VIENNA, VA —Vienna Town Council voted unanimously Monday night to include a measure in its 2024 legislative agenda opposing plans to build a casino in Fairfax County.
The adopted agenda included the following measure, which was based on language suggested by Councilmember Chuck Anderson:
"The Town of Vienna opposes any action to establish, or facilitate the establishment of, any gambling casino in Fairfax County. The Town particularly opposes any such action which would lead to the establishment of a gambling facility in the Tysons area. Any such facility likely would have substantial deleterious effects on the quality of life in Vienna, including increased traffic, additional costs to locally owned independent businesses, and erosion of public morals."
Each year, the Vienna Town Council ranks the town's priorities in the legislative agenda that it submits to its state representatives before the start of the Virginia General Assembly in January. The council had earlier hosted a public hearing on the 18 priorities it planned to include in the 2024 agenda. On Monday night, the measure opposing the casino was added as a 19th priority.
In September, Patch first broke the news that Comstock Companies wanted to build a casino at or near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station, according to several local officials.
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The possibility of a casino being built along Metro's Silver Line in Fairfax County first came to light in January, when similar bills were introduced by Sen. David Marsden (D-Burke) and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart).
Language in Marsden's bill narrowed the location of a "casino gaming establishment" to "within one quarter of a mile of 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.
Related:
Read all of Patch's reporting on Comstock Companies' plan to build a casino on Metro's Silver Line in Fairfax County at Silver Line Casino.
Although Marsden and Williams quickly withdrew their bills, Marsden told Patch on several occasions that he planned to reintroduce a broader bill in the 2024 General Assembly to include a performance venue and conference center anchored by a casino. He and Williams have also advocated for the casino being built in Tysons, rather than at the Weihle-Reston East Metro Station in Reston as originally reported.
Based on feedback from some of the councilmembers, the casino opposition measure, which was ranked as the sixth priority at the beginning of the meeting, was moved up to the second priority on the agenda to demonstrate the weight of the council's concerns.
"I just don't think a casino is in place right now in Tysons or along the [Dulles Toll Road] corridor," said Councilmember Howard Springsteen. "It's not a wholesome community. It's good that we're hopping on this. This literally popped to my radar over the past couple of weeks, so I'm fine moving up."
Springsteen and Mayor Linda Colbert invited Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who happened to be in the audience at Monday night's meeting, to speak on the issue.
Alcorn told the council that Marsden's 2023 bill would have given the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the ability to put a casino referendum on a future ballot. This would give voters the chance to decide whether they wanted a casino built within a quarter mile of one of seven Silver Line Metro Stations outside of the Capital Beltway.
"Three of the ones in Tysons or either of the three in Reston or the one in the Innovation Station could've been within a quarter mile of any of those stations," he said. "We don't know what bill is going to be introduced this year, but there have been several folks in the General Assembly who have indicated their intention to introduce some sort of a bill along those lines."
Anderson, who is the town's representative on the Hunter Mill Land Use Committee, told the other councilmembers that one of Tysons sites was at the intersection of Routes 7 and 123.
"That's right next to us," he said. "Can you imagine that? What it would do to traffic? What it would do to driving up rents for our local businesses in town, not to mention the other types of businesses that it could potentially attract. It would be a real body blow to Vienna."
Once discussion was over, Councilmember Nisha Patel made a motion to adopt the 2024 legislative agenda with the casino opposition measure as the town's second priority. The motion was then adopted on a unanimous vote.
Although Alcorn has gone on record opposing a casino being built on the Silver Line, a measure opposing the casino was not included in the board of supervisors' 2024 legislative agenda, which was passed on Tuesday.
County Executive Bryan Hill recently answered questions Alcorn had asked at a board meeting in October about what it would take legislatively for a casino to be built in Fairfax County. He also asked whether there were any properties in Reston or Tysons where a casino could be built without a zoning change.
Hill acknowledged there were properties in both locations where a casino of a limited size could be built without changing the zoning.
At Tuesday's board meeting, Hill told Patch that a casino could only be built on a property that had been zoned for entertainment. However, a casino would be a different use and the casino operator would have to come to the board of supervisors for approval for a change of use.
"Looking at the parcels that are available and what they're conformed for, there are available uses in those areas," he said. "That's predicated on the General Assembly. We're a Dillon Rule state. It's 'Mother, may I?'"
The Dillon Rule broadly means that localities only have authority over matters that the state government has given them the authority to do so.
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