Paying the Costs of Tysons Streets, Schools, Sidewalks

The Fairfax County Planning Commission is sizing up what promises to be an enormous, controversial task. Thursday, the Tysons committee met with county staff to discuss funding for the next 20 years of development in Tysons Corner.

"This is just the beginning of a conversation," said at-large commissioner Walter Alcorn.

At the heart of the conversation is the debate over who provides the lion's share of funding for the estimated $1.7 billion in roads and transit projects as Tysons grows. 

Based on preliminary staff proposals, presented to the committee in May and reiterated Thursday, 58 percent of funding will come from public sources and 42 percent will come from private developers and land owners.

For some county residents and taxpayers, the proportions are lopsided. 

Residents said that it would be more appropriate for private sources to provide 75 percent of the funding, as those developers and landowners will receive more economic benefits from development than will taxpayers.

 Rob Jackson, president of the Mclean Citizens Association, testified at the meeting. He said in a note later: "We continue to support the 75-25 split between landowners and the public as has been adopted by both Fairfax and Loudoun Counties in the Route 28 corridor.  The staff and some county officials believe Route 28 is very different from Tysons.  We have requested this information demonstrating this for several months, but have not received any response. 

"The county is now going to prepare information that will purport to explain the differences between Route 28 and Tysons as to why the public should pay a much larger share of the costs for Tysons.   I also supported flexibility on the part of the county to work with landowners to devise cost recovery methods that harness growth and not hinder it.

He also noted the estimated costs in 2010 dollars for transportation are almost $1.7 billion.  The staff recommends that the public pay $991 million and the landowners $706 million, based on the allocation principles set forth in the presentation.

County staff members explain that the benefits to county taxpayers come from centering development in the county on the Tysons area, a plan that was decided upon in 1992. Creating housing and employment density in Tysons will keep stable other areas in the county with less dense development.

Staff divided the projects planned for the next 20 years into categories, and based funding allocation of each category on historical precedents and where funds are available.

• Grid of streets (small streets): Private, $443 million
• Tysons wide (Route 7, Route 123, Beltway): Public, $547 million. Private, $263 million.
• Transit (Metro, Bus) Public, $374 million.
• Neighborhood and access (pedestrian, bicycle access): Public, $70 million

The process for deciding which funds come from where is still up in the air. Commissioner Alcorn emphasized the need to continue to question how they are determining funding allocation, and to receive feedback from stakeholders.

The committee will hold a public listening session on September 7.
Commissioner Frank de la Fe (Hunter Mill) said they should be cautious about being too slow to make a decision. Development plans already submitted to the planning board will have to, sometime soon, he said, be decided upon.

"I don't think we can defer these plans," de la Fe said. "The train's going. We don't want development getting out ahead of [infrastructure] improvements."