FAIRFAX COUNTY TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMISSION
MEETING SUMMARY

Regular Meeting – July 17, 2007
7:15 PM - Room 8, Government Center

TAC Members in attendance: George Barker, Eric Thiel, Jenifer Joy Madden, Jeff Parnes, Brian Deery, Roger Hoskin, Harry Zimmerman

Others in Attendance:  Fairfax County DOT staff: Calvin Lam, Bob Owolabi, and Tom Biesiadny.    The meeting was called to order at 7:29 PM; approved prior meeting minutes

Main Topics Discussed

Board Referrals:
None

Main Topics:

NVTA & Related Topics:  Tom Biesiadny of FCDOT presented NVTA and HB3202 status and project information. 

NVTA was created in July 2002 for management of sales tax revenue.  Since then it has developed long range transportation plans for the metro area.  The “2030” plan has been approved by all nine local jurisdictions, but will clearly need more funding than currently allocated to meet all of the plan’s goals.  Implementation of the full plan should reduce “stop and go” traffic by 2/3, but requires approximately $17B more than the Constrained Long Range Plan (CLRP) funding.  CLRP funding levels produce traffic congestion that is projected to be worse than today’s congestion levels. 

HB3202 was approved on April 4, 2007 and funds the NVTA.  Multiple tax and fee structures are used to generate revenue for the NVTA.  This currently is projected to produce $400M/year; this is significantly below the $700M/year projected need. 

Forty percent (40%) of NVTA funding goes directly to the local jurisdictions. 

The NVTA structure and near term actions were discussed.  Particular attention was paid to expected legal challenge aka “Bond Validation Suit”.  This case is expected to receive high priority treatment from the legal system and could be resolved in 2007.  There was also discussion of the abusive driver fees.

Harry Zimmerman asked about the need for bonds to fund various projects.  Tom Biesiadny noted that the primary use for the bonds was to accelerate projects that are already approved and just waiting for funding.  He also noted that bonds are a small component of the overall transportation funding structure. 

Tyson’s Plan Status:  There was a discussion of Tyson’s planning and a public hearing.  Materials from the hearing were reviewed including graphics of various public, traffic lanes, and open spaces. 

Upcoming Agendas The September meeting will feature a presentation by Kathy Ichter.   

Announcements: None

Meeting Adjourned The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm