Herndon Town Council member Cesar del Aguila has become a campaigning veteran with four terms under his belt, but his bid for a fifth might be the most competitive race yet.
Twelve people are vying for the council’s six seats in the upcoming Nov. 3 election, including five incumbents and a slate of young, progressive-minded newcomers seeking to shake up the town’s status quo.
While he thinks it’s “great” to see so many interested candidates, del Aguila contends that the next council will need experience and continuity to guide Herndon through a potentially game-changing point in its evolution.
“There’s new fresh ideas, but there’s also experience that’s needed in these roles,” del Aguila said in an interview last week. “These aren’t like HOA positions. These are serious, executive-level positions, and we’ve got some serious challenges and serious things to consider. So, I think you need serious people with that kind of background.”
Among the most immediate concerns facing the council is the fate of the approximately 5-acre downtown site that, for now, remains owned by the developer Comstock Companies, despite its decision in December 2024 not to move forward with a long-planned redevelopment project.
After more than a year of limbo, a resolution to the town’s lawsuit attempting to wrest back control of the land might finally be in sight. As noted on the town’s project page, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Tania Saylor is expected to issue a final decision in the case at a status hearing on Sept. 25.
Even if the judge sides with the Town of Herndon, del Aguila fears that won’t be the end of the legal saga.
“Regardless of the outcome, there will be appeals,” he predicts. “And I think we, as a town, as residents, need to really prepare ourselves for what it’s going to cost us financially to get the land back.”
It’s unclear how much Herndon has spent so far on the lawsuit, but del Aguila says the legal fees will likely end up “in the millions,” which would be a noticeable hit for a town whose current budget totals $99.8 million.
The $300,000 that the town saved by eliminating spring and fall bulk trash collections over the past year looks negligible in comparison. While he supports restoring funding for one or both seasonal clean-ups, del Aguila noted that Herndon’s operating and capital improvement expenses keep climbing, exceeding revenues even as it increases property taxes and other costs imposed on residents.
If reelected, del Aguila says one of his priorities would be to “grow the tax base, but not the tax burden.”
In lieu of continuing to raise residential taxes, the town needs to focus on becoming “a destination, a place where people come and people spend their money,” he said, pointing to a planned spring regional bicycle race spearheaded by Green Lizard Cycling as an example of an event that could attract new visitors and boost Herndon’s commercial revenue.
“If we keep focusing on those revenue-generating events — take Friday Night Live and expand it to maybe [a] Saturday family movie night block party — again, bringing revenue into the downtown, we can sustain the current tax rate or perhaps lower it,” del Aguila said, referring to the long-running summer concert series organized by the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce.
First elected to the town council in 2018, del Aguila cited his role in establishing a strategic plan in 2024 as his proudest accomplishment over his eight years in office.
Now, with town staff in the middle of crafting a comprehensive plan that will lay out a vision for Herndon through 2050, he hopes that he and other current council members will be able to finish initiatives that they started, including on:
- Affordable housing: In addition to prioritizing workforce and affordable housing “where appropriate,” particularly in the denser transit-oriented core (HTOC), the town should encourage developers to provide a wider range of products, including studio and one-bedroom units, del Aguila says.
- Public safety: A certified reserve deputy sheriff for Fairfax County, del Aguila has been advocating for the Herndon Police Department to get additional resources to expand foot and bicycle patrols as well as housing stipends so more officers can afford to live in the town.
- “I think it’s quite a different dynamic when you have police living in the town that they’re providing safety and security for,” he said, noting a need for police to build trust with Herndon’s significant immigrant population.
- Traffic calming: Over the past year, Herndon has lowered the speed limit on parts of Herndon Parkway, adopted a Roadway Safety Action Plan and moved to introduce red-light cameras.
- Del Aguila says vehicle speeds on Herndon Parkway are “slowing down a little bit, but we need to keep that going,” adding that the town is “not trying to be too punitive,” instead aiming to make drivers aware of where they are, especially in residential neighborhoods.
- Addressing cut-through traffic issues remains a conundrum, he admitted.
“This next council will be able to define what the town will look like for the next generation of small towns,” del Aguila said. “So, the master plan, all that is going to be designed and voted on probably first half of next year, so it’s a pretty significant election.”
Early voting in the Herndon Town Council election is set to begin tomorrow (Friday).
Joining del Aguila on the ballot will fellow council members Vice Mayor Clark Hedrick, Michael T. Lloyd, Kelvin Garcia and Alex Reyes, along with challengers Meron Yohannes, Yasmin Shafiq, Sabrina Bruce, Josif Ezekilov, Doug Mejia, Stevan Michael Porter and Justin Britt.
