Economic progress and managing the challenges of growth were the defining issues of the 1980's, and the Fairfax County Chamber was the key play in shaping the debate.

Dick Bender of Vepco and Chamber President Florence Townsend present EarleWilliams, President of BDM International, with the "Citizen of the Year" award at the 1980 annual Dinner. (Photo, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce.)

The decade opened with a stagnant national economy that was affecting business in Fairfax, and the Chamber leadership pushed for policies to stimulate growth. With interest rates exorbitant, Chamber leaders took on the Board of Supervisors directly when they felt the officials were attempting to restrict access to the Economic Development Authority's tax-free industrial revenue bonds, used to attract new businesses to the county. "Some members of the Board of Supervisors are treading on a very thin line," Chamber President Florence E. Townsend told a Chamber luncheon audience in March 1981, with four of the nine Supervisors in attendance. Townsend told the Supervisors that the Chamber intended to inspire a more positive attitude toward business.


The Fairfax County Chamber staged this banquet inside the terminal at Dulles Airport in 1981, part of its effort to promote improved airline service in the region. (Photo courtesy of Jim Tingstrum, Tingstrum Photography.)

In May 1981, the Fairfax County Chamber gathered a blue-chip crowd of corporate executives, local, state and federal officials and civic leaders at Dulles Airport to promote more flights at the airport and bring more business into the county.

To honor the memory of James M. Rees, (left) Chairman 1982-1983, the Chamber presents the Rees Award for distinguished community service at the Chairman's Dinner each year. Rees is pictured with Chairman Phil Reilly (1981-1982). (Photo, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce)

In comparison to the national economy, Fairfax County was faring well because of the large presence of major corporations. The Chamber, though, was concerned about the success of small businesses. In January 1982, the Board of Directors voted to sponsor a program to provide long-term financing for such enterprises.

"Growth has occurred at the pace everybody projected. But the transporation facilities are not there."

That summer, the Chamber released an extensive study of the county's transportation system and determined that the chief cause of traffic congestion was political gridlock. For the previous decade, successive Boards of Supervisors bowed to the complaints of some vocal residents and removed roads from the region's transportation plan. The result was a traffic crisis that still persists.

Recognizing that Fairfax County was Virginia's economic engine, Governor Charles S. Robb pledged to spend more state money on education and technology programs in 1982. The purpose was to attract more information technology and telecommunication companies to the Commonwealth, he told 500 Chamber members at a Chamber Luncheon in Springfield.

Chamber President Bill Bestimt joins federal, state and local officials for the October 1, 1984, dedication of the Dulles Toll Road. Shown seated are Delegates Ken Plum and Dorothy McDiarmid (left), U.S. Senator Charles Robb and State Senator Clive DuVall. (Photo, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce)

After the recession of the early 1980's began to recede, Fairfax County entered a period of unprecedented expansion. Though growth patterns matched the estimates made by planners decades before, the transportation network - including critical roadways and bridges - never materialized. By the fall of 1986, county residents were fed up with the grinding traffic congestion on the county's overburdened existing roads and demanded action. The answer offered by some members of the Board of Supervisors was a proposal to restrict growth, a plan the Chamber vehemently opposed.

In a late night vote on November 11, 1986, the Board opted for a plan to reduce by 75% the allowable densities on 10,000 acres of industrially zoned land and to eliminate the "grandfather" provisions that protected projects begun before the ordinance was proposed. A December 15 public hearing was scheduled, a vote planned for soon after that, and the battle lines were quickly drawn.

Guest of Honor George Johnson, president of George Mason University, admires a bronze turkey at the Chamber 1987 Turkey Roast. Johnson was roasted by, from left, Earle Williams of BDM International, John T. "Til" Hazel of Hazel Peterson Companies, Delegate Dorothy McDiarmid, Chamber President Karl Nelson and Roast Committee Chairman Phil Reilly. (Photo, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce)

The Board of Supervisors hastily formed a panel to study the effect of the proposal and report by the December 15 hearing. The Chamber, led by President Karl Nelson, roundly criticized the ordinance and the Board's cursory review of its far-reaching impact on jobs, businesses and tax base. "Right now, it's just a fire drill," Nelson told the Washington Post. When the study panel met in early December, it degenerated into a battle between the legislation's two chief backers, Supervisors Audrey Moore and Thomas M. Davis, III, and the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and other business groups.

Reacting to the widespread concern of its members, the Chamber launched a public relations counter offensive that included radio and newspaper advertising. Arguing that the proposal would wreak havoc with Virginia's strongest local economy, costing thousands of jobs and millions in tax revenue, the ads said, "it's vital that all of the Supervisors understand that stopping business development in Fairfax County will not solve the county's transportation problems."

When the public hearing opened, hundreds of business leaders packed the Board of Supervisors meeting room to protest the plan to slash office construction. Their message was simple: Don't choke off the economic boom that in a decade has transformed Northern Virginia into one of the nation's most prosperous regions.

The show of strength, and the Chamber's coordinated effort to point out the proposal's many flaws, helped swing undecided Supervisor T. Farrell Egge to vote against the plan. On December 29, the Board of Supervisors voted 5-4 to reject the down zoning proposal, opting instead to appoint a 20-member commission to study transportation and growth issues. "The down zoning proposal had every intention of creating great damage," Nelson told the Connection newspapers. The Commission reported a year later that Fairfax County needed $2 - $4 billion to solve its transportation problems.

Following the defeat of the restrictive zoning proposals in 1986, the Chamber united with six other business groups to create a $1 million public awareness campaign to demonstrate the business community's contribution to the economy, and to promote ideas for managing growth.

In addition, the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance was created by the Chamber and other local business groups to consider how to reduce traffic problems. "There is no solution that will not be addressed," Chamber President Linda Wright told the Fairfax Journal.

"Fairfax County's Chamber of Commerce has emerged as one of the most aggressive interest groups in the Virginia suburbs."

U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese (fourth from right) joined the Chamber in honoring Fairfax County Police, Sheriff and Fire & Rescue personnel at the 1987 Valor Awards ceremony. (Photo, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce)

In March 1987, the Wall Street Journal described Fairfax County as a "mini-city" struggling with overheated growth. Four months later, Time identified the county as a "boom town;" one of a handful of "megacounties" nationwide. By that time, the Chamber's public policy leadership role - from school funding to land use - was well established. "Fairfax County's Chamber of Commerce, a 2,000 member association... has emerged in recent months as one of the most aggressive interest groups in the Virginia suburbs," read a Washington Post profile. The defeat of the growth restriction proposal was a clear indication of the Chamber's influence. In September, the Chamber moved from Dunn Loring to a "showcase" office suite at 8391 Old Courthouse Road in Tysons Corner.

When Audrey Moore assumed the Chairmanship of the Board of Supervisors in 1988, the Chamber decided to work with this leader of the county's anti-growth movement. In March, Wright appeared with Moore at a news conference to promote the $150 million road bond referendum, the proceeds of which ultimately funded the Fairfax County Parkway.

The same year, the Chamber established a High Technology/Defense Contractors Council - which later evolved into the Northern Virginia Technology Council - to focus particularly on the needs of these businesses.

Jim Nordstrom discussed his family's retail empire at a Chamber luncheon, in coordination with the opening of the company's first area store at Tysons Corner.

In 1989, weeks before he made history as the first African-American to be elected Governor since Reconstruction, L. Douglas Wilder (right) debated J. Marshall Coleman at a Chamber Luncheon. (Photo, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce)

In his 1989 State of the Commonwealth address, Governor Gerald L. Baliles acknowledged that Virginia had inadequately provided transportation infrastructure in Fairfax County. He noted that state income tax receipts from the cities of Richmond, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Roanoke, Winchester and Bristol and counties of Albemarle, Botetourt, Chesterfield, Halifax, Rockbridge, Tazewell and Westmoreland combined did not equal the income tax revenue produced by Fairfax County that year.

Nonetheless, given the county's transportation needs, he proposed that the county be given the authority to collect a one percent income tax, subject to public referendum. The Chamber endorsed this option, but the Board of Supervisors never put the levy on the ballot.

But the Supervisors did amend development conditions in the waning days of 1989, in response to citizens complaints about traffic and over the Chamber's objections.

By eliminating the ability to construct office buildings "by right" on 13,000 acres of commercially and industrially-zoned land along Route 28, business leaders argued that enterprise would be harmed because obtaining special county approval for development would considerably increase costs. Just as importantly, the Chamber believed the Board's actions appeared to indicate that the county was hostile to new businesses.

That year, the Chamber also established Leadership Fairfax, a ten-month civic training program meant to familiarize emerging business and community leaders with local issues and initiatives. The first twenty-nine participants started their monthly briefings that October. Modeled after similar programs in Atlanta, Detroit, D.C. and elsewhere, the creation of the Fairfax program was a further indication that the county had developed an economic and civic identity separate from Washington and adjoining suburbs.

In the Chairmen's Words...

In the 20+ years that I have been involved with the Chamber, Fairfax County has seen extraordinary change. And yet there is the constant of a business leadership that has recognized its role as part of the community at large. Because of our explosive growth, schools, the arts, hospitals, transportation, charities, all had to be brought on line - and fast. Congratulations to those who led, and did, and stayed on to continue.

Phil Reilly, Chairman, 1981-1982

When was interviewed prior to assuming the Chair as to what I would like to accomplish during the year, my response went like this: "I would like to have the state acknowledge Northern Virginia as a significant part of the Commonwealth by moving the "Welcome to Virginia" road sign from the south bank of the Rappahannock (I-95) to the Potomac.

James Popino, Chairman, 1985-1986

The Chamber has always represented what's best about business: preserving the economy so all may benefit, reminding the general population that public policy decisions and implementations need to be done in a fair and fiscally responsible way, contributing money and manpower to better our quality of life. I was honored to have led those kinds of efforts.

Karl R. Nelson, Chairman, 1986-1987

Several years of strong commercial growth had created a dynamic business community, but saw voters elect an "anti-business/anti-growth" Board of Supervisors. The Chamber became the responsible voice opposing unfair taxes, policies and public criticism and was vindicated a couple of years later when voters repudiated such actions by sweeping in a new board.

Robert T. Skunda, Chairman, 1988-1989

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