Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors plans to use $260.6 million in unspent funds for improvements to roads, schools, parks, public safety and other community services.
The surplus is due to increased revenue, decreased spending and funds left from the American Rescue Plan Act, County Executive Bryan Hill said in a July 29 memorandum to the board.
Five more homeowners’ associations have been selected to receive grants for electric vehicle charging stations through Fairfax County’s Charge Up Fairfax program.
Spearheaded by the Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC), the initiative originally launched in 2023 as a pilot program to encourage residential neighborhoods to invest in electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure by reimbursing HOAs for up to a third of the costs to install charging stations.
Fairfax County is set to receive close to $51 million from the federal government to buy 60 new diesel-electric hybrid Connector buses.
Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner announced yesterday (Wednesday) that the county has been awarded over $50.5 million for the buses from the Federal Transportation Administration’s Low or No Emission Grant program, which has funded more than 1,100 buses in 47 states.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday that the state will no longer follow car emissions standards set by California, despite his party’s failure to repeal or roll back a 2021 Democratic law that tied Virginia to those regulations.
The move tees up what could be another legal fight over Republican leaders’ efforts to undo climate change-related measures Democrats passed when they had full control of state government a few years ago.
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) has the green light to apply for a federal grant to replace dozens of buses in its Fairfax Connector fleet.
However, none of the new buses will be all-electric, despite the county’s earlier pledges to electrify its fleet of vehicles.
(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) Local elected officials, including Rep. Gerry Connolly, gathered in Lorton on Wednesday to celebrate the introduction of 42 new electric buses to the division’s fleet.
These buses, which were funded by a $16.5 million federal grant announced in January, join the 18 electric buses already in operation. Although the division currently operates over 1,600 diesel buses, county officials emphasized that these new electric buses mark the start of a larger transition.
Another Tysons office building is set to be transformed into housing.
After a public hearing on Tuesday (March 19), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal to convert the three-story office building at 8221 Old Courthouse Road into 55 multi-family apartments, including six workforce dwelling units.
To further its environmental goals, Fairfax County’s to-do list should include building an electric vehicle charging network, addressing “critical” staff shortages, and addressing development pressure, the Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) says in a new report.
An employee compensation policy update to attract and retain workers in departments such as wastewater and solid waste was the top recommendation in the 2023 Annual Report on the Environment (ARE), EQAC Chair Larry Zaragoza told the Board of Supervisors during its environmental committee meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 29).
Fairfax County may continue waiving permitting and installation fees for electric vehicle chargers, following an initial trial period of 18 months that showed mixed results.
At a land use policy committee meeting on Tuesday (Jan. 30), Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said he hopes to extend the trial period by one year.
Fairfax County Public Schools will more than double the number of electric buses in its fleet, thanks to a new federal grant.
The local school system has been awarded $16.59 million as a winner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inaugural Clean School Bus program grants competition. The other winner announced yesterday (Monday) was also from Virginia: Newport News Public Schools will receive $525,000.
