DRAFT Vision Statement

The county, sector and individual TOD visions make a lot of sense. The goals are laudable and compelling. However, some aspects of the status quo will make it difficult or impossible to achieve these goals and visions. In particular, the county has certain tools for realizing these visions. First, is the provision of public infrastructure to facilitate desired development. The high-quality transit in this area is just one example. But, if infrastructure is well-designed and well-implemented, land prices nearby (such as around the Metro stations) will increase. This makes development (particularly affordable development) difficult. Sometimes, high land prices will chase development to cheaper, but more remote sites. People move into these remote developments only to discover that they lack the infrastructure they desire. If infrastructure is extended to these remote areas, land prices rise and the cycle begins again. The sprawl that results is bad for the environment. It's also bad for taxpayers who must fund the wasteful duplication of expensive infrastructure systems at the urban fringe. A second tool is zoning. Thus, land near a Metrorail station might be zoned for greater density. If more residents/businesses can share this expensive land, then the per capita or per business costs go down and it becomes more affordable. Unfortunately, when zoning density is increased, land values/prices go up even more, defeating the objective of creating more affordability. We know the cause for this conundrum. As mentioned, public actions (like investment in infrastructure or increases in zoning density) cause nearby land values to rise. The ability of private landowners to appropriate the lion's share of this publicly-created land value is the fuel for land speculation. Land speculation is buying land not to develop it, but simply to hold it for future appreciation. Thus speculation is a parasitic activity. It creates nothing of value and attempts to siphon off value created by others. It creates artificial scarcities of developable land, particularly at prime locations -- driving up land prices even more. Fortunately, some communities are employing an effective remedy to this conundrum. They are returning publicly-created land values to the communities that created them. This reduces the profit from land speculation and leads to lower land prices. Simultaneously, land value return provides justifiable and sustainable funding for public goods and services. Land value return can be accomplished in several ways. One way involves reducing the property tax rate applied to privately-created building values while increasing the tax rate applied to publicly-created land values. The lower rate applied to buildings makes them cheaper to construct, improve and maintain over their useful lives. Surprisingly, the higher rate applied to land values helps keep land prices lower by reducing the profits from land speculation. Thus, without new spending or revenue loss, this Tax Shift can make both buildings and land more affordable. As a bonus, it compells development of high-value sites. High value sites are typically infill sites near urban infrastructure amenities like Metro stations. In conclusion, great infrastructure investments and up-zoning for TOD often increase land prices to the point where TOD (and particularly affordable TOD) becomes impossible. However, if infrastructure investments and upzoning are accompanied by a land value return Tax Shift, development is drawn towards the Metro station areas and that development becomes more affordable. Also, by locating more development at existing transit stations, remote locations can be preserved for agriculture, recreation and conservation. And, reducing sprawl benefits both the environment and taxpayers. Please contact me if you desire more information.

add "walkable and bikable to Downtown Largo and along the Blue Line Corridor to the District line. Frequent, reliable bus service should also connect Morgan Metro to the corridor." Walk and bike connections, and low-speed complete streets, and better local bus transit should be given greater emphasis to help tie together Downtown Largo to Morgan and the rest of the Blue Line Corridor.

After "hubs" add: "and major roadways to" Thus it read: "it smoothly transitions between bustling Metro hubs and major roadway corridors to serene, established neighborhoods." This change recognizes some potential for land uses other than quiet lower scale residential zones on major thoroughfares like MD 214 in between Metro stations. While most non-residential uses should be focused in hubs around Metro stations, some mixed use and multifamily uses could be appropriate along major corridors with bus service like MD 214.

Change "the" premier gateway to "a" premier gateway, as there are gateways to the county along multiple transit corridors and from multiple population centers.

Add language to be clear that peds and cyclists "of all ages and abilities" can walk and bike safely and comfortably. I.e., the area should provide a inclusively accessible and low stress walking and biking experience (inclusive of assisted mobility).

It probably makes sense to separate the Morgan Boulevard Metro Station Local Transit Center from the FedEx Field subarea. They are a mile apart, after all. The FexEx Field subarea also be characterized as a Local Town Center, as it currently more than 3/4-mile away from any Metro station. The FedEx Town Center could reasonably have a sports and entertainment focus, regardless of whether the Commanders remain.

I'm not sure why sports and entertainment should be a primary focus for this Metro station area--especially with FedEx Field and the Sports & Learning Complex a mile down the street. Morgan Blvd would be ideal for large employers (public or private), like an Amazon HQ2 or a federal or state agency. Also, this would be an obvious area for including higher-rise multifamily residential uses. Morgan Boulevard should be a "downtown-adjacent" type of station area, similar to a DuPont Circle.

The above vision is a great start. We should also add that this station area could accommodate suite-style hotels (catering to tourists and business travelers alike), a public library, and limited Class A office space for smaller businesses.

The vision should use the term walkable urban *neighborhood*, rather than walkable urban *small town". No area near a Metro station should be a small town. Additionally, the vision for this center should include specific mention of urbanizing and densifying the areas in between Old Central Ave and the Metro station/East Capitol St. The vision should also encourage a secondary walkable mixed-use main street area along Old Central Avenue.

One significantly missing component of the draft vision is the creation of a more diverse and more dense array of housing options throughout the corridor and particularly within a half-mile of Metro. Plan 2035 and the Subregion 4 Master Plan stress the need for providing more multifamily housing within a mile of transit, particularly for young professionals and seniors.

We should make this a 2040 vision, not 2050.

2050 seems to be too long a time horizon for growth and development. Perhaps the sector plan should have a 15-year horizon, with 5-year benchmarks.

Overall, the vision sounds conceptually great. Please ensure that all plans consider the safety and usability of common facilities for senior citizens.

The community input for Morgan Boulevard never indicated a desire "regional" "sports focused". It's unclear why this is in the vision. Also, given the vision for Prince Georges mentions the term "green" it is beyond disappointing that the existing conditions analysis didn't take note of the existing large developed green spaces consisting Hill Road park that sits directly above Morgan Boulevard station, or nearby Summerfield Park and an extensive developed trail network that surrounds the former DoD FH1 complex. Why are these green spaces not mentioned in support of County larger vision?

The community input for Morgan Boulevard never indicated a desire "regional" "sports focused". It's unclear why this is in the vision.