Legislation designed to shine more sunlight on land-use decisions in Fairfax County won approval in the House of Delegates on Thursday and likely soon will head to Gov. Tim Kaine.
The House voted 76-21 in favor of the measure, which requires the applicants and membersof the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the county’s planning commission and the zoning appeals board to disclose if the officials have a financial interest of at least 10 percent in proposed projects. Applicants would also have to disclose whether they have made campaign donations of $100 or more to the officials reviewing the request.
Fairfax County officials sent House members a letter Thursday asking them to defeat the bill because the county did not have enough staff to process the new disclosure forms. The letter angered some lawmakers who said county representatives did not raise any objections before the House Counties, Cities and Towns Committee unanimously approved the bill.
“I will no longer take anything at face value that people from Fairfax County tell me,” said Del. Terrie Suit, R-Virginia Beach, the lead House sponsor of the bill.
Most of the Fairfax County delegation opposed the bill, which Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, R-Vienna, introduced in January to attract more public scrutiny to the county’s land-use decision-making process.
“The amount of paperwork generated by a huge project like the proposals for Tysons Corner will be huge,” Del. Jim Scott, R-Fairfax said. “The consequences have not been completely thought through.”
Before approving the bill, the House slightly changed the disclosure requirements. Davis supports the amendment and will ask the Senate to approve the revised version and send it to the governor by Saturday when the legislature’s session ends.
