The Fairfax City Council approved a handful of special exceptions for the forthcoming Willard-Sherwood Health and Community Center last week, but not every official was on board.
Three of the councilmembers — Stacy Hall, Rachel McQuillen and Thomas Peterson — symbolically voted against each of the zoning requests at the council meeting last Tuesday (Oct. 14), though all items ultimately passed by a slim majority vote.
Two of the three “nay” votes explicitly told FFXnow that they had concerns with the cost of the overall project, which is expected to total more than $130 million, according to a city staff report.
“Given the continued rise in school tuition costs, the recently approved $220 million bond (which passed with nearly 70% support) and is not yet included in our current debt capacity or tax rate, and the many other basic needs and deferred priorities across the city, I don’t believe committing our residents to a project of this magnitude is prudent right now,” Hall said.
According to Peterson, the project would involve some $58 million in “new funding” from the city’s Capital Improvement Program — equal to roughly 9.7 cents in new real estate tax levies. He noted that the council had already approved increasing the real estate tax rate by 2.5 cents in the fiscal year 2026 budget, down from the 9.5-cent increase recommended by the city manager in response to citizen concerns.
With several other significant projects also in the works, including a renovation of Van Dyck Park and new police and fire stations, he argues that the city has concentrated its funding in capital projects and schools “at unusually high and potentially unhealthy levels” that could make it difficult to support other services and county operations.
“All of this is happening during a very uncertain national and regional economic environment due to unprecedented shifts in federal funding and budgets as well as persistent inflation and business and job instability, and concerns about household financial security,” Peterson said.
“These circumstances are not lost on city residents, many of whom are beginning to express serious concerns and request caution by the council in advance of our next budget cycle,” he added.
The project, which is a joint effort of the Fairfax city and county governments, will see the demolition of the existing Joseph Willard Health Center at 3750 Blenheim Blvd and a renovation of the Stacy C. Sherwood Center at 3740 Blenheim Blvd in order to “provide integrated services” on one campus, according to the county.
The proposed 100,000-square-foot facility will house county-operated health services, child care programs, and a variety of city-run community services, including a gym and fitness center, a senior center, multipurpose classrooms and an updated performing arts space.
Some of the programs are currently offered at the Green Acres Center. Fairfax City determined with a feasibility study conducted in 2015 and 2016 that the senior center and recreation facility at 4401 Sideburn Road needed to be relocated because the former school building needed “significant repairs.”
Former Fairfax City Council member Michael DeMarco, one of two people to testify at last week’s public hearing, urged the current council to continue advancing a project he had helped set the stage for when serving on the Green Acres feasibility study committee.
“It advances the city’s vision from the Green Acres study, which was to provide a modern facility with a full gym, senior center, fitness and multipurpose spaces, and now in a location that is accessible to all residents and achieved through partnership, not duplication,” DeMarco said. “In short, this is the right project in the right place at the right time. It honors years of planning [and] meets the needs identified by our residents.”
Councilmembers ultimately approved two special use permits, allowing government uses on the county-owned portion of the targeted property and an expansion of government uses on the city-owned portion.
Additionally, nine special exceptions were approved, allowing the project to bypass certain building height and parking space capacity rules.
The project is currently undergoing zoning and permit reviews. Construction is expected to begin in early 2026, the Fairfax County Health Department previously told FFXnow, and the existing Willard Health Center ceased operations on Oct. 1 ahead of demolition.
The new facility is scheduled to open in September 2028.
