Casinos Near Silver Line Stations Floated In 2 General Assembly Bills

RESTON, VA — Virginia Sen. David Marsden (D-Burke) and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced legislation on Friday that could make casinos a reality along Metro's Silver Line in Reston.

Currently, the Virginia Code only allows for casinos to be built in host cities with a population of least 1 million and a county executive form of government. Fairfax County is the only locality in the state to fit that description, according to the Washington Business Journal, which broke the story.

Language in Marsden's bill narrows the location of a "casino gaming establishment" to "within one quarter of a mile an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development, (iii) outside the Dulles airport flight path, and (iv) outside the Interstate 495 Beltway."

With the opening last November of Phase II of the Silver Line extension, Fairfax County now has seven stations where a possible new casino could feasibly be located: Tysons, Greensboro, Spring Hill, Wiehle-Reston East, Reston Town Center, Herndon, and Innovation Center.

Related: Metro Silver Line Extension With 6 New Stations Opens With Fanfare

Marsden, who chairs the Senate finance subcommittee on economic development and natural resources, told the Business Journal that he was approached by developers with properties that would fit the type of development being proposed. He decided to submit the bill before Friday's deadline.

“It’s just too rushed, and so I’m probably going to have to talk to the individuals who approached me about it,” Marsden told Business Journal, declining to name them. “I think it’s something that needs to be looked at, but this is just coming on people too fast.”

Even if Marsden's bill were to make it out of Richmond, it would still need county approval.