It’s not a hearing. It’s a briefing.
For weeks, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has been emphatically specific on what is happening today at the Government Center. County staff is set to deliver the latest update on Dulles rail and the possibly hundreds of visitors in the audience will not have a chance to take the podium.
The meeting was announced after the board endured criticism for discussing the first half of the 23-mile expansion of Metro to Loudoun County behind closed doors. The refusal to hold a new hearing further spurred critics who say the board has cut out the public from the rail discussion.
The briefing is set ahead of an upcoming vote on whether the board will sign off on $400 million in funding, which is reportedly set for June 18 — six days after the county’s primary election. The rail’s first half could cost as much as $2.7 billion.
Supporters of building the track in a tunnel through Tysons, as opposed to the state’s plansto build an elevated track, are expected to come out in force. Some are urging a “nuclear option” in which the board would withhold funds as a bargaining chip to make the state reconsider a tunnel and put the entire project out to bid. There is very little indication that the supervisors will take that option.
“The message we want to send to them is you need to fight for what your constituents want, and it’s clear as day that the constituents want competitive bidding and a tunnel for Tysons Corner,” Tysonstunnel.org President Scott Monett said. “I don’t see it as ‘nuclear,’ I see it as reasonable.”
Supporters of moving the rail project forward as it now stands, who include Gov. Tim Kaine, argue that a change as major as the Tysons tunnel, and its associated costs and delays, could sink the entire expansion of Metrorail. Dulles Corridor Rail Association President Patricia Nicoson said the board should approve the funds, which come from a special tax district. She pointed to the scant opportunities to help pay for the rail without the approval.
“With grueling budget deficits [to come] it’s only going to get harder,” she said.
