On Wednesday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m., the Fairfax County Planning Commission will hold a critical public meeting to discuss future development plans for the Tysons Corner area.  You know you can expect fireworks when the scheduled meeting time runs from 7:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.!

According to the Washington Business Journal, approximately "60 speakers - including local developers, lawyers and nonprofit leaders - are signed up to give one final pitch to planners."  Anyone not able to speak in the allotted meeting time period will be carried over until the April 28th meeting.

The basis for the discussion will be the 40 year draft plan released by the County back in January.  One of the key po...

Fairfax County is massive and it has a budget to match.  The proposed Fiscal Year 2011 County budget, which begins on July 1, is nearly $3.3 billion.  There are several states that don't have a budget this enormous.

The largest expenditure by far is the school system, which is budgeted to receive $1.7 billion or nearly 54% of the entire pie.  Fairfax County schools are some of the country's best, which in part helps make this a very strong real estate market.  The next closest budget item is public safety at a proposed $406 million or 12.3%.  Below is a chart of proposed Fiscal Year 2011 expenditures.

The County is not immune from the overall economic downturn of the last several years,...