Loudoun Housing Plan Irks Neighbors

What makes Dulles South so scary to residents of Prince William and Fairfax, some say, is that the sections of those counties abutting Loudoun are the least developed areas of each. Those areas have few major highways; they are served primarily by local, two-lane roads; and there is no political will in either jurisdiction to change that, even as exploding development in Loudoun sends more cars onto once-sleepy Fairfax byways such as Braddock Road and Pleasant Valley Road.

"There is virtually no development going on now on the Fairfax side of the line," said James R. Hart, a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission who lives in the western edge of the county. "The traffic is attributable to what's happening in Loudoun."

Hart said he is also concerned about the environmental impact of Dulles South, which would be in an area where development already is chaneling storm runoff and sediment into a number of tributaries in western Fairfax that the county has been working to protect.

The question is how the adjacent counties can prevent this from getting worse. Fairfax and Prince William have no authority to prevent Dulles South. They are in the process of urging Loudoun to scale back the proposal or to make sure that sufficient transportation improvements are promised to ease the potential impact.

In the end, though, Fairfax and Prince William are likely to be forced into a review of their land and road policies near Loudoun.

"It's clearly in our best interests to figure out how to handle these folks," said Fairfax Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully).

"They are working at the job centers here. And if we don't fix the main roads, they'll drive through our neighborhoods, which is not something that we want."

Said Ted Troscianecki, president of the Western Fairfax County Citizens Association, which represents more than 50 homeowner and civic associations: "We would love to compel Loudoun not to do any of this development. But it ain't going to happen."