Chairman York Blasts Speaker

Below is a letter Chairman Scott York of Loudoun County sent to Speaker Bill Howell today in regards to the GOP's plan on growth revealed this week.  Gerry Connolly of Fairfax County has also bashed this idea.  That's two of the "big three" of County Chairman.  What does Corey Stewart of Prince William think?

I'm a little surprised the Speaker didn't have local government support for this lined up in advance...

December 28, 2006

Dear Mr. Speaker:

  It is clear from your remarks of December 27th, 2006 that the House of Delegates Leadership has no idea of how land use decisions are made.  Local governments do in fact have some control over zoning decisions and Loudoun County has had a clear record of denying rezonings where infrastructure is not adequate. 

The problem of inadequate requirements for infrastructure has been on land already zoned for development.  For years counties have sought permission from the State to deal with "stale" zoning.  For years counties have requested the local ability to deny subdivision approvals if public facilities are inadequate to handle the influx of new residents. And for years the General Assembly has consistently failed to pass any legislation giving us local control over covering the costs of this new and expensive infrastructure.

The "new" House solution is simply to ignore our real needs.  Instead the House solution serves only to shift the burden of costs from the State to the counties.  The House version will now force counties to place the costs of maintaining new subdivision streets for snow removal and future maintenance on the homeowner's real estate tax bill or by placing an impact fee on new development in a locality's rural areas to pay for road maintenance in urban areas. 

One proposal put forward recently would require counties to designate Urban Development Areas for the next 20 years where public infrastructure is already planned.  This bill conveniently ignores the issue of subdivisions outside these designated areas where counties cannot deny new residential subdivisions even though the infrastructure is woefully inadequate.

The second proposal would allow counties to "volunteer" to form tax districts to pay for maintenance of the secondary roads within a district.  In addition to the surtax imposed on such a tax district, the legislation would allow counties to impose impact fees in the rural areas and then transfer the funds collected to maintain the roads the county's urban areas. This legislation also proposes that the State would provide anywhere up to $15,000 per lane-mile to help maintain these roads and would give the county VDOT equipment to do the job. This certainly sounds generous however VDOT currently pays less than $5,000 a lane-mile for road maintenance in counties.  For a State that does not today have money to maintain roads it is difficult to imagine that this promise can be kept.

The third proposal would no longer allow new secondary roads to be accepted into the state system.   Counties would be forced to either make the homeowners pay for maintenance or impose real estate surtax on all the property within the county. This appears to be a total abdication of State responsibility for our secondary roads. 

For eleven years I have been a supporter of slowing our growth until we could get a handle on our infrastructure costs. And for those eleven years the House of Delegates have consistently worked against our efforts. It is interesting that you now seem to have discovered that growth does not pay for itself; something we have lived with for two decades.

If you would care to hear directly from the Supervisors that you think have "the easiest job in the world" I would like to see legislation introduced that gives any locality that takes over maintenance of its secondary roads a minimum return of 50% of its income tax dollars sent to Richmond. Would you now support an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance? Would you now support 100% Impact Fees to be collected at the time of issuance of a Zoning Permit? These are "real solutions" counties need to offset the enormous cost of new development.

I would also request that you visit with the Loudoun County Republican Committee and the elected Republican Supervisors and convince them that they are "accountable" when they recklessly approve thousands of new residential rooftops.

It is interesting to see the sudden shift of blame to counties that have had to deal with a development-controlled legislature for years. Is there a real solution in the new legislation to be introduced this session? Or is this just a posturing that exposes the lack of enthusiasm of elected State officials to work with their local counterparts on a real, workable solution?

Sincerely,

Scott K. York, Chairman

Comments

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

Gee, sounds like one of those unfunded mandates that Republicans love so much to complain about.

[Mr. Ugly]

As a former BOS Chairman in Hanover Co (growing w/ the same problems as NoVa, just on a smaller scale) I'm just waiting to hear Bill Bolling's comments on this. York is just about 95% on target w/ his remarks. And, I'm more than just a little surprised that the Speaker, et al, didn't have the NoVa BOS R's as his cheering squad. Seems that at least w/ York, they will just shit-can this entire proposal. Wonder how that is going to make Jeff 'The Professional Pol' Frederick look when the Pr Wm BOS chews this up as well.

[MC]

These supervisors are just whinning becasue their "out" is gone. They could build and build and build and when traffic bottled up, they could just "blame Richmond." Now they actually have to be responsible.

York talks about how the state is not doing its job. But its not like the build-it-now crowd of Republicans in Loudoun and Democrats in Fairfax help. They build faster than the county and state roads can keep up. There has been a fundemental disconnect between the Boards and Richmond, acting against each other rather than with each other.

[brimur]

I guess the Speaker won't be happy until Fairfax is voting 80% Democratic.

[UVA08]

One of the biggest problems with this proposal is that it still doesn't address the issue at hand. Even if all growth ceased in Virginia today we will still have to sit in traffic come Wednesday morning and evening (after the holidays). Our current gridlock isn't being caused by people who may move here in the future. It is caused by those of us who are already here.

"York talks about how the state is not doing its job. But its not like the build-it-now crowd of Republicans in Loudoun and Democrats in Fairfax help."

How much power do BOSs really have in Virginia? Unlike some other states aren't our supervisors allowed to do only what the state gives them power to do? Doesn't power come from the top down here with the state holding most of the power and localities the least? Has the state given our counties and cities the power they need to control growth?

Also, there is a flaw in your statement about the "build it now" boards of Fairfax and Loudon. The argument could be made that no one is paying for it except for the people who live there. No one downstate can really complain that they are paying taxes for NOVAns to build uncontrollably. The people up there pay their share plus more and all they really want is their equal share.

I personally don't get why they keep dancing around the issue. We need more funding. It's the right thing to do both in the plain meaning of the word and politically. I am willing to make a prediction today. If nothing happens with transportation Republicans will lose seats in both the House and Senate. I think they will face some serious challenges because they will have to defend areas they thought were their strongholds, the suburbs. These areas are traffic-ridden and tired of spending time away from their family sitting in traffic. Quality time with your signficant other and children seems like one of the most simple and fundamental family value out there.

[UVA08]

One of the biggest problems with this proposal is that it still doesn't address the issue at hand. Even if all growth ceased in Virginia today we will still have to sit in traffic come Wednesday morning and evening (after the holidays). Our current gridlock isn't being caused by people who may move here in the future. It is caused by those of us who are already here.

"York talks about how the state is not doing its job. But its not like the build-it-now crowd of Republicans in Loudoun and Democrats in Fairfax help."

How much power do BOSs really have in Virginia? Unlike some other states aren't our supervisors allowed to do only what the state gives them power to do? Doesn't power come from the top down here with the state holding most of the power and localities the least? Has the state given our counties and cities the power they need to control growth?

Also, there is a flaw in your statement about the "build it now" boards of Fairfax and Loudon. The argument could be made that no one is paying for it except for the people who live there. No one downstate can really complain that they are paying taxes for NOVAns to build uncontrollably. The people up there pay their share plus more and all they really want is their equal share.

I personally don't get why they keep dancing around the issue. We need more funding. It's the right thing to do both in the plain meaning of the word and politically. I am willing to make a prediction today. If nothing happens with transportation Republicans will lose seats in both the House and Senate. I think they will face some serious challenges because they will have to defend areas they thought were their strongholds, the suburbs. These areas are traffic-ridden and tired of spending time away from their family sitting in traffic. Quality time with your signficant other and children seems like one of the most simple and fundamental family value out there.

[Terry]

The proposals from Virginia Republicans to solve the state's sprawl problems are RIDICULOUS. It's obvious that they put little to no thought into it, but then again, that should come as no surprise.

[Not Harry F. Byrd, Sr.]

They put plenty of thought into it Terry.

The GOP's strategy, same as Albo/Devolites/Rust, is a press strategy. Make it look like they're trying to do something while not doing squat. Making proposals that don't have a prayer of passage for press coverage and electoral cover, while not doing squat.

It's well thought out pandering.

[Not Phil]

What about Kate & Phil?

[t]

Corey is my boy. We all should listen to Corey.

[James Young]

Good question. We know how the Democrats feel. How about a Republican?

[Not Jack Herrity]

NHFB, you must have read the Gerry Connolly Kool Aid talking points again.

NJH

[Not Harry F. Byrd, Sr.]

Maybe he read mine!