Half-Witted Logic That Fairfax County Will Likely Accept
As most readers know, the Macerich Co., owner of the Tysons Corner shopping mall, has proposed to withdraw part of its rezoning request to Fairfax County so that the impacts can be considered by the Tysons Corner Task Force, which was appointed by the BoS to plan Tysons Corner.
Opponents of the massive request that would add 3.5 M square feet of development to ring the existing mall have argued that it makes no sense for the Planning Commission and the BoS to consider the zoning changes until after the Task Force makes its recommendations. Nothing like prejudging a complicated set of policy decisions. It only makes sense for the Task Force to develop a proposal for all of Tysons Corner and for such a plan to go through the public review and approval process before ANY zoning decisions are made. What if the Task Force were to decide that Tysons Corner were already overdeveloped, such that adding 3.5 M square feet of new condos, offices and a hotel would was simply too much?
The Macerich group has decided to withdraw consideration of the the last two phases of a four-phase proposal until after the Task Force finishes its work. That would still propose about 2.5 M square feet to be approved before the county figures out what changes, if any, should be made to the Comprehensive Plan for Tysons. Duh!
It is totally illogical to split the "baby" in half so to speak. This is no compromise. We need to let the Task Force complete its work and make its recommendation to the BoS and the residents of Fairfax County before the Planning Commission decides anything about upzoning requests for Tysons. The logic does not support splitting the baby. Macerich's argument is half-witted and flawed. It should be rejected out of hand. However, this is Fairfax County where campaign contributions speak lounder than facts and analysis. Here's betting the Planning Commission approves Macerich's "half-a-baby" proposal. But then no one would ever confuse anyone on the Fairfax County Planning Commission or the BoS for King Solomon.
Opponents of the massive request that would add 3.5 M square feet of development to ring the existing mall have argued that it makes no sense for the Planning Commission and the BoS to consider the zoning changes until after the Task Force makes its recommendations. Nothing like prejudging a complicated set of policy decisions. It only makes sense for the Task Force to develop a proposal for all of Tysons Corner and for such a plan to go through the public review and approval process before ANY zoning decisions are made. What if the Task Force were to decide that Tysons Corner were already overdeveloped, such that adding 3.5 M square feet of new condos, offices and a hotel would was simply too much?
The Macerich group has decided to withdraw consideration of the the last two phases of a four-phase proposal until after the Task Force finishes its work. That would still propose about 2.5 M square feet to be approved before the county figures out what changes, if any, should be made to the Comprehensive Plan for Tysons. Duh!
It is totally illogical to split the "baby" in half so to speak. This is no compromise. We need to let the Task Force complete its work and make its recommendation to the BoS and the residents of Fairfax County before the Planning Commission decides anything about upzoning requests for Tysons. The logic does not support splitting the baby. Macerich's argument is half-witted and flawed. It should be rejected out of hand. However, this is Fairfax County where campaign contributions speak lounder than facts and analysis. Here's betting the Planning Commission approves Macerich's "half-a-baby" proposal. But then no one would ever confuse anyone on the Fairfax County Planning Commission or the BoS for King Solomon.
posted by Toomanytaxes at 3:28 PM
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