Fairfax County Executive Anthony Griffin has proposed turning the county into an incorporated city.
Virginia is unique among the 50 states in the way that its cities are by default independent legal entities that are not part of any county. As the Washington Post discusses, under Virginia law such a move from a county to a city would give Fairfax more control over its roads, and (probably more importantly) also more ability to tax residents without state approval.
Among the many potential roadblocks for this plan, though, are the fact that for the last 48 years, there has already been a City of Fairfax in Virginia, and as expected, Fairfax City isn’t thrilled by the thought of Fairfax County trying to take that name. It’s also unclear what would happen the the incorporated towns of Clifton, Herndon, and Vienna, all of which are in Fairfax County–under Virginia law, incorporated towns are subdivisions of counties, not cities, so those three towns would probably have to either dissolve, splinter off from Fairfax County and incorporate as cities on their own, or join some other county despite being embedded in the middle of Fairfax County.
(Further confusing the issue: Fairfax City is an enclave completely contained within Fairfax County–but when Fairfax City incorporated, the land they claimed would have included the Fairfax County courthouse and jail, so the land containing those buildings was excluded from the incorporation; as a result, Fairfax City is like a donut, with Fairfax County both surrounding it completely and also existing in a hole in the middle of it. Oh yes, and Fairfax City is also technically the county seat of Fairfax County.)
Possibly related posts (automatically generated):
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Fairfax County | All Days Long
on Jul 5th, 2009
@ 3:21 pm:
[...] Fairfax City 2? « Ethical Homes By sweth Among the many potential roadblocks for this plan, though, are the fact that for the last 48 years, there has already been a City of Fairfax in Virginia, and as expected, Fairfax City isn't thrilled by the thought of Fairfax County … Ethical Homes – http://ethicalhomes.com/ [...]