Balancing Act for Montgomery
Montgomery's Annual Growth Policy evolved during the 1980s when the major threat to the public interest was overdevelopment. The 1990s are different. Amendments to federal tax laws, the recession and changes in lending practices have combined to alter the real estate development environment dramatically. Montgomery County has lost approximately 20,000 jobs since 1990.</br></br>Business leaders and developers want certainty and stability. They want to know what they can do and when they can do it. They are upset that Montgomery's growth management policies make it difficult for them to compete in the regional marketplace.</br></br>Civic activists and environmentalists want to protect our quality of life, preserve neighborhoods and make sure growth does not outpace public facilities. They are concerned about sprawl development and say development does not pay for the costs of growth.</br></br>The Construction Excise Tax I sponsored to ensure a contribution by developers to pay for the costs of growth is widely disliked in the business community. Civic leaders who supported passage of this tax are upset that, because of the lingering recession, the council has delayed imposition of the tax.</br></br>This leaves the government with the worst of both worlds - we lose quality development projects, and we don't collect development taxes to fund needed transportation facilities. The answer is to allow planned growth where it serves our strategic goals - on the condition that the development tax is paid.