The Comprehensive Plan for Tysons garnered international attention when it first ambitiously showed towering high rises, complete streets prioritizing pedestrians and bicyclists, and the overall structural concept on how it could be accomplished. Unlike pie in the sky concepts contemplated by planners in other cities the Comprehensive Plan came equipped with an operations manual for how and when to implement transportation, school, and park improvements along side of development levels. Of course the most complicated of all elements in construction, development, and city planning always becomes funding.
You might not have noticed this (unless you have read our stories about VDOT or our current state administration) but the amount of money we in Fairfax have received from the state obligation to public works and transportation has all but evaporated. Beyond this lack of funds is also new regulations enacted by the actively anti-NOVA state legislature and Governor which disallows Fairfax from taxing only one subset (land developers) within any given tax district. This disappearing act of the state, whom we fund disproportionately in Northern Virginia, and clear obstruction of our right to govern locally has left us to pull ourselves up from the boot straps and find solutions. We have too good of a system of economic and resident well being to allow it to be derailed by petty politics at the State House.
This is why I have been a vocal proponent of doing what has to be done and voting for the tax district which will add approximately 7 cents per 100 dollars in assessed value to real estate taxes on home owners. At this time there are many people diligently working to avoid the need for residents to do so, including Delegate Mark Keam who is proposing a bill that will allow for tax districts to be created upon specific land uses instead of based on total geography and land owners. In other words the bill will allow for the taxing of only commercial properties and not individual residential owners.
This bill has very little chance of being approved by the GOP legislature who will likely obfuscate the issue at hand by demonizing the bill as proposing a new tax (instead of truthfully noting it will actually reduce taxes on individuals). If the bill is passed the vote on the tax district could always be retroactively modified prior to the next fiscal year… just don’t hold your breath.
What is not getting enough attention is the actual numbers involved in all of this. For a typical 1-bedroom condo the tax will equate to about $17 per month in cost, for a 2-bedroom a whopping $24 per month, a townhome could see costs of $32. At risk without the tax is the ability to transform the chaotic and congested transportation network in Tysons into one which will be accessible and safe for residents of all types. In opposing this tax Tysons’ residents are putting at danger the value of the city they live in by slowing the growth of the area from what is viewed as a negative image into a place that will draw new residents and increase equity for all land owners.
Tysons residents would be better off compromising on the issue of the tax by agreeing to its need, but negotiating to attain our own voice at the table for transportation improvements. Under the current system FCDOT through coordination and approval of VDOT will always deem road and commuter projects as the highest priority for funds.
Why?
Because there are only 17,000 residents in Tysons and 1.1 million in Fairfax as a whole, and well over 1.5 million in NOVA who use Fairfax roads. Our voices have no representation at VDOT, FCDOT, or even the Board of Supervisors. I am not proposing that our minute population receive its own district and position at the BoS, however I believe we should have a vote for all projects involved within the Tysons Service District (as defined by the tax and comprehensive plan). This will assure that we will get a say on which improvements are needed first and how they will be implemented.
We residents should be using this moment to make the compelling argument that if we are to pay, then we demand representation on where that money will go. Most residents do not care if Route 7 is widened, if new ramps are added onto the Toll Road into Tysons, or if the Beltway is expanded (again). In fact most residents diametrically opposed these projects because of their incongruence to the Comprehensive Plan’s new urban concepts. We want pedestrian improvements which will cost only $77 million over the next 40 years. Well frankly, all of that $77 million should be the first dollars spent in Tysons. Don’t even try to talk about road widenings before you start giving us residents access around town.
This vote tonight is the opening of a debate, not the end of one. The Tysons community needs to find unity and compromise on this topic in order to assure that future improvements will not be devoid of our opinions. We should be opposing this Taxation but only if it is Without Representation.