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By Dominic Bonaiuto
dbonaiuto@timespapers.com
A Republican, an Independent and a Democrat walk into a room...
No, seriously. It’s not a joke.
The board chairmen of the region’s big three counties— Democrat Gerry Connolly from Fairfax, Independent Scott York hum Loudoun and Republican Sean Connaughton from Prince William—sat down for more than an hour last week with Times editors and reporters to talk about their growing pains and the stress being put on local governments.
What became evident during the discussion is that the counties, regardless of inner versus outer suburb distinctions, face similar challenges, and their elected leaders feel limited in their abilities to deal with them.
Like the rest of the region, each county has experienced transformative growth over the years.
Fairfax, once a bedroom community for the District of Columbia, now boasts more jobs than the region’s core.
Prince William, which, for a time, was viewed as the region’s most affordable community, has gone upscale overnight with 4,000 half-million-dollar homes delivered last year alone.
And sleepy Loudoun is now among the fastest growing counties in America.
“Where will we put all the people who move to this region?” asked Connolly, noting that Fairfax has practically run out of room to build more homes.
“We’re beyond our ability to produce a sufficient amount [of
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