At Toll-Lane Vote on 8/11, Peter Franchot must say ‘WAIT!’

Even if you’ve reached out to Comptroller Peter Franchot before, there are NEW reasons to do it again! You may have written him about the $4/mile peak tolls coming in 2026 and the loss of free lanes on I-270.

But do you want him to vote for a $50 million toll-lane contract without having the State’s Bond Counsel and Financial Advisor even examine it? Details below.

ACTION ITEM

Ahead of the August 11 Board of Public Works (BPW) vote on the toll-lane predevelopment agreement, urge Franchot – the swing vote on this issue – to insist on a delay of vote until the BPW and the public get the information they need.

• Call Franchot’s office at the BPW at 410-260-7801 and leave your message.

• Send an email to the entire BPW (Governor Hogan, Treasurer Nancy Kopp, and Franchot) at email.bpw@maryland.gov.

• For message ideas, see how Hogan prevented the State’s financial and legal experts from reviewing the toll-lane contract (below). Then check out this spot-on Q&A from our friends at the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition.

• If you’ve called or written Franchot before, please do it again! He needs to hear us.

The State Is Forging Ahead, Ignoring the Public Good

In the rush to a BPW vote on August 11, the Governor is doing an end run around our State’s own Treasurer, Nancy Kopp.

• The Treasurer was given 30 days to assess an overwhelming number of legal and financial documents and evaluate the risks and costs of the proposed $6 billion public private partnership (P3) agreement.

• But the Governor DENIED her request for $100,000 to get the input she needs from the State’s Bond Counsel and Financial Advisor – experts in analyzing and negotiating P3s like the one the BPW will vote on.

• Denying the Treasurer’s request is denying her and Comptroller Peter Franchot the ability to perform their due diligence and make an informed decision about the agreement by August 11.

• To fulfill his self-described duty as the State’s “fiscal watchdog,” Franchot must insist on delaying the vote until the financial and legal review is complete.

The State is also doing an end run around federal environmental mandates.

• The project’s environmental review has not been completed; the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) has not been issued. These are not pesky details.

• The FEIS is required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). So, too, is the State’s response to the nearly 3,000 unanswered public comments on the draft EIS submitted as part of the NEPA process.

• The Mayor and Council of Rockville, the city most at risk from this project, have received no answers to the many substantive questions and issues they raised in their comments submitted over eight months ago. Read the powerful new letter they just sent the BPW.

• If the predevelopment agreement is approved on August 11 and the project later fails the environmental review, Maryland taxpayers must pay a $50 million penalty to the private contractor.

• But if Franchot calls for a delay of vote until the results of the environmental review are known, that $50 million is not at risk. That alone should persuade Franchot to wait.

What if Franchot Ignores his Responsibilities and Votes ‘Yes’?

• Well, first – shame on any public official or politician who understands what’s in the predevelopment agreement and still supports it. And shame on any public official or politician who doesn’t understand what’s in it and blindly supports it anyway.

• Second, no need for despair. Even if the BPW approves the predevelopment agreement, this project will have to clear more hurdles: state and federal reviews, mandatory periods for public input, BPW votes, and – if needed – opportunities for litigation before the project can actually go forward.

Meanwhile, and for as long as it takes, we keep making our voices heard.

There’s Strength in Numbers: Help us Grow Our Mailing List

People who read our newsletters take action, and our elected officials take notice! Help spread the word about what we can do to safeguard our environment and promote healthy, efficient, and fair transportation options. Tell your friends and neighbors they can join our newsletter email list by going to https://dontwiden270.org/get-involved and checking the "keep me informed" box. Our website is https://dontwiden270.org.

Help Spread the Word

Hopefully you have already written to the Board of Public Works. If not, please do so. Here is a direct link you can use.

ACTION ITEM

We need greater numbers! Please spread the message below to YOUR contacts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Nextdoor, email, and any other way you communicate!

More people need to hear the TRUTH, instead of Governor Hogan’s lies and false promises.

THE MESSAGE TO SHARE WITH YOUR CONTACTS

Thanks for joining in the discussion on the 270-widening, P3 toll lane, massive wreck-in-the-making. A key point in this debate that’s often overlooked is what the tolls will actually be, and how many commuters will be forced to pay or sit in stop-and-go traffic.

According to Maryland Department of Transportation documents, the peak toll rates (i.e., when traffic is most congested and you’re most tempted to use those lanes) will exceed $4 per mile in 2026. That could add up to $50 each way to commute from Gaithersburg to Tyson’s Corner. In order for the private toll road company to profit from this venture, it’s necessary (and this is the plan) to reduce the number of free lanes and actually fuel congestion so enough people will choose to pay the tolls.

You’ll be horrified if you read the letter from the toll company to the Maryland Transportation Authority trying to justify even higher toll rates. Unfortunately what the governor has been saying – that all free lanes remain free – is simply not true.

The decision to move ahead with this inequitable plan, or stop it, rests with Maryland’s Board of Public Works (BPW). The BPW consists of Gov. Hogan, who is playing every trick in the book to move the plan forward, Maryland Treasurer Nancy Kopp, who wisely has opposed it in the past, and Peter Franchot, the swing vote and the state’s Comptroller, who is running for Governor and reading the tea leaves to decide which way to go.

Please use this URL to register your opposition to the plan with the BPW.

Go to Don’t Widen 270.org, where you can learn a lot more details. The BPW may vote on this as soon as their August 11 meeting. Please weigh in immediately. Thank you.

Fwd: Beltway/I-270 toll lane fight — this isn't the end

This email is being forwarded with permission from The Coalition for Smarter Growth.

------- Forwarded Message -------- 

Subject: Beltway/I-270 toll lane fight — this isn't the end 

Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2021 15:18:09 -0400 

We're disappointed, but we can't give up

Today, the regional Transportation Planning Board (TPB) voted to keep Governor Hogan's proposed expansion of I-495 and I-270 with four private toll lanes in the long-range transportation plan. We are very disappointed by this outcome, given the serious flaws in Maryland's study. View our full press release statement here.

This was a re-vote — the TPB previously voted on June 16th to remove the toll lanes from the long-range transportation plan, meaning that the project could not receive federal approval. The changed vote is due in part to a last-minute pivot by Montgomery County Councilmembers Hans Riemer, Andrew Friedson, Nancy Navarro, Gabe Albornoz, and Craig Rice. In the end, Montgomery County Council, Prince George's County Council, and the Prince George's County Executive flipped to support the toll lane expansion, along with the City of Fairfax, City of Alexandria, and Arlington County.

Governor Hogan successfully used strong-arm tactics to threaten local officials with cuts to other projects (even though he wasn't funding many of these as it is!) and by promising Montgomery County to fund the design (not construction) of local transit projects, such as the Corridor Cities Transitway and MD-355 bus rapid transit projects. While these are important transit projects, there is no commitment to fund construction, and it's not worth taking one step forward on transportation while also taking a huge step backward.

To be clear, we agree that we need to address the Beltway and I-270, but the process has been distorted from the beginning because of the power of the toll road companies and Governor Hogan starting with the conclusion first and failing to objectively consider alternatives.

Evaluation of alternatives is particularly important because the highway expansion will harm hundreds of acres of parkland, wetlands, and waterways, as well as lead to more noise, air pollution, stormwater runoff, and greenhouse gas emissions.

But this isn't the end of the fight.

The next decision point is at Maryland's three-person Board of Public Works, where Comptroller Peter Franchot is the key swing vote. The vote on the project's predevelopment contract is likely to take place either at the end of this month or in early August — before the final environmental impact statement has been completed.

Email Maryland's Board of Public Works today!

If the pre-development agreement is approved, the state will be on the hook to reimburse the private project developers up to $50 million taxpayer dollars if the project does not receive federal approval or is canceled for other reasons.

We believe that good government demands that members of the Board of Public Works and the public should know the full fiscal, environmental, and social risks of this project by completing the environmental impact study before the BPW votes — certainly before locking Maryland into a long-term, exclusive contract.

This project isn't worth the high cost to parks, streams, neighborhoods, taxpayers, and drivers. Instead of investing in transit-oriented communities — especially in Prince George’s County — it condemns residents of the east side of our region to forever having more costly, long commutes. Read more in CSG's executive director's op-ed in the Baltimore Sun.

In conclusion, use this form to tell the Maryland Board of Public Works to reject the predevelopment agreement and go back to the drawing board for more sustainable solutions!

Thanks for all you do,

Jane Lyons

Maryland Advocacy Manager

Coalition for Smarter Growth