Click here to watch our Active Transportation Webinar featuring transportation officials and advocates in the Northern Virginia region discussing how they are working to create safe streets for all. The event was cosponsored by Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling, the City of Fairfax, Fairfax County, and George Mason University’s Department of Parking and Transportation. Stay tuned for our Active Transportation Summit in Spring 2021!
Author: Emily Maurer
CSG Letter on Proposed Property Tax Changes
July 27, 2020
The Honorable Sidney Katz
Montgomery County Council
100 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
Re: Property Taxes
Dear Council President Katz and Councilmembers:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the proposals to alter the rules for property tax increases. Please accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the leading organization in the DC region advocating for walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities.
We support a fix to the artificial constraints imposed by the current property tax cap, and want to ensure that the Council and County Executive have the authority to budget in a way that meets the community’s needs, particularly for social services, affordable housing, and public transportation. The county requires improved flexibility to meet unexpected challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the increased need it has created.
At the same time as needs rise, Montgomery County has not been able to benefit from growth in the tax base, growth which is supported by a history of successful public investments in infrastructure, schools, and transportation. Continuous public investment and services are vital in order to maintain a high quality of life, spur further economic development, and battle external threats, including public health and climate crises.
Therefore, we support proposals to remove the property tax cap and to require a supermajority of at least two-thirds of the council to raise the general property tax rate, not a unanimous vote as is now the case. We also support setting equal limits on rate increases for owner-occupied residential properties and for residential rental properties, since landlords pass property tax increases onto tenants in the form of higher rents. Homeowners and renters should be treated equally – renters should not face a higher pass-through cost of tax increases than homeowners.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Jane Lyons
Maryland Advocacy Manager
Coalition for Smarter Growth
CC: Montgomery County Councilmembers County Executive Marc Elrich
CSG Testimony Re: Montgomery County Complete Streets Design Guide
July 21, 2020
Montgomery County Planning Board
8787 Georgia Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Item 12 – Complete Streets Design Guide (Support)
Testimony for July 23, 2020
Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager
Good evening and thank you to Chair Anderson and Planning Commissioners. My name is Jane Lyons and I’m speaking on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the leading organization in the D.C. region advocating for walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities. We enthusiastically support the Complete Streets Design Guide.
Thank you and congratulations to the staff who worked on this project – who has yet again solidified Montgomery Planning as a national leader in creative suburban planning. We are pleased that the Complete Streets Design Guide is clear in prioritizing safety, sustainability, and vitality, and provides a roadmap for how to balance competing needs. When we prioritize street space correctly, streets can become an engine for healthy people, a healthy economy, and a healthy environment.
The biggest challenge in actualizing safe, green, vibrant streets is reengineering the county’s arterial roads, especially in lower income neighborhoods where traffic fatalities are more common. The vision in Thrive 2050 is for these arterials to become safe, green, multimodal boulevards, and this document will be a critical guide for those changes.
A few constructive comments:
• Page 55: We’d like it to be clear that a sidepath is always preferable to bikeable shoulders.
• Page 57: We recommend that bikeways be listed as a high priority for downtown boulevards, downtown streets, town center boulevards, and town center streets.
• Page 82: Bus shelters, in addition to BRT stations, should consider opportunities to provide additional passenger amenities such as seating, local area information, wayfinding, and real time traveler information.
• Page 88: We urge the county to update its policy for snow events. Especially in downtowns and town centers, the county – not the building owners – should be responsible for clearing snow on sidewalks, sidewalk ramps, and sidewalk-level bicycle facilities.
• Page 232: Public engagement should also include on-the-street direct outreach strategies, as well as strongly encourage paid community focus/advisory groups to ensure diverse input for major decisions.
• Finally, we ask that the design guide be open to amendment upon the completion of the Pedestrian Master Plan and Vision Zero Action Plan.
Implementing the Complete Streets Design Guide is key to achieving the county’s Vision Zero goal, as well as improving connectivity and helping shift mode-share away from single occupancy vehicles. We look forward to the comprehensive update of the Master Plan of Highways and Transitways that is necessitated by the guide, along with its implementation throughout new projects, resurfacing, construction, and maintenance. Wherever possible, we encourage the Planning Board, MCDOT, DPS, and the Council to codify the guide into law and regulation.
Thank you for your consideration.
Keep transit moving by wearing a mask!
Public transit has been a lifeline for essential workers who keep our society and economy moving. Meanwhile, recent reports indicate that masks work to keep people safe. Reports from countries like Japan and France suggest that public transit is relatively safe, so long as passengers wear masks, don’t talk, maintain distance, and agencies maintain regular cleaning.
Click here for a great graphic from the Mayo Clinic on which masks work and which don’t. Avoid N95 masks with vents, as they do not prevent virus transmission. See below for how to correctly wear a mask.
All transit agencies in the DC region require masks. WMATA and Ride On both offer disposable masks and hand sanitizer to riders free of cost, but please do your best to remember your own mask!
By wearing a mask, you will be protecting your fellow passengers, your transit operators, and yourself! As the CDC’s Dr. Robert Redfield recently announced, transmission will decrease sharply if we can all commit to wearing a mask for the foreseeable future.
We know, masks aren’t always comfortable, especially in the hot summer months in the DC area, but masking up is a relatively easy way to make a positive impact in your community and keep transit moving. So wear your mask, travel with hand sanitizer, and please continue to stay safe and healthy. We will get through this together!
For more information on transit safety in the age of COVID-19, check out these resources:
Bloomberg: Japan and France find public transit systems safe
NY Daily News: Transit: safe and vital to reopen
The Atlantic: Fear of Transit is Bad for Cities
Keep transit moving by wearing a mask!
Public transit has been a lifeline for essential workers who keep our society and economy moving. Meanwhile, recent reports indicate that masks work to keep people safe. Reports from countries like Japan and France suggest that public transit is relatively safe, so long as passengers wear masks, don’t talk, maintain distance, and agencies maintain regular cleaning.
Be sure to wear the mask correctly on your face, and avoid touching it whenever possible. Avoid N95 masks with vents, as they do not prevent virus transmission.
All transit agencies in the DC region require masks. For those in Montgomery County, Ride On buses are equipped with limited supplies of disposable masks available to riders without masks, but please do your best to bring your own!
By wearing a mask, you will be protecting your fellow passengers, your transit operators, and yourself! As CDC’s Dr. Robert Redfield recently announced, transmission will decrease sharply if we can all commit to wearing a mask for the foreseeable future.
We know, masks aren’t always comfortable, especially in the hot summer months in the DC area, but masking up is a relatively easy way to make a positive impact in your community and keep transit moving. So wear your mask, travel with hand sanitizer, and please continue to stay safe and healthy. We will get through this together!
Active Transportation Webinar: Active Transportation during COVID-19
Click here to watch our Active Transportation Webinar featuring transportation officials in the Northern Virginia region discussing how they are responding to COVID-19. The event was cosponsored by Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling, the City of Fairfax, Fairfax County, and George Mason University’s Department of Parking and Transportation.
RELEASE: Advocates Alarmed at 18,000 Page Environmental Impact Statement on Gov. Hogan’s I-495 and I-270 Widening Plan
July 10, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 10th, 2020
CONTACT:
Lindsey Mendelson, Maryland Sierra Club
lindsey.mendelson@mdsierra.org | (240) 706-7901
Jeanne Braha, Rock Creek Conservancy
jbraha@rockcreekconservancy.org | (301)-312-1471
Advocates Alarmed at 18,000 Page Environmental Impact Statement on Gov. Hogan’s I-495 and I-270 Widening Plan
MARYLAND- Today, the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released an 18,000 page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Gov. Hogan’s plans to expand I-495 and I-270 with two private toll lanes in each direction. The DEIS outlines the impacts of the plan on the region’s air, water, parks, noise levels, traffic and other categories.
Residents and community organizations have just started to sift through the 90 pound document to assess the damage that the over $11 billion project could cause to Maryland’s environment, health, and economy, especially in the midst of a global pandemic and economic downturn. Advocates are concerned that the DEIS, despite its size, does not adequately examine key alternatives to the widening such as public transit and better land use planning nor effectively examine telecommuting’s role in reducing congestion.
In the last two weeks, over 40 organizations and U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Congressmen Anthony Brown and Jamie Raskin asked for the comment period to be at least 120 days to accommodate the public’s ability to comment during the pandemic and complete the approximately 600 hours it would take to read through the document completely. Despite this request, the public comment period remains at 90 days, which would not be enough time for a person reading 40 hours a week to get through all the pages of the document.
“The Draft Environmental Impact Statement weighs 90 pounds. That alone indicates that this project warrants intense scrutiny. We are concerned that this massive highway project will exacerbate harm to our health and environment. The Sierra Club and other organizations have been denied, delayed or charged $300,000 for public information requests that would have shed more light on this project. We need more time to comment on this controversial proposal.” –Josh Tulkin, Director, Maryland Sierra Club
“Experience shows that highway expansions increase, not decrease, driving demand. By fueling more long-distance living and commuting, toll lanes are a massive, generational alteration of our landscape and come at high cost to homes and neighborhoods, people and health, and the natural environment.” – Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager of the Coalition for Smarter Growth
“The $11 billion I-495/I-270 expansion is too big and will affect too many lives over the next 50 years for Marylanders to accept an 18,000 page draft environmental impact statement that offers vague assurances that pollution and flood risk won’t increase and parks and communities will be protected. We urge MDOT to give the public the time it needs to review this draft statement and to release the secret traffic and revenue studies being used to justify this massive, high-risk project. Maryland cannot afford a repeat of the crisis plaguing the Purple Line, the Hogan administration’s first public-private partnership. –Brad German, Co-Chair, Citizens Against Beltway Expansion
“This proposed expansion threatens our national parks, including Greenbelt Park, C&O Canal, George Washington Memorial Parkway, Suitland Parkway, and Baltimore-Washington Parkway, without solving the region’s transportation needs. Should this proposal move forward, over 300 acres of local parkland – including valuable green space in an increasingly urban area — could be paved over. Instead of pursuing this new and costly highway expansion, the National Parks Conservation Association urges the Maryland Department of Transportation to examine the many alternatives available that will address our transit needs without sacrificing our parks.”-Pamela Goddard, Mid-Atlantic Senior Program Director, National Parks Conservation Association
Rock Creek is just one of the many special places that will be impacted by the proposed $11 billion expansion of I-495 and I-270. These impacts will extend far downstream, including into the creek through the nation’s first urban national park, Rock Creek Park. The public deserves a full range of alternatives for these sensitive waterways, habitat corridors, and public lands and time to fully consider them.-Jeanne Braha, Executive Director, Rock Creek Conservancy
“How precious is breathing? How important is it to preserve natural spaces and protect the health of residents of this region? We at the Audubon Naturalist Society want MDOT and the SHA to tell us, because the delivery of this 90-pound EIS for an $11 billion project with only 90 days to review it suggests that our health and well-being are not a top priority. Taxpayers deserve better.” –Denisse Guitarra, Maryland Conservation Advocate, Audubon Naturalist Society
“MDOT gave assurances that the public would have an opportunity in the DEIS process to actively participate in the consequential decisions related to the I-495 & I-270 project. However, in releasing an 18,000-page DEIS in the middle of a health and fiscal emergency, and then failing to provide adequate time for document review, MDOT shows disregard for public input. No one knows what post-pandemic commerce, employment, and traffic patterns will look like — the entire effort should be paused until the pandemic subsides.”-Linda Rosendorf, Don’t Widen 270.
Had the Governor and the Maryland Department of Transportation followed a process that allowed for sufficient constituent input and alternative proposals before announcing this massive, destructive plan, the citizens of Maryland would not be in the position of pointing out the obvious. The plan is deeply flawed and may very well cause more harm than good.- Cecilia Plante, Maryland Legislative Coalition.
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CSG Testimony Supporting Montgomery County Bill 13-20
July 8, 2020
Montgomery County Council Council Office Building
100 Maryland Ave.
Rockville, MD 20850
Bill 13-20, County Property – Disposition – Affordable Housing (Support)
Public Testimony
Jane Lyons, Maryland Advocacy Manager
2020.07.07-CSG-Testimony-for-Bill-13-20-County-Property-Disposition-Affordable-Housing-Final-1Download
President Katz and Councilmembers, thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony on Bill 13-20. Please accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, the leading organization in the D.C. region advocating for walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities. We strongly support any efforts to make better use of our public land for affordable housing.
Bill 13-20 would require any disposition of property that will be used primarily for housing development must be 30 percent income-restricted, with 15 percent as moderately priced dwelling units (MPDUs) and the other 15 percent for households earning 50 percent of less of the area median income (AMI).
For too long, the county has not used its public land for its full potential. With many county properties located near high-capacity transit and land being a significant cost of construction, subsidized land costs makes deeper levels of affordability possible. At a time when we need 75 percent of new housing in the region to be affordable for low and middle income households, this legislation is common sense.
We would like to see this legislation go a step further. If county land dispositions meet certain requirements, such as being a certain distance from transit, it should be required for that land be used for affordable housing. There is nothing under current law prioritizing or requiring certain uses to be considered, or giving preference to experienced affordable housing developers as partners.
We need to re-imagine how we use public land, when being disposed of and when redeveloping. Libraries, community centers, and other public facilities should all be co-located with housing. Our region already has several examples of housing co-located with public facilities. We hope this legislation will be a first step for better using public land for the public good.
Therefore, we urge you to support Bill 13-20 and seek provisions to make it even stronger. Thank you for your consideration.
RELEASE: Housing and transit advocates support legislation to build more homes at Metro sites
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, July 6, 2020
CONTACT:
Jane Lyons, Coalition for Smarter Growth
jane@smartergrowth.net | (410) 474-0741
Housing and transit advocates support legislation to build more homes at Metro sites
Montgomery County, Md – This afternoon, the Coalition for Smarter Growth stood alongside Montgomery County Councilmember Hans Riemer as he publicly introduced legislation to support high-rise construction on Metro stations.
Transit-oriented development is necessary to build sustainable communities. The legislation would offer a 15- year property tax abatement for high-rise construction located on land leased from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
“This is a promising approach. Housing on top of Metro stations is key to meeting housing demand without putting new cars on the road,” said Jane Lyons, CSG’s Maryland Advocacy Manager. “This strategy will help the county meet its climate, economic development, and housing goals.”
Multiple housing construction projects on Montgomery County’s Metro stations have either been delayed or cancelled due to the financial difficulty. Rents are not often enough to cover high construction costs, especially outside of downtown Bethesda. Development on WMATA property can face additional costs due to parking replacement practices and engineering challenges.
“High-rise construction on Metro stations gives us the most bang for the buck,” Lyons said. “More homes means more Metro riders, more transit revenue, and more permanently affordable housing.”
The tax abatement is estimated to incentivize up to 8,600 units, including 1,300 affordable units. The affordable units will be created through the county’s affordable set-aside of 12.5 to 15 percent of units for households at 70 percent of the area median income. Montgomery County has resolved to meet its regional housing target of 41,000 new housing units by 2030. This proposal is part of a comprehensive housing package from Councilmember Hans Riemer, which is complemented by legislation from other councilmembers.
“We look forward to supporting the legislative process to ensure the tax abatement approach is a cost- effective way to catalyze far more housing opportunities at Metro stations, including more permanently affordable homes,” said Lyons.
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The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington, DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies needed to make those communities flourish.
495/270 P3 DEIS Comment Extension Letter
June 30, 2020
Dear Ms. Mar and Ms. Choplin,
We are writing on behalf of the undersigned organizations to request an extension of the public comment period. The proposed I-495 & I-270 Public-Private Partnership (P3) Program (Project) is likely to have significant impacts on water quality, air quality, and managed by the Maryland National Capital Planning Commission, and downstream on Rock Creek Park.
The Maryland Department of Transportation – State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) and the Federal Highway Administration (Agencies) have indicated they will soon make available for public comment the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Project. This DEIS will describe the proposed action’s impacts on the environment as well as the impacts of alternatives and plans to mitigate the impacts. The document also will describe the environmental analysis conducted on the impacts of construction and operation of the new roadway. It is critical that the public have an adequate opportunity to meaningfully review the DEIS and submit comments to ensure that the Agencies’ analysis is complete and fairly considers all the options for the Project.
We believe that allowing sufficient time for a well-considered review and thorough comments on the DEIS will lead to better evaluations, a more efficient process, and solutions that protect environmental resources, including Rock Creek. Due to the evolving situation with COVID-19, it is even more imperative that the public be given sufficient time to submit comments on the DEIS. Over the last few months, several of the undersigned organizations have submitted Freedom of Information Act and Maryland Public Information Act requests to the Agencies, the
timely fulfillment of which would have assisted our reviews of the DEIS. These requests were denied, ignored, or delayed.
The Project is one of the largest of its type ever proposed, expected to cost billions of dollars, and have significant environmental impacts. We expect the DEIS and its dozens of appendices and corresponding data to be thousands of pages. In regular times, for a proposed action such as this, the Agencies should reach an agreement to provide a longer time period and if not, the lead agency should easily find good cause to provide an extended comment period beyond 60 days from publication in the federal register. See 23 U.S.C. § 139(g)(2)(A); 42 U.S.C. § 4370m–4(d). Not doing so would not allow for meaningful public review and comment.
These are not normal times. The emergency COVID-19 pandemic, and corresponding mandatory and voluntary restrictions, necessitate a longer public comment period. Like your agencies and other interested parties, our groups are working remotely while dealing with other responsibilities, generally without the use of office equipment such as printers for large files. Communications within our organizations, with members, and with others in the public that are interested in participating in the process are also delayed. The public’s ability to review and comment on the DEIS is currently hampered and requires more time than normal. Both of your agencies have recognized the difficulties caused by the pandemic. Both agencies have delayed providing electronic records in response to our public records requests (beyond statutory deadlines) based on asserted difficulties caused to the Agencies by the pandemic.1 It would be arbitrary for the Agencies to now deny the pandemic does not present good cause for a longer comment period.
We appreciate the Agencies’ commitment that the public comment period will extend beyond the minimum-required 45 days and that the Agencies desire to allow full participation by the public and interested stakeholders. Forty-five days, or anything close to that, is clearly not sufficient. The undersigned organizations therefore request that the Agencies provide at least 120 days for public comment on the DEIS. This amount of time is necessary with increased uncertainty over the ability to re-open safely in a way that will allow the public to view documents in a timely manner. This time frame is also consistent with other Environmental Impact Statement comment periods such as the Washington Union Station Expansion Project and the Farmington Resource Management Plan.
We look forward to your affirmative response to this request.
Respectfully submitted,
As an example, despite previously agreeing to provide non-exempt responsive records to one of our February 18 requests by April 30, MDOT SHA then requested that we “extend the 10-day period for providing a time and cost estimate, as well as the 30-day period for responding to your request, until 10 days after the date that [Maryland’s] state of emergency is lifted.” MDOT SHA stated: “Complying with the statutory timeframes of your PIA request at this time is not feasible given the state of emergency and recognized health risk that the coronavirus poses to all Marylanders, including State employees responsible for identifying, retrieving, and reviewing documents and responding to your request.” We still have not received any responsive records.
Signed by,
Jeanne Braha, Executive Director, Rock Creek Conservancy Josh Tulkin, Director, Sierra Club, Maryland Chapter
On behalf of the following organizations:
350 Montgomery County
Audubon Naturalist Society – Woodend, Chevy Chase, MD
Baltimore Tree Trust
Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group
Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church Environmental Justice Ministry
Central Maryland Transportation Alliance
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility
Citizens Against Beltway Expansion [CABE]
Cleanwater Linganore Inc
Climate Parents of Prince George’s County
Coalition for Smarter Growth
Conservation Montgomery
DontWiden270.org
DoTheMostGood Montgomery County
Forest Glen Citizens Association
Friends of Sligo Creek
Greenbelt Advocates for Environmental and Social Justice
Greenbelt Climate Action Network
Indian Spring Citizens Association
Indivisible Howard County
League of Women Voters of Maryland
Maryland Campaign for Environmental Human Rights
Maryland Legislative Coalition
National Parks Conservation Association
Neighbors of the Northwest Branch
North Hills of Sligo Creek Civic Association (NHSCCA)
Our Revolution Maryland
Parkwood
Preservation Maryland
Prince George’s County (MD) Peace & Justice Coalition
Rapid Shift
Regents Square Condominium (Rockville)
Rock Creek Conservancy
Rogue Tulips Consulting & Association Management
Sierra Club, Maryland Chapter
Takoma Park Mobilization
The Ocean Foundation
University Park Community Solar LLC
Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Wicomici Environmental Trust, Ltd.
West Montgomery County Citizens Association (WMCCA)
Woodside Forest Civic Association
cc: Linda Strozyk DeVuono, Office of the Attorney General, LDeVuono@mdot.maryland.gov