Fairfax Board Approves $2.3B Tysons Corner Transportation Plan

The Fairfax Board of Supervisors has given final approval to a massive transportation funding plan for the future Tysons Corner. 

The Tysons Plan looks 40 years into the future, anticipating 113 million square feet of development will happen by 2050 in a modern city rising west of Washington.  The board on Tuesday approved $2.3 billion to build a new transportation network for the future Tysons Corner which includes a grid designed for buses, pedestrians, and cars as well as four new Metro Stations and will be paid for in part by commercial and residential taxes.

Fairfax County Board chairman Sharon Bulova heralded the move, calling it "a major step in the right direction" for the area. “Investing in Tysons is an investment in the future of Fairfax County," she said. "Never before has such a long range, comprehensive plan been developed to support a major redevelopment initiative." 

But the vision of high-rise condos and gleaming corporate offices doesn't mean much to Lucille Weiner, a senior citizen who lives in condo in Tysons and who spoke at a public hearing Tuesday before the board approved the plan. The tax increases on residential properties in Tysons Corner would make her life more difficult, she said.

"As I read the reasoning around taxing the neighborhood that is Tysons Corner, I read the phrase 'the folks that will benefit the most,'" said Weiner. "It sure isn't me who will have to move if this happens. I appeal to my elected representatives to help stop this frivilous idea on the extra tax on the people who live in Tysons."

Michael Bogasky, the president of the residents assocation in Weiner's condominum, used sarcasm in his public remarks.

"Let's create a new tax district so that we can pay more in taxes than anyone else in Fairfax County," he said. 

Weiner believes the new taxes should not be on homeowners at all.

"When the Metro reached Greenbelt, Md., residents of Greenbelt did not get taxed, nor did residents of Vienna, Va. when the Metro reached Vienna," noted Weiner.

Developers stand to gain the most from Tysons future growth.  One of them, CityLine Developers, supports the tax plan. 

If I ever thought there was a day that I would come and ask you to approve $13 a square foot in transportation proffers and ask you for a 7- to 9- cent tax on top of that, I probably should have retired," said Thomas Fleury a CityLine vice president, with a laugh. "That's what it takes to get the job done."

Other critics argue there is a risk to predicting tax revenues over 40 years and if the county's projections don't work out, the plan will fall apart. 

But lawmakers say the plan is flexible enough to adjust to swings in the economy and the real estate market.