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Sully's growth slowing
For years, members of the Western Fairfax County Citizens Association habitually met once a month to sit through presentations of land use proposals.But lately, there haven't been many proposals to meet about.
The association's land use committee canceled its May and July meetings, and it looks as if things may not pick up, Jim Katcham, the committee's chairman, said.
A group of community activists formed WFCCA about 1980, just as the western part of Fairfax County – known as the Sully District – began to grow.
Over the years, the association has been highly influential in how the area has developed. Its land use committee gives recommendations to the county's Planning Commission on most development proposals for that area.
But now, “Sully is built out and we are not seeing the volume of cases we were five or six years ago,” Katcham said.
Some of the inactivity may be blamed on a slow real estate market that has made developers hesitant to act, said Ron Koch, a WFCCA founder and former member of the county's Planning Commission.
But Peter Murphy, Planning Commission chairman, said a fair amount of development is still occurring around the county.
Planning Commission meetings have been canceled recently, but that is because cases have been deferred, he said.
“We'll probably end up averaging with about as many cases as we have every year,” Murphy said.
The Sully District was literally the western frontier of Fairfax County and includes parts of Centreville and Chantilly. The area is close to Dulles International Airport and has attracted significant residential, hotel and office space in the last decade.
Westfields, an office park between the areas of Centreville and Chantilly, still has a lot of undeveloped land, but the economy has slowed development there as well, Bill Keech Sr., president of the Westfields Business Owners Association, said.
Things are not exactly “a day at the beach” right now, Murphy said, referring to the economy. “But it always has its ups and downs.”
Development may pick up again in Sully once the area is old enough for redevelopment and the economy turns around, Katcham said.
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