This Subcommittee has examined the problem of community government in urbanizing areas of the Commonwealth. This problem is most pronounced in the Washington suburbs of Northern Virginia, but it is not confined to that area.

Fairfax County is the most populous county in the Commonwealth and one of the most urbanized. Furthermore, it is still rapidly growing. Within the county, there are three incorporated towns and also numerous communities which have some sense of identity. The most well-defined of these communities is Reston.

Reston is one of the "planned towns" which was widely acclaimed in the decade of the 60's. The size and direction of its growth have been carefully planned and directed so as to minimize the negative effects of urban development. Reston is not incorporated and, under both the law establishing the optional form of county government under which Fairfax County operates and the general law relating to town incorporation, it could not be incorporated (§§ 15.1-785 and 15.1-967). In the past few years, many of the residents of Reston have come to feel that the community should be incorporated as a town. In 1977, the General Assembly passed legislation which would, if reenacted by the 1979 General Assembly, allow the residents of Reston to hold a referendum in order to determine if they should incorporate as a town (Chapter 403, 1977 Acts of Assembly). A bill was introduced in the 1978 General Assembly to reenact this legislation, and it was carried over to the 1979 Session.

With the current problem of Reston before it and the possibility of similar problems occurring elsewhere, the General Assembly directed that a study be made of the general issue of communities within urbanizing areas.