Convincing western Fairfax County landowners to tax themselves in order to fund the last leg of Dulles Rail is taking longer than expected.
Proponents of establishing a tax district to raise $330 million slipped a self-imposed deadline of Sept. 18 for bringing in the needed signatures from commercial property owners, said attorney Lee Fifer, general counsel for the Western Alliance for Rail to Dulles. The group, said Fifer, needs “a little bit more time.”
“We are in reasonably, pretty good shape, the last bit is always the slowest,” he said.
The tax proposal is a key last piece of funding for the $5.2 billion or more Metrorail extension, which is slated to connect the region’s only international airport with the transit system by 2016. Without the tax district, the second phase of rail to Dulles will simply become an express train from Reston to Dulles Airport, cutting out three planned stations in between, officials warn.
In a July letter to landowners, the alliance warned that if the district isn’t in place by the end of the year, it will be “very likely” those stations won’t be built.
To set up the district, the alliance needs commitments from property owners representing at least 51 percent of the $8 billion worth of land value in the area, Fifer said. He said the group is aiming for 53 or 54 percent.
He declined to comment on how many landowners have signed up. Nor would he identify the remaining holdouts or speak to their reasoning.
It’s likely, however, a slumping economy is at least partly to blame. Property owners are forced to weigh the relative benefits of having a nearby rail station — increased land values, transit access and redevelopment possibilities — with the upfront cost of funding the metro.
The proposal is similar to one that funded the rail’s initial phase, which runs 11.6 miles from Falls Church, through Tysons Corner and ends at Wiehle Avenue. Landowners, mostly in Tysons, who will reap dividends from vastly increase land values and building densities, have agreed to fund $400 million of the new track.
The Phase II tax district is a tougher sell, partly because the rail will run along the Dulles Toll Road, creating a greater walking distance for commuters between stations and development, said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. To counter this, he suggested offering air rights, improving overpasses and bringing development to the edge of the highway.
