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Our View
Runaway train
We generally try to stay out of other counties’
business, but what has happened with
the new Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has many people in Rappahannock and Fauquier concerned—and we should be.
The former “smart growth” majority was voted out by heavily financed development interests and a miserably low turnout.
In its place, a six-member pro-development majority, has emerged, moving with a vengeance to bring back the 80,000 building lots the prior board had eliminated, and the sewer extensions they had voted not to build. And that’s just for starters.
They’ve also voted to change meeting procedures, leaving the “smart growth” board chairman—who was elected at large by the county, and was supposed to remain in charge—without any leadership role.
And from a regional standpoint, talk in Loudoun about the feared Western Transportation Corridor—also called “the Developers’ Highway”— has started up again. Such is the stuff of political payback.
This has led deeply concerned citizens to call for a special meeting with their state representatives to put the brakes on this runaway train. Good luck.
It seems remarkable that just last year, Loudoun Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge)— one of the three “smart growth” supervisors who now form the new minority—had appeared before both the Rappahannock and Fauquier boards of supervisors, outlining what a mess Loudoun had become after years of rampant growth. It wasn’t pretty then, and it’s going to get worse.
Closer to home, people are wondering what the impact of a pro-development board will have on our rural counties.
Some people feel that with more of Loudoun opened up for suburban sprawl, the pressure will be off Fauquier and Rappahannock at least in the short term. But when the big developers finish off Loudoun, where will they go next?
Are there any lessons to be learned?
Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that when regular citizens fail to exercise their right to vote, the outcome of elec
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