Rising education and debt-service costs and the desire to retain a competitive pay scale have contributed to a proposed 4.5% increase in the City of Fairfax’s budget.
City Manager Daniel Alexander detailed a $207.5 million fiscal 2027 year spending package on Feb. 24 that includes a host of tax increases but no new or expanded programming.
The Fairfax City Council was briefed Tuesday (Feb. 24) on two proposed redevelopments — a revised pitch for the Courthouse Plaza Shopping Center and an office-to-residential conversion.
Council members received pre-application presentations on the multi-phase mixed-use development for the Courthouse Plaza Shopping Center at 10300 Willard Way and 3922 Blenheim Blvd as well as a potential conversion of an office building into a six-story multifamily residential building at 10340 Democracy Lane.
Fairfax County government offices and schools will remain closed tomorrow (Tuesday), as work continues to clean up roads after yesterday’s Winter Storm Fern.
In addition to closing schools for a second day, Fairfax County Public Schools is canceling all activities on school grounds, including extracurricular programs, team practices, field trips, middle school after-school programs, and adult education classes.
The contentious George Snyder Trail extension will officially remain unbuilt, as the Fairfax City Council opted to nix the project Tuesday (Jan. 13) following more than two hours of public comments.
The council voted 4-2 to cancel the project, with Councilmembers Tom Peterson, Rachel McQuillen, Stacy Hall and Billy Bates in favor and Councilmembers Stacy Hardy-Chandler and Anthony Amos opposed.
Efforts to repurpose Gateway Regional Park in the City of Fairfax into a wetlands education facility could both start and be completed in the coming year.
“That’s the plan,” new NOVA Parks executive director Justin Wilson told members of the Fairfax City Council at its Dec. 9 meeting.
Fairfax City could establish a new urban forestry division in the next one to five years to promote tree preservation.
A draft of the city’s new Urban Forest Master Plan, which will be presented to the planning commission today (Dec. 8), envisions two new technicians, an urban forester, and part-time administrative support dedicated to helping implement stronger conservation practices and expand its tree canopy. There would also be a shared GIS technician/analyst.
After more than two years in business, Mackenzie’s Tunes & Tonics can finally live up to the first half of its name.
The bar and restaurant in Old Town Fairfax (3950 University Drive, Suite 210) can now host live music, a new chapter that it will commemorate with a ribbon-cutting at 4 p.m. today (Thursday) and a weekend of “special events.”
Fairfax City Council members continue to consider what priorities they should focus on in the 2026 General Assembly session, and in what order.
At a Nov. 18 discussion on the city’s legislative package, residents evidently opted not to weigh in, with no speakers attending the scheduled public hearing.
Fairfax City Council members voted unanimously Oct. 28 to ask the General Assembly to remove the existing cap on taxes levied on hotel stays in the city.
The City Charter currently caps the rate at 4%, below most jurisdictions across Virginia. In Fairfax County, the occupancy tax rate increased from 7% to 9% on Oct. 1, with different portions of the revenue going toward general county funds, tourism and regional transportation.
Fairfax City is considering whether to keep a fare-free policy in place for its CUE bus system.
The city’s CUE buses stopped collecting fares in mid-2020 when the pandemic started. In 2022, the city adopted a four-year zero-fare pilot program that will expire at the end of fiscal year 2026, according to city documents.
