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.

Countywide

Fairfax planning commission backs more accessible parking in new development

By Scott McCaffrey
ADA parking spaces at the Spring Hill Rec Center in McLean (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

Those with disabilities would see more accessible parking spaces connected to new development under new rules vetted Wednesday (Oct. 30) by the Fairfax County Planning Commission.

The body voted to recommend that the Board of Supervisors approve a proposal to tweak accessible-parking ratios. Instead of the current minimum of one Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant parking space for every 25 spaces in a lot or garage, the ratio would be changed to one for every 15.

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Countywide

Fairfax Water faces huge bill to comply with new EPA chemical removal mandate

By Scott McCaffrey
A person fills a glass with tap water (photo by Eric Vance/U.S. EPA)

Officials at Fairfax Water are bracing for one-time and ongoing costs that could approach a half-billion dollars over the next decade to comply with new federal environmental regulations.

Unless workarounds are found, most of the costs of addressing the looming impact of chemicals known as PFAS will be borne by its customers, the agency’s head told the Board of Supervisors’ Environment Committee on Tuesday (Oct. 29).

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Countywide

More varied payment options may be on way for Fairfax County taxpayers

By Scott McCaffrey
Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration drop box (staff photo by Angela Woolsey)

New payment options, from 24-hour kiosks to cryptocurrency, could be on the way for those paying taxes and fees to the Fairfax County government.

If one county leader has his way, there also could be lower surcharges for those paying by credit and debit cards.

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Countywide

County leaders seek to ease strain on local jail from state inmates

By Scott McCaffrey
Inside the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Fairfax County’s elected leadership is standing firm in efforts to have the state government fulfill its responsibility for housing those sentenced to incarceration.

But exactly how local leaders will deliver that message in advance of the 2025 General Assembly session remains a work in progress.

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News

Route 7 improvements in Falls Church likely to wrap up by spring 2025

By Scott McCaffrey
Haycock Road traffic approaches Route 7 (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)

The prospect of a winter of discontent awaits those navigating the area where Haycock Road meets Route 7 in Falls Church, but conditions should be better by springtime, city officials anticipate.

“Relief is on the horizon, but we still have some pain before we get there,” Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields told the city council on Monday (Oct. 28).

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Countywide

Number of kindergarten students from low-income families on the rise, FCPS says

By Scott McCaffrey
Mount Vernon District School Board Representative Mateo Dunne (via Fairfax County Public Schools/YouTube)

If current trends continue, a majority of Fairfax County Public Schools students could come from families defined as economically disadvantaged.

“That would be a fundamental shift in the paradigm of our education system,” Mount Vernon Representative Mateo Dunne said at the Fairfax County School Board meeting last Thursday (Oct. 24).

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Countywide

Fairfax leaders stay mum after another call to support Mideast ceasefire

By Scott McCaffrey
Najla Drooby urges the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to publicly support a ceasefire in the Middle East (via Fairfax County government video)

Members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors seem to be standing firm in staying out of political and military issues in the Mideast.

But that hasn’t stopped community members seeking support for a permanent ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and related players to continue pressing their efforts.

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Countywide

County board to honor all faith communities instead of proposed church heritage day

By Scott McCaffrey
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity (via Fairfax County)

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution last Tuesday (Oct. 22) honoring the importance of faith communities in the county. But it was a far cry from the intent of the measure’s initial sponsor.

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, the board’s lone Republican, attempted to convince his Democratic colleagues for the second board meeting in a row to declare Nov. 21 as Church Heritage Recognition Day in the county.

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News

Springfield planning commissioner lauded for four decades of service to community

By Scott McCaffrey
Peter F. Murphy (via Fairfax County)

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.

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