Fairfax County supervisors gave an initial nod on Monday to a far-reaching plan to reforge Tysons Corner into a network of rail stops, urban streets, parks and dense development, despite lingering questions over traffic and the cost of needed infrastructure.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to accept the report of the Tyson Land Use Task Force, a panel that for more than three years has worked to draw up recommendations for how to remake what is already one of the nation’s busiest commercial centers.
“I don’t think there is anything more important that this board is going to do than in getting it right about Tysons,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly.
The plan would cluster the most intense construction directly around the four planned Tysons Corner stations in the first phase of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project, complemented by a bus or trolley. The plan could easily triple the 46 million square feet of development in Tysons over the next few decades, much of it new living space.
Monday’s vote begins months of work by county staff on specific changes to the county’s overarching development plan before a final vote next year. Task force members urged a speedy process to draft the new language before the rail project wins final approval from the federal government, or risk having landowners proceed with their own development plans in a piecemeal fashion.
“If that happens, that will preclude this vision from being realized,” said Task Force Chairman Clark Tyler at a news conference after the group delivered its presentation.
Though the decision is an important signal of the board’s basic agreement with the panel’s vision for Tysons, numerous supervisors expressed reservations about the details. Some were worried about the damage to communities outside Tysons, especially to already bottlenecked traffic.
Concerns among civic activists remain, as well. The task force’s report had comparatively little detail on how the needed improvements could be paid for, suggesting only a potential list of funding mechanisms that includes developer contributions and tax revenues from the projects themselves.
Ted Alexander, chairman of the Greater Tysons Citizens Association, said he expected tougher questioning from the board. The report, he said, “does not protect the surrounding communities in any way, and in no way did they identify the funding sources” for improvements.
