Has the Time Come for a 10th Supervisor District?

There are nine supervisor Districts within Fairfax County and the Chairman. The number of Fairfax County residents has grown by over 400,000 since the last time a Supervisor was added. It is time to add a 10th District and it should be centered in South County.

There are 84 different boards, authorities and commissions that are generally run by people who are appointed by the nine individual Supervisors. These groups cover much of the issues that affect all County residents, from the Planning Commission, to Fairfax Water Authority, Parks and Economic Development all the way to Trails and Sidewalks. Guess how many are represented by South County residents? Answer: Almost none, because we have no Supervisor of our own.

The Mount Vernon district has had rapid growth in the last two decades and much of that growth has occurred in the southern part of the district that is also known as South County. This area is expected to continue to grow in the future from an influx of development at Fort Belvoir, its proximity to I-95, the VRE and from the fact that the South County area still has more undeveloped land than most other parts of the County.

Many of our residents support our current Board Supervisor, Gerry Hyland, but this issue has nothing to do with Gerry or his representation. This issue has to do with representation and a seat at the table when issues are being decided. As it is, South County’s roughly 40,000 residents are overwhelmed by the 80,000+ residents north of Ft. Belvoir. Gerry and any future Supervisor will most assuredly be more concerned with those northern residents than the residents to the south. What is worse is that our South County area is also split with some of our residents voting in the Springfield District. Splitting our residents only further diminishes their impact on the election prospects of candidates and exacerbates our weakened position.

As there is now a requirement to redistrict election districts following the 2010 census, a rather large committee has been formed to establish new political boundaries. The new boundaries will require removing residents from both the Mt. Vernon and Springfield districts. Where will South County residents be placed? Who will decide our fate? Well, the commission studying these boundaries includes one member from each district, two at large members, one member from each political party, someone from the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, a representative from the Fairfax Citizen’s association, League of Women’s Voters, African American, Hispanic and Asian Pacific Islanders Communities. What is missing is someone from the South County Community whose fate is once again being determined by others.

Note - Tim Rizer is the President of Item, Inc and Chairman of the South Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce.