Silver Line Casino Bill Killed In VA Senate Committee By 15-0 Vote

RESTON, VA — A last-minute bill submitted by State Sen. David Marsden (D-Burke) that would've paved the way for casinos to be built within a mile of Silver Line Metro Stations in Fairfax County was killed in committee on Wednesday afternoon.

At Marsden's request, the General Laws and Technology Committee voted unanimously (15-0) to have the bill stricken.

Masden and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced legislation on Friday that would've updated the Code of Virginia to allow for a "casino gaming establishment" to be built "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."

Marsden, who chairs the Senate finance subcommittee on economic development and natural resources, told the Washington Business Journal, which broke the story, 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 for legislators to file new legislation for the 2023 General Assembly session.

“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.”

When news of the casino bill became more widely known, Fairfax County officials spoke out against it.

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who represents a district with several Silver Line stations, addressed the issue in his weekly email to constituents:

"Although this issue has not been discussed by the Board of Supervisors, the idea of using the most valuable commercial and residential real estate in the region on a casino strikes me as foolhardy," he writes. "In my decades exploring and building plans and consensus on transit-oriented development in the Dulles corridor this was not the type of development or “community” anyone ever brought up. This is a bad idea on multiple levels (including the emerging concepts around equity in land use) but I am confident our excellent delegation in Richmond will do the right thing."