Maya A. Huber

12/22/1929 - 04/11/2025

Long-time McLean Resident
Maya Huber Passes
Maya Huber, longtime McLean resident, former County Planning Commissioner, and civic activist, passed away on Friday, April 11 at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA. Born and educated in Switzerland, Maya moved to McLean with her husband John and three small sons in 1964. She initiated a modest neighborhood campaign against the development of a shopping center adjacent to her neighborhood in McLean in the early 1970's that was the beginning of a prodigious career as a citizen activist in the areas of land use and environment in McLean and Fairfax County. She joined the McLean Citizen's Association (MCA) in 1973 and became Land Use Committee chairman for the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations (FCFCA) about the same time. She was an early president of the McLean Planning Committee (MPC) that had been established in 1967 by the MCA and members of the business community to review land use in McLean's Central Business District. After an unsuccessful bid to become Dranesville District Supervisor in 1979, she was elected to the McLean Community Center Board where she focused on building and grounds issues.

At the county level, the accomplishment of which she is most proud, was chair of the Occoquan Basin Study Citizens Task Force the efforts of which resulted in the downzoning of 83,000 acres in the watershed in the western part of the county in 1982 protecting a major source of the County's drinking water. Along with a small group of women in McLean, her concern for Fairfax's agricultural heritage and disappearing open space resulted in approval of a survey of remaining land in the county and then the enactment of legislation in Richmond to allow the county to create the special Agricultural and Forestal District in 1983. Her interest also resulted in the creation of the county's Farmers Markets, and specifically McLean's in 1980.

Her local accomplishments were prodigious. When the County updated the comprehensive plan in 1975, she was appointed chair of the Task Force to re-plan the McLean Central Business District (CBD) and was influential in finalizing its borders. From 1985 to 1987, Maya worked for Supervisor Audrey Moore who was elected Board Chair that year. Maya first staffed land use in the Chairman's office and was appointed at-large Planning Commissioner the following year. As a Planning Commissioner, she served as chair of overall coordination with the County's Zoning and Evaluation Division (now Planning and Development) and citizen organizations.

After leaving the Planning Commission in 1993, Maya turned her attention to continuing her life-long planning goals towards a walkable community and better transit for McLean's CBD. In 2008, she was appointed to the McLean Pedestrian Task Force created by Supervisor John Foust that established recommendations for bikeways, pedestrian road access and intersection crossings, and bus routes. She lived to see the implementation of some of these projects including the Connector Bus and pedestrian connections from the McLean CBD to the McLean Silver Line Metro Station, bike lane designations, bus shelters along Elm Street, Fleetwood and Beverly Roads, and a long sought-after pedestrian connection from Fleetwood Road to Beverly Road proffered by the developer of the Signet Condominium in 2018. She also advocated for a safe pedestrian access across Old Chain Bridge Road that gave McLean House and Ashby residents access to the then Safeway (now Lidl) implemented as part of proffers with the new ExtraStorage facility on Beverly Road.



A special project of Maya's was the County Park Authority's acquisition of the flood plain behind her home on Chilton Court that had served as a neighborhood dumping ground, leading to creation of the 5-acre Bryn Mawr Stream Valley Park in 1981. Over the years, she sought connections from surrounding streets and through the park and construction of a bridge over the creek. During the pandemic, people discovered the park and made heavy use of it.

Maya enjoyed a garden spot in Lewinsville Park where she developed friendships with fellow gardeners, supported the McLean Farmer's Market and was able to enjoy fresh lettuce in December.

In recent years, macular degeneration had robbed Maya of the ability to read and drive.
In her own words, she said "Many wonderful friends have since helped me to continue leading my life without a car and I am truly thankful. It also takes a village to take care of the elderly. I have been able to continue taking part in aerobic water exercise which keeps me limber, keep my garden, and be mostly self-sufficient, thanks to their help. My youngest son gave me two wonderful grandchildren. Their family spends most holiday weekends with me and helps out wherever they can, as does my elder son."

In November of this year, Maya was recognized as one of the MCA's oldest members at their 110th Anniversary Celebration at the Community Center. On March 19, Maya updated the members of the McLean Planning Committee on the land use history of the McLean CBC, an active community member to the end.

A private celebration of life service will be held at the Mclean Community Center, on Sunday, May 25, 2025. Survivors include her sister, Bea Agerter, Muttenz, Switzerland'; brother-in-law and sister-in-law Chris and Erika Huber, Medford, Oregon; sons, Peter and Pat Huber, Pulaski, Virginia; Steve Huber, Indian Head, Maryland; and Francis and Vilma Huber, Woodstock, NY; grandchildren, Jonimaya Huber and Jeremy Huber, Woodstock, New York; goddaughters Barbara Kaempf and Sally Knight and numerous nieces and nephews in Switzerland. Contributions may be made in Maya's honor to the McLean Community Foundation or the Fairfax County Park Foundation for the McLean Farmer's Market.