FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

www.FairGrowthNetwork.org
TUESDAY, January 3, 2006
FairGrowthNet@yahoo.com   

Contact:
Deborah M. Reyher, Esq.
dreyher@aol.com

William S. Elliott
FairGrowth@FairGrowth.org

Susan Turner
susan@mapwizards.com

Bruce Bennett
bruceb36@cox.net


Northern Virginia citizen groups increasingly concerned about the ability of local infrastructure to keep up with unbridled growth in the region plan to ask Governor-Elect Kaine at the Fairfax County Transportation Town Hall tonight to focus on growth issues equally with transportation concerns in Northern Virginia, as the two are inextricably linked.

Numerous civic groups, including the McLean Citizens Association, Fairfax Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc., Wedderburn Neighbors, and the Hunter Mill Defense League, applaud Governor-Elect Kaine for his campaign commitment to support legislation that would allow localities to link development decisions to infrastructure limits. But they stress that growth is not a secondary or ancillary problem.

Deborah Reyher, spokesperson for Wedderburn Neighbors, a Vienna group, and an organizer of the www.FairGrowthNetwork.org website coordinating community action, said: "Improved transportation and a commitment to managed growth are the twin pillars on which the future of this region must be built. Addressing transportation problems on a regional basis takes many years, during which we risk completely overwhelming our roads, schools, parks and streams with the foolhardy spot-zoning of overly dense projects. If we don’t focus equally on development issues now, the transportation solutions selected will be outmoded before the ink is even dry on the blueprints."

In a December 13, 2005 speech to reporters, Governor-Elect Kaine acknowledged that easing the state's traffic congestion will require local governments to consider the impact of development on the road and transit networks.  "It's not in the best interests of the development industry to go along, willy-nilly, for the next 15 years and have everything choked off," he said.  A Washington Post editorial on December 15th, however, cautioned Governor-Elect Kaine not to allow growth issues to "distract him" from his "top priority" of improving Virginia's road system. Citizens tonight plan to tell Governor-Elect Kaine that his "top priority" actually consists of twin parts -- improving Virginia’s road system over the course of the next four years and into the next decade can only be achieved by properly managing growth in the meantime.

Will Elliott, of Fairfax Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc. said: "Governor-Elect Kaine's campaign theme of addressing runaway development struck a chord with a broad base of Fairfax citizens.  We appreciated his straight-talking recognition of this serious issue.  There is a lot of discussion in Fairfax County about Transit-Oriented Development, but the reality does not match the rhetoric.  In order to make it work, we need to look at growth and transportation in concert."

Susan Turner, President of McLean Citizens Association, noted that local governments already have substantial authority to study impacts and control growth accordingly, but that they do not use it and often seem to pretend it does not exist. "We urge Governor-Elect Kaine to spell out what authority local governments already have, and affirmatively call on local governments to use that power to study impacts before considering development proposals.  We cannot wait on a law that Richmond may or may not pass.  We need to start planning responsibly now."

Citizens of Northern Virginia have clearly indicated their support for the common-sense approach of linking growth to the ability of local roads, transit systems, schools, parks, sewage, and the environment to absorb it.  Bruce Bennett, spokesperson for the Hunter Mill Defense League, observed that "many swing voters chose to support Tim Kaine in large part because of his willingness to address the link between uncontrolled development and transportation woes. The citizens of Northern Virginia are looking to Governor-Elect Kaine to keep growth and congestion in check."