RA Board Takes Stance Against Residential Tax for Transportation Funding Plan

At their meeting last week, the Reston Association Board of Directors officially took a position against a residential tax related to the $2.27 billion Reston Transportation Funding Plan.

Saying that RA has historically not taken a stance on county tax issues, the original recommendation to the board from land-use attorney John McBride was to not do so. Director Sherri Hebert (Lake Anne/Tall Oaks District), though, said she believes there should be no special tax and that it would behoove the board to go on record with that stance.

“Are we going to let this happen? There are so many things that come along with this tax for the residential units within the [Transit Station Area],” she said. “We hope that every cluster that starts to pop up in the TSA we’re going to bring into RA, so I would think that we would want to make a stance that this needs to be paid for by the developers.”

Director Julie Bitzer (South Lakes District) agreed with Hebert’s assessment.

“As we seek to make in-roads into what’s becoming more residential within that corridor, it’s important that we not be short-sighted in our anticipation of addressing those concerns,” she said.

The tax would be on all types of real estate, not just residential, McBride clarified.

The motion passed by RA directors Thursday states that while they recognize the improvements are needed to keep pace with development, they do not want the proposed service district tax applied to residential properties within the TSA.

“I think we need to have a longer-term strategy… that takes these issues into account,” Michael Sanio, RA Board vice president, said. “We should not be silent, we should not just have these events happen and us not have a voice in them.”

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing on the plan today at 4:30 p.m.

Map of Reston Transit Station Area via Fairfax County