Prince William Board of County Supervisor John T. Stirrup Jr. (R-Gainesville), like many this holiday season, is busy with chores and tying up loose ends.
He is also packing up his district office, where he’s served for eight years.
(Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press) - John T. Stirrup Jr. played a major role in the Prince William County crackdown on illegal immigration.
Stirrup cast his final votes as a member of the board last Tuesday and said in an interview that he has no regrets — including giving up a relatively safe seat to enter the Republican primary and take on Sen.-elect Dick Black, who beat Stirrup, then took the general election with 57 percent of the vote.
Politicians often become entrenched and stay too long, he said — and after eight years it’s time for a new challenge.
“It’s been very rewarding,” he said. “I asked the constituents to trust me” as he worked to instill “better communication” and use “common sense.”
“I hope I stuck to that,” he said.
Stirrup is proud of what he calls “sticks and bricks” achievements in his district — new schools, a western-end police station, and parks and shopping centers that came with booming growth.
Stirrup said road improvements have helped ease perennial traffic congestion, and the challenge going forward will be to bring in high-end retailers, such as Nordstrom and “white tablecloth” restaurants. Drawing those kind of amenities to the county will, in turn, also attract the kind of employers that are located closer to the District, he said.
Stirrup was known and admired by many for taking a near hard-line approach on limiting development in the county’s rural area, the Rural Crescent. Elena Schlossberg-Kunkel, who leads Advocates for the Rural Crescent, said she could remember just two “yes” votes from Stirrup that granted exceptions for development in the rural area — allowing two churches to hook up to county sewers. Restricting sewer-line hookups has allowed the county to keep developments smaller in rural areas.
“Overall, he was seen as a supporter of the Rural Crescent and smart-growth principles,” Schlossberg-Kunkel said.
However, she and others question Stirrup’s support of his successor, Peter Candland (R-Gainesville). Candland has not signed a pledge to protect the Rural Crescent, although he has said that he is committed to the principle of limiting development in the county’s rural areas.
Stirrup said that many of the gains his district and the county have seen — less crowded schools and improved traffic — would be reversed by allowing development on large tracts of rural land. “If we were to open up the Rural Crescent to development, we’d be right back to where we were 10, 12 years ago,” he said.
Although Stirrup is known for his tough stance on development, he also played a major role in the county’s crackdown on illegal immigrants. Largely associated with board Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large), it was Stirrup who introduced the 2007 resolution that mandated county police determine the immigration status of detained individuals. The issue became a source of national controversy, because Latinos in the county and elsewhere feared ethnic and racial profiling.
But, Stirrup said, as the controversy died down, many have seen the resolution’s benefits. He said, for example, that there has been less neighborhood crime and less overcrowding in rental properties. He said he thinks the policy has a shot at being enacted statewide by the General Assembly.
“People felt uncomfortable walking in their communities,” Stirrup said. “I felt many of the people who opposed the resolution were here illegally . . . they really skewed the issue . . . [to make it] a race-based thing.”
Schlossberg-Kunkel, who has said that immigration divided the county and left it with a tarnished image, noted that she has “mixed feelings on John.” “He was well intentioned on land-use, but immigration was a fiasco.”
Stirrup was also praised recently by residents for allocating money to two communities for sound barriers after a road project put traffic closer to homes.
Jim Price, a longtime supporter, said Stirrup helped his rural community on Bull Run Mountain improve its roads. He said Stirrup’s office was “always responsive” to concerns.
Stirrup said he is going to work with a firm lobbying on behalf of cities and counties on the burdensome cost of complying with environmental regulations, among other issues. He didn’t name the firm, because his contract is not yet final.
He is also not ruling out another run for office. “I’d welcome the challenge to run for something again,” he said. Until then, Stirrup can reflect on a time in which, he said, his constituents challenged him, making the job interesting and enjoyable.
“The level of interest and involvement, it never ceased to amaze me, the talent that is in the Gainesville district,” he said.
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