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Message from
Loudoun: prevent
‘runaway’ growth
By Hal Hunter
Special to the Rappahannock News
Loudoun County Supervisor Jim Burton will present an illustrated talk on “Loudoun County: A Case Study in Unbridled Growth” at the May 5 evening meeting of the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors.
This will not be the first time Supervisor Burton has given this talk. He has addressed elected officials and the general public in Winchester, Warren County, Page County, Frederick County, Shenandoah County, Clarke County and Jefferson County, WestVa.
He also will speak to the full Board of Supervisors of Shenandoah and Augusta counties later this spring.
“Tm willing to take our experiences here in Loudoun County anywhere I'm asked,” says Burton.
“In this way, perhaps, other counties can take preemptive steps to avoid the kind of runaway growth— with all its fiscal and social costs—Loudoun experienced.”
Burton’s presentation will tell this story:
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Loudoun’s supervisors approved several large residential projects. By 1995, Loudoun had a backlog of almost 50,000 approved but unbuilt residential units—units that could be built at any time.
This set the stage.
Residential permits for new construction increased from 2,500 in 1992 to 6,000 in 2000; the population more than doubled, from 90,000 in 1990 to more than 200,000 in 2001; and the student population grew at 10-12 percent per year from less than 15,000 in 1991 to more than 37,000 in 2003.
The costs of all this growth have been high:
• Financial costs: skyrocketing debt and increased property taxes;
• Social costs: constant school boundary changes, congestion, and future shock;
89.7%