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The Post reported that at a recent Loudoun County Planning Commission hearing on the comprehensive plan amendments that threaten to bring more than 30,000 housing units to the congested Route 50 corridor, two-thirds of those who spoke were in favor (Metro, Aug. 30).
But how many of those speakers in favor were employees of developers or real estate companies? Comments from development industry insiders at public hearings should not be allowed to outweigh the comments from taxpayers who appear and speak because they will be asked to pay the bill for the hundreds of millions of dollars of capital and operating costs not covered by developer contributions!
In emphasizing how many millions the developers would contribute, you ignore the most important fact: They never pay for all the costs, and in this case, the unfunded costs would be hundreds of millions of dollars. My tax bill has already quadrupled to pay for development in the county, and my services haven't improved one bit. If developer contributions ever paid for all the roads that were needed, we wouldn't have the congestion we have now. Besides, in focusing on traffic, your article didn't mention the schools at all, which are another expensive "unfunded mandate" the developers inflict on us.
You quote the commission vice chairman as saying he knows growth is coming. That is twisted logic, as growth on this scale is coming only if the commission and the board allow it to come. Loudoun's government can no longer continue to provide "developer welfare" at the expense of taxpayers. The county's existing comprehensive plan describes what we can live with and afford in Dulles South. We should stick with it.
Valerie Kelly
Middleburg
