After waltzing through the Senate and a House committee, a bill that would impose additional disclosure requirements on Fairfax County officials and applicants in land-use issues has stalled on the House floor amid concerns that it could derail huge development projects.
The measure, filed by Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, R-Vienna, would require applicants requesting amendments to the county’s comprehensive land-use map, such as to allow the proposed Tysons Corner expansion, to disclose whether they have made campaign donations of $100 or more to the officials reviewing the request.
The disclosure requirements would apply to donations made to members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the county’s planning commission or the zoning appeals board. Members of those bodies would also have to disclose if they have a financial interest of at least 10 percent in proposed projects.
“There has been a long history in Fairfax County of conflict-of-interest cases that citizens have objected to,” said Del. Terrie Suit, R-Virginia Beach, who is shepherding the bill through the House.
“The county developed disclosure requirements in response to that, andwe are adding to those requirements,” she said.
The Senate approved the bill 39-0 on Feb. 5 and the House’s Counties, Cities and Towns Committee sent it to the full chamber on a 22-0 vote. But a House vote on the measure has been put off the past two days after some Fairfax County legislators raised questions about the proposal.
Davis said she filed the bill to create more openness in the county’s decision making process on land-use issues, but the Board of Supervisors opposes the bill because members believe the county already has stringent disclosure requirements. They also do not like that the bill would apply to Fairfax and not other jurisdictions in the commonwealth.
Del. Jim Scott, D-Fairfax, who argued to delay a vote on the bill, said a mammoth project such as the proposed growth in Tysons Corner could generate mountainous piles of paperwork. So many individuals are involved in those projects, he said, that the disclosure forms would flood county offices.
“It is an amazingly bad idea,” Scott said.
