Loudoun's Moment of Truth

Votes Planned on Fate of West, Southeast Parts of County

It's decision time in Loudoun County: After months and in some cases years of debate, the Board of Supervisors plans to vote over the next few weeks to shape development across the county's southern and western flanks for a generation and beyond.

In three separate actions, the supervisors will determine whether to allow 32,000 to 82,000 homes across three huge swaths of the county: rural western Loudoun, the Route 50 commercial corridor and an undeveloped "transition" area between Dulles International Airport and the west.

And it all begins tonight, when the Board of Supervisors holds a public hearing on a controversial new ordinance that would dramatically curtail home building in the county's bucolic west. The board is scheduled to act on the ordinance by June 18.

Next up is a blueprint to develop commercial property along Route 50, one of the county's main east-west corridors, into a mixed-use destination of shops, offices and homes. The county Planning Commission recommended approval of that plan Monday.

Finally, the supervisors are preparing to decide what level of home building to allow in the so-called Dulles South transition area, a largely undeveloped, 9,200-acre area west of the airport. In question is whether to permit 28,000 houses in a sleepy stretch of two-lane highways, dirt roads and farmhouses where existing zoning allows fewer than 5,000 homes. Six developers with immediate plans to build thousands of homes in the region are closely watching the board's decision. The matter now is with the Planning Commission.

"Over the course of this summer, the tone will be set for the development of this county for decades to come," said board Chairman Scott K. York (I).

Added Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge): "None of these issues can be treated lightly. They require a lot of thinking, a lot of digging, a lot of weighing of different factors. This is a very difficult time for the board."

The three proposals reflect the curious blend of ambitious developers, property-rights advocates, traffic-weary suburbanites and conservationist landowners who make up the Loudoun political mix.

First is a supervisor-initiated proposal to restrict development in the west that is supported primarily by wealthy western landowners. Next are the Dulles South and Route 50 proposals, two developer-led efforts to open up southeastern Loudoun to more housing. All three proposals have prompted attention from eastern county residents opposed to more traffic zooming past their neighborhoods and higher tax bills arriving at their doors.

"Whatever happens anywhere in the county affects everyone everywhere in the county," said Steve Hines, a member of Families for Dulles South, which opposes the Dulles South proposal and supports the rezoning effort in the west. "If the density goes up in the west, we're going to have to help pay for it and we're going to get the traffic."

The coming decisions will be particularly dramatic because their outcome is uncertain. The Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors swept into office in January 2004 with a promise for better relations with developers. Now, several of those supervisors are among the board's most vocal opponents of high-density development and the demands on schools, roads and other county services that such development brings.

Supervisor Mick Staton Jr. (R-Sugarland Run) is among those who believe the proposals for Route 50 and Dulles South would allow too many homes.