RICHMOND,
VA – Virginia House of Delegates Speaker William
J. Howell (R-Stafford) today announced a
three-bill package of legislation that would
dramatically change Virginia’s approach to land
use.
If
enacted, the legislation would devolve greater
authority and control over roads within their
boundaries to qualified local governments that
participate as well as increase the tools
available to sensibly manage rapid residential
growth. It would also fundamentally transform the
Commonwealth’s current structure of
responsibility for local road maintenance,
creating a more cooperative partnership between
the Commonwealth and its localities.
The
bills, sponsored by Delegates Clifford L.
“Clay” Athey, Jr. (R-Front Royal), Jeffrey M.
Frederick (R-Prince William), and Robert G.
“Bob” Marshall (R-Prince William) are part of
a comprehensive package of House Republican
initiatives introduced for the ongoing General
Assembly special session on transportation that
concludes this week. Collectively, the bills
represent a much-needed modernization and overhaul
of Virginia’s approach to local road building,
which dates to the Byrd Road Act of 1932. In
addition to increasing the level of control
granted to localities over land use decisions,
House Republicans note that the legislation has
the potential to slow the growth of overall
expenditures on transportation maintenance.
“House
Republicans have long been committed to addressing
transportation creatively and comprehensively,”
remarked Speaker Howell. “Any plan to improve
transportation that ignores one of the root causes
of clogged roadways – namely, Virginia’s
70-plus-year-old government land use policies –
is inherently inadequate, shortsighted and flawed.
The Commonwealth can no longer afford to be timid
or piecemeal in targeting solutions toward this
aspect of the overall challenge. That is why our
forward-looking legislation for the first time
directly ties land use and transportation. I am
firmly behind this initiative to introduce
accountability and devolve management as part of a
sweeping and much-needed overhaul of Virginia’s
approach to land use policy.”
Delegate
Frederick’s legislation, HB
5093, would allow
local county governments to create new “urban
transportation service districts” and assume
responsibility for maintaining all secondary
(i.e., subdivision) roads. Localities that choose
to establish these districts would be allowed to
assess impact fees on land parcels outside the
district that previously have been rezoned for
by-right residential development. In addition, the
Commonwealth would give participating localities
road maintenance funds equal to the urban
allocation per lane mile for the area within the
district, as is the current practice with cities
and towns. If the maintenance of those roads costs
less than the amount given to the localities, they
would be allowed to spend the excess funds on any
transportation need. The Virginia Department of
Transportation (VDOT) also would negotiate the
transfer of surplus equipment to a participating
locality for the maintenance of the roads, and an
incentive would be provided to hire VDOT
employees.
Local
governments would have until 2009 to sign onto the
plan.
Delegate
Athey’s legislation, HB
5094, would require
every county to amend its already required
comprehensive plan to incorporate at least one
proposed urban development area, which must be
sufficient to satisfy a full decade of projected
residential growth. Development within the areas
would become eligible for inclusion within
adjacent urban transportation service districts.
This legislation would require localities to
thoughtfully, properly and proactively plan for
future development, eliminating the haphazard
“shotgun” approach that has resulted in uneven
sprawl and subsequent road congestion.
The
bill is intended to strike a better balance
between demand on transportation system capacity
and alternative settlement pattern.
Delegate
Marshall’s legislation, HB
5096, would end the
practice of taking additional subdivision streets
into the state secondary highway system after this
year, effective January 1, 2007. Currently, the
provisions in the Code of Virginia (Section
33.1-72.1) require VDOT to accept into the
Commonwealth’s secondary system any new roads
built according to state standards, regardless of
the impact such additions will have on the traffic
levels and operation of the surrounding primary
and secondary system roadways. In addition,
the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s current
regulations require only that one year’s worth
of maintenance costs be provided to VDOT to
compensate for these ongoing costs. Over the last
10 years, Virginia has added approximately 1,500
center-lane miles to the secondary system
maintained by the Commonwealth through VDOT. The
vast majority of these added new lane-miles were
the result of residential development approved by
local governments without any meaningful
coordination or consideration of the impact on the
state’s overall transportation network. This
legislation would require that localities, which
approve new subdivision developments, be made
responsible for the maintenance of the additional
secondary streets that they approve.
This
change would make local governments more
accountable and responsible for the potential
impact of their land use decisions on the
transportation system within their
boundaries.
“The
purpose of this transportation special session was
designed to bring new and innovative ideas to the
forefront,” noted Speaker Howell. “If we
continue to utilize 70-plus-year-old tools to
address today’s 21st Century challenges,
Virginia’s transportation system will only
worsen – regardless of how much we tax our
constituents or spend on our roads. If we want to
relieve congestion, we must address its root
causes, and not merely feed the problem by
attempting to pave over the unique character and
natural beauty of our Commonwealth.
“Our
proposals represent precisely the kind of
far-sighted, comprehensive thinking we envisioned
when calling this special session, and the right
approach we need to meet Virginia’s
transportation challenges going forward. I
congratulate Delegates Athey, Frederick and
Marshall for patroning these important bills, and
thank all those within our Majority Caucus and
outside the General Assembly who participated in
their development, review and advancement. Looking
ahead, I hope that those heretofore who have
placed their focus solely on increasing taxes,
spending more and building more will take note of
these bills, will find ‘common ground’ with
us, and will join House Republicans on working
towards their ultimate enactment for the benefit
of all Virginians.”
Today’s
land use overhaul announcement builds upon the
prior legislative accomplishments in the 2006
Regular Session, which were enacted because of the
initiative and leadership of House Republicans.
The following legislation became law on July 1,
2006: HB 1513 (Delegate Frederick) requires
localities to submit their comprehensive plans and
traffic impact statements to VDOT for input and
review on zoning decisions; HB 1521 (Delegate Bob
Marshall) promotes better managed growth by
requiring localities to include road and
transportation improvements when preparing their
comprehensive plans; HB 1506 (Delegate Athey)
expands the number of localities that may accept
cash proffers to those that have experienced a
population increase of more than 5%; and HB 1528
(Delegate Hamilton) requires localities to include
cost estimates of road and transportation
improvements in their comprehensive plans to
factor into their proffer collections.
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