Mark T. Welch

Welch wants to donate his entire Board member salary to a Fairfax County charity every quarter. Additionally, he wants to keep real estate taxes unchanged for residents [1]. Welch also wants to allocate more funding to housing, transportation, environment protection, and food security, as well as hold Fairfax County Public Schools accountable for creating reasonable budgets [2].

Welch wants to ensure that every single constituent question/comment is responded to [1].

Welch advocates for stronger commitment to using solar power and incentivizing green development. He also supports funding disaster relief plans, albeit not with higher real estate taxes. Additionally, he wants to limit the removal of old-growth trees during development and increase or preserve tree coverage in new developments, with significant penalties if not followed. Finally, he wants to work with Fairfax County Park Authority to combat invasive species issues and resolve budget-related challenges [2].

Welch supports community gardens and making them accessible to whoever is interested, as well as setting aside land for garden development and removing land use barriers barring the development of urban agriculture, especially those pertaining to rooftop gardens and vertical farming. He also supports necessary funding to Fairfax County Public Schools to make sure that no student goes hungry and partnering with religious communities to address food insecurity issues [2].

Welch supports transit-oriented housing development and including a range of affordable housing options for different income levels in such developments. He wants to increase housing funding by reducing expenses elsewhere, as opposed to increasing real estate taxes. Additionally, he wants to work with nonprofits to curb displacement and expand the outreach of government programs designed to help homeowners get assistance for buying a home [2].

Welch wants to improve public transit with current funding levels, only increasing taxes if needed. He also supports creating safe cyclist and pedestrian access that works within the constraints posed by overall traffic concerns and funding, as well as traffic calming measures. Welch supports focusing investing on safe cyclist and pedestrian options for students to go to school but does not support achieving this through extra funding [2].