Developers are slamming Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s newly announced plan to pay for transportation upgrades near the White Flint Metro station, saying taxpayers need to foot more of the bill if the area is to be transformed into a walkable community lined with high-rise condos, shops and restaurants.
Leggett rolled out a funding blueprint that would establish a special tax district for property owners within three-fourths a mile of the White Flint station — excluding existing residential sites — and impose transportation impact taxes on them as well.
But some property owners argue they should pay the additional property tax in lieu of transportation taxes and that the county should cover an estimated $90 million funding gap for infrastructure needed to jump-start development.
“If the [plan] is approved by the County Council, White Flint’s redevelopment in all likelihood will not happen,” wrote members of the White Flint Partnership, a group of major investors in the area. “Development will not occur with any rapidity, infrastructure will not be sufficient to support and encourage future economic growth, and the county will be left behind in the regional race for jobs and long-term fiscal security.”
At least some in the County Council, who are tasked with deciding how much public money should be spent on the project, echoed the criticism.
“We talk about creating an appropriate climate for business; for me, this is the litmus test,” said Councilman Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda/Potomac. “I don’t know if we want to play chicken with these people and say, ‘we think you’re bluffing and will go ahead [with development] anyway.'”
The billion-dollar project, expected to take place over the next few decades, is one of the most ambitious smart-growth efforts being planned in the region — an increasingly popular strategy for dealing with the area’s lack of undeveloped property.
Leggett says the perks of the county-facilitated plan far outweigh the initial burdens of the tax, pointing to a doubling of development density for those in the area. Developers counter that a revamped White Flint would inject $7 billion into county coffers in coming decades, a massive return on investment.
Diane Schwartz Jones, Leggett’s assistant chief administrative officer, called much of the criticism by developers “grandstanding” and added the county could not commit an undisclosed amount of money for a funding gap that might never materialize.
Major upgrades are planned for Rockville Pike, Old Georgetown Road and the White Flint Metro station to facilitate the growth. Beginning next fiscal year, property owners within the special tax district would pay 10 cents per $100 of assessed value.
