ARLINGTON, Va. – On August 19 approximately 200 business, government, and community leaders, including 22 elected officials, gathered to discuss some of the region’s most urgent issues at the 10th Annual Northern Virginia Regional Elected Leaders Summit. This event was held by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, with premier partner NVC and co-hosts Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, Loudoun Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, and the Regional Elected Leaders Initiative, and sponsored by Dominion Energy.
The program, held at George Mason University – Mason Square consisted of a panel discussion featuring Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins, Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair Deshundra Jefferson, Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis, and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay. NBC Washington reporter Joseph Olmo moderated the panel.
The panelists began with considering the economic impact of federal workforce reductions. Chair Deshundra Jefferson of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors discussed the importance of local government services as part of the response. “For local governments, a lot is falling on us. How are we meeting the needs of our residents? How are we stepping up?” said Jefferson. She noted that she remains nervous about the impact that economic uncertainty has on budgeting. “Local government touches people in such an intimate way, and it’s hard when you’re not able to really meet people’s most basic needs and address their most basic concerns.”
The challenge of high commercial office vacancy was a key theme for panelists as they discussed economic development. Chair Jeff McKay of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors detailed his county’s struggles with office vacancy and efforts to be proactive in the wake of expiring tenant leases. “We have to be cautious as local governments that as leases expire and fewer new leases come in place, the valuation of those may be much lower, and that’s what’s going to sink your revenue picture,” said McKay. He continued noting that Fairfax County is identifying functionally obsolete office buildings for redevelopment or residential conversion. “We’re making sure that we’re reaching out to those owners to try to be proactive and put our tools on the table and say ‘How quickly can we do a conversion? How quickly can we do a redevelopment if this building is not a candidate for a conversion?'”
As the conversation moved to housing policy, the panelists questioned the common local framing of being “for density” or “against density”. Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins explained why she rejects this framing. “Density is a tool in the toolkit, a tool that allows us to not only allow growth to happen but also to be strategic in planning for how we want to grow,” said Gaskins. She continued by noting Alexandria’s efforts to boost the housing supply through the tool of density. “We are very thoughtful and strategic about how we leverage that tool, because we know that the only way it’s going to get more affordable is if we have more housing supply.”
On the topic of transportation, the panelists expressed their preference for the DMV Moves Initiative (the joint venture between WMATA and COG) to identify and establish dedicated funding for WMATA. Chair Takis Karantonis of the Arlington County Board emphasized the need for dedicated funding to be reliable for WMATA and Metro to plan ahead. “It has to be reliable; Metro has to be able to count on this money,” said Karantonis. He continued by noting that the lack of dedicated funding currently makes WMATA unique. “Metro is not working like a normal enterprise here, and we have to bring it back to a place where it is a normal enterprise that knows what its incoming sources of revenue are for their operations.”
With regional leaders aligned on the urgency of addressing housing, economic uncertainty, regional growth, and transit funding, this year’s Summit, the tenth in this series, underscored the shared commitment to keeping Northern Virginia competitive and livable in the face of shifting economic realities.