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Fairfax Citizens for Responsible
Growth
FairGrowth News
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For Immediate
Release
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Fairfax Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc.
http://www.FairGrowth.org
fairgrowth@fairgrowth.org
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Metro Closes Doors --
FairGrowth Expresses Profound Disappointment in Metro's Refusal to
Permit Detailed Public Participation in Land Sale Decision
Metro's Commitment to Openness & Transparency Falls
Short
November 17, 2005 Fairfax, VA – Fairfax
Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc. (www.FairGrowth.org) today
expresses profound disappointment with the decision of the Washington
Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) to press forward with a
sale of land at the Vienna/Fairfax/GMU station to private developers
before permitting detailed public participation in the process.
Although Metro held a public hearing on the sale on November 1st, the
public was not provided information regarding Metro's criteria for
determining when a sale is in the system's long term interest; why a
lease instead of a sale was never considered; why Metro has shirked its
"smart growth" responsibility to consider the impacts of the sale in
tandem with a land transfer at the Dunn Loring/Merrifield station; the
impacts on Orange line capacity; or why citizens were shut out of the
evaluation and decision-making process, despite specific requests for
involvement made in April.
The fact that Metro made these judgments largely behind closed doors,
in spite of its promises to be more open, and in spite of requests for
citizen and rider participation, once more gives Metro riders and
taxpayers reasons to be very concerned about how the Metro system is
run. The developers had months of meetings with Metro, a
privilege denied to those most impacted: riders and nearby
communities. While we were not opposed to the leasing of Metro
land, moving forward in this case with a sale of the land before
allowing the public to further participate in a meaningful way
demonstrates that Metro's commitment to becoming more open, transparent
and accountable falls short of its professed objectives.
FairGrowth believes that a leasing option should have been negotiated,
thus keeping the ownership of this public resource under the control of
Metro and maintaining leverage to achieve and maintain a true
transit-oriented project, with authentic citizen input.
But we also note that Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman, Chairman
of the Metro Board said, "Just because the Metro Board has acted to
include the property in the potential development mix doesn't mean the
project, as it now exists, is a done deal. I acknowledge that the
same civil, responsive dialogue we began here at Metro must continue
with the community. The developer needs to further refine his
project to ensure it adheres to the transit-oriented development goals
we have all embraced." And Metro Chairman Kauffman later added,
"I think we need to come to agreement on some countywide policy and
standards for transit-oriented development and address their cumulative
impact."
We welcome Supervisor Kauffman's statement and his call for countywide
transit-oriented development policies and standards and look forward to
working to advance such an effort. In addition, Hunter Mill
Supervisor Catherine Hudgins, alternate Metro Board member, asked us to
send her any unanswered questions, which include those listed above,
and those posed in FairGrowth's November 4, 2005 letter to Metro,
available at http://www.fairgrowth.org/metrofollowupletter.htm.
About
FairGrowth
Fairfax Citizens for Responsible Growth, Inc.
(FairGrowth) is a nonpartisan, countywide citizens group
concerned with development and land-use decisions and their
impact on traffic, transportation, schools, the environment, and
other infrastructure and public services. Together with
other community groups, it sponsored a Citizens Town Hall meeting on
April 19, 2005, that drew 600 individuals and over 20 public officials
to discuss development
issues. Regular meetings are held on a monthly basis; special meetings
are organized and held as needed. Visit us
at http://www.FairGrowth.org for details.
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