Community Hero Award for February 2004
Dan Tuten Named Community Hero by MCCF for February 2004
By Jim Humphrey, District 1 Vice President
At the February 9 Delegates meeting, the Montgomery County Civic Federation will bestow its Community Hero Award on Rockville resident, Dan Tuten. A longtime activist on issues affecting his local community, Tuten was also a driving force behind the founding in 2002 of Neighbors for a Better Montgomery. In naming Dan a Community Hero, the Federation especially recognizes his recent efforts in calculating the effects of recent Council changes to the Annual Growth Policy (AGP).
Mr. Tuten began his research last year, when certain Council members announced their intention to eliminate the process by which ceiling capacities for new jobs and housing had been used to pace the rate of development in the county. In order to insure the adequacy of public facilities to support new growth, a process was proposed that would levy development impact taxes on new construction. Working with Council staff and long-range planners at Park and Planning (MNC/PPC), Tuten sought to evaluate the impact these changes will have on the pace of growth in the county, on the existing infrastructure deficit, and on the predicted budget deficit.
Last October, over the objection of civic groups and the recommendations of the Planning Board, a majority of the Council approved the elimination of staging ceilings in favor of development impact taxes. It is believed, however, that Dan's research influenced the Council to increase the new impact taxes from the levels initially proposed, insuring that developers will pay more toward the costs of infrastructure needed to support their projects.
In January, Dan briefed members of the Federation's Planning and Land Use Committee on his findings, which helped shape the testimony we delivered to the Council on legislation to implement the new growth guidance process. The analysis that Dan provided to the Federation and the Council can be viewed by visiting the Neighbors for a Better Montgomery website, www.neighborspac.org, and clicking on the "Research Center" heading.
In appreciation of the hundreds of hours Dan volunteered in networking with
fellow civic advocates and county staff on the AGP and related issues, we
honor him as a real Community Hero. Congratulations!
This Page Last Edited: March 3, 2004 .