An attorney from the County attorney's office described the legal basis for planning and zoning in Fairfax County. Since Virginia is one of the few states to continue to adhere to the so-called Dillon rule, Virginia counties have only those powers that the General Assembly grants them. Virginia law permits, but does not mandate, zoning. Virginia law requires counties to establish a comprehensive plan. The plan applies only to public facilities, however, and is not legally binding. Although 8 of the 4o senators and 18 of the 100 members of the House of Delegates come from Fairfax County, the General Assembly remains skeptical about planning and zoning. Several pieces of legislation under consideration would limit the County's ability to make land use decisions.
Heidi Merkel, a senior planner for the County, explained that the County has established an elaborate zoning ordinance, documented in several volumes. Typically, the County solicits community input about land use decisions. The County assumes that the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee speaks for the Reston community. The County's Planning Commission reviews land use decisions and makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. Regardless of community input, any Planning Commission recommendations, the comprehensive plan, or the zoning ordinance, the Board of Supervisors has the final say about all land use decisions. Since the Board defers to the Supervisor within whose district the land belongs, Supervisor Hudgins makes all land use decisions for Reston. In effect, appropriate planning and zoning is whatever Supervisor Hudgins says it is.
Ms. Merkel said that the County intended to revise the Reston Master Plan, as Supervisor Hudgins promised some time ago. Ms. Merkel added, however, that the County had no firm schedule for the revision. The review would proceed in stages: general principles, the Dulles rail corridor, the town center, residential areas, and finally, the village centers. She added that the Board of Supervisors had directed the staff to conduct a special study of the Dulles rail corridor and that study would precede any revision of the Reston Master Plan. Several residents pointed out that making decisions about the Dulles rail corridor without considering Reston as a whole would defeat the purpose of the Master Plan. Ms. Merkel dismissed these complaints. It was impractical, she said, to consider the entire master plan at once. In addition, the staff were under orders from the Board of Supervisors to proceed quickly with a review of the Dulles rail corridor. The County had before it several proposals from owners along the Dulles toll road for revisions to the County comprehensive plan. Ms. Merkel said that the staff recommended the land use college partly to be sure that community participation in the master plan revision was an informed as possible. The staff would host another orientation session in July and then provide further briefings in September. Ms. Merkel implied that the September briefings would be open to only selected members of the public.
Some in the audience who were new to planning and zoning were clearly taken aback by the rudimentary natural of the planning process. Ms. Merkel, for example, recounted that, in earlier discussions of land use decisions, she has had to explain that the County has no authority to coordinate land use decisions with roads or transportation generally, because the state, not County, is responsible for the roads. The last question from the audience concerned coordinating planning with environmental issues. A resident pointed out that, for urban areas today, environmental concerns, especially air quality, were of paramount importance. She asked how the planning process could address such concerns. Ms. Merkel was rendered speechless. After several minutes, she commented that perhaps environmental issues could be mentioned in the text that accompanies the Reston Master Plan.
