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Fairfax County has authorized the use of eminent domain for five western Tysons properties as officials work to keep a major wastewater expansion on schedule.
County staff reached agreements involving five additional properties west of Route 7, also known as Leesburg Pike, over the past month. However, five parcels remain unresolved, senior right-of-way agent Tajera DeSena of the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services told the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 18.
The board unanimously approved eminent-domain authority, though Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn expressed hope that agreements could still be reached without using it.
Alcorn thanked participating property owners and said negotiations should continue in the coming days and weeks.
The county needs land rights involving 19 properties for a planned 36-inch force main. The pipeline will carry wastewater from a pump station under construction at 8608 Leesburg Pike to the county’s treatment facility in Lorton.
That facility, previously called the Noman M. Cole, Jr. Pollution Control Plant, was renamed the Noman M. Cole, Jr. Water Recycling Facility earlier in February. DPWES said the new name more accurately reflects its work and presents the clean-water mission more positively.
Construction of the force main is expected to begin in the fall. The roughly three-mile pipeline will run from Tysons around the Town of Vienna to Hunter Mill Road, then connect with an existing Accotink sewer line at Route 123.
The pipeline and pump station are part of a broader effort to expand Tysons’ wastewater infrastructure. The station is designed to process 25 million gallons per day.
Tysons wastewater currently travels through the Potomac Interceptor to DC Water’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. DeSena said that system cannot be expanded and lacks the capacity needed to support the 100,000 residents, along with additional development, that the county envisions in Tysons by 2050.
The county therefore plans to redirect wastewater from the Blue Plains service area to the Noman Cole system, which has more capacity. DeSena said occupancy permits for new Tysons development cannot be issued unless the wastewater collection network has sufficient capacity.
The Tysons West upgrades also include a 24-inch gravity sewer extending about three miles. It will move wastewater from individual properties to the new pump station.
Pump-station construction began in November 2024, while the gravity sewer and force main remain in design. The entire project is expected to be completed in summer 2028 at an estimated cost of $110 million, funded entirely through sewer service and connection fees.
A separate pump-station proposal for Tysons East was delayed in fall 2024 after residents raised concerns about insufficient community outreach. The proposed site at 1310 Scotts Run Road in McLean would have required the county to acquire a house.
In a Dec. 16, 2024, update, DPWES said it was exploring additional site alternatives while administrative work proceeded.