Board to Hear Metro Parking Proposal

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will consider an unsolicited proposal Tuesday night for two parking structures and related facilities to support the Route 772 Metro Station, a plan staff is recommending the board reject and instead put out a Request For Proposal (RFP) to solicit offers.

Board documents from its staff indicate that the proposal for 3,000 spaces across two parking structures at the future station were filed by Comstock Partners under the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002. But parking structures don't qualify, county staff wrote, and should be filed under the Public Private Transportation Act instead.

Under the PPEA, the firm or group proposing the project must also be the organization witth whom the county contracts, staff wrote. In Comstock's proposal, a firm named CLS Parking, LC would be "created as a single purpose entity to function as the firm responsible for development of the project ... the developer in the traditional sense, and will contract for design and construction services directly with third-party team members.” 

Comstock has already begun developing two mixed-used developments along the Silver Line, one in Reston and the other near the rail's extension past Dulles. It submitted its most recent proposal to the board July 19.

Loudoun County's board is under a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Association (WMATA), Fairfax County, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) about the Dulles Metrorail Project, which charges the board to "use its best efforts to secure additional funding sources that will be sufficient to fund the cost of the design and construction the parking facility at the Route 606 Station and the two parking facilities at the Route 772 Station."

If the county can't secure funding, according to the agreement, a private sector partner or the state would have to agree to back the cost or find a financing option that does not depend on local tax funding support. Or, the garages would be put back in the Dulles Metrorail Project's hands.

Comstock's proposal would add two structures, one directly north of the station and one on the south side of the Greenway on property proffered by the Moorefield Station Development. It would also build a bridge over the Greenway and fund the completion of a road network that connects Metro facilities to local streets. 

It proposed leasing the Moorefield site to Comstock for a year, during which Comstock would have development rights that include the right to the same density regulations on both sites. 

Among other parts of the company's proposal, according to county documents:

• Comstock would own, operate and maintain the parking garages. 
• Parking spaces would be made available for Metro use, and parking spaces may be used for non-Metro parking outside of commuter hours. 
• The county would create a CDA (Community Development Authority) comprised of the Moorefield proffered property and Loudoun Station, which would, anong other things, issue bonds to finance infrastructure improvements
• The county will share in parking income after expenses, reserves and debt service. 

The board's meeting begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Loudoun County Government Center.