Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Damn the Torpedoes, Full Steam Ahead!

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Reports the Examiner:

Work will begin on the Dulles Metrorail extension in Tysons Corner even before the fate of a crucial $900 million in federal funds has been determined, officials said Wednesday.

The move, to begin utility relocation along Route 7, commits Virginia more deeply than ever to a transit line whose funding remains uncertain.

… Tara Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is managing the rail project, said that ground-breaking won’t be stalled even though the federal government is still deciding whether to fund the project.

Isn’t that risky? After all, the Federal Transit Administration has expressed significant reservations about the project. Federal funding, which would pay roughly 25 percent of the project cost, is hardly guaranteed.

It seems the state is between a rock and a hard place.

MWAA green-lighted the utility design work because of terms of a contract with Bechtel and Washington Group that required Virginia to pay a fee of several million dollars if the project did not move forward by Aug. 1, officials said.

“There were activities that were undertaken at the request of the airports authority by [Bechtel and Washington Group], basically to keep the contractors busy so the cost penalties were not incurred,” said Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer.

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8 responses to “Damn the Torpedoes, Full Steam Ahead!”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    One question I have, which I haven’t seen much of an answer on is what are the state’s plans if they don’t get federal funding approved. Would they still go ahead with the project since there is such big money involved with Tysons or would they go back to the drawing board. It would allow them to change some of the scope of the project to avoid jumping through hoops with the FTA.

    ZS

  2. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    Here’s what I dont’ understand. For every station, set up a CDA/UDA and allocate out the costs to pay for the stations – in full.

    Are we not .. essentially giving away development opportunities?

  3. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Keep in mind that the federal standards ignore who pays for a any part of the project. The standards look solely at the overall cost. Thus, if the costs are too high, using a CDA/UDA to build the stations will not save federal funding.

    I follow Dulles Rail fairly closely, but I can’t tell you what’s going on with this project. It seems pretty risky to me for money to be spent before there is any federal approval. Tim Kaine and Pierce Homer are both pretty smart guys, but they aren’t going to build Dulles Rail without federal funds. There is no way that the Tysons Corner landowners will foot the bill for rail. They probably cannot afford to pay for the other infrastructure (e.g, grid streets, road improvements, more park land, schools, etc.).

    Fairfax County is scary place in which to live.

    TMT

  4. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Are we not .. essentially giving away development opportunities?

    Depends on who we think OWNS the development opportunities to begin with.

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I’m not asking if the Tysons owners would foot the bill directly, but I know part of the plan with rail getting built is that the zoning density will go up. Without new transportation capacity into Tysons, there is essentially very little that can be added in building capacity. So the rail line provides a major incentive for Tyson’s landowners to make sure it happens. I’m wondering if a renegotiation of the deal were to happen that included higher density building, would the landowners along the route chip in for part of the $900M.

    ZS

  6. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    …”I’m wondering if a renegotiation of the deal were to happen that included higher density building, would the landowners along the route chip in for part of the $900M.”

    that’s what I was thinking also.

    every square foot of TOD development should pay some share because as you say – the opportunity itself is not there unless you do have the T part of the TOD.

  7. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    ZS, that has been my argument exactly. The Metro, along with increased zoning densities, would create phenomenal wealth for land owners with property located neat the four proposed Metro stations. Those landowners should kick in a much, much larger share of the investment to get the Metro up and running. Otherwise, the entire project represents nothing more than a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class commuters on the Dulles Toll Road to super-rich land owners in Tysons Corner!!

  8. Single Avatar
    Single

    Oregon learned long ago that you can build TOD but they won’t come – at least they won’t come until and unless you offer lots of tax incentives to the builders. They offered low (super low) taxes to the folks that bought residences around the the TOD. These low property taxes were a ten or twenty year deal, at the end of which the taxes were/are suppose to go back up to what they should have been. How much of a deal? Our property taxes sort of go along the lines of how much the house sells for – these TOD residences selling for $250,000 to $750,000 should have had property taxes around $10,000 to $50,000 – but to entice buyers the taxes were more like $200 to $1,000.

    The interesting thing that will happen is when these ‘deals’ come to their end. When the owners suddenly are hit with the real property taxes, then what will happen? Undoubtedly, some of them will try to sell, however when the buyer calculates in the price of the property taxes to his monthly mortgage payment … it will cut the buyer market by quite a lot. Those that can’t sell? I don’t know, but I do know it will make some people real ill with how much it costs.

    They (the government) claims that TOD bring about development, jobs, etc. Our experience is that unless government is sweetening the pot, the development isn’t there. For the most part, most people DON’T like living in a TOD.

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