Newly elected officials, and those who’ve regained their seats, are setting their agendas for the new term.
By Lynn Norusis
Alexandria City
Allison Silberberg
Mayor
Social issues: Keep our libraries open and seek out ways to ensure more hours and maintain our book collections. And ask for our citizenry and civics associations to have a more robust role.
Development projects: Pursue thoughtful, appropriate development that fits in, is to scale and protects our neighborhoods and quality of life. Focus on Potomac Yard Metro is a top economic development issue. And Landmark Mall. Eisenhower West and Old Town North also will be getting a lot of our attention.
Overall goals: Pushing for excellence in schools, addressing the school capacity issue with our school board, addressing the debt, supporting the libraries, the arts, open space and programs for our seniors and our most vulnerable, as well as establishing an ethics commission to take a look at broad range of issues to make our city government more transparent.
Fairfax Supervisor
John Cook
Braddock
Social Issues: I will continue my work for domestic violence and sexual assault awareness and prevention.
Development Projects: Should the commonwealth sell the Northern Virginia Training Center property to a developer, as expected, this roughly 80-acre site could become one of the more interesting development projects in the county, launching an extensive community engagement and planning process.
Overall Goals: I anticipate giving significant attention to use of force reforms in our police department and the establishment of a “Diversion First” program to provide treatment instead of incarceration for those who commit nonviolent crimes due to mental health challenges.
Fairfax Supervisor
Kathy Smith
Sully
Social Issues: Education will be my top priority, but I will also focus on ensuring that resources are used wisely to provide safe streets, adequate recreational space and services for those who need them.
Development Projects: Creating multiuse communities in which residents could live, work and play without having to spend hours on the road. Encourage developers to include affordable housing in any new projects.
Overall Goals: Strengthen the sense of community in the Sully district, and ensure that the voices of the citizens are heard in projecting the kind of future we want in this district.
Loudoun Supervisor
Kristen Umstattd
Leesburg
Overall Goals: Teachers, educators and students need our full support every year. The town and the county need to bring in more regional, state and federal transportation dollars. Our law enforcement and emergency services personnel need to know they have the resources to protect our citizens.
Fairfax Supervisor
Penny Gross
Mason
Social Issues: Continue to work on achieving greater understanding between and among our diverse population and faith communities, and work to find solutions for community challenges.
Development Projects: Work with private property owners—Annandale and Baileys Comprehensive Plans, Seven Corners Comp Plan and the upcoming Lincolnia Comp Plan—to implement smart development ideas.
Overall Goals: Mason District is a diverse, dynamic and densely populated district. We should celebrate our successes and work together on our challenges.
Fairfax Supervisor
John Foust
Dranesville
Social Issues: Work with the Fairfax County School Board to ensure that our excellent teachers are fairly compensated.
Development Projects: Complete negotiations with the National Park Service for the transfer of Langley Fork to the Park Authority so that the county can increase active recreation facilities in Dranesville. And the revitalization of the McLean Central Business District.
Overall Goals: Reduce congestion by expanding transportation options including the widening of Route 7, completing Dulles Rail Phase II and implementing additional pedestrian and bicycle projects.
Arlington County Board
Christian Dorsey
Social Issues: Make sure Arlington is able to provide the range of services and living options throughout citizens’ life cycles with emphasis on senior community so they have housing, transit and recreational opportunities.
Development Projects: Prioritize Columbia Pike in the short term—modifying a well-designed plan in terms of what it looks like but also sustainable practices and implementing modern, flexible and efficient transportation. For the Lee Highway corridor, to develop a commercial and residential field that is reflective of smart growth but works well with adjacent residential neighborhoods.
Overall Goals: Smartly plan for our growth and deal with impact of development in sensible and cost-efficient ways. Student enrollment growth isn’t an annual surprise; we have to plan for it and seamlessly integrate it. Plan for traffic to improve over time; plan for transit and multimodal options so it isn’t car based. And that the tax burden is reflective of a community that spends wisely and doesn’t shift costs to taxpayers.
Loudoun Supervisor
Tony Buffington
Blue Ridge
Development Projects: In the Suburban Policy Area, I’ll focus on accelerating traffic-reducing road projects and working with the school board to ensure the necessary funding to reduce overcrowding.
In the Rural and Transition Policy Areas, I’ll work to ensure the future of the area’s rural, historic and scenic nature by maintaining zoning protections and strengthening our rural economy that improves the quality of life for residents and businesses. I’ll also work to increase broadband and cellular coverage throughout these areas as our current lack of sufficient coverage has resulted in public safety, education and economic issues.
Loudoun Supervisor
Suzanne Volpe
Algonkian
Development Projects: For the upcoming term, my office will focus on several areas, including commercial business development/business-friendly zoning ordinance amendments, planning for the Metro Silver Line, the review of the county’s comprehensive plan, completing missing transportation links in eastern Loudoun County, and addressing local community items like the need for renovations at Potomac Falls High School, which was built in 1997.
Arlington County Board
Katie Cristol
Social Issues: Expanding childcare supply in Arlington, improve community response to sexual assaults. Development projects: Moving transit plans to accelerate redevelopment on Columbia Pike in the short term. And long term, more community-driven visioning for major corridors for redevelopment rather than developer-driven.
Overall Goals: Sustaining Arlington’s middle class for rental and housing ownership housing and affordability issues.
Loudoun Supervisor
Ron Meyer Jr.
Broad Run
Social issues: Diversifying Northern Virginia’s economy by improving our road networks and expanding our higher education system. Development projects: My charge will be to ensure the last three stops on the Silver Line have vibrant business environments for people to work, live and have access to world-class amenities.
Overall Goals: Working to secure available funding for a local road as an alternative to the Greenway for Ashburn, Broadlands and Brambleton, and to embed our proposed alignment in the County Infrastructure Plan. We also will be forwarding a plan to secure complete capital funding for a university campus at the future Ashburn Metro stop, using a developer proffer. This campus will be able to service the entire Silver Line corridor and fill gaps in our tech workforce—training our young people to succeed in the modern economy.
Loudoun Supervisor
Koran Saines
Sterling
Social Issues: To be inclusive of all our residents and sensitive to differing opinions. Development projects: There are many updates that can and should be done in Sterling. Regarding Loudoun, the focus should be on creating “live, work, play” areas.
Loudoun Supervisor
Geary Higgins
Catoctin
Social Issues: Preserving the beauty, history and heritage of the west. And I look to continue our work to lower taxes to the average homeowner.
Development Projects: Adequate maintenance of the over 300-plus miles of Loudoun’s gravel roads, Route 15 improvements, continued improvements on the commuter corridor down Route 7 and a number of key interchanges in the west.
Overall Goals: Continuing a strong economic development program and expansion of much-needed broadband services to western Loudoun are also a top priority.
(January 2016)