Fairfax County leaders consider how to reduce hurdles for small businesses

A push in Fairfax County to cut red tape for some local businesses. From opening a restaurant to expanding a home daycare, county leaders now exploring ways to make the process faster and easier. Sharon Regé joining us live from Fairfax tonight with changes that are now being proposed. Sharon? Yeah, Angie, Jim, the goal here is to make it easier for small businesses to open and expand without sacrificing safety. And tonight, Fairfax County held a community meeting, essentially, that would look at these proposed changes and would allow home daycare centers to take care of more children without the lengthy public hearing process. With administrative permit, it's a review that as long as the provider, the use, the home daycare is meeting those standards, it can be reviewed quickly and approved and doesn't require any public hearing. So it's a quicker process than the special permit. Yes, right now, home daycare providers generally need special approval to care for more than seven children in detached homes or five children in townhomes and apartments. The county is considering raising those limits, potentially up to 12 children, depending on the type of home and which proposal is actually approved. And it's not just about daycares. A recent county audit found new restaurants in its study took a median of 315 days to open on average. The county has already launched a fast-track program that can reduce certain commercial building reviews to just one day. And now officials are forming a working group to address other problems identified in this audit. Land Development Services Director Bill Hicks tells me tonight the county recognizes there is room for improvement. We believe that the audit found some things that we could improve upon, and so we're going to chase those things down. One of the key things we're going to do, and we've already gathered participants, is to kick off a work group that's cross-agency. So we're working with the fire marshal, the health department, planning and zoning, as well as our agency, to receive feedback, to look at our processes, and to incorporate and make meaningful change. And that working group is expected to be up and running in November. The county is working towards implementing all these changes that were recommended in the audit by August of next year. As far as those home daycare providers, again, these are proposals the county leaders still have to get public feedback before making any final decision. Jim Angie.