Author: Scott McCaffrey

A Northern Virginia native, Scott McCaffrey has four decades of reporting, editing and newsroom experience in the local area plus Florida, South Carolina and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. He spent 26 years as editor of the Sun Gazette newspaper chain. For Local News Now, he covers government and civic issues in Arlington, Fairfax County and Falls Church.

News

Key vote on I-495 Southside express lanes project postponed to 2026 or beyond

By Scott McCaffrey
Traffic heading west on I-495 in Alexandria near South Van Dorn Street (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

A key regional planning body voted today (Wednesday) to defer until at least 2026 any further consideration of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s plan to extend express lanes on the south side of the Capital Beltway (I-495) across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and into Maryland.

“The project is simply not ready,” said Eric Olson, a member of the Prince George’s County Council who sits on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Transportation Planning Board (TPB).

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News

Housing with self-storage facility approved for final Woodland Park parcel in Herndon

By Scott McCaffrey
The planned mixed-use residential development with self-storage at Woodland Park East in Herndon (via SK+I Architecture/Fairfax County)

The last undeveloped parcel in the Woodland Park East development near the Herndon Metro station will move forward with multifamily residential units and a self-storage facility, rather than the previously proposed twin office buildings.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday (Oct. 14) to support developer Trammell Crow Residential’s request for zoning changes on “Block E,” a 3.3-acre parcel on the northeast portion of the 32-acre Woodland Park property. It is located between the Dulles Access Road to the north and Woodland Park Drive to the south and Monroe Street to the east and Corporate Park Drive to the west.

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Countywide

Fairfax board fears trickle-down impact of planned federal homeland security grant cuts

By Scott McCaffrey
Board Chair Jeff McKay (screenshot via Fairfax County)

Fairfax County leaders are voicing concern that proposed Trump administration’s cuts in homeland security grants could have a major local impact.

“It is a significant hit to our public safety agencies,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said at the board’s meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 14). “We will be very loud and outspoken about it.”

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News

Fairfax County seeks land rights for pedestrian safety project on Columbia Pike

By Scott McCaffrey
Columbia Pike improvements, in red, and affected properties, bordered in blue (via Fairfax County)

Fairfax County is considering exercising its eminent domain powers to advance a sidewalk project on Columbia Pike.

During its meeting yesterday (Tuesday), the Board of Supervisors authorized a Nov. 18 public hearing to acquire easements to property needed to make the improvements on a stretch of Columbia Pike in Annandale.

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Countywide

Lower interest rates helped more buyers into Fairfax homes market in September

By Scott McCaffrey
Sign for a home under contract (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Home sales and average sales prices across Fairfax County rose in September, as buyers cashed in on lower interest rates despite ongoing economic concerns.

A total of 953 properties went to closing for the month, up from 920 in September 2024, according to figures reported Friday (Oct. 10) by Bright MLS, using data from MarketStats by ShowingTime.

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Countywide

Fairfax County leaders to fight any state bills diluting local authority to regulate housing

By Scott McCaffrey
One University affordable housing development in Fairfax (staff photo by James Jarvis)

Fairfax County leaders appear ready to battle any efforts in the 2026 General Assembly session to strip powers of local government to regulate creation of new housing.

“We want affordable housing,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said, but the county’s lobbying efforts in Richmond would be focused on “making sure the General Assembly doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all” approach that erases local decision-making powers.

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Countywide

D.C. region leaders troubled by ‘elevated’ food insecurity levels found in report

By Scott McCaffrey
Food-pantry shelves (photo via Jacob McGowin/Unsplash)

More than one in four Fairfax County households meets the definition of “food-insecure,” and that figure is likely to rise in coming months as the full impacts of federal worker and funding cuts materialize.

“More challenging times are ahead,” Hilary Salmon, senior director of marketing and communications for Capital Area Food Bank, predicted when briefing board members of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) yesterday (Wednesday).

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Countywide

Shutdown impacts add uncertainty to Fairfax leaders’ priorities for Congress

By Scott McCaffrey
Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez now heads the legislative committee (screenshot via Fairfax County)

Like everyone else, Fairfax County leaders remain in wait-and-see mode to determine the short-term and potential long-term implications of the federal government’s ongoing shutdown.

“It really depends on the length,” said Jennifer Imo, managing partner of client services for Ferguson Group, a lobbying organization hired by Fairfax County to represent its interests on Capitol Hill.

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Countywide

Fairfax County proposes fees to sustain after-school program for middle-schoolers

By Scott McCaffrey
Glasgow Middle School students learn cooking skills in an after-school program (via FCPS/YouTube)

Fairfax County supervisors are not sold on a staff proposal to revamp the Middle School After-School (MSAS) program, which would impose a new fee on parents of participants to offset taxpayer costs.

Though expressing support for the effort’s intent, the elected officials raised questions about its relative effectiveness, and why it attracts many more students at some schools than at others.

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News

County to seek $463 million in regional funds to boost Route 1 bus project

By Scott McCaffrey
Residents attend an in-person update on the Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project at the Gerry South Hyland Government Center on Jan. 15, 2025 (staff photo by James Jarvis)

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorized a number of procedural steps last Tuesday (Sept. 30) to advance plans for the nearly billion-dollar Richmond Highway bus rapid transit (BRT) initiative known as The One.

In actions combined into a larger consent agenda approval, supervisors formally requested Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) funding to support the project and scheduled an upcoming public hearing to address the acquisition of easements from property owners along the route.

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