The Fairfax City Council approved a handful of special exceptions for the forthcoming Willard-Sherwood Health and Community Center last week, but not every official was on board.
Three of the councilmembers — Stacy Hall, Rachel McQuillen and Thomas Peterson — symbolically voted against each of the zoning requests at the council meeting last Tuesday (Oct. 14), though all items ultimately passed by a slim majority vote.
Fairfax City residents think it’s a great place to live and rate its services highly, despite ongoing concerns over traffic and lack of affordable housing, according to new data from the City of Fairfax’s first community survey.
The results of the survey — which was conducted over the summer by the ETC Institute, a Kansas-based firm that provides market research for local governments — were presented to city council members during a work session on Oct. 7.
An $18.4 million project to reduce congestion and improve safety on a nearly mile-long portion of Jermantown Road has been more than half a decade in the making. Now, an updated proposal is finally ready for public viewing.
Presented to the Fairfax City Council at a work session on Oct. 7, the project calls for a number of new turn lanes, enhanced markings for pedestrians, and tighter management of access to the roads.
Fairfax City is considering transforming its CUE bus system by offering more frequent and direct connections between the most popular stops, as well as speeding up routes — but also cut service for some riders.
A draft transportation development plan for the next 10 years of service envisions three simplified routes between the Vienna metro station, Old Town, and George Mason University, the areas with the highest demand.
Updated 9/16 — City of Fairfax officials said the project was not slowed by leadership changes. According to a spokesperson for the City:
The land use application for the City Center West project has been deemed inactive, as your article states, but the same status exists for the “Block A” proposal. Attached is the July 4, 2025, letter notifying Ox Hill that the City Center West site plan application was void and closed due to inactivity.
Three months after it was put on hold, a divided Fairfax City Council has brought the $6 million Pickett Road Connector Trail project back to life.
After Mayor Catherine Read cast the tiebreaker in a 4-3 vote last week, planning will restart on the proposed 1,260-foot trail running south from Fairfax Blvd to Thaiss Memorial Park on the east side of Pickett Road.
Plans to redevelop the Courthouse Plaza Shopping Center near Old Town Fairfax were put on hold last week, giving city officials and the developer more time to find compromises on the overall proposal.
“Being good partners requires flexibility not just from the developer, but from the city as well,” Fairfax City Councilmember Anthony Amos said at the July 22 meeting, where council members voted 5-1 to defer final consideration until Oct. 28.
A divided Fairfax City Council narrowly approved a major redevelopment plan at its July 22 meeting that will see a century-old home replaced with up to 276 apartment units, plus ground-floor commercial and retail space, on a key parcel in Old Town Fairfax.
The 4-3 vote to support the staff recommendation for redevelopment marked the conclusion of a nearly decade-old process to determine the future of the 2.7-acre site at 4131 Chain Bridge Road.
The City of Fairfax could tighten its restrictions on noise but is likely holding off on regulating gas-powered leaf blowers.
Currently in Fairfax City, amplified sounds like music and other noise through speakers are prohibited form being plainly audible inside another person’s dwelling unit between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Street noises, like yelling, shouting, and hooting are likewise prohibited on public streets during the same hours.
How do you like walking around Fairfax City? A new study could redesign the city’s streets to improve the pedestrian experience with a particular emphasis on safety.
The City of Fairfax was awarded a federal grant to develop a citywide safety action plan, a circulation study for Old Town Fairfax, and a citywide pedestrian master plan — all under the umbrella of an initiative called Move Fairfax City.
