Tracy Strunk has been appointed director of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD). She succeeds Barbara Byron, who retired earlier this year.
Strunk began her career with Fairfax County government in 1998, as a planner with what was then the Department of Planning & Zoning, where her work included development review in all areas of the county and culminated with serving as a member of the Tysons Core Team, supporting the major replanning effort for Tysons and processing the first zoning cases filed under that plan.
Strunk went on to become a Deputy Director for the Fairfax County Office of Community Revitalization, where she provided oversight for the Tysons/Reston Metro Corridor Development Branch, whose work included development of urban design for Tysons and Reston Metro Corridor areas and review of public facilities in Tysons.
Most recently, Strunk served as director of DPD’s Zoning Evaluation Division, which is charged with processing all zoning applications submitted to the county, and formulating recommendations through staff reports to the Planning Commission, Board of Supervisors and Board of Zoning Appeals .
The Department of Planning and Development provides guidance on land use, development review and zoning issues to decision-making authorities including the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission, and is responsible for various permitting and approval functions in the land development arena. The department consists of three major divisions: the Planning Division, the Zoning Evaluation Division and the Zoning Administration Division, and two sections—Community Revitalization and Urban Centers, as well as support functions including human resources, information technology and mapping.
Strunk began her career in land use in in 1995 in South Carolina, where she served as a regional planner with the Lowcountry Council of Governments.
She holds a bachelor’s in sociology from Northwestern University and a master’s in regional planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.