The Largest Whole Foods Market In The Region (Arlington, Bailey's Crossroads: live, restaurants)

[FCNova]

This is a waste. There already is a Wholefoods very close to Tysons off route 7. And I drive right past it and go to the Trader Joes across the street. Tysons when you open up a Wegmans you'll have my attention.

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by FCNova

This is a waste. There already is a Wholefoods very close to Tysons off route 7. And I drive right past it and go to the Trader Joes across the street. Tysons when you open up a Wegmans you'll have my attention.

They tried

Deal to bring Wegmans to Tysons falls apart - The Washington Post

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

They tried

Deal to bring Wegmans to Tysons falls apart - The Washington Post

Son of a!!

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

I will share this with my supervisor. The Tyson's plan is much better. We deserve a plan that is more like this.

I am tired of solely funding improvements in Tysons and McLean with my tax dollars while other parts of the county go to hell. We residents of other districts get very little in return for our tax expenditures - maybe the least that we could get is a decently written comprehensive plan.

You are funding what now? What improvements in Tysons are you funding? We specifically had to have a massive tax increase on our properties because of this sentiment. 90% of all funds for improvements in Tysons comes from Tysons new tax. 10% of funds come from outside, but then again 10% of the taxes generated in Tysons also go to other areas like Route 7 widening. So I'm not sure where you get the idea you are the one paying for anything. We in Tysons are being over burdened beyond anything anyone else in Fairfax is paying to get these done.

If other areas need public improvements, I'd suggest they follow Tysons lead and set up their own tax district, cause neither the state nor the county is going to provide any area with additional funds.

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

You are funding what now? What improvements in Tysons are you funding? We specifically had to have a massive tax increase on our properties because of this sentiment. 90% of all funds for improvements in Tysons comes from Tysons new tax. 10% of funds come from outside, but then again 10% of the taxes generated in Tysons also go to other areas like Route 7 widening. So I'm not sure where you get the idea you are the one paying for anything. We in Tysons are being over burdened beyond anything anyone else in Fairfax is paying to get these done.

The metro and other transportation improvements? Thankfully it is more being funded by the DTR, but the county and state did chip in a significant portion. You know what kind of transportation upgrades everyone else is getting - let's take for example the dense enough corridor that I live in, that could probably realistically support more public transportation options? None. At all. Road widening here and there, but that just sucks.

Also funding things like the creation of a comprehensive plan that isn't complete garbage. I had no idea that the Tyson's plan wasn't so wishy-washy.


Of the $3.1 billion required for road and transit improvements during the next 40 years, county officials say the needs fall into four categories:


Grid of Streets ($865,000,000): This local street grid will allow pedestrians and bicyclists to get around Tysons more easily, and it will help to move traffic through Tysons. This grid will be paid for entirely by developers. Of the total estimated cost, $304 million will come from the Grid of Streets Transportation Fund and the remainder from in-kind contributions.

Neighborhood and Access Improvements ($77,000,000): They include sidewalks, trails and bicycle facilities that improve access to the four Metro stations in Tysons, as previously identified by the Tysons Metrorail Station Access Study. Intersection improvements also are needed within Tysons, as well as near Tysons. These improvements will be publicly funded by the county.

Transit ($953,000,000): This includes expanded local and regional bus routes and a circulator that will move people between Metro stations and beyond walking distance of these stations. These improvements will be publicly funded by the county.


Tysons-Wide Road Improvements ($1,226,000,000): These are larger projects, such as new ramps, new roads, and widening existing roads. Landowners will pay an estimated $506 million for projects within Tysons. Half this amount will come from the new service district and the other half from the developers as they pay into the new Tysons-Wide Transportation Fund.

I'm not anti-tysons, and I really like what they are doing, and they are going in a great direction, I'm just anti other areas being told that they just have to deal with fast food mini-marts being constructed in large numbers, while serious money and effort is poured into one relatively small land mass, to make sure that the same doesn't happen there. The chips are not just falling where they may; this is all very deliberate and political on the part of the local government. No, I don't expect a Whole Foods to plop itself next to my house just because, but there are certainly cities and local governments that have taken a heavy handed approach to ensuring that drive-thru fast marts are not multiplying.

And yes, $953 million over 40 years is chump change, but its something.

And seriously? Tysons Service District - This special tax district operates on a levy of $0.050 per $100 of assessed value on all properties located in the district.

That's more than worth it for the value that Tysons property owners are getting from county investments. Property owners in Tysons and adjacent area are going to make out like bandits even with these special tax increases.

[Old Guard]

I also am not anti-Tyson's. As a matter of fact if it succeeds it will make my life better in many ways.

But it is not NOVA's downtown or even Fairfax's downtown. When it is you will not have to state it in conversations about Whole Foods. It may be considered downtown at some point yes, but the Redskins may win a Superbowl or two before than too....

[tysonsengineer]

But Tysons generates (beyond the special taxes) more than $953 million in revenue for the state and county in 10 years, let alone 40. It's not like the regular taxes of Tysons businesses and residents dont still go to the overall coffers. So whatever money we get back in Tysons is more than already being funded back to the system, and then beyond that the majority of the changes are being paid for specifically with a separate tax. That's why Tysons gets called the engine of Fairfax, because its why the balance sheets work at the end of the day.

I get what you are saying, and I actually agree, we need to invest more in other areas like Route 1, like central Fairfax, and a lot of other areas, but the reason why those areas stay stagnant isn't because of lack of funds, it's because of neighborhood opposition.

For example, see the massive opposition to a fairly simple project in Baileys that has been shot down several times now. A lot of people want to keep the "suburban neighborhood" so that is why so much construction and development occurs in areas that don't have that opposition. Tysons has no such opposition (only conflict comes from the surround SFH areas like McLean and Vienna), but in terms of opposition in Tysons most residents are happy to see new development; that is why more development keeps happening.

I will give you that the SV was built with a lot of public funds, but it was also a 20+ year process to secure a lot of that, and as you note took a trading of the DTR tolls to do so. It would be almost impossible to replicate that anywhere else in the region because there is no MWAA equivalent or existing toll road that generates the type of revenue to be able to get the bonds necessary to do so. In 20 years, there might be another place like that (perhaps Fair Lakes area or Route 1 corridor) but right now the density isn't there, and therefore no offset can be created to back bonds.

[tysonsengineer]

Originally Posted by Old Guard

I also am not anti-Tyson's. As a matter of fact if it succeeds it will make my life better in many ways.

But it is not NOVA's downtown or even Fairfax's downtown. When it is you will not have to state it in conversations about Whole Foods. It may be considered downtown at some point yes, but the Redskins may win a Superbowl or two before than too....

We understand. You are arguing semantics. Let's just say its a place with 106,000 jobs, generating by far the most tax revenue of any equivalent size land in Fairfax, the most fortune 500 headquarters per square mile in the DC area, more tech companies per square mile in the DC area, and the largest amalgam of construction in Fairfax. Those are all objective statements about Tysons. Whether you want to say its a downtown is meaningless.

[austindoxie1972]

Originally Posted by fcyolo

Arlington is just a restroom stop if you are traveling to DC.

What is this "Arlington" you speak of?

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

We understand. You are arguing semantics. Let's just say its a place with 106,000 jobs, generating by far the most tax revenue of any equivalent size land in Fairfax, the most fortune 500 headquarters per square mile in the DC area, more tech companies per square mile in the DC area, and the largest amalgam of construction in Fairfax. Those are all objective statements about Tysons. Whether you want to say its a downtown is meaningless.

LOL. I am not sure the circles you travel in. But I know for a fact that of the many people I speak with every day that if I asked them where NOVA's downtown was nobody would say Tyson's. That is what matters.

Nationally Tyson's is in a suburb of Washington DC which is part of Northern, VA.

Where would you say Downtown Tyson's is? Like you are sitting around with your friends and say "Hey let's go downtown". Where exactly is that?