Fairfax Circle Small Area Plan

Summary

The Fairfax Circle Small Area Plan is a land use and planning document for the Fairfax Circle area of the City of Fairfax, Virginia, developed beginning in Spring 2023. The Planning Commission approved the plan via Resolution PC-24-02 on July 8, 2024 (5-0), recommending City Council adopt the June 24, 2024 draft subject to Comprehensive Plan amendment approval and specific modifications including property access preservation, a transportation safety study, analysis of widening walkways/shared use paths, and three textual edits. City Council held a public hearing on July 23, 2024 — with no public testimony — and adopted the plan (draft dated July 11, 2024) on a 4-2 vote, with Councilmembers Doyle Feingold and Greenfield opposed. Since adoption, the plan has informed multiple ongoing city efforts, including a Fairfax Circle intersection evaluation included in the city's two-year transportation program, stream restoration planning along Accutink Creek and adjacent segments, floodplain and nature-based solutions studies, Blenheim Boulevard multimodal improvement extensions, and the introduction of an "open space frontage type" carried into subsequent planning documents. As of June 2026, a potential review and update of the plan — alongside the Old Town, Northfax, and Kamp Washington small area plans — was scheduled for Planning Commission work session discussion.

Open questions & options on the table

• Outcome of the June 8, 2026 Planning Commission work session discussion on a potential review and update to the Fairfax Circle Small Area Plan (and other adopted small area plans) is not yet confirmed.
• Results and recommendations of the in-depth Fairfax Circle intersection evaluation (part of the city's two-year transportation program) remain pending.
• Follow-up meetings with local homeowner associations regarding the Fairfax Circle Small Area Plan, anticipated after an October 2025 transportation department meeting, have not been reported as completed.
• Whether and when stream restoration projects adjacent to Fairfax Circle will advance to construction, including resolution of required private property easements, remains open.
• Nature-based solutions study along the Accutink Creek corridor adjacent to the plan area (funded by a community flood preparedness grant, noted as completed in FY26) has not yet had outcomes reported in the planning record.
• CIP or budget requests for extending Blenheim Boulevard multimodal improvements through Fairfax Circle have not yet been filed, per November 2025 discussion.

Recent updates

What members have said

Positions as recorded in meeting minutes; votes without recorded comment aren’t summarized.