One of Fairfax County’s top administrative officials is stepping down from her post.
Deputy County Executive Rachel Flynn will retire on July 5, a county spokesperson says. A Google employee before she joined Fairfax County in 2019, Flynn oversees the public works, transportation, code compliance, and planning and development departments, along with the park authority.
“We wish her all the best,” the spokesperson said in a statement to FFXnow.
Appointed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 22, 2019, Flynn arrived at the county as local leaders sought to adapt to the needs of an increasingly diverse population and revitalize an economy long reliant on the federal government, which was just coming out of its longest-ever shutdown.
County Executive Bryan Hill, who took office in January 2018, brought Flynn on board to help the county increase its “coolness factor” after it lost out on Amazon’s second headquarters to neighboring Arlington, according to a Washington Post profile of Hill.
In addition to her role as Google’s director of design management, planning and entitlements, the county highlighted Flynn’s 35 years of experience in urban planning and real estate and economic development in its announcement of her appointment. Her past public employers included Oakland, California, and Richmond and Lynchburg in Virginia.
Flynn’s top priority for Fairfax County was continuing the economic “revitalization” started by the arrival of Metro’s Silver Line to Tysons and Reston in 2014, she said in an October 2019 interview by Bisnow.
“We’re starting to look at ways to enhance development for multi-use, live-work-play communities, that have greater density, greater connectivity and transportation, in places like Tysons and Reston,” she told Bisnow. “Employers and employees want to be in those spaces. We can’t just continue to widen roads, we have to think more creatively through development patterns.”
Though road-widening projects continue to crop up, the county did drop a couple from the D.C. region’s long-term transportation plan, and in recent years, it has made some major land-use policy changes intended to encourage less auto-centric development, including overhauls of its zoning code and parking regulations.
The county has also seen a trend toward more mixed-use development, particularly in more urbanized areas like Tysons and Reston, in keeping with the vision laid out in its comprehensive plan.
The county didn’t comment on why Flynn has opted to retire now, and it’s unclear when her successor will be announced. Flynn is one of four deputies in the county executive’s office, which serves as the local government’s administrative head.
The office also includes deputy county executives who handle administration, safety and security, and health, housing and human services.
“I thank Rachel for her years of service to Fairfax County and for her many accomplishments,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said. “I wish her well in the future.”
