White Flint Projects Moving Forward
November 21, 2011 |
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 The White Flint Sector Plan, approved by the Council in March 2010, is starting to show signs of life! Three sketch plans have been submitted to the Planning Department: one by Federal Realty to redevelop the first phase of their project at Mid Pike Plaza, a second by JBG Companies for Phase II of their North  Bethesda Market development, and a third by Promark Real Estate to redevelop an assemblage of properties at the corner of Nicholson Lane and Rockville Pike via a project called North Bethesda Gateway. These sketch plans will kick off the buildout of the sector plan and begin transforming the White  Flint area into a more vibrant, pedestrian friendly place to live and to visit.
The County has also been busy preparing for the implementation of the White Flint Sector Plan. The Executive Branch held a series of meetings with the White Flint community to determine what the major public amenities of the plan should look and feel like. The civic green, the new recreation center, the library, the recreational loop and a new regional services center were all discussed in detail. The results of this public process were recently released and can be found here if you're interested.
There is a lot of excitement about this award winning plan and I, like many of you, am eager to see what White Flint will become.
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| Making White Flint a Reality: Financing the Plan November 20, 2010 |
 As many of you know, a new White Flint Sector Plan was approved by the Council last spring. Since then, the Executive Branch has been busy formulating a financing plan that will pay for all the needed infrastructure to make the plan a success.
On September 27, the County Executive transmitted to the Council a financing plan/legislative package. Since then, the Council has been working its way through the Executive's proposal, examining a number of financing mechanisms, and deliberating on the best set of tools to finance the sector plan. I have personally met with all stakeholder groups on multiple occasions to ensure that I understand and appreciate all the challenges and opportunities that come with financing a sector plan of this magnitude.
In my last newsletter, I tried to shed light on the fundamentals of a financing plan. In a nutshell, it is a plan that specifies what infrastructure improvements will be built and who will pay for them. In the language of the plan, there are three "buckets" of responsibility: there is the "county bucket" which will pay for a new library and recreation center, among other improvements; there is the "private developer" bucket that will pay for the kinds of things that developers always pay for around their site; and then there is the 3rd bucket, a "development district" in which the property owners are assessed an additional 10% property tax to cover major infrastructure envisioned by the plan, such as the transformation of Rockville Pike into a grand boulevard, a new entrance to the Metro, etc. From my perspective, it is critical that the financing plan we approve provide certainty to the community and to the developers that the infrastructure called for in the White Flint Sector Plan will be built in a timely manner.
The most significant issue is that the 10% tax contemplated for the development district will not generate enough revenue ever, let alone in the short term, to pay for all the infrastructure that has been allocated to the "development district bucket". There is a $130 million gap - at the very least. And that's a problem. For that reason, I thought it was important to consider a tool called "tax increment financing", often referred to as a TIF. This tool would have leveraged future revenue predicted to be generated from the buildout of White Flint in order to provide some of the revenue necessary for infrastructure in the early stages of the plan. I had urged my colleagues to consider this tool as a means of closing the gap, and I still think it would have been a good option for the County.
In the meantime, the County Executive and his team continued to meet with all stakeholders and were eventually able to arrive at a new proposal that they believe works for everyone - the County, the community, and the land owners who will be developing in White Flint. This new proposal was only recently sent over to the Council, but I believe it is a plan I can embrace. The new proposal effectively closes the gap and provides greater assurances that the transportation infrastructure will get built in a timely manner and for that I commend the County Executive and his staff.
Tomorrow, the full Council will hold a work session on the financing of the White Flint Sector Plan (you can view it live here). If all goes well, we will take a final vote on this issue on Tuesday, November 30 which means that the transformation of White Flint will be one (big) step closer to becoming a reality. |
| White Flint Sector Plan Update October 20, 2010 |
 On September 27, the County Executive transmitted to the Council a financing plan/legislative package that is critical for implementation of the White Flint Sector Plan approved earlier this year. The legislative package will provide a framework for the Council's deliberations as the bill works its way through joint committee deliberations and makes its way to the full Council. Although I am not a member of the Planning, Housing, and Economic Development (PHED) or Management and Fiscal Policy (MFP) Committees that will first take up this legislation, I intend to participate in all the committee sessions because of the critical importance of this plan to both our district and to the County as a whole.
Some of you may wonder: what is a financing plan? In a nutshell, it is a plan that specifies what infrastructure improvements will be built and who will pay for them. In the language of the plan, there are 3 "buckets" of responsibility: there is the "county bucket" which will pay for a new library and recreation center, among other improvements; there is the "private developer" bucket that will pay for the kinds of things that developers always pay for around their site; and then there is the 3rd bucket, a "development district" in which the property owners are assessed an additional 10% property tax to cover major infrastructure envisioned by the plan, such as the transformation of Rockville Pike into a grand boulevard, a new entrance to the Metro, etc.
From my perspective, it is critical that the financing plan we approve provide certainty to the community and to the developers that the infrastructure called for in the White Flint Sector Plan will be built in a timely manner. The most significant issue is that the 10% tax contemplated for the development district will not generate enough revenue ever, let alone in the short term, to pay for all the infrastructure that has been allocated to the "development district bucket". There is a $130 million gap - at the very least. And that's a problem.
There is nothing that the County is considering or even on our radar more important than getting White Flint right. According to the County's projections, White Flint - beyond transforming this area into a walkable, bikable, enlivened and greener community - will generate $6.8 Billion over the course of the next 30 years in net revenue for the County. That's huge.
You have my commitment to do everything I can to get this right and make sure that the promises made to the community are kept. The Council will be working its way through these issues over the next few months and all meetings are open to the public. If you are interested in White Flint, you might consider testifying at the Council's public hearing on Tuesday, October 26 at 7:30 pm in the Council Office Building. To sign up, or for more information, please call 240-777-7803.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to participate in a walking tour of the White Flint Sector Plan organized by the Coalition for Smarter Growth. Over 60 people showed up this crisp Saturday morning to see and hear firsthand about plans for redevelopment and revitalization of the area. We heard from Cheryl Cort, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, Evan Goldman from Federal Realty, Nkosi Yearwood from Montgomery County's Planning Department, and community leaders Dan Hoffman and Barnaby Zall. There were lots of questions from the crowd who seemed engaged and excited by what they heard. Thanks to all involved who made this educational event so successful. |
| A New White Flint March 12, 2010 |
On March 23, the Council will take final action on the White Flint Sector Plan, a plan that will ultimately transform the White Flint community into a more walkable, bikeable, livable place. I was excited about this plan from the very beginning, but I was also well-aware that the compact, dense mixed-use development proposed represented a paradigm shift for our County, and could pose a particular challenge for the neighborhoods adjacent to the sector plan.
For that reason, I made a commitment early on to protect the surrounding communities to the maximum extent possible and have worked hard to make sure that the new White Flint will improve the quality of life not just for the new people drawn to this vibrant place, but for those who already live in the immediate area. Over the course of the last few months, my staff and I have had repeated and ongoing discussions with all stakeholders and as a result, the approved plan will incorporate many improvements over the original draft, most of which came from the input from the community. I have enjoyed collaborating with the surrounding neighborhoods of Randolph Hills, Garrett Park, Garret Park Estates, and Luxmanor and with the White Flint Coalition, the Friends of White Flint, and the White Flint Partnership. The dialogue was always constructive and I believe the finished product is better off because of it.
One of the common themes that emerged from the neighbors and surrounding communities was the desire for White Flint to have an identity -- to provide a true sense of place. I think that is what we all long for, in a way. We want to feel like we are part of a real community, not only a place where we go to sleep after a long day at work but a place where we go out to eat, shop and run errands, recreate, gather with friends, go for walks and ride our bikes. That is why I advocated for a larger civic green, a neighborhood-sized library, a recreation center and increased green space within the sector plan. The plan will now include these public amenities, as well as a new elementary school, which will help make the new White Flint a true neighborhood.
Our vision for White Flint emanates from the growing understanding that we can no longer afford to perpetuate suburban sprawl. There is an environmental imperative for us to grow smarter, to grow more compactly and with less reliance on the automobile in order to reduce our carbon footprint. And I am excited about the potential the White Flint Sector Plan has to achieve these goals. In fact, one of EPA's senior officials has praised the White Flint plan for that very reason.
The White Flint Sector Plan is also predicated upon a deepening commitment to mass transit and calls for a new MARC station on Nicholson Court and the transformation of Rockville Pike into a lovely grand boulevard that will include state-of-the-art bus rapid transit. The plan also calls for significant parking restrictions and aggressive mode share goals that will help take cars off the roads. In addition, the plan calls for a new street grid which should help diffuse traffic and make it easier to get around the area. Protective measures will be put in place to prevent cut-through traffic into the neighborhoods surrounding White Flint. And we have required the Planning Board to closely monitor traffic conditions to make sure that the unprecedented amount of infrastructure that the development community has agreed to pay for, as well as the County's share, are in fact in place when they need to be.
When you look at the area today, it is hard not be struck by the large amount of asphalt found in our strip malls and surface parking lots. Asphalt is not the highest and best use of this incredibly important real estate. We need less "impervious surfaces" and more trees. The White Flint Sector Plan will provide both. It will transform the proliferation of surface parking lots into a greener, more vibrant network of mixed use development that will produce vast improvements in stormwater management and overall water quality to the benefit of our local watersheds like Rock Creek. Streetscaping and street trees, along with other environmental incentives in the CR Zone will also help to reduce CO2 emissions and absorb some of the heat produced in urban areas. In fact, it is the goal of the plan to double the tree canopy.
And finally, it is worth noting at a time of economic distress and fiscal constraints, that the redevelopment of this area will generate approximately seven billion dollars in new revenue for the County over the course of the next 30 years. The buildout of the White Flint plan will do a great deal to promote and sustain economic vitality in the County.
As envisioned, the new White Flint will allow people to live and play closer to where they work, to spend less time in their cars and more time enjoying recreational activities and time with family. They will be able to take advantage of the numerous public spaces, bike trails and pedestrian friendly walking paths and public amenities that make a neighborhood feel like a neighborhood -- a library, a recreation center, and a beautiful, substantial civic green that serves as a meeting place for the community. If implemented and monitored properly, I believe White Flint will serve as a model for the future of sustainable growth in our community and perhaps for the nation as a whole. |
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