Fairfax County Revising Maps to Add Seven Miles of RPA When the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BOS) approved the current Resource Protection Area (RPA) maps on November 17, 2003, staff was directed to conduct a quality control review of the maps and return in one year with any resulting revisions. A preview provided to the Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) last November estimated at least seven miles of new RPAs will be added and over two miles removed. The first public release of these maps is expected to occur on March 28th at the BOS Environmental Committee meeting (8:00 a.m., Room 232 of the Fairfax County Government Center). While the maps are complete, the public is not permitted to have a copy until the BOS has seen them on March 28, 2005, though staff will share changes proposed on specific sites if requested. To become official, these maps must be reviewed and approved in a public hearing, but the Planning Commission and BOS hearing dates are yet to be scheduled. The critical question of vesting is unanswered. Staff has indicated that they will propose amendments to the Board's ruling on the treatment of approved and pending Development Plans – but a draft is not available for review at this time. For the people who live or own land along the seven-plus miles of stream that will now become RPAs, this is a substantive issue. Finally, notification to land owners affected by these new maps is an issue. At the EQAC meeting on February 9, 2005, staff initially proposed that the only notice will be the standard public hearing notice requirements; yet at the same meeting the County advocated that when a landowner changes an RPA designation through submission of an RPA plan, all adjoining and affected property owners must be notified. After discussion, it appeared that staff may support using the same notification standard that will apply to landowner's proposed changes to the RPA maps. In addition, the recent Supreme Court decision regarding land use changes in Loudoun County may cause Fairfax County to definitively agree to make such notification to property owners when proposing changes that affect the use of their property. Your concerns on these issues should be directed to your respective County Supervisor. For further information regarding how this will or could affect your site, contact Mike Rolband, P.E., P.W.S., P.W.D., Mark Headly, P.W.S., Ian Smith, P.E., Dan Lucey, P.E., or Frank Graziano, P.E.