Your Gov't at Work: Mayor Hardi Testifies in Richmond

By Cindy Sieden,

This week and last, not only were our state legislators down in Richmond doing work on our behalf, but Falls Church City Mayor Letty Hardi joined them for some early morning subcommittee meetings in the Counties, Cities and Towns committee of the House and the Senate Local Government committee, which deals with changes to local ordinances. Because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, a locality like Falls Church City or Fairfax County only has whatever power the General Assembly gives it — so zoning ordinances, for example, can only contain what is written into state law. 

One particular bill Mayor Hardi was testifying in support of (in her personal capacity) was the "Faith in Housing bill" by Delegate Joshua Cole from Fredericksburg and Senator Jeremy McPike from Prince William County, which would require zoning ordinances to allow tax-exempt religious organizations to build affordable housing on land they own, as long as: a) the property has been owned by the religious organization for at least five years; b) at least 60 percent of the resulting housing is designated for affordable housing and remains so for 50 years, and; c) the housing follows Virginia Fair Housing nondiscrimination laws. For reference, “affordable housing,” is defined as “housing that is affordable to households with incomes at or below the area median income, provided that the occupant pays no more than thirty percent of his gross income for gross housing costs, including utilities.”

Mayor Hardi said, “I care a lot about housing. I know the work we do in Falls Church to address our housing shortage is critical, but we can only do so much locally. Our housing markets are regional, and so when an entire region works on increasing supply, the data shows it actually has four times the impact than the locality doing it alone.”

Another topic Mayor Hardi testified on was bills addressing local zoning ordinances requiring a minimum number of parking spots for new developments. Currently, localities are neither required to, nor restricted from, specifying parking minimums in their zoning, but many do. There are multiple proposed laws on this policy issue. One, carried by Falls Church City’s Senator Saddam Salim, would prohibit all localities from requiring parking minimums at all, leaving it up to the market to determine how much parking is needed. The other would prescribe specific parking minimums (1/2 spot for each residence in an apartment building, 1 spot for each single-family home residence or townhouse) in transit corridors. 

Mayor Hardi testified on the bill that “I care deeply about both housing and economic development and in the last decade in elected office both have been central to my work. Modernizing parking mandates is not only pro-housing, it’s pro-business, pro-environment, and pro-historic preservation. It’s precisely not one-size-fits-all, because it allows the market to actually dictate the right amount of parking…. In Falls Church we actually relaxed parking requirements and got 15 percent more business occupancy permits and that’s only possible because of that change. And we got zero complaints about overflow parking or lack of parking. That is real economic opportunity unlocked.” (Falls Church City Council voted in late 2024 to exempt the first 1200 square feet of new non-residential developments from parking requirements.)

It's great to see Mayor Hardi sharing her expertise with the folks at the General Assembly, and advocating for them to pass laws that will help Falls Church City in turn. In case you ever want to testify or even just watch how your government works, it’s pretty easy to tune in online to live and recorded House and Senate committee meetings and floor sessions. It’s also fun to visit in person and watch the meetings or sit up in the gallery of the (beautiful) House and Senate in Richmond. If you let Delegate Simon or Senator Salim know you’re coming in advance, they’ll be happy to meet with you, or even give you an introduction from the floor. It’s something every civic-minded person should do at least once!

Cindy Sieden is a Falls Church City resident of more than 15 years. She discovered several years ago that her civic duty extended beyond merely voting when an election arose, and now takes a very active role in following state and local government and helping others understand how those governments work, what actions they take, and how to advocate for issues important to them. She founded the Virginia Progressive Legislative Alert Network (VAPLAN) to that end, and is also a regular contributor at Blue Virginia.