July 22, 2026 PC - Jul 22, 2026

meeting

Fairfax County Planning Commission 3h 56m 4 speakers 6 agenda items transcribed 1 day ago official recording ↗

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Why is Commissioner Carter being honored and what announcements are made at the start of the meeting?

Unknown 0:10

No, no. Well good evening. And uh welcome everyone to our july twenty second, twenty twenty six Planning Commission meeting. We're going to open with Commission business and then we'll convene five public hearings. Uh I wanted to turn to uh our colleague, Commissioner Carter. You have an announcement, I believe? Yeah.

John A. Carter 0:34

Uh well, okay, I can do that. So this is my last uh hearing. So you'll have a new planning commissioner coming in September. Uh I'll be around through September to make a hopefully a graceful transition between today and and September coming up. But this is my term is up and uh I guess I'm n I'm not going to Extend it. So

Unknown 1:02

But we're extraordinarily sad to hear this. Um so I I was um uh bragging just uh I was bragging on you the other day, uh Commissioner Carter, uh to a colleague who um is familiar with the Plan Commission's work uh and I called you my touchstone. And by touchstone I had mine the definition a standard standard or criterion used to d to determine the quality or genuineness of something. So quality and genuine are two good characteristics that are easy to I use in um for you. Another way to state this is to paraphrase an old and this is to show how old I am, but an old, old T V commercial that had the tagline, John you might remember this, when E. F. Hutton talks, everybody listens. So which is to say when when you talk, John, I listen.

Unknown 1:57

I'm confident that uh this is also true for Commission colleagues, for the board and particularly true for Supervisor Alcorn. And I know this is also true of Hunter Mill residents who have demonstrated time and again their trust that Commissioner Carter, a forty forty year rest and resident, will promote the community's best interests. The most significant manifestation of this trust is the community support for the rest and comprehensive plan. We all remember when there were yellow shirts Uh in the full auditorium. uh in in protest to what uh land use issues we were confronting at the time. So we all know that the level of effort John puts into listening to and incorporating feedback from rest and residents and Hunter Mill residents.

Unknown 2:42

The Board of Supervisors and the community benefit enormously from the synergy This speaks to the Planning Commission itself enormously from the synergy achieved through each planning commissioner's unique personal and professional lived experiences. commitment to serving the community, uh personal skills and talents, and our collegiality. This said, John Carter stands out as our one true land use and planning expert. We're he's the only one among us. My point. He was employed uh for over thirty five years with the Montgomery County Planning Department of the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. And is a licensed architect in Virginia. A member of the American Planning Association and the American Institute of Architects.

Unknown 3:28

John holds a master's master of public I'm sorry, master of planning uh from the University of Virginia, a master of architecture in urban design from Virginia Tech. and a bachelor of architecture with distinction from Arizona State University. So one final note is that it is fitting that John ends his Plan Commission tenure Uh as chairman of our urban development and placemaking committee and why is that? John has been a leader helping Fairfax County plan for and address the increasing urbanization. in all county activity centers, but most significantly along the Silver Line Corridor. particularly in Tyson's and Reston. He was also instrumental in ensuring that placemaking In all of its attributes. Became part of our comp plan and zoning ordinance implementation lexicon.

Unknown 4:19

We missed having you, John, with us at the dais. I know you will be staying engaged with Reston's future as well as pursuing other professional and personal interests that you will now be free to take on. We wish you well and most importantly, most importantly, we thank you for all your service. Mm-hmm. With that I'm going to uh Uh just to go to another topic. Um before we do, could I say Commissioner Cortino.