Action Cmte for Transit Testimony on White Flint Financing

The Action Committee for Transit, a member of Friends of White Flint, has published its upcoming testimony for Tuesday’s Montgomery County Council public hearing on financing the infrastructure needed to implement the White Flint Sector Plan. The testimony will be given by Cavan Wilk, a frequent blogger at Greater Greater Washington. www.greatergreaterwashington.com.

Wilk summarizes the ACT position as:

The famous 20th century philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.” Montgomery County’s recent past includes the failures of Clarksburg Town Center. Good plans were never fully implemented in the upcounty development. The White Flint Sector Plan has many advantages that Clarksburg never had: higher land values, proximate Metro access, thousands of jobs, amenities, and fixed rail transit access to neighboring Bethesda, Silver Spring (via the future Purple Line), and D.C. Additionally, it is much more environmentally friendly because precious undeveloped woods and farmland will not be paved over during its construction. The short-term and long-term gains in tax revenue are both positive and large. The opportunity costs of turning White Flint into another Clarksburg are just too high to let a manageable $100 million over 30 years destroy the Sector Plan. Especially when the money for infrastructure improvements in White Flint can be paid for with new tax revenue from within White Flint.

And the drumbeats continue for a dedicated source of reliable and predictable funding, usually meaning Tax Increment Financing (TIF). ACT supports it,  noting Arlington County’s use of a TIF for Crystal City.

Barnaby Zall