April 2004 Program: The MCCF Transportation Plan
by Dan Wilhelm, First Vice President and Transportation Chair
For the last four years, the MCCF Transportation Committee has been working to develop a package of projects and policies to address our transportation needs. The membership has approved a large number of these projects and policies and many of them have been adopted by the county. Come to the April membership meeting to learn the details about the MCCF transportation plan and what the county has approved.
The effort began in 2000 with MCCF representation on the Planning Board Transportation Policy Report (TPR) Task Force. This group included citizen, development, business, environmental, and government representatives. The Task Force produced a report in 2002 and the Planning Board, using those results, produced their recommendations. The County Executive borrowed heavily from the Task Force report in developing his “Go Montgomery” program in the summer of 2002. The Council held hearings and, that fall, approved a number of projects for implementation by 2015, based on available funding. MCCF members approved a large number of projects. All parties agree on some 90% of the road and transit projects.
The major adopted policy deals with balanced land use and transit-oriented development. MCCF supports these policies and the Planning Board is developing the details with local citizen input as master plans are updated.
About 10% of the substantial funding needed for the many projects is a county responsibility with the other 90% a responsibility of the state, including federal funding for the state. The Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance and related Annual Growth Policy (AGP) are intended to pace development with the availability of infrastructure required to support it. MCCF has been trying for 15 years to have the AGP actually achieve this objective. MCCF’s efforts were a primary reason why the county asked the Planning Board for a comprehensive review of the AGP.
The review resulted in big changes late last year, including substantial increases in the transportation impact tax and the first-ever school impact tax, which are expected to provide much of the money for the county transportation projects. MCCF voted earlier this year to support an increase in state taxes/fees for the state transportation projects. It appears that the Legislature will approve some of the needed increases this year but with a Governor who opposes tax increases, the lack of sufficient state transportation funding will continue.
Supporting Documents:
Summary of Council
Actions Related to the AGP and Development Impact Taxes (PDF)
Presentation
of MCCF Plan (HTML)
This Page Last Edited: April 13, 2004 .