A train killed two Metro employees last November and fires crippled the subway system last month. A new report from a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority task force suggests the agency’s dangerous incompetence extends above ground as well.
The task force, appointed by WMATA’s former interim director Dan Tangherlini, studied why land Metro owns around train and subway stations remains underdeveloped.
“If you think about it, that’s expensive real estate because it’s right at a rapid transit station,” task force chairman Gus Bauman said. Ideally, WMATA would rent land to developers interested in the high-value land, although he admitted the process is complicated.
If the area around every Metro station were as built-up as the areas around Arlington stations, the city would experience economic growth and Metro would make money, too. Instead, the city suffers increased traffic and lost job opportunities while land in economically-depressed areas that would benefit from higher-density development lies fallow. The task force found that WMATA and Metro policies discourage development.
“Built-in conflicts within and among WMATA offices and between WMATA offices and developers and outside agencies obstruct timely decision-making,” the report said. The official report is expected to be released in the fall.
Each WMATA site have averaged 2.1 proposals from developers over the last three years.
Metro’s ineffective land marketing is surprising because taking advantage of the land would be beneficial. Metro is so desperate for money it’s considering reducing already limited subway operating hours.
The WMATA press office did not respond to inquiries by press time.
Matching the demands of different jurisdictions with those of federal authorities and real estate developers is difficult but not impossible. The task force found these obstacles can easily be reduced through better communication and a clearer presentation of WMATA’s role. It recommended new project teams and a position devoted to resolving interdepartmental disputes.
To his credit, Metro’s new general manager John Catoe has embraced the report, Bauman said. He also fired most of the real estate office’s staff, according to The Washington Post.
Catoe should continue his reforms and endorse the task force’s reasonable recommendations. The land around Metro stations presents a simple, apolitical opportunity for Washington to better itself. It will be inexcusable if the city loses this prospect due to bureaucratic confusion.
