RESTON, VA — Reston Association posted a video on YouTube Friday morning calling on its 60,000 residents to contact their representatives in Richmond and express their opposition to expected legislation that would allow a casino to be built in Fairfax County along Metro’s Silver Line.
“In the coming days, members of our board of directors and I will be traveling to Richmond to speak one-on-one with members of the State Assembly,” RA CEO Mac Cummins said, in the video. “We’re there to tell them that the vast majority of our membership opposes a casino in our community. We need you to join us in contacting your legislators.”
The release of the video came on the heals of Cummins’ announcement that RA had hired its own lobbyists to plead the association’s case to the Virginia General Assembly during the 2024 session begins on Jan. 10. The lobbyists are Andrew T. Lamar and Brittany Whitley of Lamar Consulting, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
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“Reston has always been a community based on careful planning of balance and of ensuring our members input is involved in future development,” Cummins said, in the video.
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In September, the board of supervisors approved an update to the Reston Master Plan, after nearly four years of community engagement. The process was meant to further growth in key areas, such as technology and higher educations, according to Cummins.
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“Not only does a casino not align with these objectives, it’s actually destructive to our goals,” he said. “Reston’s future depends on a plan that was developed by our community for our community. The process was to develop a plan that was both open and transparent, allowing our residents to have confidence in the process.”
RA joined other groups in the community that have voiced their opposition to the casino proposal, including its own board of directors, the Vienna Town Council, the Reston Citizens Association, and the McLean Citizen’s Association.
Patch first broke the news in September that Comstock Holding Companies was seeking to build a casino at or near Reston station, where the company has its headquarters. Since then, Patch reported that Comstock donated more than $627,000 to political candidates in 2023, started its own political action committee to facilitate that, and hired six lobbyists to advocate for them in Richmond.
During the 2023 session, state Sen. Dave Marsden (D-Burke) and Del. Wren Williams (R-Stuart) introduced nearly identical bills, SB1543 and HB2499, respectively, that would have given the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the authority to put a casino referendum on a future ballot. The bills were withdrawn a few days after being introduced.
Marsden told Patch several times last fall that he planned to introduce an expanded referendum bill in January, that would include a performance space and conference center anchored by a casino. Cummins met with Marsden after the new year to discuss the potential legislation.
Marsden told Patch last week that he planned to introduce his new bill this week. As of 9 a.m. on Friday, no bill has materialized.
Related:
Read all of Patch’s reporting on Comstock Companies’ plan to build a casino on Metro’s Silver Line in Fairfax County at Silver Line Casino.
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