Citizens For Great Falls: October 2026
Newsletter
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Newsletter of Citizens For Great Falls
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| Vol. 3 · Issue
8 |
October 2026 |
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In this issue
- CFGF’s 2027 legislative priorities
- Crossing guards return after a deadly
week
- Road Shark returns Oct.
12
- Feature: the $4 million
crosswalk
- $300 million for a
mountain, nothing for Fairfax
- Accessory living units: what’s next
- Newsbriefs
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Legislative Agenda
With the General
Assembly opening Jan. 13 and the County’s own legislative package
headed to a public hearing, CFGF has sent its positions to the Board
of Supervisors and our state senator and delegate. At the top of the
list: no casino in Fairfax County, an end to by-right data center
approvals, and County control, not VDOT’s, over speed limits,
crosswalks and traffic calming on our roads.
| Oct.
13 County public hearing on its 2027 legislative
package |
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| Transportation Safety |
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Transportation Safety Series · Part 3
Months after cutting
high school crossing guards from the budget, supervisors voted
unanimously Sept. 15 to restore them after a string of student
crashes, including the death of a 13-year-old Frost Middle School
student. Guards return at 10 high schools through June 2027. Langley
High, which serves Great Falls, is not on the list.
| $707,908 restored for crossing guards
at 11 crossings |
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Transportation Safety Series · Part 4
The county’s
speeding crackdown has produced more than 25,000 citations and
warnings this year, and Virginia’s reckless-driving penalties just
got tougher. But drivers on Georgetown Pike still average 32 to 33 mph
in a 25 zone, Walker Road’s crash record hasn’t brought funded
fixes, and no speed cameras are planned here.
| 43 reported crashes on Walker Road,
2019–2023 |
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Feature
A marked crossing near Forestville Elementary on
Utterback Store Road was rated highly by the county’s
pedestrian-safety program, then turned away for one reason: its price.
A look at why small, sensible safety fixes keep stalling, and a state
safety program that may be a better fit.
| $3,600 per
linear foot, roughly, for about 1,100 feet of
improvements |
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Commentary
The state is spending
$300 million to widen 7.4 miles of Route 58 over Lovers Leap Mountain,
in large part to open it to heavy trucks. Fairfax County won none of
its three applications in the latest round of SMART SCALE, the
state’s main transportation funding competition. Are Virginia’s
priorities balanced?
| 0 of 3
Fairfax projects funded in SMART SCALE’s latest
round |
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| Zoning & Growth |
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Accessory Living Units
After nine months of meetings, the county’s plan to
ease approval of in-law suites and detached units still drops the
owner-occupancy rule and would allow detached units, with no public
hearing, on lots as small as 36,000 square feet. CFGF says its letters
to the Board have gone unanswered. Here’s what happens next and how
to weigh in.
| 65% of
county survey respondents wanted owner-occupancy
kept |
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| Newsbriefs |
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Police crack down on
right turns through crosswalks
Operation Safe Right Turn produced
1,151 citations and warnings in its first week. CFGF notes the county
has been slow to post the “stop for pedestrians” signs its 2024
ordinance calls for.
Protecting Great
Falls’ watersheds
Much of Great Falls relies on wells
and septic and drains to the Potomac. CFGF says zoning changes should
be measured against their effect on groundwater, septic capacity and
stormwater.
Governor’s data center plan echoes
CFGF
Gov. Spanberger’s Sept. 18 plan ends by-right
approval for data centers over 25 megawatts, a change CFGF has urged.
CFGF wants public review for every data center, whatever its
size.
Seneca Road sidewalk joins unfunded
list
A resident-led request for a sidewalk on Seneca Road
near Jordan Lane is now on the county’s unfunded list, with no money
or timeline attached.
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Citizens
For Great Falls
A non-partisan, volunteer organization
working for the Great Falls community.
citizensforgreatfalls.org
CitizensForGreatFalls@gmail.com
Citizens
For Great Falls · P.O. Box 383 · Great Falls, VA
22066
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