Feb 14, 2025, 08:36
by
Hannah Jane Costilow
Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of public policy issues and headlines from around the Northern Virginia Region, the Commonwealth, and Capitol Hill.
by Danielle Finley, Associate Director of Political Engagement
Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of Public Policy Issues and Headlines. In this Issue: 1. Comstock CEO Chris Clemente sounds off on Tysons casino bill death 2. Va. Senate passes bill adding regulation to data centers 3. Shelved development plan at Wegmans shopping center near Fort Belvoir may be revived 4. Short-term rentals, Duke Street plans and more at the top of Alexandria’s planning agenda 5. Pike leaders envision economic-development gains in wake of transportation pains.
By DOUGLAS FRUEHLING, Washington Business Journal
While many opponents celebrated the death of the bill that would have allowed a casino in Tysons, one major Northern Virginia company has accepted the bill's fate and vowed to move forward.
By ALLISON WILLIAMS, WRIC-TV
The Virginia Senate passed a bill adding more regulation to data centers on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The bill passed by the Virginia Senate states any companies wanting to build a data center in Virginia will now have to get additional approval from the locality they want to build in. This will have to be approved by the locality before any rezoning or special use permit is approved. The applicant will have to submit a sound profile of the data center if on residential areas and within 500 feet of schools. Applicants will also have to investigate what effects a data center would have on the water, agriculture, parks, registered historic sites and the land on which the site would be.
By DAN BRENDEL, Washington Business Journal
A controversial plan from several years ago to build new apartments at the Wegmans-anchored Hilltop Village Center near Fort Belvoir could soon be resurrected.
Hidden behind the relatively boring title “Long-Range Planning Interdepartmental Work Program” is a peek at some of the biggest planning efforts in Alexandria over the next year.
The program spells out some of the biggest priorities for the various city departments for FY 2026-27. For the Department of Planning and Zoning, one of the top items on that list is possible regulations for Alexandria’s short-term residential rental market — i.e. Airbnb and other home-sharing apps.
By SCOTT MCCAFFREY, ARLnow
With three years of a sometimes harrowing transportation-improvement effort coming to a close by the end of the year, the Columbia Pike corridor is primed a new chapter of growth. “We are, together, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel” on road, transit and pedestrian/bicyclist upgrades up and down the 5-mile corridor, said Hui Wang of the Arlington Department of Environmental Services.