SUMMARY:  Changes in zoning in Fairfax County to permit high density development are being made piecemeal by out-of-turn plan amendments, usually in the name of "smart growth." Such changes have most recently been proposed for Tysons Corner, the Vienna Metro station area, and the Richmond Highway Corridor. The growth that will result will have a significant impact on transportation, schools, the environment, and adjacent neighborhoods. Mitigating such impacts usually entails significant costs that must be borne by the taxpayer. If there is to be a new policy in Fairfax County that allows, or even encourages, such high density development, this policy needs to be made with the full support of the citizens of Fairfax County.

As if transportation gridlock, crowded schools and crushing taxes weren't enough to cripple the quality of life in Fairfax County, recent actions in the name of "smart growth" will deliver the coup de grace!

There is nothing smart about increasing residential density in areas where vehicles can't get a space in traffic, children starting school at 9:00 AM have to eat lunch at 10:30 AM, and the public rail system is overwhelmed at rush hour. Not only will those who are already here have to cope with the mess, they'll have to help pay to fix it!

High density developments are being approved piecemeal by out-of-turn amendments to the County's Comprehensive Plan that do NOT reflect the overall impact of those developments on transportation, schools, the environment, and adjacent neighborhoods. The regular overall review of the Comprehensive Plan provides information about impacts; out-of-turn amendments narrowly focus only on the project at hand.

Forward Fairfax, a bipartisan group of concerned county residents, is providing its neighbors with information about this method of operation in the hope that an informed electorate will speak out before it is too late!

This backdoor approach to increasing density has been used in Vienna and in the Richmond Highway corridor. But those planning aberrations pale when compared to what is proposed for Tysons Corner. No matter where you might live in Fairfax County, you will help pay the bill so thousands of new residents can live in Tysons. And those who live along Metro's Orange line or the future extension from West Falls Church to Dulles soon will learn that the Metro system (the trains and the parking) will be overwhelmed by the new growth.

The tunnel under the Potomac that serves both Metro's Orange and Blue lines is barely adequate for today's traffic. Forward Fairfax wonders how all this new growth on the Orange line, including the extension to Dulles Airport and Loudoun County, is going to be handled in rush hour by a tunnel apparently too narrow for any additional track. And now that the Army's planned 18,000 job expansion of Fort Belvoir has forced the dusting off of plans for extending the Blue and Yellow lines and increasing service on one or both of them, the idea that the Blue line might sometimes share the Yellow line's bridge across the Potomac clearly can't be used if the Blue and Yellow lines have to carry the additional load of Fort Belvoir. In short, without a very expensive Potomac tunnel and/or bridge building program, Metro will be facing a gridlock all its own.

Members of Forward Fairfax have enough experience to know that so-called smart growth may work in inner-city destination points, but it only adds to the frustration of those in the suburbs who are trying to commute.

And the cost is unfair to those already burdened by skyrocketing assessments of their land and homes. This is the 5th straight year homeowners have seen double-digit increases in assessments. The County pats itself on the back for lowering the tax rate, but we still pay more total tax each year. For example, the County Executive's proposed Fiscal year 2006 budget (which takes effect July 1, 2005), calls for a 13-cent reduction in the tax rate to $1.00. Even with the reduction, the average County homeowner will pay an increase of just under $400.

It should be noted that the dissatisfaction with continued sharp increases in assessments and taxes have reached very high levels. Both major party candidates for Governor of Virginia in the November 2005 election have offered plans to cap or decrease annual assessments.

High-density residential developments are revenue negative for Fairfax County, and the more dense the development the more negative they become. (Go to http://www.DougBoulter.com/policy/fiscal_realities.html to view a discussion that focuses on the tax implications of high density development). In several cases the County has allowed high density residential development while reducing the commercial and/or office component. Taxes on commercial property produce a profit because commercial buildings demand fewer public services and therefore lessen the burden on the residential tax base.

Recently, the Board of Supervisors named a 13-member citizen's panel to oversee the planning process in Tysons. Forward Fairfax trusts that the committee will first evaluate the need for a massive increase in density, not start from the premise that it is acceptable if enough promises or 'proffers' are made to sweeten the deal.

If there is to be a new policy for development in Fairfax County which allows, or even encourages, high density development away from public transportation hubs, or in places where public transportation and roads are already at capacity with no relief in sight, this policy needs to be made with the full participation and support of the citizens of Fairfax County. It should not be made piecemeal, one project at a time. It needs to consider the problems of a public transit system that is operating at capacity now, and for which the possibilities of expansion are limited by prodigious costs and physical limitations of right-of-way and Potomac crossings. And it needs to consider whether the people of Fairfax County will benefit from a major change to the character of our County.

Copyright Forward Fairfax and Carl Sell, 2005