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TextImportant County Changes
Two Consolidated Departments Get Their Start as a Result of Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Restructurings
Department of Code Compliance
Do you have concerns about neighbors parking in the grass, junk in the
yard, overcrowding or unpermitted construction? Starting Thursday, July
1, the new Department of Code Compliance (DCC) will investigate these and
other quality of life complaints across the county.
DCC will look into and enforce violations of multiple codes and
ordinances, including: Zoning, Property Maintenance, Building
(non-permitted construction), Grass, Blight, Hoarding, and some segments
of Health and Fire.
This multi-code enforcement agency consolidates the Department of
Planning and Zoning’s Zoning Enforcement Branch and the Code Enforcement
Strike Teams. The Health Department and Fire and Rescue Department will
continue to enforce specific codes and also provide staff to work closely
with the new department.
Why did the county decide to combine two agencies into one consolidated
code enforcement agency? “Some cases only require one code to investigate
a complaint,” says Jeff Blackford, director. He went on to add that,
“Other complaints clearly require multiple disciplines — a good example
would be a boarding house. Having multi-code teams also gives us
flexibility to use the various disciplines to address current or future
problems.”
Does this change the way we report things to the county? Not a bit. At
the Braddock District level we will have a set team to work with,
allowing us to have better communication and develop an even better
relationship with the county staff assigned to our area. That team will
cover many different complaints, so citizens no longer need to guess what
agency they should call.
The Department of Code Compliance can be reached at 703-324-1300. If you
have any further questions, you can call our office at 703-425-9300.
Department of Neighborhood and Community Services
The Board of Supervisors appointed Christopher A. Leonard as the
director of the new Department of Neighborhood and Community Services
(NCS). This agency is the result of the consolidation of the Department
of Community and Recreation Services (CRS) and the Department of Systems
Management for Human Services (DSMHS).
The new department will implement a regional service delivery model for
teen, senior and community center services. The mission of NCS is to
engage, connect and collaborate with individuals, organizations,
neighborhoods and communities to strategically plan, provide responsive
services and build capacity to support community and neighborhood
solutions. This consolidation will save in administrative costs while
providing better service, as programming will be located in one place
instead of two.
The county is currently in the process of consolidating the work of CRS
and DSMHS into NCS. In the meantime, please visit both the CRS website
and the DSMHS websites for information about their programs and services.
Both agencies look forward to continuing to serve their existing
participants and welcome new participants to join them at any time.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to call us at
703-425-9300.
Personal Property Tax Bills Include New Vehicle Registration Fee
2010 Fairfax County Personal Property Tax bills are currently being
mailed by the Department of Tax Administration (DTA) and are due on Oct.
5. This bill includes a new $33 registration fee for cars ($38 for
vehicles in excess of 4,000 pounds) normally located in the county as of
July 1, 2010. There is no county windshield decal to purchase or
display.
This fee was adopted by the Board of Supervisors in April, 2010 and is
expected to result in approximately $27 million in additional revenues.
Supervisor Cook voted against this additional levy.
Fairfax County residents must register vehicles with DTA that are
normally garaged or parked in Fairfax County, even if the vehicle is
registered in another state. Failure to locally register vehicles on time
will result in additional penalties. Register online or call 703-222-8234
(TTY 703-222-7594). In addition, make sure your address is correct with
the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
Vehicle Registration Fees:
$18 for
motorcycles.
$23 for any taxi or
other vehicle that is kept for rent or hire operated by a chauffeur for
the transportation of passengers. An additional fee of $5 is charged if
the weight of the vehicle is more than 4,000 pounds.
$23 for a bus used
exclusively for transportation to and from church school, for the purpose
of religious instruction, or church, for the purpose of divine worship.
If the empty weight of the vehicle exceeds 4,000 pounds, the fee is
$28.
$33 for all other
vehicles with a weight of 4,000 pounds or less.
$38 for all other
vehicles with a weight of more than 4,000 pounds.
More detailed Vehicle Registration Fee Information can be accessed at
this link: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dta/cartax_veh_reg_fee.htm
Cuts In State Funding to VDOT Will Impact Residential Traffic Calming
Until recently, we could work with neighborhood groups to see if they
qualified for traffic calming measures, which usually involved installing
stop signs, speed humps/tables, median islands or chokers to narrow the
roadway on streets with a 25 mph speed limit and a high volume of traffic
exceeding the speed limit.
However, traffic calming measures may be the latest victims of
Virginia’s depleted transportation revenues. Officials with the Fairfax
County Department of Transportation said last week that the county has
essentially exhausted available state funding for its neighborhood
traffic-calming program, and the Virginia Department of Transportation
has said that it won’t fund the program anymore. Communities can still
apply for traffic calming, and county staff will use county funds to
asses those applications. Right now, however, there is no plan to fund
their implementation.
So, what can be done if there is no money for these types of
measures?
Well, there are other strategies that can be applied to try to control
speeding. There are several roads that do not qualify for traffic calming
because they have posted speed limits greater than 25 mph. In those
areas, signs reading “$200 Additional Fine for Speeding” could be placed
along qualifying roadways.
Signs indicating that children are at play can also be requested. And in
some areas with excessive truck traffic, through traffic measures could
be implemented. All of these options are explained in an easy to read
format at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/rtap.htm#traffic_calm.
If you have questions about anything in this article, please feel free
to call Ann Sharp in our office at 703-425-9300
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