Michael O’Connell,Patch Staff
FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — For the first time since news of the controversial Tysons casino project became public in January 2023, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will consider adding language to its draft 2026 Legislative Program to oppose legislation that would pave the way for the project to move forward.
At a legislative committee meeting Tuesday, Supervisor Walter Alcorn (D-Hunter Mill) — who has been one of the few supervisors to oppose casino legislation publicly — said he would be submitting an amendment to the draft legislative program on Dec. 9. The 60-day general assembly session begins on Jan. 14.
The amendment Alcorn is proposing reads as follows:
“Oppose legislation in the General Assembly that authorizes a casino in Fairfax County without any request for such legislation from the Board of Supervisors, without implementation of a statewide Gaming Commission, and without a tax revenue split that substantially benefits Fairfax County as opposed to the Commonwealth. The designation and location of a casino is inherently a major land use decision and General Assembly intervention in Fairfax County’s land use processes would undermine decades of community consensus and economic success.”
The board will vote on whether to adopt the draft 2026 Legislative Program on Dec. 9, ahead of the 60-day general assembly session, which begins on Jan. 14.
Following Alcorn’s announcement, which was supported by Supervisor Jimmy Bierman (D-Dranesville), Chairman Jeff McKay (D-At-Large) and Supervisor Andres Jimenez (D-Mason), who chairs the legislative committee, expressed concerns about adding anti-casino language and shifting efforts away from more vital issues.
“I’m not saying let’s not talk about this issue, but there are so many issues and there are so many low hanging fruit that we can help our residents in Fairfax County, if we push on the federal and we push on the state level,” Jimenez said. “My idea is compromise. My idea is to work with our state delegation, not against them.”
Jimenez added that he was not trying to downplay the casino proposal.
“As we look at the bigger picture, where I want to be at some point in the near future is somewhere where we are looking at transportation. We are looking at health care,” he said. “We’re looking at things that our residents need in front of them, and I really would love and look forward to the day, one way or another, this conversation is over so we can get to work. That’s what I want us to do.”
McKay echoed Jimenez’s concerns and brought the focus back to the state meeting its responsibilities to fully fund vital services in Northern Virginia, especially in education.
“The state is running out of excuses to not adequately fund vital services to localities and recognize the disparities that exist,” he said. “There’s no more studies left to be done. The only thing left to be done now is to have the courage to act, and that has to be the message with our delegation when we meet, or we’re going to continue to be looking at cuts in our budgets, increased real estate taxes, at a time where housing affordability is at its worst. That trend will just continue. So I appreciate what Supervisor Jimenez has said, because the big picture here can’t be lost.”
In a Jan. 27 letter, McKay called on leaders in the previous general assembly session to focus on education funding rather than a casino in Tysons.
“Fairfax County has not historically opposed legislation that provides local governments with a new option or authority, even if we do not intend to exercise that new option or authority,” the letter said.. “Similarly, we do not seek or ask the General Assembly to provide a new authority unless we intend to seriously consider implementing such authority.
“Unlike other jurisdictions that received the authority to hold a referendum to host a casino, Fairfax County did not seek such authority and has not been substantively involved in the development of the casino concept envisioned by stakeholders and the patrons of SB 982.”
On Feb. 12, efforts to win passage of a bill that would start the process of building a casino in Fairfax County failed for the third time.
Members of the Commerce, Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee in the Virginia House of Delegates voted unanimously to pass by Senate Bill 982, so it will not proceed in the current legislative session, Del. David Bulova (D-Fairfax) told Patch in February.
Comstock Holding Companies, a Reston-based developer, has spent more than $2.5 million since 2023 in a bid to pass legislation allowing a casino to be built on Metro’s Silver Line outside the Capital Beltway in Fairfax County.
The project would include a 4 million-square-foot entertainment district in Tysons that would feature a high-end hotel with gaming floor, convention center, concert venue, restaurants, retail, and workforce housing. In addition, 200,000 square feet of the district would be dedicated to a casino.
After the Virginia Senate approved SB 982 on Feb. 4 on a 24 to 16 vote, the bill was referred to the General Laws Committee. However, Speaker Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) requested that the bill be rereferred to the House Appropriations Committee, which referred it to the Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee. Once the vote was taken, Bulova announced that this was the final time the subcommittee would meet during the 2025 session.
During the 2023 legislative session, Sen. Dave Marsden (D-Burke) and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced nearly identical bills in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly seeking to give the board of supervisors the authority to put a casino referendum on a future ballot. The bills were quickly withdrawn following public backlash against the legislation.
Marsden reintroduced the referendum legislation as Senate Bill 675 in January 2024, but the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations voted to hold it over to the 2025 session. The final version bill included language which narrowed the location of the proposed casino to Tysons.
In January 2025, Surovell introduced SB982, shepherding it through the Gaming Subcommittee and the General Laws & Technology and Appropriations Committees. Sens. Lamont Bagby (D-Richmond), Stella Pekarsky (D-Centreville) and Todd Pillion (R-Abington) served as the bill sponsors.
“We need this kind of project in Fairfax County to bring tourists, come and spend their money in our state, to support our Metro and support our economy,” Surovell told the subcommittee. “For the state in authorizing this, there’s $2.3 billion per decade of money for school construction, a lot more of that for the general fund.”