When Fairfax County officials first heard that the federal government was considering locating the new Department of Homeland Security in Fairfax County, they were eager to help. Supervisor Michael Frey (R-Sully) wrote a letter and Supervisor Gerald Connolly (D-Providence) said he would be happy to as well, if asked.
Three sites, two on Colshire Road in Tysons Corner in Providence District and one in the Westfields office park in Chantilly on Conference Center Drive, have been mentioned as possible sites for the Department of Homeland Security. The department is expected to have 17,000 employees at its headquarters.
FREY OFFERED to write a letter about a month ago on behalf of the Carr Capital Corporation which was trying to lure the agency to a building it owns in the Westfields area of Chantilly. A couple weeks ago, the company took him up on his offer. In his letter, Frey said he "made a commitment for trying to expedite the reviews and permits that might be needed."
"I made the commitment to the Carr Company so that they could demonstrate to the local procurement folks that they had local support."
William Keech, of the Westfields Business Owners Association said Westfields is well positioned to receive the new agency. The association already negotiated with the federal government 15 years ago to bring the National Reconnaissance Office to the area.
"We would do whatever it takes to bring homeland security into Westfields," he said.
Connolly said he had not written a letter assuring the federal government of his help, but added that, "if asked, I'd be happy to do it." Such letters are fairly common from local officials trying to attract a company to their districts.
"I certainly have let anyone who's asked know that I am supportive of Fairfax County in general and Tysons in particular as a logical place for the new Department of Homeland Security to be located," said Connolly, who said he first heard about the plan "several weeks ago." But he added that he did not think a letter from a local official would sway the federal government's decision.
FREY SAID the federal agency would be a boon to the region's economy. "There's a huge economic benefit," he said.
Michael Lewis, the president of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, called it "a very positive opportunity."
"We're capitalizing our activity in areas where we already have skills and strengths in," he said. "Right now I think the most critical aspect is to get those that were displaced by the downturn of the Internet industry back to work."
But Stewart Schwartz, the executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, said putting the agency in Chantilly would be "like dropping a sprawl bomb in the middle of Western Fairfax."
"Tysons is marginally better," he added.
Not placing the agency near an existing Metro station demonstrates "yet another failure to link land use and transit in the region," he said.
"Somebody's going to have to pay for all the transportation infrastructure out there, somebody's going to have to pay for the air pollution problem, somebody's going to have to pay for the economic dislocation."
Lewis disagreed: "A lot of these folks are already here," he said. "We're not talking about a considerable impact on roads and schools."
Connolly said: "I can't pretend it won't have an impact on roads. It will."
At the same time, he said, "it gives some renewed interest at the federal level to rail to and through Tysons on the way to Dulles."
Frey said there would be some impact on traffic but that a new interchange between Route 28 and Westfields Boulevard was scheduled for completion in 2006. The first homeland security workers could start working in the new location in the next few months.
Frey also said the county's Comprehensive Plan on land use calls for commercial developments in Westfields.
"The office park was planned for that intensity," he said.
"That assumes that the Comprehensive Plan makes sense in the first place," said Schwartz.