunting Creek Watershed Management Plan to be presented on June 27th, 2026, outside the boardroom.

[02:24:18] And I'm happy to second that, of course. Any discussion on the motion seeing and hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye aye any opposed any abstentions and that motion carries supervisor stork and I think just goes to show you have to start you have to start and sometimes just starting gets you forward and gets you a difference and yes 20 years later we've seen a huge difference and I know there'll be more coming but it's sometimes just just starting that and putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward.

[02:24:53] This past Saturday, we had our Summer Palooza, which last year had more than a couple thousand people. This year had 2,500 or so people, huge attendance. It was just a wonderful, wonderful event. The KidZone, Touch a Truck, Taste of Mount Vernon.

[02:25:10] We just had so many folks there, and it just really was one of those, and it was a gorgeous day as well. I want to specifically thank you, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Fairfax County Police Department, Pohenka Lexus, Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation, or SFTC, Katie Whitmarch, State Farm Insurance Agent, Mount Vernon Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Highway Legends Band, which we're very good, by the way, if you want a good band, South County Church, which has been doing this for now more than a decade, providing free food and really connections to the community.

[02:25:42] Mount Vernon and Route 1 Arts and Culture Council, for the first time they were there, because we're getting that off the ground, Frying Pan Farm Park. That's some wonderful animals there that the kids love. Station 9, Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, Public Safety Cadets. They were a huge part of the volunteer force that makes this all possible.

[02:26:01] And Taste of Mount Vernon, folks. Honey Grow, Deliges, Dishes of India, and Jaime Barbecue. We look forward to seeing you all again next year. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much, Supervisor Stort. Next up is Supervisor Palcic.

[02:26:17] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have just one board matter. Members of the board, 8110 Gatehouse Road, a 250,000-square-foot office building, is located in the Merrifield Suburban Center, Land Unit H. The Merrifield Plan currently recommends office and warehouse use at an intensity of up to 1.0 floor area ratio.

[02:26:38] In 2022, the board resumed the adjacent office building on Telestar Court to allow its conversion to affordable multifamily housing. and is currently under construction. The site has since been transferred to the FCRHA to convert the former office building into approximately 80 affordable multifamily housing units. Concurrently, the board rezoned the gatehouse site to the PDC district to allow repurposing the existing office building as live-work units. However, the live-work proposal on the gatehouse side did not come to fruition and the building has been sold. The new property owner is proposing redevelopment of the

[02:27:17] the site for multifamily and townhouse residential uses, which requires a comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, I move that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to consider a plan amendment for residential tax map 49-4, double circle 128B in the Merrifield Suburban Center Land Unit H, and propose concurrently with a rezoning application.

[02:27:45] This motion should not be construed as a favorable recommendation on these applications by the Board and does not relieve the applicant from compliance with the provisions of any applicable ordinances, regulations, or adopted standards. This action in no way prejudices the substantive review of the applications.

[02:28:03] And the chair will second that motion. And just with one clarification, land unit H is being proposed to be processed concurrently with the rezoning application as opposed to proposed, just to be clear on that. That's what I was seconding. Discussion on the motion?

[02:28:23] I just want to add, it wasn't in here, but we have been working with staff on this, and I believe they are open to us moving forward. Excellent. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Supervisor Palchuk. That is all. Thank you. Supervisor Palchuk. Supervisor Herity. Yeah. No written board matters. Two quick unwritten ones. Our professional rugby teams, you know, I'm a fan of old glory, finished their final match with a win at George Mason University and qualified for the playoffs. So they will be in Chicago on June 15th at eight o'clock on

[02:29:00] Both ESPN and monumental but more exciting is that they have they're going to be coming back to GMU next year so the opportunity to grow that it's been good for a lot of our local businesses and hotels and hospitality industries and The supervisor Behrman's already gone on board matters. I'll bring up Springfield nights real quick What a great music. We've got great plans every Wednesday night from June 24th through The the end of August at Birk Lake Park at 7 o'clock with an incredible line and I know you've got a good line

[02:29:36] That's it. All right. Thank you Supervisor Herity and with that we're gonna move on to administrative items Let me ask Supervisor Smith. Do you have a motion to approve administrative items one through five? I move approval of admin items one through five and I'm happy to second that with a lot of board members let me ask if there's any board members who have questions about any of the admin items or would like any of them pulled separately. Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor of admin items 1 through 5, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. That takes

[02:30:15] us to action items. We only have two. First is action item number one, approval of the FY2026 year-end processing. And I am going to turn the gavel over to Vice Chairman Smith so that I can move the county executive's recommendation. I'll second that motion. Any discussion on the motion?

[02:30:33] Supervisor Alcorn? Yeah, I just want to clarify with staff real quick. This really is truly just allowing staff to process payment vouchers for items previously approved, correct? Yes, sir. This is a routine matter that we do each year. It allows staff to continue to process payments in fiscal year 2027 for previously approved and appropriated items that were done I would note the full appropriation will come when the board approves carryover. We anticipate that coming to the board for approval on September 15th. Okay. No, that's great.

[02:31:10] I was a little thrown off because in the equity impact statement, it talks about budget priorities, budget development process, and consideration of how funding decisions, but that's already all been decided. So, okay. Thank you very much. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[02:31:28] Any abstention that motion carries, Mr. Chairman? Thank you very much. Action item number two is approval of the 2026 rate adjustments to Centerville area, Fairfax Center area, Reston, Tysons, Tysons, Gritta Streets, and Tysons Wide Road Funds in the Braddock, Drainsville, Hunter Mill, Providence, Springfield, and Sully districts.

[02:31:47] And I am going to turn to our transportation chair, Supervisor Bierman, for a motion. I move approval of action item number two. And the chair will second that, along with, I heard, Supervisor Smith and Palachuk. Discussion on the motion? Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye.

[02:32:03] Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. So we do have one consideration item, and that is consideration number one, approval of amendments to the Fairfax County Athletic Council bylaws. Vice Chairman Smith.

[02:32:19] I move approval of the amendments to the Fairfax County Athletic Council bylaws. And the Chair will second that, along with Supervisor Palachik. Any discussion? Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

[02:32:35] Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. And before I turn to Vice Chairman Smith for a motion to take us into closed session, let me ask the county attorney how long we need. Mr. Chairman, I estimate approximately one hour and 45 minutes.

[02:32:51] One hour and 45 minutes. So that puts us in closed session at 1.45. 1.45. An odd number to remember, but 1.45. So, if Supervisor Smith's motion is approved, the Board will take a short recess and report to closed session at 1.45. There are only five public hearings this afternoon, so let me just make sure that no one has any deferrals to announce. Okay. Supervisor Smith.

[02:33:22] thank you mr. chairman I move that the Board of Supervisors recess and go into closed session for discussion and consideration of matters enumerated in Virginia code section 2.2 - three seven one one and listed in the attached agenda for this meeting and in addition one legal briefings and analysis regarding Maryland versus DC water which is pending in the Montgomery County Maryland Circuit Court in the United States versus DC water at all case number 1 : 1 : 26 - CV - 0 1 3 4 6 in the US District Court for the District of

[02:33:59] Columbia as well as related legal agreements and possible participation in a lawsuit regarding fire equipment acquisitions all is permitted budget by Virginia code sections 2.2 - 3 7 1 1 8 7 and 8 and 2 is permitted by Virginia Code section 2.2-371188, legal analysis regarding a recently enacted FOIA bill.

[02:34:22] Second. I've heard the motion. It's been seconded by Supervisor Bierman. Discussion on the motion? Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. The board will recess and report to closed session at 145.

[02:34:38] I'm going to go ahead and get started.

[02:35:02] The board is just coming out of closed session, and at this time I'm going to recognize Supervisor Kathy Smith for a motion to bring us out of closed session. Thank you Mr. Chairman I move that the Board of Supervisors certify that to the best of each member's knowledge only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements by virtue of Virginia's code section 2.2-3711 and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which closed session was convened were heard discussed or considered by the Board of Supervisors during the closed session. You've heard the motion the chair will Second that. Is there discussion on the motion? Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor,

[02:35:38] please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. And there are no items coming out of closed session, so we're going to move right to our public hearings. Just as a reminder, individuals wishing to provide testimony have a number of options. They can testify here in person, or they can provide testimony by phone or by YouTube video.

[02:35:58] At the designated point in the public hearing, I'll call for any speakers from the speakers list, they will either come forward or their video will be shown or they will be connected by telephone. There will then be an opportunity for anyone else that would like to speak to the matter to come to the podium or to call in at 703-324-1020. Speakers testifying by video must have signed up and submitted their video no later than 9 a.m. on the day prior to the hearing. For public hearing testimony, you are given three minutes to speak as an individual. If you're a spokesperson for a group, you are given five minutes. With that being said, we are going to move to our first public

[02:36:32] hearing which is a public hearing on pca-80-l-070-03 trash away inc in the mount vernon district and could we please have the applicant reaffirm the affidavit good afternoon chairman members of the board i'm sarah mariska i'm attorney with odenfeldman pittleman and i reaffirm the affidavit dated may 22nd 2026. thank you very much are there any disclosures from board members any disclosures from board members seeing and hearing none at this time i would recognize county staff for a staff presentation good afternoon my name is savannah murray from the department of planning and development the applicant trash away Inc seeks

[02:37:10] approval to amend the proffers to permit a storage yard use at 9420 Gunston Cove Road the 2.7 acre application property is zoned i6 heavy industrial and is currently vacant the site is planned to be developed in two phases in In the first phase, the site would be used for truck parking and outdoor storage.

[02:37:35] There would be a 37-space surface parking lot in the center of the site with an 8-foot-high screening fence along the property's frontage. In the western portion of the site, the applicant proposes 14,250 square feet of outdoor storage area.

[02:37:53] In the second phase, a two-story, 24,500-square-foot building is to be built along the southern portion of the site and plan to be a maximum of 40 feet. The building will serve as indoor storage and office space. It will feature four vehicle bays at the rear of the building that would allow for light vehicle maintenance and repair of the trash trucks.

[02:38:15] That concludes my presentation. Thank you very much. At this time, we'd welcome an applicant's presentation. Good afternoon. I'm here on behalf of TrashAway, which is a small, locally owned and operated trash and recycling removal company that has operated from elsewhere in the Lorton area.

[02:38:33] Due to its lease ending where it currently parks its trucks, it has looked for a site in the vicinity to serve its existing customers and staff that live in the area. This site currently permits only recycling, a recycling center or building materials, storage, and sales.

[02:38:49] So we are here even just a few years after a recent proper condition amendment to allow the storage use at this site. Staff is recommending approval, as well as the community is supportive of the use, and the Planning Commission has recommended approval as well. We are happy to answer any questions that you all might have today.

[02:39:07] Thank you very much. Are there any questions of staff or the applicant? Seeing and hearing none, this is a public hearing, and I have nobody signed up in advance to testify on this matter. Is there anyone here present who would like to speak? this is a public hearing. Anyone who would like to testify on this matter? Seeing and hearing no one, let me ask if we have callers. There are no callers. No callers. The applicant waives a rebuttal.

[02:39:32] Closing comments and a recommendation from county staff. On May 20th, 2026, the Planning Commission recommended approval of this application subject to the executed proffers now dated June 8th, 2026. Staff concurs with that recommendation. Thank you. Thank you. Last check. Any questions from board members. Seeing and hearing none, I will now close the public hearing and recognize Supervisor Stork for a motion. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

[02:40:01] I really appreciate the opportunity to be here and especially the opportunity to keep an existing Mount Vernon district business continuing to operate in Mount Vernon. With that, I move the Board of Supervisors to approve PCA 80-L-070-03 subject to the executed proffers dated June 8, 2026. I also move that the Board of Supervisors approve the modification of a major paved trail along Gunston Cove Road to permit a five-foot sidewalk. And the Chair will second that motion.

[02:40:33] Is there discussion on the motion? Mr. Chairman, just a couple comments. Thank you. I had the opportunity to meet Cheryl Freeman several years ago, and I know at the time she was very concerned, and as I was, it's a business that's been here for a long time, and she was not going to be able continue in the existing uh property that she had over in the newington area and and we talked about what are the options and we immediately started looking around and these were some of the ones we identified and i'm i'm just really pleased that they've been able to work through some of these issues that we have with any property particularly properties that involve heavy

[02:41:12] trucks and particularly in the lorton area that's very sensitive to industrial uh kinds of development and property. And as a result of that, I think we came to something that works very well. The South County Federation voted not to oppose, which I think is probably the best we could probably expect given it's some of the other mini-industrial sites that are there. But everyone has expressed their appreciation for the kind of support and engagement that Cheryl and the Trashway folks have had, as well as county staff, to work through the issues and make sure that we ended up with something that's supportive and collaborative.

[02:41:51] There's landscaping and screening along Gunston Cove Road, which is probably the most important part of this. And also, as you all will know, as of next board meeting, the Lorton Visioning Comprehensive Plan will be coming forward to the board, and I appreciate Trashway's willingness to help the community and really further the vision that Lorton Community has come up with to ensure that we truly evolve into what really Lorton is becoming, which is an amazing place to live, work, play, and have a lot of fun, too.

[02:42:27] So with that, I'd like to thank Savannah Murray, Kathy Lewis, and all the staff who have been key parts of this, worked in this application, helped bring it to a successful conclusion. Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Stork. With that, if there's no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

[02:42:44] Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? And that motion carries. Thank you very much. We next have a public hearing on SE-2025-MA-00035, SJS&W, Washington Property, LLC, in the Mason District.

[02:43:07] And as soon as they are ready, could we please have the applicant reaffirm the affidavit? Good afternoon, board members. Allison Reynolds with Walsh Colucci and the applicant reaffirms the affidavit dated April 6, 2026. Thank you.

[02:43:27] Thank you very much. Are there any disclosures, any disclosures from board members? Seeing and hearing none, I will now recognize county staff for a staff presentation. Hi, my name is Ciara Downing from the Department of Planning and Development.

[02:43:44] The applicant proposes to increase the floor area ratio on the subject property, add a private school use, make site modifications, and modify the operation of the St. James Academy. The subject property is located just north of the Beltway on Backlake and Industrial Road in the Mason District.

[02:44:02] It is 20 acres and zoned to the I-6 District, which permits an FAR of .5 with opportunity of 1.0 FAR with approval of a special exception. The site is currently developed as St. James Sports and Wellness Complex, an indoor commercial rec facility.

[02:44:21] In this special exception, the applicant seeks to increase the floor area ratio on the subject property by 20,370 gross square feet, make site modifications, and expand the operation of the St. James Academy program, which currently operates as an accessory use to allow up to 660 students as a primary private school use.

[02:44:40] In three phases, the applicant will add five single-story modular classroom additions on the west and north sides of the existing building, add strength, conditioning, and training facilities to the north and east sides of the existing building, and create a second floor within the existing gymnasium building.

[02:44:56] There will also be 110 employees added by the end of the phased construction. The applicant indicated a need to have large events during peak hours and requested modifications to the previously approved conditions.

[02:45:12] As part of the request, they have agreed to create a formal traffic management plan that includes commitments to use appropriate personnel to direct traffic and parking during events expected to attract 285 or more participants and or spectators. Revised conditions dated June 4th were added to the board package and included a minor editorial update to the zoning ordinance reference in condition number five.

[02:45:36] No other changes were made. Thank you. That concludes my presentation. Thank you very much. At this time, we welcome an applicant's presentation. Hello, board members. I'm Allison Reynolds again with Walsh Colucci, representing the applicant.

[02:45:54] The St. James is the premier commercial recreation and sports training facility in the region, and we are excited to be here today seeking your approval of a special exception with two components. The first will allow the establishment of the St. James Academy as a private school at the site, and the second will add floor area for use as classrooms, study spaces, and sports conditioning facilities for the St. James Academy.

[02:46:18] St. James Academy started as a small pilot program a few years ago, and the St. James is looking to expand this program to satisfy a growing demand in the region. At the St. James Academy, students who wish to better integrate high-level sports training with academics enroll in an accredited online college preparatory program.

[02:46:38] They attend their online classes and complete their coursework in classrooms and study areas at the St. James. and they work on-site with academic support educators who are licensed teachers. Interspersed with this during the school day, the student-athletes have sports training, conditioning, and coaching sessions.

[02:46:56] The St. James Academy program helps student-athletes and their families integrate high-level sports and academics, and the St. James is excited about the opportunity to make this program available to more students. We are pleased to receive recommendations of approval from the Mason District Land Use Committee, the county staff team, and the Planning Commission.

[02:47:15] And I also want to thank Supervisor Jimenez and his staff for all of their work with us as well. This concludes my presentation, and I would be happy to take any questions. Thank you very much. Are there any questions of staff or the applicant? Seeing and hearing none, this is a public hearing.

[02:47:32] I have no one who has signed up in advance to testify on this matter. Is there anyone present who would like to speak on this subject? This is a public hearing. Anyone who would like to speak on this subject? Seeing and hearing no one. Let me check if we have callers. No callers. No callers. The applicant waives rebuttal.

[02:47:49] Closing comments and a recommendation from county staff. On June 3, 2026, the Planning Commission recommended approval of the application subject to the development conditions now dated June 4, 2026. Staff incurs with those recommendations.

[02:48:05] Thank you. Last check, questions from board members. Seeing and hearing none, I will now close the public hearing and recognize Supervisor Jimenez for a motion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I request that the applicant confirm for the record their agreement to the development conditions dated June 4th, 2026. Yes, I confirm our agreement with those conditions. Thank you. With that, Mr. Chairman, I move that the Board of Supervisors approve SE-2025-MA-00035, subject to the development conditions dated June 4th, 2026.

[02:48:39] And Chair will second that, along with, I heard, Supervisor Luss, Supervisor Herity. Discussion on the motion? Seeing and hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Thank you very much. And the board is going to take a 15-minute recess because we now have to wait until our 3, 4 o'clock public hearings.

[03:01:19] The board is back. We had to take a short recess so that we did not start our 4 o'clock public hearings too early.

[03:03:55] We do have three of those, and our first one is a public hearing on adoption of a proposed amendment to Chapter 7, Streets, Streetlights, Parking, and Driveways of the Public Facilities Manual regarding streetlights. And at this time, I would recognize county staff for a staff presentation.

[03:04:12] Good afternoon, Board of Supervisors. My name is Bin John, staff with Land Development Services. Here with me today are Kirsten Muntz, also from Land Development Services, Eileen Santiago from Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, and Susie Batista from Department of Planning and Development.

[03:04:40] This proposed amendment to the PFM updates the county's streetlight standards and is part of Land Development Services' ongoing initiative to streamline the design and plan review process. The amendment applies specifically to streetlights along public roadways associated with development projects.

[03:05:02] It does not affect the lighting on private roadways or private properties, which will continue to be governed by the zoning ordinance. The purpose of this amendment is to improve clarity, increase predictability, and support a more efficient design and review process.

[03:05:21] The proposal is built around three primary objectives. First, the amendment clarifies and consolidates existing standards. While the county's current streetlight framework is sound, many detailed requirements are dispersed among technical bulletins and internal guidance documents.

[03:05:41] This update brings those elements together into one clear and accessible section of the PFM without altering the underlying standards themselves. Second, this amendment modernizes the requirements. The last major update to this section was in 2019.

[03:06:00] Since then, lighting technologies and development patterns have evolved. The proposed changes align the standards with current practices and address several implementation issues identified over the past several years. Third, this amendment improves the submission and review process.

[03:06:20] Under the current system, designers rely heavily on staff to determine streetlights layout. The proposed changes establish a comprehensive set of design criteria that will enable applicants and their consultants to prepare complete lighting plans independently.

[03:06:40] This allows staff to focus on reviewing plans for compliance rather than developing design solutions, bringing the streetlight review process into alignment with other engineering disciplines. The result is a more predictable and efficient process for both plan preparation and plan review, providing developers and their design teams with greater responsibility, flexibility, and control over project design.

[03:07:08] Throughout the development of this amendment, staff coordinated closely with partner agencies and engaged industry stakeholders. Their feedback was instrumental in refining the proposal, and there has been broad support for the changes. On May 13th, the Planning Commission recommended adoption of this PFM amendment. That concludes my presentation. We'll be happy to answer any questions.

[03:07:34] Thank you very much. Are there any questions of staff? Yes, Supervisor Alcorn. Thank you. I know, first of all, this, I think, looks great. I know the Planning Commission also had made a follow-on recommendation, and I don't think we're going to be moving on that today, But I did just want to address, I know, some of the issues that they had raised and see what might be some other ways that we could, frankly, try to get more coordination on streetlight styles, particularly where we have streetlights going in along in the same community along many times the same public street.

[03:08:15] But we're having a little bit lack of consistency. I know this is a longstanding issue and a longstanding challenge, but with this new process, with the development community basically picking up the responsibility for putting these in, are there any other ideas that you all might float or mention that could help get more consistency on streetlight design?

[03:08:39] The PFM has a good framework on non-standard streetlights, but we didn't include details of that in the PFM. That is being reviewed with development plans when it goes through DPD.

[03:08:56] I'm going to defer to Susie to talk about how they look at it when they receive applications. Thank you, Ben. Thank you. Supervisor Alcorn. Susie Bautista, Department of Planning and Development. I think when a development review plan comes in, I think part of the challenge has been previously that we didn't have design guidelines that specifically called out a particular fixture or lighting.

[03:09:19] And so we now have that for all of our areas. And so some of the legacy plans or plans that were maybe developed 10 years ago and now we're seeing them, we're a little too late for some of those. But in terms of our new plans, I think we're having a high level of success in terms of the rezoning and final development plan process and getting cooperation from the developers to use our preferred lights that we have in the design guidelines.

[03:09:42] So I think we've had a lot of success, and we are flagging that with every application that comes through within Tyson's, within Reston, and within our CRDs and CRAs to ensure that we do get that consistency. And we do look at what the adjacent property has put in and then trying to make sure that if it's something that we like and think is appropriate and we'll meet the PFM, that we encourage them to do that, particularly with the newer developments that are in process now.

[03:10:06] We have a lot in Reston, as you know, that are really in a lot of the same area. And so looking at those public roadways and how we can get that lighting to be consistent across that roadway is something that's very important to us. That is great. Thank you very much for that information, because this isn't the first thing that folks look at necessarily, you know, when either looking at a proposed development plan or, you know, looking at the engineering drawings.

[03:10:33] But once it's in place, it's really nice to see a little more consistency. It's also one of those things that, by and large, most developers don't really have strong opinions which way to go in terms of exactly what type of street light to use.

[03:10:50] So I appreciate staff's leadership on this, and fingers crossed we'll see more consistency going forward. So thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Alcorn. And I don't want to sound contrarian at all because I agree 100% with what was just said, but I'm compelled to ask the question.

[03:11:10] Within reason, there can be fluctuations in the lighting so that you don't run into a situation where a developer cannot match the lighting in the vicinity. So within reason, you allow that flexibility so we're not reliant on one specific product and its availability, correct?

[03:11:29] Yes, we do, absolutely. And what we'll do is they may say, they come up to us with some alternatives, and then we'll look at that and review and make sure it's complementary to what we might have in the design guidelines. But it will still work to have that consistency across the projects because during COVID, especially there were a few manufacturers that didn't have fixtures available.

[03:11:46] So we had to adapt. Perfect. And that is exactly what I was thinking of. So perfect. Mr. Chairman. Yes. Yeah. Just to follow. Thank you for flagging that. Yeah. What we've seen in some places is, you know, one block will have Cobras and the next block will have box lights and the next block will have shorties or whatever they're called.

[03:12:06] You know, these are so so, yeah, certainly within reason and just having some consistency. Some can have very different lumens and other things, too. So, yeah, I just wanted to make sure we because we talked a lot about flexibility in the PFM over the past couple of years and want to make sure we weren't on doing that.

[03:12:22] But the intention is clear, which is as similar as possible. Yeah. Thank you. OK, great. Thank you. Any other questions of staff seeing and hearing none? This is a public hearing and I have no speaker signed up to advance to testify on this matter. Is there anyone here present who would like to speak on this subject?

[03:12:39] Anyone present who would like to testify on this specific matter? Seeing and hearing no one. Let me see. Do we have any callers? There are no callers. No callers. Staff told us what the Planning Commission did, but any closing comments or recommendation? No additional comments.

[03:12:56] Okay. Last check, questions from board members. Seeing and hearing none, I will now close the public hearing and recognize Vice Chair Smith for a motion. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I move that the board adopt the proposed amendments to the public facilities manual as advertised and set forth in the staff report dated April 14, 2026, and that the amendments become effective at 12.01 a.m. on July 1, 2026.

[03:13:20] I'm happy to second that along with Supervisor Pouchik. Discussion on the motion? Supervisor Smith. I just need to thank staff for all the work and the outreach. Great product, and I think it will help people move quicker through the process. Thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Smith. If there's no further discussion, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

[03:13:38] Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That motion carries. Thank you. We next have a public hearing to consider an ordinance expanding the Edison Residential Permit Parking District, District 50 in the Franconia District, and as soon as they are ready, we would welcome a staff presentation.

[03:14:07] Good afternoon, Chairman McKay, members of the board. I'm Henry Stein-McCartney with the Department of Transportation.

[03:14:23] This is a public hearing to consider expanding District 50, the Edison Residential Permit Parking District, to include the east side of Brooklyn Road from the northern property boundary of parcel number 81-4, double circle 39A to Foldy Street, and on the west side from Franconia Road to Foldy Street.

[03:14:45] On the east side of Pratt Street, from Brooklyn Road to Foldy Street, and on the west side from Brooklyn Road to the northern property boundary of 6014 Pratt Street, and then from the southern property boundary of 6004 Pratt Street to Foldy Street.

[03:15:03] And finally, the south side of Foldy Street from Pratt Street to Brooklyn Road. Residents along Brookland Road and Pratt Street have requested an expansion of the Edison RPPD due to unreasonable burdens to accessing their property caused by the parking of non-resident vehicles during school hours.

[03:15:23] The petitioning blocks meet the code requirements for RPPD based on walking distance proximity to Edison High School. Okay. Are there any questions of staff?

[03:15:43] Yes. Supervisor Lusk. Ms. McCarthy, if you could maybe clarify and give a little more color around which of the requirements have actually been met per this residential parking permit request.

[03:16:00] The first qualification that we looked at to see if it met the code requirement is walking distance from the pedestrian entrance to Edison High School.

[03:16:23] Section 82-5A4 contains the criteria for the establishment or modification of districts.

[03:16:42] And one of those criteria is that RPPD may be established on streets within 2,000 walking feet distance from the pedestrian entrance of any high school, college, or university, or rail station.

[03:16:58] The proposed area meets that qualification. The second qualification is a resident petition. The code requires that residents of the proposed area sign a resident petition demonstrating more than 50 percent support from residents on each block face included, with an overall demonstration of support from the entire petition area of 60 percent.

[03:17:32] This area met that requirement as well. Those are the two requirements. For an RPPD near a high school such as this. Thank you. Are there any other questions of staff at this time?

[03:17:49] I'm not seeing and hearing any. This is a public hearing. I do have one speaker who has signed up in advance to testify, and that is Courtney Hardin. Courtney Hardin is here. Is there anyone else here after Ms. Hardin is looking to testify? Okay. If you all can, please all come down here and sign in with the clerk down here.

[03:18:08] If you've not signed in in advance, we need to have you signed in to be able to testify. And our first speaker will be Courtney Hardin. Welcome. Good afternoon. I'm actually going to cede my time to Mr. Hardin there once he gets signed in. Okay.

[03:18:38] Okay.

[03:19:01] So Ms. Hardin is ceding her time as speaker number one to Mr. Hardin. If you could just state your name and then welcome. Thank you. My name is Malcolm Hardin. Thank you for your time and attention. Much appreciated. My son, who you'll hear from shortly, is a student at Edison High School in the STEM program, which is not currently his base school.

[03:19:23] My wife and I, who both have full-time jobs, drive our son to school and pick him up at 3 o'clock each day, which, of course, is during our workday. Edison's parking policy is that only seniors can apply for a parking permit.

[03:19:39] And even then, permits are issued by lottery because there are more seniors than parking spaces. Edison High School has been part of the aforementioned community since 1962, as you may know. The McDonald's has been part of that community since 1992.

[03:19:56] They're both ingrained known entities. It is likely that many of the current homeowners purchased their home or rented their homes with full knowledge of both entities. I came to listen to the information presented today by those that signed the petition to understand what parking problems are in the community.

[03:20:15] And when I looked at 82-5A, it appeared to me that the homeowners have to establish that amongst the section mentioned, that there are unreasonable burdens in gaining access to the property.

[03:20:33] I didn't hear and don't understand the evidence that there is an unreasonable burden in getting access to that property. In trying to do our own research on what that might be, my family and I explored, amongst other things, the next door website where the residents were discussing this issue.

[03:20:58] And we found that their focus on the topic was mostly around what they said were hazardous traffic conditions, which they did not name, and the notion that some of the student parking might occur too close to intersections or street corners, and that maybe there was McDonald's-related trash in the neighborhood.

[03:21:19] But we didn't see the evidence of the unreasonable burden that they're discussing in that section. None of those items, if there's sort of trash or parking not being enforced, rises to the level of hazardous or unreasonable.

[03:21:35] In that now-deleted-next-door comments page, the homeowners also seem to be of the opinions that Edison students were parking in the neighborhood because they were simply avoiding paying Edison for parking passes and choosing not to take a bus provided for them, and that is not the case.

[03:21:56] According to FCPS data available on its websites, we know that students from 14 different high schools, including Edison, attend Edison because of Edison's STEM program and Edison's Academy, which provides classes in computer programming, veterinarian tech assistant ed, et cetera, just to name a few.

[03:22:19] Under that section, the administration, the permits will be provided by the county's Department of Transportation, which will add work for already overburdened county employees and add enforcement work for FCPD to enforce those permits. The homeowners appear to be seeking an extreme remedy that prohibits access to public roads by taxpayer residents of public county, like my family. So we're asking the board to vote no today. Alternatively, we're asking the board to continue the matter until such time as the homeowners can obtain and present appropriate

[03:22:57] documentation to support the denial of access to public roads by other members of the public. We're also requesting that the board advise homeowners to coordinate with Edison High School administration, the Edison High School PTA, and the McDonald's to start to address some of their concerns. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Speaker number two is John Harden, to be followed by Martha DeFerr. Peter, Peter, I'm sorry. Welcome, John Harden. Good afternoon, supervisors. My name is John Harden, and I am a student at Edison High School in the Global STEM Challenges Program.

[03:23:33] This program is the only one of its kind in Fairfax County, and it integrates science, technology, engineering, and math for an interactive learning experience. The program revolves around problem-solving skills, developing critical thinking skills, communication skills, and creative thinking. Many of the kids in the STEM program do not live close to Edison High School.

[03:23:52] We live all over the Fairfax County. I live in Supervisor Jimenez's district. If Edison is not your base school, you must provide your own transportation to and from the school each day, and my parents drive me. I'm learning a lot at Edison and maintaining a weighted grade point average of well above 4.0. I'm also a member of Edison's varsity lacrosse team, and this season, we won our district championship. Timing of our lacrosse practices is different each week because we have to share field space with the other Edison sports, but lacrosse practice normally ends between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Varsity lacrosse games start at 7.15 p.m. and end at the earliest

[03:24:28] at 9 15 pm coaches expect us to take the bus back to edison which means my parents are often picking me up at edison at 10 pm or later a couple of weeks i will get my driver's license which my parents are really excited about and i can't get a parking permit to park in the edison parking lot until i'm a senior even then there's no guarantee i will get a parking permit because edison usually has more seniors who drive than it has parking spaces edison has a parking permit lottery for seniors, and I need to win the lottery to get a spot. Next year, I will be a junior at Edison High School. I plan to drive to school and park on the public streets near Edison so that my

[03:25:04] parents do not need to drive me or pick me up from the school at a cross practice. I have a job this summer and into the fall, and as I understand it, if I make enough money, some portion of what I earn will be taxed by the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is my understanding that some portion of my tax money is used to maintain public roads. If I could park on those public roads, it would relieve significant burden on me and my parents. Before last week, I did not know that the neighborhood behind the McDonald's were unhappy with the parking situation. And for that, I apologize.

[03:25:33] But what I can say is that I intend to park in a way that is safe for all the other drivers and will not block access to people's homes, nor will I litter on the private property. I'm asking you to vote no on the permit-only parking. Alternatively, I'm asking you to continue a vote on this measure to request that Fairfax County staff and the homeowners do more investigation into the facts and possible resolutions to the situation before taking the extreme action prohibiting my access to public streets for parking. Thank you. Thank you, John. Our next

[03:26:05] speaker is Martha Peter to be followed by Stephanie Kieser. My name is Martha Peter and I live at 6003 Pratt Street and I'm not here to talk about what the neighborhood signs or whatever. I want to talk to you about my experience. I moved there a year ago and we had rented our home and when we moved back when we had the big snowstorm, I called VDOT and specifically asked them to plow our street to the edges. Called them three times. They did not do it. When school came back into session,

[03:26:45] they parked on both sides of our street without plowing the sides out, and one day I went to drive down my street, and there was literally 60 inches between the one car and the other, and I could not get through. Called my husband, two people behind me, helped them back out onto Brooklyn so they could get out of this situation and asked him to move my car because I was too nervous to back out with the cars with only having, I had gotten into that situation that was probably 80 inches and then when I got to the 60 inches I could go no farther. As of thinking, we had just moved from

[03:27:22] another Fairfax County home and fortunately we moved out before the home behind us had burnt down. As I thought about it more, there was no way if my little Prius couldn't get through there, that a fire truck could get through there, a police officer could get through there, or an ambulance. We have had a situation where the ambulance couldn't get through.

[03:27:42] They had to back up, go through the other street, and get there. As we all know, those minutes could make a big difference in the saving of lives and of our homes. At that point, I said to my husband, after only living here for a short period of time that we needed to do something.

[03:28:02] I didn't necessarily think that we needed to necessarily do all streets, but I definitely think on Brooklyn, there is no sidewalks. So when we leave our property at 8.15 in the morning and try to drive down the street, the kids have nowhere to walk to school.

[03:28:20] They're in the middle of the street, and I don't mind taking my time, but there really is nowhere for them to go. We have to pull over to the side if a second car is coming, and that's when there is no snow at all. It is only a one-lane road if you park on both sides of the street.

[03:28:39] It's very dangerous. Needless to say, yes, you can talk about the McDonald's. They have a crosswalk there. We have to abide by the pedestrians there. So when you leave your house at 8 to 8.30 during the day, you might be waiting there for 15 minutes until all the students pass.

[03:28:59] They're often on the phone. they're not paying attention. It's a very dangerous and sticky situation. But my bigger concern, honestly, as a homeowner, is being able to drive down my street and know that an ambulance, a fire truck, could do that. And people could say, well, what did you do? Well, first I called VDOT because I really didn't want to be a burden. They didn't come. So then I called the police and asked them to ticket the cars because the situation was so bad. And I called the school twice and asked them if they could ask the students to not park like that. And they said

[03:29:35] there was nothing they could do. The parking assistant came out once. I don't think they ticketed the cars. This is the avenue that they told us that we needed to do. And that's why we're here today. Not because there's trash or kids. We parked close, you know, we bought a house close to a high school. I have six kids myself. I understand about parking in high school. They're Three of the six, all from Fairfax County, and they've all parked on a street close to Lake Braddock back in the day.

[03:30:07] Thank you. So, thank you. I just would say to you that this is really a dangerous situation on Brooklyn. It's not really. Thank you so much for hearing me. Our fourth speaker is Stephanie, is it Keiser? Koyser, to be followed by Justin Kennedy.

[03:30:24] If I didn't call your name and you want to speak at this public hearing, please be sure to sign in. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. My name is Stephanie Koyser. I've lived at 6014 Pratt Street for 27 years. I have seen, and both of my kids have graduated from Edison, and they are out in the world.

[03:30:44] I've seen 27 years' worth of student parkers come and go, and as was pointed out by the first speaker, I did know I was buying a house near a high school, and I'm actually happy when kids get driver's licenses and they go to take those steps towards adulthood.

[03:30:59] I think that's important. But in the 27 years' worth of students I have seen come and go, we didn't have any issues until about three years ago. And three years ago, up until then, they were driving through and parking in our neighborhood with courtesy and care, and I did not have a complaint about it.

[03:31:17] I would not have been here. But that has ceased in the past few years. In the past three years, I've gone to Edison and actually talked to the police officer stationed there, and he said there's nothing I can do about it. I can't leave Edison. I have my hands full with the campus. called Franconia District Center, asked for the captain, whose name I have written down somewhere.

[03:31:40] I left several messages for this person. I never even got the courtesy of a call back. In addition to students parking and blocking my driveway, which I have called on several occasions, and they've come out and written tickets, I do have other safety concerns that I think are more important than was my driveway blocked.

[03:32:03] Primary concerns around safety of the walkers is for walkers and anyone trying to drive is that on Pratt Street, there are no sidewalks. Brookland has sidewalks on one side of it, not the other. But on Pratt Street in front of my house, which has a curve, there are no sidewalks.

[03:32:22] And over the past three years, specifically this year, this year has been very bad. There is aggressive and reckless driving that occurs almost on a daily basis when school is in. I have shared, and the other petitioners shared, car descriptions and license plate numbers with Aaron Campbell, who I'm not sure if he's here today or not.

[03:32:44] I've never seen him in person. So we have been trying other things before we came here to take up your time. And there have been numerous occasions where our vehicles could not pass down the street, and that would include emergency response vehicles, and that is a concern.

[03:32:59] I have seen vehicles drive onto my neighbor's lawn across the street, and I can produce that picture for you later if you'd like. And they thought it was funny. They got out of the car, ran across the street, did something, got back in it and left. Another time I was sitting on my porch and a white Mustang with a high school student in it came around Pratt Street so fast he lost control of his car and he ended up in my yard with a flat tire.

[03:33:24] And he didn't even know how to change his own tire. He had to call his dad. And I went and checked on him and I said, look, that's not how you want to drive through here. That's not what you want to do. I've also witnessed students crashing right in front of my house, and they think it's funny. And they wouldn't do this in front of their own house, near their parents.

[03:33:43] They've been entrusted with a vehicle, and to do what this responsible student wants to do, which is have a free place to park, because for some reason, all the other high schools around here have plenty of parking, but Edison doesn't. So in addition to the crashes, during the snowstorm that Marty was describing, they were actually trying to do donuts in front of my house, And a female student who was trying to scrape ice off her windshield was terrified.

[03:34:11] She got in her car and shut the door and waited until they finished their synamigans. Thank you. My neighbors talked. Thank you for your testimony. I hope that that's helpful. Thank you. It is. Definitely in favor. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Speaker number five is Justin Kennedy. And after Mr. Kennedy, is there anyone else who would like to testify on this matter?

[03:34:31] Okay. And Mr. Kennedy will be our fifth speaker. Welcome. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Justin Kennedy. I live at 5604 Brookland Road with my wife. We've been residents there for over 20 years.

[03:34:50] And I'd like to echo what Ms. Koyzer, was it? Yes, I'd like to echo what she said as a, give you perspective as someone who's been there for a while. This issue is being brought up now because the situation has changed only in the last several years.

[03:35:09] And I don't have, I would say, conservatively, that the number of school, student drivers that are parking on the streets now has tripled, if not quadrupled. And I don't know what the reason for that is.

[03:35:26] Maybe it has something to do with the school's parking policies now. But it has gotten untenable. And I just want to emphasize the point that was also made previously, that there are areas of these two roads that are Pratt and Brookland that are on curves.

[03:35:50] There's an S-curve, and I don't know if you have a map in front of you, but there's an S-curve on Brookland, and the whole of Pratt going around from Brookland is a curve, and they are choke points. And it is near impassable for two-way traffic.

[03:36:13] And there are some drivers that flat out will not negotiate it. And so you have the situation where people, you know, stop and wait. If there's approaching traffic, they'll stop and wait. Or in many cases, and we know people that just won't use, Brookland is one of the major entry points into the neighborhood.

[03:36:36] And there are people now that just avoid it altogether and have to exit and enter the neighborhood through, you know, from the other side of the neighborhood, even though they live right by the area that we're talking about. Sorry, what words?

[03:36:58] So, yeah, those are the major points that I wanted to make. It has really changed the quality of life in our neighborhood. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your testimony. Appreciate that. Let me verify again.

[03:37:13] There's no one else present who would like to speak on this matter. Is there anyone who has called in? There are no callers. No callers. Closing comments and a recommendation from county staff. Based on the fulfillment of all requirements set forth in Fairfax County Code, staff recommends approval of the Edison RPPD expansion as proposed.

[03:37:35] Thank you very much. Questions from board members. Questions from board members. Supervisor Palchuk. I do have one question. just because of the school academy it sounds like the policy is a little bit different than some of our other schools was there outreach i assume with the school i believe most academy programs do bus their students and tj has busing but are we saying students who attend edison not in the boundary are not bused in is that my understanding that correctly and i'm just

[03:38:12] wondering if there's been a conversation with the school to try to find alternative options My understanding is it's a different academy program, so they don't do the same in every single academy. And unfortunately, in this case for Edison, they're not providing the busing.

[03:38:30] Well, it seems like it'd be worth a little conversation. Yeah, I, you know, I had a student that went to Edison's academy that was bused from another school. And I think it has to do with the actual program they're in. And there are a lot of kids bused to Edison during the day from their base school for one or two academy classes.

[03:38:50] But then I think there's also kids in academies at Edison that are all-day special academies for kids that forfeit their base school to enroll full-time at Edison. So I think it's a combination of both. Okay, Supervisor Beerman.

[03:39:12] How many homes were in the ballot area?

[03:39:30] That one turned on. I do not have that information immediately in front of me. It would be each of the single-family homes that lies along the area to be restricted.

[03:39:51] Only those addresses that are immediately abutting the area of restriction are included in the petition for NRPPD. Okay, first thing, if you come to a public hearing about a parking district that involved balloting and we have to go out and we have to ballot and ask people whether or not they want to join the district and whether or not they want to expand the parking district, please come to our hearing with the results of that balloting.

[03:40:27] Please, for the future. Secondly, I mean, the point here is we actually set standards and we require that a majority of the homes, it's actually more than a majority of the homes, 60% of the homes say that they want to expand the parking district, we actually make it a little bit harder on the people who do the balloting, in truth, because it's 60% of the homes involved in the district, and if you choose not to vote, or if you just ignore it, that gets counted as a no vote.

[03:41:00] We sort of make it, we make it harder to be a part of this. I appreciate, sir, that you came and advocated for your situation going to park near school. I actually think it's really cool that you showed up and that you, and yet you tried and that you also tried to look at our rules and, you know, approach it.

[03:41:26] I also would note that there is more public parking or places that are not a part of this residential parking district that are still in walking distance of Edison. They are just farther. But the way I read Section 82-5A-1 purpose and intent is quite broad.

[03:41:48] I mean, it's in order to reduce or prevent congestion, which could mean, frankly, almost anything, and or hazardous traffic conditions in residential areas, to protect those areas from polluted air, excessive noise, and other adverse environmental impacts of automobile commuting, to protect the residents of these areas from unreasonable burdens in gaining access to the property to preserve the residential character areas and the property values therein, residential permitting, parking distance, are created to impose on-street parking restrictions in certain designated areas on public streets

[03:42:23] other than primary highways. It's a very broad statute and very broad code here. And then there are, of course, there are these three criteria that need to be met in order for us to choose to impose a parking district. You know, you have a good argument, I think, that public streets are public and they should always be public. But here in Fairfax County, we already have made the decision as a county that in certain circumstances, especially when the community has come to us with a problem that they've identified and when the community is kind of banded together to try and

[03:43:01] address that problem, that we are typically going to try to support the community in that. You know, where I went to high school, I actually, I went to a private school in D.C., but 37th street would fill up with cars. And if you didn't have the right parking permit, DC, you're out of luck. That's kind of, unfortunately, feels like that is a typical high school story for you.

[03:43:25] But here we do have a community that has voted on this and has made clear that they would like this relief and has brought to us some problems that they've been having. And I'm personally inclined based on the the existing structure that we have um and the the rules that we set in place when the community has met all of those rules to to grant that request thank you thank you uh supervisor beerman and and i'll just add i also appreciate um all the speakers that that came out

[03:43:58] and to mr harden and his son and his mom i you know i sit here a little bit frustrated at times I'm not trying to Monday morning quarterback, but I do get frustrated at times when schools put special programs in buildings without a full understanding of that building's capacity and parking capacity.

[03:44:21] Edison is a very small footprint. I was approached by parents at Edison for many, many years asking why they couldn't move the maintenance facility. That is a regional maintenance facility at Edison somewhere else to free up more parking on the campus.

[03:44:37] I mean, the reality is, as the speaker shared with us, a lot of kids, my own, stay after school for a lot of activities. And being able to get to and from home, even if it's in their base school, is important. And I just hope moving forward that schools are more cognizant of adding programs to facilities that can no longer accommodate even the base boundary kids in some cases.

[03:45:03] And the explanation that not even every senior has a chance at a parking spot at this school is unusual to me. I don't know if that's the case in other schools. Maybe it is, but it seems very extreme to me that a school can't even guarantee its seniors an opportunity to park on campus.

[03:45:23] And that is a little bit troubling. I will say I'm inclined, just as Supervisor Beerman is, to support this for the articulate reasons that he just mentioned. But I would say to the students at Edison, maybe no fault of your own that you're in this situation.

[03:45:40] But based on the testimony that I've heard from a couple people here, there seemed like there's been a change in attitude and volume of the students that are parking in the neighborhood. And so as Supervisor Bierman suggested, there are still areas in the parking in the community for students to park.

[03:45:58] I think it's really important. We have a student leader here, clearly, who came out and testified. I think it's really important for the students also amongst themselves with the school to talk about proper etiquette in the community so that this doesn't continue and we don't see creep even further away.

[03:46:19] It's not in anyone's interest to walk further than you have to. But I've seen enough of these over the years where you move the parking somewhere else And then the people in that area come forward and then the people in the next area come forward. And I would just say if it is really, as described, a real change that's happened with the etiquette of the students, their speeds, the way they approach this privilege of parking in the community, that the students really need to be cognizant of that also and talk to each other about preserving this right in the long term so that it doesn't get further and further moved out into the community.

[03:46:58] So there are no easy answers to this. I am cognizant of the safety concerns that were raised. I appreciate the testimony from our student representative and his parents because I know how frustrating it is. And I would hope that if we do adopt this tonight and move forward, that conversations maybe can happen at the school level with the SRO and the station commander to talk about guys and gals.

[03:47:24] This is how you preserve this right drive the speed limit don't make noise protect the community be act like you're in your own neighborhood When you're on those streets and maybe we can preserve the right for this to continue in other areas that are walkable But it is a tough one and I really appreciate all the perspectives that came forward to testify on this Are there any other comments from board members at this time?

[03:47:50] If there are not, I am going to now close the public record and recognize Supervisor Lusk for a motion. Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll join my colleagues in making the point that we want to ensure safety in our communities and certainly acknowledging that from the testimony from Ms. Peters, Ms. Kozer, and Mr. Kennedy, we clearly understand that there are some challenges for those who live in this community.

[03:48:19] They are being impacted by the drivers. They're being impacted by the cars that are being parked on one side or both sides of the street. And it is creating some circumstances that are making their neighborhood less safe. This program is to provide an opportunity to address those types of concerns and issues.

[03:48:43] And I, too, agree, Chairman, hearing the concerns from Mr. Hardin and his son, and thank you both for coming out, as well as your wife, Ms. Hardin, and certainly do acknowledge the difficult position that you're in.

[03:49:02] But I have to be clear that we have a program, we have requirements. If those programs and requirements are met, or if the requirements of the program are met, then we have fulfilled the obligation of moving that program forward.

[03:49:21] To the chairman's point, I will be happy to work with our school board representative, Marcia St. John Cunning. Again, Marcia St. John Cunning. We can schedule a meeting for her and the schools to talk about this issue, and then we can bring in the station commander probably after that.

[03:49:41] So with all of that background, thank you all for those who came. I appreciate the testimony of all of our speakers. I'll also acknowledge that we got a number of calls from residents in this community requesting support of this item for many of the same reasons that we heard here tonight.

[03:50:01] So with that, Mr. Chairman, I would like to make a motion. I move that the Board of Supervisors adopt the proposed ordinance amendment. the Fairfax County Code, which would expand District 50, the Edison Residential Permanent Parking District, as recommended by the county executive. So moved.

[03:50:23] Heard the motion, seconded by Supervisor Bierman. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? And that motion carries.

[03:50:38] And that brings us to our last public hearing of the day, which is a public hearing to consider adopting Chapter 82, Motor Vehicles and Traffic, Article 2, Signs, Signals, and Markers, Section 10 to the Code of the County of Fairfax, Virginia, related to changing speed limits on certain highways.

[03:50:56] And as soon as staff is ready, we would recognize you for a presentation.

[03:51:11] Good afternoon, Chairman McKay and members of the board. My name is Vanessa Holt with the Department of Transportation. Here with me today is Neil Freshman, also with Department of Transportation, and John Dorsey from the County Attorney's Office.

[03:51:33] This is a public hearing to consider a new section of the Fairfax County Code, which would be added as Chapter 2, Article 2, Section 10. In 2024, the Virginia General Assembly amended Virginia Code Section 46.2-1300 to give localities the authority to, by ordinance, reduce speed limits to less than 25 miles per hour, but not less than 15 miles per hour, on highways located in a business district or residence district, or to restore any speed limit previously reduced.

[03:52:09] The proposed ordinance considered today authorizes the county executive or designee to reduce or restore speed limits on highways in the county that meet those parameters. If the proposed ordinance is approved, the Department of Transportation will proceed with a pilot study to evaluate the county's authority to reduce speed limits.

[03:52:31] The pilot study will implement and evaluate speed limit reductions from 25 miles per hour to 20 miles per hour in up to nine pilot study zones, one zone per supervisor district that opts to participate in the pilot study.

[03:52:48] Permit applications for the first three zones will be submitted to the Virginia Department of Transportation if the ordinance is approved. New speed limit signs reflecting the 20 mile per hour reduced speed limits will be installed upon permit approval by VDOT. And staff will subsequently continue to coordinate with the six remaining board offices to select and implement 20 mile per hour speed limit zones as part of the remaining pilot study.

[03:53:15] The pilot will measure impacts by collecting public feedback, traffic volume, and speed data both before and after implementation of the 20 mile per hour speed limits. The Department of Transportation will provide an assessment upon the completion of the pilot to allow the Board of Supervisors to determine whether to continue implementation of reduced speed limits at additional locations beyond the pilot study.

[03:53:41] The one-time costs for signed fabrication, installation, and maintenance to complete the nine 20-mile-per-hour pilot zones are estimated to cost $24,000. Staffing and operating requirements to continue implementation beyond the scope of the pilot will be included in the assessment provided to the board after the pilot study is complete.

[03:54:02] And with that, I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you very much. Are there any questions of staff? Supervisor Alcorn. Yeah, thank you. Just quickly, first of all, thank you very much for your coordination. with board offices. I know at least the 100 mil really appreciate that in trying to figure out what might make sense here.

[03:54:19] The ordinance that we have before us today doesn't say anything about pilot. It just is a change to the ordinance. Is that correct? Yes, that's correct. So as part of the permit process with VDOT, they require an approved ordinance to be submitted with any permit applications.

[03:54:36] So this ordinance, if approved, would apply to any location countywide that meets the criteria set forth in Virginia code. So we can use this ordinance for any of the pilot locations. Okay, great. Thanks for clarifying that. And my other question is, I know you've been coordinating with board offices and will continue to do that, but before an application is submitted to the state, will there be another vote by the board, or would it just be administrative as part of this pilot?

[03:55:05] So it would just be administrative at this point. The coordination that we're doing with board offices is to select those pilot zones and then do the community outreach as we did with the first round, like you know, and then implement those as part of the pilot. But anything that would be done beyond those pilot zones, of course, we would come back to the Board of Supervisors.

[03:55:26] Okay. And then at that point, review the process. Correct. If the board wants to move forward with additional locations. Fantastic. Thank you very much. Thank you. And let me ask a silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I know a ton of kids that ride e-bikes that go well in excess of 20 miles per hour.

[03:55:48] I presume there's no way to control that. I mean, it's not really a question for you, but I think we've never really had speed limits before that have been below the speed at which electric-powered bicycles could travel. So I just think as we go towards implementation, I think that's something maybe to flag for the police to think about as we move forward.

[03:56:12] They seem to be getting faster, and the speed limits seem to be getting slower. So I just want to put that out there for future exploration at this point. Yes, Supervisor Alcorn. Thank you very much for bringing up that point.

[03:56:27] It's a great point, and I know I've had some discussions with some county staff and also, frankly, some folks in our delegation about this on trails and the fact that we're now seeing not just bicyclists going quite fast, but now we're seeing these motorized vehicles going really fast.

[03:56:48] There's a definitions challenge and a speed limit challenge that we're running into all over the place. And a registration challenge. And a registration challenge. They're not registered, so it's hard to take something that's not registered. I have a feeling we're going to be having to look more at those issues as these vehicles change.

[03:57:04] Thank you. Okay. Supervisor Pouchik. I just want to add to that. I think the education piece for us or suppliers of students is critical. Mine does not go above 20 miles per hour. There are three different types of e-bikes. And so I do think looking at the nuances, the education, how we enforce, there's going to be a lot there.

[03:57:25] Making sure those who are following the regulations are not penalized for that. And definitely not your issue. We get that. We're raising it here just to make sure somehow, you know, that message gets relayed to our public safety folks to just be giving some thought to this.

[03:57:41] And certainly as we approach future legislative sessions, we'll be thinking about that, too, because this this is happening today because the General Assembly allows us to reduce the speed limit. But we now are reducing the speed limit below the speed limit of many unregistered bikes that use these same roads.

[03:58:00] So I just think it's worth noting. Okay, if there are no additional questions of staff, this is a public hearing, and I have no one who has signed up in advance to testify on this matter. Is there anyone present who would like to speak on this specific subject?

[03:58:17] Anyone who would like to testify? Seeing and hearing no one, let me ask if we have any callers. There are no callers. No callers. Closing comments and a recommendation from county staff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Staff recommends approval of the proposed ordinance. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[03:58:33] Last check, questions from board members. Seeing and hearing none, I will now close the public hearing and recognize Supervisor Behrman for a motion.

[03:58:49] While Supervisor Behrman is searching for this, he is making this motion as the chairman of the board's transportation committee. Yes, you are correct. The motion is that 20 is plenty, but that's okay. Do I not have the motion?

[03:59:07] You can move the county executive's recommendation. Yes, I move the, I apologize, I move the county executive's recommendation as to reduced speed limits. And the chairman will second that motion. Discussion on the motion. Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

[03:59:26] Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? And that motion carries. And that also brings us to the end of our board meeting of June 9, 2026. The board is adjourned.

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