Confederate Street Renaming: Next Steps For Fairfax City Residents

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — After members of the Fairfax City Council voted last Tuesday to change 14 street names that had associations with the Civil War, slavery, and the myth of the "Lost Cause," they directed city staff to begin the public engagement and new name selection process.

Tuesday's vote kicked off a 60-day comment period, in which city residents will have the opportunity to suggest new street names, according to City Clerk Melanie Zipp. Residents will be able to pick up forms at the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center and drop-off completed forms at City Hall. There will also be an online form on the city's website where people can suggest new street names.

"Once we get all of those names, then the City Council subcommittee will narrow down the list of names," Zipp said. "Depending on how many we have, we'll narrow it down to a list of three to five names for each street. Those names will then go to the council for consideration and approval."

The City Council is scheduled to make its decision on the new street names at a public hearing in late October. Before that, though, city staff will conduct some form of community outreach, so that the public will be able to provide feedback.

"I need to get back together with our subcommittee to see what exactly we want to do for community outreach," Zipp said. "We were waiting until we knew what our impact area was going to be, how many streets we were actually going to be changing. All street names are changing, so that makes our impact area much larger."

The 14 streets that will be receiving new names within city limits are: Confederate Lane, Lee Highway, Lee Street, Mosby Woods Drive, Old Lee Highway, Mosby Road, Plantation Parkway, Stonewall Avenue, Raider Lane, Ranger Road, Reb Street, Scarlet Circle, Singleton Circle, and Traveler Street. The majority of those names are in the Mosby Woods neighborhood north of Fairfax Boulevard.

Once the new street name has been approved and the city installs new signage, residents are not required to obtain a new license.

"The only out of pocket cost would be if a resident wanted a replacement driver's license, which is not required," Zipp said "If you're only changing your address you're not required to get a new classic driver's license. I know in the past they used to give you a little piece of paper you stuck it with your driver's license. They don't do that anymore. You just go online, change your address and they have it in the system."

DMV Select will be coming City Hall in December or January for anyone who wishes to obtain a new license or identification, according to Zipp.

Residents will not need to notify the U.S. Post Office of the change in their street name, according to Zipp. The post office will be changing all the names at one time in its system, so residents don't need to fill out a change in address form at their local post office.

Residents who live on the renamed streets will not be required to change their passport, but they will need to fill out and mail Form 8822 to the Internal Revenue Service before the next tax filing.

Anyone who receives Medicare benefits or collects SSI will need to notify the Social Security Administration of their address change.

Residents do not need to update addresses in wills or trusts, but the city may provide a certified letter as an addendum to a will or trust.

Fairfax City government will be responsible for sending address change notifications in the following areas:

• 911-County services for Fire and City Police
• U.S. Postal Service: No change of address forms are required.
• Taxes: Real Estate Property tax/Personal Property tax
• Licenses: Business Licenses/Dog Tags/Visitor Parking Hanger/Alarms/State Tax/Decal License Reader
• Land Records/Deeds
• Fairfax Water Authority
• Utilities: Washington Gas/Dominion Energy/Cox/Verizon
• Voter Registration
• Schools - City School Principals and FCPS
• Permitting: Open Building, planning and zoning permits

Residents are responsible for notifying their employer and the following businesses or institutions about address changes:

• Financials: Banks and investment services, loan issuers, credit card companies.
• Insurance: Health, dental, life, auto, home and renters
• Medical: Doctors, dentists, lawyers, veterinarian, mail-order prescriptions
• Subscriptions: Amazon Prime, Sams, Costco, BJs, magazines, etc.
• Religious Institutions.

Also see ...

• Ousting Confederate Street Names A Step Toward Inclusion: Council
• 14 Confederate Street Names Changed With Fairfax City Council Vote