Supervisors in Fairfax County ordered on Monday the creation of a multiagency “strike force” to combat neighborhood decay and code violations.
The board voted unanimously to organize a broad team of county staff that would focus on enforcement issues. The vote follows a public chastising of county departments by Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman at the board’s previous meeting. Kauffman, who is stepping down at the end of his term, blasted staff inaction that he said had allowed decaying properties in his district to languish.
While the vote showed that Kauffman was at least effective in mobilizing his colleagues behind the issue, it’s yet to be seen how effective such a strike force will be with limited resources for hiring new staff. Mason District Supervisor Penelope Gross urged residents not to expect all blight problems to be fixed immediately.
“It’s still going to take some time,” she said at Monday’s board meeting. “And I think we need to make sure the expectations of the community are solid, but not overblown.”
At the very least, the strike force would be composed of staff from the departments of planning and zoning, police, housing and community development, health, public works; the fire marshal; and the sheriff’s office, according to information provided by the county.
