Tie Votes On Willard-Sherwood Project Alarm Fairfax County Official

FAIRFAX, VA — The possibility of a deadlocked vote by the Fairfax City Council has raised concerns from one Fairfax County official about the future of the joint Willard-Sherwood Health and Community Center project.

In a Dec. 28, 2025, letter exclusively obtained by Patch via a Freedom of Information Act request, Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill invited Mayor Catherine Read and Fairfax County Board Chair Jeff McKay to a joint meeting to reach an agreement on how to best move forward with the project.

"We are approaching a point where real financial and operational costs continue to accrue regardless of direction," Hill wrote. "Given the city’s governance structure and the respective roles of elected leadership, it feels appropriate to have this conversation now — so that our teams are not left to navigate ambiguity, and so that decisions affecting residents are made deliberately, transparently, and with a full understanding of their implications."

Hill's concern was prompted by the most recent actions taken by the city council in connection with the project.

On Oct. 14, 2025, the city council approved four special exception zoning requests submitted by the county as part of the approval process for the project. Although the council voted to pass all four requests, three of the four votes were a 3-3 tie, with the mayor casting the deciding votes.

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Councilmembers Anthony Amos, Billy Bates and Stacey Hardy-Chandler voted to approve all four special exception requests, with Councilmembers Stacy Hall and Tom Peterson voting in opposition to all four. Councilmember Rachel McQuillen opposed three requests and supported one.

Read was able to break all three ties because none of them involved appropriating money of more than $500, borrowing money, or levying taxes, which the city charter prohibits her from doing, City Attorney Brian Lubkeman said during a council meeting last November.

Hill was concerned that if the council voted 3-3 on an allocation of funds during a future meeting, the joint city-county project could end up being approved but unfunded.

"As you know, the Mayor does not vote on contracts or funding matters, and a 3–3 Council vote does not carry an action forward," he wrote. "Given the magnitude of this project, the costs already incurred, and the broader intergovernmental implications, allowing the outcome to be determined by non-action presents both real financial consequences and perception risks that warrant careful consideration from a due-diligence standpoint."

Hill included the following risk comparison for Read and McKay, describing what could potentially happen if the project were terminated.

"My hope is that this conversation provides alignment on process and timing, respects each jurisdiction’s role, and reinforces the strong partnership between the city and the county," Hill wrote. "Most importantly, it allows us to continue advancing this work in a manner that reflects the seriousness of our collective responsibility to the residents we serve."

Patch reached out to Councilmembers Hall, McQuillen and Peterson about what concerns they had about the project, whether their position changed since the Oct. 14 vote, and whether they would vote to support funding the project at a future meeting. No response was received.

Hall and Peterson told FFXNow in October that they had concerns with the cost of the overall project, which is expected to total more than $130 million, according to a city staff report. This included $58 million in new funding from the city's Capital Improvement Plan.

In 2015, the city began working on a feasibility study to renovate the aging Green Acres Community Center. The county conducted a similar study in 2017 about the Joseph Willard Health Center, which is located at the corner of Blenheim Boulevard and Layton Hall Drive in the city. This led the two jurisdictions to sign an agreement for an initial Feasibility Study of Potential Joint Redevelopment.

In 2021, the city council and county board approved the Willard-Sherwood Phase 1 Agreement and the full design and construction agreement in 2022. The project is being funded through the city and county's capital improvement plans.

Once completed, the new health and community center will provide the same services city and county residents receive at Green Acres Community Center, the Joseph Willard Health Center, and the Sherwood Center, according to the county website. It will include space for recreational, arts, and community services. The county also plans to expand its early childhood programming, as well as its childcare and after school care.

No date has been set yet for when the council will vote on allocating funding for the Willard-Sherwood Project, according to a city spokesman.

City staff is currently reviewing the site plan and building permit submissions. Construction is estimated to begin this summer and to be completed by the second quarter of 2029.