Vienna City Council passes bill vetoing Fairfax Casino
The Vienna City Council in Fairfax County, Virginia, has officially voted against allowing a commercial casino in the area.
Last week, the Vienna City Council, made up of Mayor Linda Colbert and six city council members, changed its 2024 legislative agenda to oppose a casino in Fairfax County.
Sen. David Marsden (D-Burke) and Del. Lane Williams (R-Stuart) The state is working on legislation that would allow the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to initiate a local referendum asking voters to approve the construction of a casino. Marsden and Williams targeted the Tysons Corner area for gaming projects.
At a meeting last week, the Vienna City Council voted unanimously against opening a casino.
The City of Vienna opposes any action to establish or assist in the establishment of a casino in Fairfax County. ” The committee’s legislative agenda has been revised to include:
"The City unequivocally opposes any such action that would lead to the establishment of a gaming facility in the Tysons area. Such a facility could have a significant adverse impact on the quality of life in Vienna, including increased traffic, additional costs for local independent businesses, and a hit to public morale. erosion,” the statement concluded.
Tyson Casino
Tysons is a census-designated outlying town between McLean and Vienna. There is no mailing address in Tysons or Tysons Corner as the area is known, as businesses in the area use McLean or Vienna addresses.
Marsden and Williams hope to open a casino in Tysons to diversify the area with new forms of entertainment. They believe such a destination would attract visitors from Washington, D.C., and other parts of Northern Virginia.
State lawmakers consider an area within a quarter-mile of one of seven Silver Line Metro stations along the Dulles Corridor to be ideal. Local mixed-use real estate developer Comstock Corporation has expressed interest in building such a casino destination.
Patch reported in October that Comstock’s owners, CEO Chris Clemente and his son Nick Clemente; Several other employees had longstanding relationships with Williams and made political donations to him.
The legislative agenda of the Vienna City Council is submitted each year to the legislative representatives of the city's cantons before the General Assembly in January.
2024 Fairfax Casino Push
In January, Marsden and Williams introduced “the same bill” that would have allowed the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to initiate a gaming referendum. The bills were quickly withdrawn, with Marsden acknowledging that casino regulations would be better considered during the 2024 legislative session.
Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill said in November that he believed a bill from Marsden and Williams would be successful if it gained enough support in the General Assembly and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) signs regulations to be considered "public entertainment projects" where casinos could emerge. ” Hill further explained to Patch last week that gaming companies must seek final approval from their boards.
The odds may be high that a Fairfax County casino will be approved soon.
Many Tysons-area residential communities were quick to speak out against Marsden and Williams' casino proposal. Along with the Vienna City Council, officials in neighboring Reston have also been outspoken in their opposition to gaming development.
"We firmly believe that having a casino in our community surrounded by natural areas such as lakes, treetops and nature trails that our residents value would harm the property values of our homes and be inconsistent with our values as a community," Reston said, association executive director Mike Cummins wrote.
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Source: www.casino.org
