A decade ago Virginia's Loudoun County, tucked 25 miles from Washington, D.C., at the West Virginia border, was best known for its pastoral horse country and gracious farms. Today it's the poster child for development run amok.
"Run amok"? Hardly. Fast, yes, but as the author notes below, that's primarily due to the booming economy. If development had run truly amok then Loudoun would have a housing surplus and the values of existing homes would not have increased 25-30% per year for the last several years. Anyone who had taken Econ 101 would understand that.
Just ask Juan Bocher, whose commute to his job just outside Washington has gone from 30 minutes to nearly 90. "It's gone from bad to worse, and there's no end in sight," he says.
So find a job closer to home. I did. Instead of going from Sterling to DC every day I go from Sterling to Chantilly. It takes 20 minutes each way even at the height of rushhour, I pay no tolls (I HATE THE TOLL ROAD), and I don't have to deal with HOV restrictions. I also took a pay cut when I changed jobs, but my net income went up because my commuting costs decreased. There are plenty of big-name companies paying big salaries in Chantilly, Herndon, Reston, Fairfax, etc. In fact, many are moving out of DC to Fairfax and Loudoun Counties because commercial rental rates are lower, and to be closer to where their workforces live.
Or Nancy Meissner, who lives in what remains of rural Loudoun County, where McMansion-style subdivisions are being built with septic tanks because there are no water lines. "This awful sludge is bubbling out of the ground," she says. "And these are the new septic systems that are already failing!"
With regular maintenance a septic system will last for decades. If they are failing then the builder didn't install them properly or the owners failed to get regular pump-outs.
The hypergrowth has political ramifications, too. Last fall, traditional Republican strongholds like Loudoun County and other Virginia exurbs voted for Tim Kaine, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who won on a platform of controlled growth and traffic management.
"It is unusual that Kaine won in all of the traditionally Republican exurbs," says Larry Sabato of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "The obvious lesson for politicians is to pay attention to how much development people can tolerate. It's limited."
It also doesn't help that the Loudoun County Republican Committee leadership was AWOL last year. Between Potts siphoning off votes in the western half of the county, and the District Chairs in the east having to be talked into staying on b/c their morale was in the toilet due to internal problems, there was very little done at the grassroots level to get out the vote.
Also, President Bush carried Loudoun by six points in 2004. The Republicans lost the Governor's race by six points in 2005. A Party doesn't lose 12 points worth of voter support in 12 months due to growth. There were many other factors in play, most of them internal to the Party.
Loudoun County's growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. Spurred by the Washington area's boom in high-tech and government jobs, along with the search for affordable housing in Washington's sizzling real estate market, its population has tripled in 15 years.
Translation: booming economies = growth. The only way to stop the growth is to slow down the local economy, which isn't going to happen. There are reports now that the Federal government is going to add 80,000 additional jobs to the region in the next few years. Those people - and the people who will move in to provide services to them - will all have to live somewhere. If they don't move into Loudoun, they'll go to Clark and Fauquier Counties and travel through Loudoun on their way to and from work.
But lately, "the outcry to do something about the growth has been a lot louder" than the outcry for property rights, says Jim Burton, who sits on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. "The great American dream is turning into the great American nightmare."
Jim Burton represents Middleburg. Think "hunt country" and very old money. This area is in no danger from rampant development because the folks who live there can afford to maintain their large estates. More power to them. I wish I could afford one!
After years of political battles, Loudoun officials last spring drew up a zoning plan with input from experts like Downs, which would have limited development in rural parts of the county and encouraged denser, mixed-use, mixed-income growth in the developed parts. The Supreme Court of Virginia threw out the plan, on a technicality, and county planners hope the plan will be approved this year after a rewrite.
Meanwhile, development is "nearly a free-for-all," says county planner Julie Pastor, as builders rush to start projects before regulations are in place.
That's where other communities on the fast-growth path should watch and learn, says Mr. DeFrancia. "The lesson to be learned is to put in a master plan and rigidly adhere to it."
Under the current "master plan" developers can and do build communities "by right", which means no proffers to the county for such trivialities as parks, libraries, school sites, and road improvements to handle the subsequent increases in population. It's because of the proposed re-write - and the zoning in the proposed plan - that the landowners and developers are rushing to platte their properties now. They don't have to break ground for years once the platte is approved, and when the time comes to break ground in five, ten, or twenty years Loudoun County officials won't be able to stop them.
Totally unmentioned is the fact that the farmers who are selling up and moving out are doing so because they're aging, farming is hard work and their children aren't interested in pursuing it, and it doesn't pay the bills. These people don't have IRA's and 401k plans, and they can't afford to keep farming at a loss year after year. The equity in their land is their retirement plan, and right now only the developers can afford to purchase the land.
I've lived here in Loudoun almost all of my life. I remember when Route 7 was a single lane in each direction. I used to hunt deer where Ashburn Farms is now. Yes, the growth has been tremendous but not out of control. It's just not what many people here want.
On the issue of Loudoun going to Kaine... well, I was in the thick of that and I'll just say that Loudoun went to Kaine because Kilgore picked some very poor people to work his campaign. I posted an email on FR that was sent out by Mr. Ken Hutcheson to one of the core support groups for the Republicans. It was one of the most offensive pieces of email I've ever seen from any political entity.
Also, as was mentioned, the LCRC leadership was a serious issue. Some with irrational personal hatreds withheld sending vital information out in a timely manner (and still do... I'm waiting now to see when a communication goes out that was requested over the weekend). All of this contributed to not only Kaine winning but to losing Delegate Dick Black.
Anyway, I digress. Loudoun has always been home to me but as of late, I find myself tiring of the political BS and the back stabbing. Loudoun has been and will remain a conservative area for a long time. The key is to not piss your base off and to make sure that the voters come out to the polls.
As for the traffic, It'll never get better. Loudoun is a high job area and is strategically located for businesses and travel. No matter what road improvements go in, it'll just keep getting worse.
My advise is if you don't like it, don't move here or just move out. That is what I'm doing.
Mike