Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Working the System in Loudoun

—

by

James A. Bacon
in

The Washington

Post has published a must-read article about the nexus of ties between the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and local developers. Michael Laris and David Fallis deserve major kudos for the kind of investigative journalism that has become all too rare in Virginia today. The article starts out strong and just gets better:

Six months after they took office in 2004, members of the Loudoun Board of supervisors demonstrated in a single afternoon their ability to help a friend.

First, they voted 6 to 3 to boost the number of homes that could be built on the family farm of Dale Polen Myers, a former supervisor who had been instrumental in getting many of them elected. The next month, a builder bought the property from Myers’s family for $12.2 million — four times its assessed value before the zoning Decision, records show., the board

Next, the board agreed unanimously to authorize the county to purchase a different parcel for $13.5 million, once again helping Myers, who was acting as the real estate agent. That earned Myers and her boss a commission that by industry standards would range from $270,000 to $675,000.

Such coziness has become routine among some Loudoun officials and a group of politically connected developers, landowners and others in the real estate industry, The Washington Post found in a year-long investigation.

Conservatives, Republicans and others who believe in small government and free enterprise, please take notice. This is not free enterprise. This is not respecting property rights. This is an example of what happens when government intrudes into the economy. It is no accident that the most dysfunctional areas of the United States economy — health care, education and real estate — are also the most heavily regulated and/or subsidized. It is no accident that the sectors most characterized by “rent seeking” activity (the manipulation of public power for personal, corporate or group benefit) are those very same sectors. And it is no accident that the development/real estate industry is the largest source of campaign contributions in Virginia.

As long as government has the power to redistribute wealth by favoring one person or group over another, people will seek to manipulate the levers of government to their advantage. That has been true across history and across every civilization advanced enough to have a government. It is human nature.

The answer is not giving local government more power in the hope that elected officials will wield it wisely. The answer is achieving Fundamental Change in our institutions of local governance that (1) reduce the incentive for rent-seeking behavior and (2) align the legitimate functions of government with the components of human settlement where services are most appropriately delivered.

Update: It gets worse. Here is the Post’s follow-up article.

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46 responses to “Working the System in Loudoun”

  1. Loudoun Insider Avatar
    Loudoun Insider

    I’ve been talking about this for some time as a conservative who is disgusted by the pave it all now mentality of the Loudoun Republicans. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I think we’re finally going to see some disunity with the social conservative and pro-developer factions of the LCRC as a result of this. There is nothing “Christian” about the way these people operate.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    It is, indeed, abominable. But where’s Post’s story about Kaine & Connolly taking how much from West Group and other big Tysons Corner landowners in exchange for the Silver Line and massive rezoning at Tysons Corner? Maybe the difference in political parties might have something to do with this!

    A friend of mine just sent me more material on the Silver Line. At most, it will capature 15-16,000 new riders daily, of which 13,000 or so aready use park-and-ride express service (which, of course, will go away when the Silver Line comes). Meanwhile, the nearby roads stay LOS D, E or F.

    Moreover, even if the Silver Line were to capture 20% of all daily trips, a conservative estimate is for 600,000 new vehicle trips each day with the rezoning — at that’s only to a FAR of 3. Many plan amendments seek higher densities.

    And for this, we spend billions. The Loudoun County supervisors are choirboys when contrasted to Messrs. Kaine & Connolly.

  3. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I won’t mince any words.

    The WaPo article relates in stark terms what IS going on in Virginia and WHY our Transportation problems are what they are even though we spend 3 BILLION dollars a year.

    The so-called CRISIS is Developers and land speculators controlling and manipulating our Transportation Planning process for their benefit – and not for the travelling public.. and then they have the gaul to bait the public with the bogus argument that taxes must be raised to “solve” the crisis.

    All we have – is the same Robber Barons of old in many respects.

    There are two distinct ways that these folks control and manipulate:

    1. – At the BOS level, many supverisors DON’T want to KNOW about traffic associated with development because they want to spur development – and asking hard questions about how traffic impacts will be mitigated … will make development harder. Note Loudoun County’s recent hostile and fiery response to the VDOT analyis of the planned Dulles rezone.

    The Loudoun BOS came right out and said it was “none of VDOT’s business”

    2. – Then these VERY same folks have voting seats with regard to transportation plans both VDOT and MPO. They control what roads are built with state money.

    They are NOT interested in road investments that will address congestion, remove bottlenecks, or optimize the network. Instead, they’re much more interested in NEW roads.. “bypasses”, “connectors”, “outer rings”, etc that will open up more undeveloped land for more growth. They have absolutely no intention of letting that money be spent for improving the existing network.

    These are the same BOS that make no bones that it is the “State’s” responsibility to deal with the consequences of their land-use decisions. The reason I put State in quotes is because WHO is the state.. that’s “stepping up to the plate”? It’s taxpayers.

    The so-called “morotoriums” are quite cynical and clever. The “message” to the public is that the counties are… SERIOUS about growth – but the message to Richmond is ” send us more money for local roads – or else”.

    The process STINKS to high heaven. What it boils down to is that Business interests control the process and they manipulate it so that it benefits – not the driving public – but private interests.

    The reason these folks are at best lukewarm about TOLL roads is that it takes them out of the process.

  4. Groveton Avatar
    Groveton

    Finally, something from the Washington Post that I can support!

    In Northern Virginia the unholy alliance between county supervisors and developers is the CRISIS. Not only are there “sweetheart deals” aplenty there are other obvious conflicts of interest. For example, the members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors get their campaign funds overwhelmingly from developers and builders. No wonder they are addicted to rezoning for sprawl without regard to transportation gridlock.

    Somebody once said that the devil’s greatest trick is making people think he doesn’t exist. You could say the same for the Fairfax County Supervisors:

    1. Over 1M people live in Fairfax County – more than the cities of Washington and Baltimore combined. Yet you never see any real publicity about the FC Supervisors while the politicians in DC and Baltimore get considerable press. Why? Because the FC BOS wants a low profile. If nobody’s watching they can do what they want. And what they want is line their own pockets.

    2. The BOS claim that all of the power is verted in the state because Virginia is a so-called Dillon Rule state. Therefore, people should look to the state legislators when it comes to issues like transportation. Of course this ignores the two sides of the problem – too few transportation options for too much sprawl. The “too much sprawl” side of the hidieous coin is a function of run-away land development which, in turn, is a function of the broken political process in the counties.

    3. Northern Virginia is a very wealthy, very transient area. Many people don’t even know the name of their county supervisor let alone the supervisor’s views on development. This has to change and blogs like Bacon’s Rebellion represent one the best ways of achieving that change. The best disinfectant is sunlight and, when it comes to the BOSs, “let the sun shine in”.

  5. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    Jim:

    Right on!

    As we wrote to Mike L earlier today when we complemented him on the work:

    “If only we had been able to convince the 1999 elected board to use a big, wide broom…

    “Those that supported our 1997 to 1999 work in Loudoun said “No, no we need to back off and let the good folkes do the right thing.

    “The reson we have dysfunctional settlement patterns and dysfunctional governace is that the forces of “Business-As-Usual” know they have to stay in the fingt for the long term if they are going to maintain the unearned profit they reap from the status quo.”

    They are also aided by those who claim, to forward their own interests, that Fundamental Change is not possible or not desireable.

    EMR

    Twhen we

  6. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Wait a minute JB. Aren’t you the one who frequently calls for balance from the Post, and other MSM.

    Where was the balance in this article? My Journalism professor would have dumped all over it as one sided, name calling yellow journalism.

    That said, the situation in Loudoun has been abominable.

    But, to read that article you would think that only the developers and landowners benefited. Then there were the early newbies, who immediately joined the campaign to slam the door behind themselves.

    I admit the system is broken, but try this little exercise. Go back to 1960 and compare the per capita value of total assessed property in Loudoun. Do the same for Fauquier, for example. And compare the per capita income.

    I suggest you will find they were pretty much the same.

    Then do it again today, and you will find that the per capita wealth and the per capita income in Loudoun has grown much faster.

    It is not ONLY the developers that have benefited, and this is the fact the article overlooked. After all, would Loudoun have grown so fast if people didn’t want to live there?

    Arguably, the lifestyle in Eastern Loudoun is different from Fauquier. But now we can put a price on lifestyle and Fauquier’s conservation efforts. Just figure the difference in per captita wealth and per capita income.

    Conservation is great, but it isn’t free. And neither is development.

  7. Reid Greenmun Avatar
    Reid Greenmun

    “The so-called CRISIS is Developers and land speculators controlling and manipulating our Transportation Planning process for their benefit – and not for the travelling public.. and then they have the gaul to bait the public with the bogus argument that taxes must be raised to “solve” the crisis.

    Bingo!

    Welcome to Tidewater/Hampton Roads . . .

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    RG – I thought tha was describing Fairfax County. It must be part of Virginia’s culture.

  9. oo2k7 Avatar
    oo2k7

    As a kind of depressing upshot, this kind of activity is seen by most Loudoun residents as commonplace…it’s sad when this kind of activity is so commonplace in local politics that people would be surprised were it otherwise.

  10. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Some of you need to encourage the Washington Post
    to investigate real estate dealings in the greater
    Fredericksburg region …. those activities would
    make the Loudoun County events seem minor.

  11. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    re: Fredericksburg region

    Indeed. Much of the Fredericksburg Areas problems have been caused by previous BOS who were thrown out of office.

    The current BOS are better and in Spotsylvania’s case MUCH better and much more focused on making responsible decisions about growth AND taxes.

    When land is rezoned and no provision for transportation impacts – the die is cast. It cannot be “undone” by others who follow and that is the reality of the damage done and documented by the Post.

    It’s much more than back room schennigans… and sweet heart deals, it’s permanent change with huge and costly consequences downstream.

    The REASON why Loudoun grew so fast was because they WANTED the growth and were willing to approve new proposals without requiring adequate mitigation for the transportation infrastructure.

    I’m NOT arguing against growth. It is inevitable when you have growth in jobs.

    Most areas of Virginia would “kill” to get NoVa job growth.

    What I argue AGAINST is counties like Loudoun having a Comprehensive Plan and land-use map that designates areas of the county for significant residential development – WITHOUT an accompanying road plan to serve the growth and without a CIP (capital investment plan) to bring those new roads online as growth progresses.

    The way that Loudoun operates is not unique – not with respect to sweetheart deals and certainly not with respect to how they do NOT plan infrastructure to serve new growth.

    Counties who DO try to fairly allocate infrastructure costs to rezones are often characterized by the development community as “anti-business”.

    And just like in Loudoun, they threaten lawsuits.. and in Loudouns case, hundreds of lawsuits designed to tie the county up in court – both expensive and time consumming.

    So – on one hand.. the development community is hand-in-glove with “their” guys and when “their” guys are not in office.. they mount all out wars on the county and the BOS who try to be responsible with regard to growth.

    I don’t think anyone can deny the INFLUENCE of developers and land speculators on government – at both the BOS and GA levels.

    And again, I want to reiterate the point that these same folks have control of our transportation planning process.

    They WANT a generalized slush fund and they Don’t want JLARCs recommendations that advocate prioritization and ranking of proposed projects using objective criteria.

    After all is said and done – what this fight is about – is how the folks who currently “own” our transportation planning process can continue to own it.

    Smoke and Mirrors – is the tactic but at the heart of it – no matter what happens – don’t allow reform of the system – just change the way that dollars are collected….

    Taxpayers are not dumb but as TMT points out.. many don’t pay attention and that is what those who have embedded themselves in the process are counting on.

    Even the WaPo article will receive “ho-hum” responses from the vast majority of folks who see the tag line… and then move on to the sports page.

    In Virginia, we cherish our “tradition” of government.

    When are we going to accept the reality of how our “representative” government is REALLY working with regard to transportation and land use?

  12. Reid Greenmun Avatar
    Reid Greenmun

    TMT – I understant that and I was making the point that down here on the border of North Carolina we have the same institutionalized corrupting whereby the “transportation agenda” is controlled by what I refer to as the “Growth Lobby”.

    In addition to the developers, our Growth Lobby includes politically influential bankers, the local universities, the real estate agents (HRACRE), the road builders, the truckers lobby, the Virginia Port Authority, Norfolk Southern Railroad (HQ in Norfolk), and a private ‘club’ of 40 to 60 insider local businesses owners that ram rod the “agenda” of region’s chamber of commerce and taxpayer subsidized “Hampton Roads Partnership”.

    There is a Richmond Partnership too – it’s just a cookie cutter “formula” for the Growth Lobby to control decisions – they Growth Lobby owns the HRPDC/MPO too.

    Behind the Growth Lobby from the business community we find their willing partners in crime, the local city government “electeds”, the many local industrial development authorities and redevelopment authorities, and local city managers or county supervisors of the 16 ever-bloated HUGE local city governments workforce/voting block (the first responders’ and teacher’s union leading the way).

    And in our region, the Growth Lobby Hampton Roads Partnership includes every newspaper and TV station in the region – that being mostly The Daily Press and the Virginian-Pilot.

    So the entire decision-making process machinery is designed to pander to the Grwoth Lobby – and to do what it can to diminish the voice and power of voters.

    THAT is WHY we keep seeing more and more all-appointed regional entities being created – as is the case with HB5056.

  13. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    using Waldo’s wonderful website – HB5056 does not exist.

    did you mean a different number?

    Also.. if you go to Waldo’s website and key in “appointed regional commissions” you’ll get over 500 “hits”.

    I’m will you on the evils and potential for abuses with regard to Regional Commissions… but go to Waldo’s website and do the same search and come back and tell me which of the identified commissions that already exist – you would do away with.

    and then what would you replace them with?

    In other words – is there a generic mechanism/vehicle that you would advocate to allow regional cooperation?

    Or are you opposed to regional cooperation itself also?

    Waldo’s website –
    http://www.richmondsunlight.com/

    p.s – Perhaps THIS is what EMR is speaking about with regard to fundamental change in governance structures?

  14. Freedom Works Avatar
    Freedom Works

    Jim
    You wrote:
    “Conservatives, Republicans and others who believe in small government and free enterprise, please take notice. This is not free enterprise. This is not respecting property rights. This is an example of what happens when government intrudes into the economy. It is no accident that the most dysfunctional areas of the United States economy — health care, education and real estate — are also the most heavily regulated and/or subsidized.”

    Government land use planning and restrictive zoning laws that prohibit a free market in the construction of housing for earth’s growing human population are the problem. We need more freedom to build housing for families everywhere including Loudoun County. If all the limited access highways were free market toll roads with congestion pricing, this whole sprawl and congestion issue would work itself out with the free voluntary choices of billions of humans.
    We have more sprawl than we would otherwise have because of restrictive and single use zoning laws.
    True free enterprise and respect for property rights would throw out all zoning restrictions against more housing at any density anywhere. You could argue setback issues, stormwater detention, etc. but not overall density.
    Developers who provide hard working families with more housing should be applauded, not demonized. Loudoun County has done a better job than Fairfax in allowing developers to build a decent grid of local roads.
    Congestion free peak hour commuting over long distances is not a human right. The desire for it should not be used as an excuse to restrict the construction of habitat for humans which is a human right.

  15. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Freedom Works: Yay, you get it. You’re one of the few.

  16. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Freedom Works said in four paragraphs what I have been trying (poorly ) to say in thousands of paragraphs for two years.

    Well done.

  17. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I agree also.

    With One very major caveat.

    Corrupt government processes and colluding with individuals engaged in land developent – such as those outlined in WaPo are NOT acceptable “end runs” to accomplish the goal.

    And what is going on is essentially, attempting to build “on the cheap” by NOT providing for the infrastructure that is needed.

    re: “If all the limited access highways were free market toll roads with congestion pricing, this whole sprawl and congestion issue would work itself out”

    and I agree here also… as long as we can do so without seriously damaging our air quality. It’s a deal-breaker if the idea is to ignore air quality.

    ( this is why I ask the “what if” question with regard to Hybrids and plug-in Hybrids)

    let people make the decision about where to live and work which includes the locational costs.

    If the cost of tolls and/or gasoline go up – people will make their choices.

  18. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Freedom Works – I can’t speak for Loudoun Count, but I can for Fairfax. IMO, the pleas by the real estate industry for a “free market” ring hollow. What they really want is a taxpayer-subidized market with no zoning restrictions.

    A free market is inconsistent with taxpayer-funded welfare directed towards the real estate industry. For example, taxpayers pick up $6.8 M to operate the Economic Development Authority’s advertising operations. Shouldn’t those free-market businesses desiring more people and businesses to come to Fairfax County pay their own advertising costs? This doesn’t seem very free-market-oriented to me.

    Similarly, Fairfax County taxpayers’ collective subsidy to zoning and land development service fees from 2003-07 will be more than $43 M. I don’t recall Adam Smith advocating taxpayer subsidies. Maybe I missed a chapter.

    Who is normally in the van arguing for higher taxes, both to the BoS and before the General Assembly? It’s our free-market real estate friends and their consultants and attorneys. For example, the Fairfax real estate industry has long lobbied for higher taxes for transportation, but strongly opposed any increased fees on commercial properties. Do you think that they might see someway to enrich themselves at a bigger public trough?

    You suggest other market-oriented solutions, such as toll roads and congestion pricing, to go along with a relaxation of zoning. That seems logically consistent. But what about other public facilities, such as schools, parks, police, fire, etc.? Who should pay the added capital costs to accommodate the growth? Moreover, even where there might be spare capacity in infrastructure, isn’t that an asset that belongs to the community? Should existing taxpayers be forced to give that capacity away free to new development? How is that a free market?

    At one level, I agree with you. We could have much less burdensome and intrusive zoning if the added development also paid the full costs to build added infrastructure necessary to support the new residents and businesses or paid existing taxpayers for the spare capcacity that they have already funded. IMO, few members of the real estate industry would truly want a free market without subsidies. (BTW, I have some good friends in the Fairfax real estate industry who abhor taxpayer subsidies and strongly support cost-based impact fees.) Because of the existing situation, we need as restrictive zoning codes as possible.

  19. tobias jodter Avatar
    tobias jodter

    I read this story and comments and find it difficult not to be depressed…

  20. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I’m in complete agreement with TMT.

    A fine point perhaps but real estate folks don’t keep the subsidies … they keep the profits and what the subsidies do is allow them to market development at a cheaper price than what it really costs – with taxpayers picking up the tab.

    However – the difference between a home purchaser and a taxpayer is in time only.

    Once they “buy” they then become the same taxpayer paying subsidies for the next “buyer”.

    Developers think this is inevitably the way it should work…. because developers don’t actually pay for infrastructure – that cost is passed on to buyers – and to taxpayers.

    The dialogue between me and Ray focuses on this …

    what is more fair:

    to have the BUYER pay for the new infrastructure or have existing taxpayers pay for the new infrastructure or have them both pay for it.

    Where I get unhappy is when NO ONE pays for the infrastructure because there is no commitment to insure that it does get paid for.

    For a county to APPROVE a rezone without adequate provisioning of infrastructure is malfeasence in my mind.

    To do so – in CONCERT with developers is a disservice to all except those that gain wealth from the transaction and those than enable that to happen.

    To approve rezones when the BOS knows full well that a needed VDOT road is not funded nor will be funded and built somewhere in the same timeframe that development proceeds is also Malfeasence in my view.

    Here’s an anology … the BOS approves homes.. they get built… the water and sewer lines are run – and the taxpayer foots the bill for those water/sewer lines.

    This actually DOES happen in some areas. In fact in my own county, it was going on for many years and the way they were financiing it – was by raising the water/sewer rates on existing customers so that funds existed to expand water/sewer.

    So .. they were using existing residents to provide the water/sewer for new residents.

    Ray – apparently feels that this is not near as bad as I do….

    what do others think?

    Should water/sewer be paid for by existing residents?

    How about new roads?

    If VDOT turns over roads to localities – who should pay for them?

  21. Reid Greenmun Avatar
    Reid Greenmun

    IRT: “using Waldo’s wonderful website – HB5056 does not exist.”

    Please go to here for HB 5056 info – SB 1415 is the senate version.

    http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?062+sum+HB5056

    HB 5056 Special Transportation Fund for Northern Virginia;created, use of certain revenues, report.
    David B. Albo | all patrons … notes | add to my profiles another bill?Log inLIS Home- – – – – – – – – – – – – -Bills & ResolutionsMembersCommitteesMeetingsCalendarsCommunicationsMinutesStatisticsLobbyist-in-a-Box

    ——————————————————————————–
    Summary as introduced:
    Transportation; supplemental funding for the statewide Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund, for transportation in Northern Virginia, and for transportation in Hampton Roads. Provides supplemental funding for the statewide Highway Maintenance and Operating Fund, for transportation in Northern Virginia, and for transportation in Hampton Roads.

  22. Reid Greenmun Avatar
    Reid Greenmun

    Larry asks me: “In other words – is there a generic mechanism/vehicle that you would advocate to allow regional cooperation?

    Or are you opposed to regional cooperation itself also?”

    Larry,

    I am not opposed to regional cooperation at all – it is an intelligent thing to do – especially for transportation systems.

    I am opposed to the awful way the GA has allowed abusive regional authorities to exist and create a politcal safe haven for corruption, abuse, and endless tax hikes.

    Regional authorities that act like soveriegn regional governments are NOT the same thing as “regional cooperation” – not, does regional cooperation REQUIRE regional authorities to take place.

  23. Freedom Works Avatar
    Freedom Works

    Toomanytaxes –
    The user (“consumer” in a free market) should pay.
    Your problem is trying to figure out how to insulate yourself from the tax consequences of the existing socialism in transportation, education, parks, sewer service, etc.
    The solution is not more socialist control over housing.
    Look where we are headed. Transportation costs money, so let’s restrict homebuilding. Education costs money, so let’s restrict homebuilding. Recreation (parks) costs money, so let’s restrict homebuilding. Sewage disposal costs money, so let’s restrict homebuilding.
    This article, “Towns tame taxes by keeping children out” is very revealing in terms of where this mindset is leading us.
    http://washingtontimes.com/business/20070119-094741-5143r.htm
    We have an affordable housing crisis and more sprawl than we would otherwise have because of socialist restrictions on housing.
    Now young working families (with or without children) are being zoned out.
    In a free market, more users (more consumers) means an opportunity for more profits. Do you ever hear Verizon argue for restricting homebuilding because of the cost of adding phone lines to another customer?
    Does Safeway ever argue for restricting homebuilding because of the cost of building a new grocery store?
    Do farmers argue for restricting homebuilding because of the cost to build another dairy barn to house cows supplying milk to the additional children living in the new homes?
    The answer is more freedom, respect for property rights, and user fees, not more socialist regulations and restrictions.
    Yes, get rid of the EDA subsidy. You are right, it is socialism for commercial office developers.

  24. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Freedom Works – I don’t disagree with your basic direction. I strongly believe in free markets because, when they are truly free, they better allocate resources and provide consumer benefits than any form of government action. (I still support the state’s exercise of its police power to protect the public health, welfare and safety, but we could have much less government involvement were markets truly free.)

    I just don’t trust the Virginia government, whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge, to eliminate the subsidies, etc., for the big real estate guys and gals. I also believe that, under Virginia’s Good Old Boy system, many smaller developers and builders who cannot afford to play the game are often hurt vis a vis the big guys and gals. The impact on the average citizen from today’s rules is just plain awful.

    I probably wouldn’t mind living in your proposed world, but I don’t believe that it is likely to exist in the near future. Accordingly, I’m not ready to let lose of the regulatory lines, as weak as they are, over the development process — at least not in Fairfax County.

  25. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    re: regionalism – and how to make it “work” for citizens rather than monied interests.

    Reid.. I agree with you on the problem

    How do we fix it?

    How do we agree on what roads to build a maintain that span jurisdictions in an MSA?

    Why are we able to accomplish this function with prisons/jails, water/sewage authorities, libraries, but not roads?

    If you were KING.. what would you do to set up a way for jurisdicitions to cooperate regionally without letting the rats infest the apparatus?

  26. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Representatives to any regional board, commission or what have you that can appropriate money must be elected. Fairfax County has two overlay taxing districts (McLean and Reston) that operate community centers that are paid for by taxes from the residents living within the special tax districts. These districts are governed by boards elected by the residents of those same districts.

    These boards do not have the authority to levy taxes, only the BoS can do that, but the boards are elected. Similarly, our school boards have no taxing authority, but members are still elected because they have great influence as to how we spend tax dollars educating students.

    Why shouldn’t any regional transportation board members be elected as well? I agree with members of the business community who argue that, in many instances, problems and challenges do not respect county or city boarders. Therefore, I’m not against regional government per se. But we need to elect those board members. An elected regional board is much more likely to spend money on projects than enhance traffic flow and safety than is an appointed board. Maybe that’s why the Good Old Boys and Girls want appointed boards.

  27. Reid Greenmun Avatar
    Reid Greenmun

    Subject: Regional Cooperation, not all-appointed regional government.

    I wrote a comprehensive white paper on this in March 2003. I briefed many in the GA, Gov. Warner, and my CTB rep. I drafted proposed changes to the state code and I even worked with the guy (and his staff) who is now our AG.

    The gist of the solution featured the following – and related to the HRPDC/MPO:

    1. Reduce the number of commissioners from 44 (at the time) to just 16 voting commissioners – 1 each per member locality.

    2. Each vote is weighted based on population – 1 “vote” for each 25,000 residents.

    3. A quoum required 100% representation from each of the 16 members localities – they would meet only once a month to conduct voting.

    4. Any issue deemed a “regional issue” would be taken by each locality’s representative back to their respective BOS or City Council for a recorded VOTE by the BOS or City Council. Citizens could then speak and address their local government on all “regional matters”.

    5. The resulting BOS or City Council vote (pass or fail) would become a directed vote taken BACK to the regional body, and cast the next month. Nothing in long range regional planning is so pressing it cannot wait a month.

    6. The members of the GA that serve the region would have 1 “representative” from the House and 1 from the Senate attend each monthly meeting – but they would not vote – but they could add items to the agenda.

    7. Only an elected offical could serve as a commissioner.

    8. All regional meetings would be broadcast on the local government cable channels and avaialbe via streaming vidoe from a regional entity website.

    9. Citizens would have the RIGHT to speak on regional issues BEFORE the commission/authority votes.

    10. Every 4 years a regional referendum would be held to vote to continue ot abolish the regional entity.

    11. Every vote would require a recorded vote and the minutes would be posted on the corrosponding website.

    12. Citizens would have the opportunity to address the regional body with an “open mike” format – where they sign up and have 3 minutes to speak on any topic.

    There’s more, but that is the gist – we use our existing local governments to make recorded decisions – and they send a single representative to the regional body to cast votes and to brief their BOS or City Council on regional issues.

    These concepts don’t create more layers of government, but use the government we now have – better.

  28. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    Actually – why shouldn’t we directly elect Regional Transporation members?

    And for that matter – why not CTB reps?

    In other areas of this country – there are elected Road Commissioners…

    I’m starting to AGREE that the current governing structure breeds decisions that are not only insular but actually perputrated on the public who would not agree if given a real opportunity to say so.

    The idea behind Regional Authorities is to have “experts” who “know what they are doing” make decisions that the average citizen “smuck” is incapable of understanding the complexities …

    the reality is that these boards get co-opted politically – and worse people whose wealth and businesses are affect by transportation decisions and more important – transportation policies.

    There is a chasm here between what citizens want and expect and what these insular commisions actually DO.

    The solution for this is twofold:

    1. sunshine
    2. elections

    I’m waiting for baited breath to hear from the GA on this… and I fully expect the Virginia Homebuilders to come out four-square in favor of this.

    🙂

  29. Reid Greenmun Avatar
    Reid Greenmun

    Q: Why not to vote for a new regional government?

    A: Because we already have enough government – for the Transportation aspects we have:

    * Local government (elected)

    * General Assembly (elected)

    * the CTB (appointed)

    * regional PDCS & MPOs (appointed – with a mix of elected and non-elected)

    There is NO NEED to create a third layer of new government.

    Less government, not more government, is the path we should attempt to follow.

    Government accountable to the voters is also a KEY foundation we should insist upon.

    My solution outlined above accomplishes both.

    Less government makingbetter use of the government we already have to make regional decisions – in effect, true regional cooperation and not a new regional dictator.

  30. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I do like the idea of automatic sunsetting of some programs especially pilot programs…

    try them out.. shut em down if they don’t produce.

    But I don’t think that is a good answer to a regional coordination function.

    Once you enter into a regional agreement there is money involved both coming in and going on – and commitments made to businesses to provide and maintain infrastructure.

    You simply cannot walk away from a library or a school system or an MPO.

    at least not without serious problems.

    You just cannot UNDO Regional commitments… even if you think the folks in charge of it are incompetent and/or corrupt.

    This would be like abolishing VDOT because we don’t like the way they do business… it’s not a practical response.

    … just simple things.. like who repairs traffic signals, patches potholes, etc….

    It’s a frustration.. when citizens lose faith in government functions and the folks who manage them but shutting them down would make things worse.

    Basically ..

    1. – you need a way to accomplish Regional coordination recognizing that doing so is the less of two evils – the second evil being NO coordination.

    2. – you need a way to keep it from getting out of control and not acting in the citizens best interest and/or getting back to being responsive to citizens when it goes haywire…

  31. Dean Settle Avatar
    Dean Settle

    “In a free market, more users (more consumers) means an opportunity for more profits.”

    ONLY when those new users pay their own way, friend.
    Right now in this county, they dip into the trough for $1.75 for every dollar they just paid in.

    When this board started trimming commercial properties and turning them into residentials, the balancing act toppled and we went deep.

    What we need is a return to traditional commercial zoning levels, and I’m not talking retail crap that relies on the houses.
    Let’s court some industrial companies to set up shop in isolated parcels that you don’t notice through the trees around them that bring thousands of jobs to Loudoun and remove some of the traffic because those people work around the corner from home.

    And stop lining their pockets off of OUR money. That’s not why they’re in the office.

  32. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “You just cannot UNDO Regional commitments… even if you think the folks in charge of it are incompetent and/or corrupt.”

    Of course you can. It is only thinking that you cannot that makes it so.

    Lat I knew, this was still a domocracy, of sorts. Throw the incumbents out.

  33. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “”In a free market, more users (more consumers) means an opportunity for more profits.”

    ONLY when those new users pay their own way, friend.”

    Just the NEW users? What about the existing users, who also are not paying their own way. I know you are a landowner, Dean. Even with land use taxation, we are paying more than we owe. At least that is what my county government tells me.

    What is so wrong with a little REAL equalization, and not just for the new guys, who happen to be our children.

  34. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “Let’s court some industrial companies to set up shop in isolated parcels that you don’t notice through the trees around them that bring thousands of jobs to Loudoun and remove some of the traffic because those people work around the corner from home.”

    Oh, EMR is going to love to hear you say that.

  35. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Reid:

    Those are all excellent recommendations. I hope JB will use his forum to promote them.

  36. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “The dialogue between me and Ray focuses on this …

    what is more fair:

    to have the BUYER pay for the new infrastructure or have existing taxpayers pay for the new infrastructure or have them both pay for it.

    Where I get unhappy is when NO ONE pays for the infrastructure because there is no commitment to insure that it does get paid for.”

    That pretty much sums it up. I think that both need to chip in. Existing users for not paying their own way in the past, and new users for not paying their way now.

    I agree, right now there is no commitment. The Marshall water story is a case in point. They just let the demand build up until there would be enough NEW users to pay for rebuilding the entire system.

    Incidentally, you keep using the sewer system as an analogy. But the tap fees are uniform, no matter where you are. When I tapped into an existing line that was forty years old, I paid the same tap fee as a new user on the fringe of the system who required an extension of the lines.

    You put the money into a pot, then what happens?

  37. Freedom Works Avatar
    Freedom Works

    Dean Settle –
    I am not opposed to more commercial in Loudoun, but where will the employees for the new commercial buildings you want live? We are beyond traditional figures for full employment in the region. More commercial buildings means more jobs, which means more employees, which means more regional population growth, which means more housing somewhere with more traffic, schools, parks etc.
    Every jurisdiction tries this shell game to pass off the cost of their socialism to someone else. In some New Jersey communities they are zoning out kids because public schools (socialism) cost money. (Ironically, who do they think is going to pay the future taxes to cover their Social Security (a socialist ponzi scheme)?
    If you own a nice home, or make a decent income, under socialism you are going to pay more in taxes than you get back.
    The worst part about socialism is not the tax hit (which is bad enough), it is the other regulatory distortions to the market that result in a dysfunctional world. Tysons Corner is dysfunctional precisely because Fairfax County wanted more commercial development to offset the cost (in socialist services) of being a bedroom community for Washington, D.C. Because of restrictive residential zoning in Fairfax, Loudoun County is now a bedroom community for Fairfax. Now Loudoun wants more commercial to offset the cost of residential. So the sprawl continues and now West Virginia is becoming a bedroom community for Loudoun. And we wonder why we have a commuting traffic nightmare?
    After promoting more commercial and banning more housing, banning more children is now becoming a favored way for governments to pass the tax cost of socialism off to someone else.
    Here are a few quotes from the article:
    http://washingtontimes.com/business/20070119-094741-5143r.htm
    “New Jersey towns have figured out a way to sidestep the highest property taxes in the U.S.
    Keep children out.
    Educating a child in New Jersey costs an average of $12,567 a year, the most in the nation and more than double the property tax parents typically pay. So local governments have hit upon a way to expand the tax base without the expense of higher enrollment: age-restricted housing…”
    “…In one New Jersey town, Monroe Township, population 28,000, half the housing units are limited to senior citizens…”
    “…For Pulte Homes Inc., the largest U.S. home builder by market value, 39 percent of its homes sold in 2005 had age restrictions, up from 33 percent in 2004…”
    Instead of the voluntary cooperation of an expanding free market, socialism ends up creating special interest groups and pitting them against each other: the rich versus the poor, the old versus the young, developers versus no growth advocates.
    We will never correct the imbalance between jobs and housing without the freedom to build more housing anywhere it is needed. I pay far more in taxes than I will ever get back from the government in services. Involuntary redistribution of income is the world we live in. Instead of trying to regulate other people’s lives through exclusionary zoning to try to pass the tax buck, I support free market solutions wherever possible, such as toll roads with congestion pricing, user fees for recreation facilities at parks, mixed-use zoning, etc.

  38. Loudoun Insider Avatar
    Loudoun Insider

    Freedom Works:

    The 59% increase in Loudoun population in SIX YEARS hasn’t provided enough growth in housing? All the relevant studies show the vast majority of these new residents work outside the county, further clogging the regional road network.

  39. Freedom Works Avatar
    Freedom Works

    Loudoun Insider –
    My point exactly. They work somewhere else clogging the regional road network largely because of restrictive residential zoning in those other jurisdictions.
    Fairfax County downzoned huge areas of western Fairfax to a 5 acre lot minimum. Instead of high density housing next to the millions of square feet of office development at Westfields, you have 5 acre large lot zoning. So of course they are going to live in Loudoun.
    The residential zoning in the areas north and west of Tysons is low density precisely because Jack Herrity wanted to force the residential developments with children out to Loudoun, while expanding the commercial tax base in Fairfax. Ask yourself why Lowes Island, Cascades, Lansdowne etc. were not built along Route 7 in Fairfax. There was no free market in housing and mixed use development and there still isn’t today.
    A current example can be found along the Dulles Toll Road where it was just announced that WCI is giving up the political fight for a more rational density on the 116 acres it owns next to Reston within walking distance of millions of square feet of new commercial office development. The existing zoning mandates a minimum lot size of 2 acres and WCI will now build 52 new megamansions that will sell for 2 to 3 million dollars each. Rich CEOs will not have to commute, but everyone else will.
    Meanwhile 20 commercial office buildings are under construction in the Dulles Corridor. More commuting from Loudoun is not the answer, more housing freedom is.
    My point is that without more housing freedom, more commercial development in Loudoun will only push the sprawl to West Virginia and make the regional problem worse.

  40. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    re: water/sewer

    It’s different here.

    You pay a base availability fee PLUS the number of feet to extend the line to your place.

    You should be familiar with this right?

    Doesn’t the phone and electric company work the same way if you want phone and electric taken to the interior/back side of say… a 100 acre parcel?

    Isn’t it cheaper to bring to lines from the road out front to your house and the farther your house is .. the more it costs to run the lines?

  41. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    re: “Fairfax County downzoned huge areas of western Fairfax to a 5 acre lot minimum. Instead of high density housing next to the millions of square feet of office development at Westfields, you have 5 acre large lot zoning.”

    Spotsylvania County did this to PROTECT itself.

    If you have a more dense “by-right” designation – you cannot collect proffers.

    So they tried to designate most of the land so that it would require developers to bring proposals – that could be negotiated with respect to density verses the infrastructure required by that density.

    The biggest cost is schools. Schools can run 30 million and up to 100 million or more….

    Localities are not “anti-kid” but how do you build these schools without essentially driving the older and poorer people on fixed and low incomes out of the county?

    It’s a vicious circle.

    What counties like Fairfax attempt to do is capture as much commercial and retail taxes AND higher property taxes from high-dollar homes – as a way to keep up with School Costs.

    The cost per pupil in Fairfax is probably close to 10K or better.

    Do you think the average home in Fairfax with a kid (or two) generates that kind of money?

    This is why you want well-heeled retired… that are capable of paying higher taxes whereas long-time retired folks with lower pensions are forced out.

    I think it is easy to say “anti-kid”.

    How about “anti” poor and retired on fixed incomes?

    is that a wrong chacterization?

  42. Tobias Jodter Avatar
    Tobias Jodter

    What is so wrong with a little REAL equalization, and not just for the new guys, who happen to be our children.

    Not even close – the new guys are a clear majority direct immigrants from overseas being brought here to prop up the housing industry and by your argument social security.

  43. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “If you have a more dense “by-right” designation – you cannot collect proffers.”

    Right. So we will simply erase the previous “by right” designation and replace it with a new one that requires the payment of proffers.

    Never mind the obvious ethical problem. Never mind the obvious transfer of wealth. Never mind that we didn’t pay anything to sequester the growth for our benefit, even if this amounts to borrowing at no cost.

    It is wrong, Larry, it is wrong. It isn;t just unfair, it’s wrong.

  44. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    ‘…how do you build these schools without essentially driving the older and poorer people on fixed and low incomes out of the county?’

    Well, one way is by capping the dollar increas in tax payments, as some counties in Maryland do. New growth is initially paid for by new growth and evenetually by everyone. But, for 20 years or so the older and fixed incom people have at least some protection.

    You might equllay as, “How do you keep those older landowners in the neighborhood if you are constantly and increasingly confiscating their property?”

  45. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “The 59% increase in Loudoun population in SIX YEARS hasn’t provided enough growth in housing? All the relevant studies show the vast majority of these new residents work outside the county, further clogging the regional road network. “

    Evidently not. At least not enough housing to provide low cost service to the Fairfax job engine.

    Fairfax is exporting it’s problems. And it is going to do so again with the new power line.

    And, look at the growth in Loudoun incom and Loudoun personal wealth. Growth in Loudoun has hurt some residents and benefited others: it isn’t ALL bad.

  46. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    age-restricted housing…”

    Should be against the anti discrimination laws.

    Recently I heard a story about an old geezer who lived in age restricted housing. He got a trophy wife and fathered a child.

    Lawsuit to follow.

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