Nearby

Adds Gordon, who says he “most definitely supports” the Tysons plan, “It makes sense to increase densities, put residences and retail and businesses in one place, so people can live and work in one place. I think it’s a great idea, though of course some people are not going to like it. Urban living is not for everybody.”

Both men emphasize that Fairfax nowadays is as much of a “downtown” as D.C. In fact, Fairfax has far more jobs than the district—720,000 compared to 580,000. According to Fuller, the county is losing income because so many people are now driving into the area to work from other places—including Maryland. “Northern Virginia generates about two-and-a-half jobs for every one in Maryland,” he says. “Maryland increasingly looks at Virginia as a place to work.” This has made Fairfax an exporter of income, because there are more outsiders commuting to work in the county than Fairfax residents working outside the county. “That results in a net transfer of wealth to other counties,” says Fuller, “and it will get worse and worse.”

While Fairfax is chiefly about business and bustle, the county has what Robin Smyers, president of the Reston Association, calls its “unexpected” side. For one thing, there is more than 22,000 acres of park land in Fairfax County—not quite 10 percent of county’s total acreage—and, says Fairfax Country Park Authority spokeswoman Judy Peterson, “we are continuing to acquire land.” She says that Gerry Connolly, the former chairman of the FC Board of Supervisors who is now a U.S. congressman, was “a big proponent of land acquisition and really drove the 10 percent target.” Earlier this decade, the park authority and the county got the multi-use, 41-mile-long Cross County Trail up and running. “That was a major accomplishment,” says Peterson. It runs through stream valleys—areas that are wet and low and behind housing developments—from the Potomac River all the way to Occoquan. “People love their parks here,” she adds. “Our bond initiatives usually get approval votes in the upper 70s or 80s range, which is a strong indicator that people value green space and leisure activities in Fairfax County.”

Reston, the now-45-year-old planned community, remains a leafy residential oasis hardly more than a stone’s throw from Dulles Airport—but portions of it are destined for redevelopment. Reston Association CEO Milton Matthews graciously took me on a morning tour of the 7,000-acre community—which has 55,000 homeowners and 15 swimming pools—and showed me the original Lake Anne neighborhood that will get a facelift when a developer can be found. Reston founder Robert Simon Jr., at age 95, still lives there—and drives. “Redevelopment is coming,” says Matthews. “The Metro is coming, so we have to ask the question: How can we keep Reston special for the next 45 years?”