When Peter F. Murphy joined the Fairfax County Planning Commission, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, Marie Travesky was Springfield District supervisor and the county was home to about 640,000 people — half a million fewer than today.
The year was 1982, and when Murphy was appointed as the commission’s Springfield District representative that December, few might have anticipated the changes he would witness and, in many cases, help shape across Fairfax over the course of two generations.
Murphy, who served on the commission for 42 years, most of them as chairman, was lauded on Tuesday (Oct. 22) by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. He had retired from the post not long before.
“The landscape of this county has largely been built by you, your vision and the Planning Commission — always putting the county first,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said at the event, which drew a large crowd of well-wishers.
Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk is one of several current supervisors who previously served on the planning commission during Murphy’s chairmanship.
“I see you as more than a colleague — I see you as family,” Lusk told Murphy, praising him as “a person who is people-centered, people-first.”
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who also served with Murphy on the commission, praised his collegiality, sense of humor, attention to detail and ability to ensure commissioners didn’t take themselves too seriously, even as they were serious about the responsibilities that had been entrusted to their care.
“You never forgot that it’s public service,” Alcorn said.
Murphy was appointed to the body at the recommendation of Travesky, then the supervisor for the Springfield District, which encompasses West Springfield, Fair Oaks, Clifton and parts of Burke and Fairfax.
Reappointed by Travesky’s successor Elaine McConnell and current Springfield supervisor Pat Herrity, Murphy was chosen in 1989 to chair the commission. He continued to perform that role until turning the gavel over in 2023 to Phil Niedzielski-Eichner, an at-large member.
Without Murphy’s long service and robust engagement, “I don’t think we would be the county we are today,” Herrity said.
Murphy, who was a public-relations specialist with the Association of the U.S. Army for years, attended the presentation with his wife, Charlene, and daughter Cherilyn.
“It has been a wonderful experience for me and my family,” he said, acknowledging both the festivities themselves and, more broadly, his tenure on the planning commission.
Murphy offered thanks for the kind words that had cascaded down on him.
“I’ll remember what you said to the end of my life,” he told supervisors.
Outside of family, work and county government service, which earned him numerous state and local accolades, Murphy has been active with the Burke Volunteer Fire Department and Celebrate Fairfax, among other organizations.
In 2010, he was tapped for service on the Department of Defense’s 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration Commission.
Post left vacant after supervisors decline to vote on successor
With Murphy having departed, the planning commission’s Springfield District seat is currently vacant. During its meeting on Tuesday, not long after celebrating Murphy’s legacy, the Board of Supervisors declined to vote on Herrity’s recommended nominee, David Schnare, to succeed him.
Schnare, an attorney and scientist, currently serves as pro-bono director of the Center for Environmental Stewardship at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.
Apparently, Herrity, the board’s lone Republican, had been unaware that the nine Democrats on the board planned to kill the nomination, which failed on procedural grounds after no one “seconded” the motion to allow a vote. He could be heard saying “you’ve got to be kidding me” in response.
Herrity later told colleagues that he had circulated Schnare’s nomination paperwork but “didn’t hear back from any of you” about possible red flags. He praised Schnare for a 37-year career at the Environmental Protection Agency, mentioning plans to recognize his civic engagement at a later event.
Asked what led to the unusual decision to deny a district supervisor’s selection for the planning body, McKay told FFXnow it was “based on publicly available information” about Schnare.
“I chose not to support his nomination,” McKay said. “No one on the Board of Supervisors other than Supervisor Herrity supported his nomination.”
Co-founder of Free Market Environmental Law Clinic, which is known for challenging climate scientists, Schnare joined newly elected president Donald Trump’s transition team in 2017 but left the EPA two months in after clashing with Administrator Scott Pruitt.
He previously worked at the EPA for over 30 years before leaving in 2011 to start the conservative law clinic, which was originally called the American Tradition Institute.
