A Breather in Loudoun

The rascals are mostly gone. Now it's time for calm.

VOTERS IN Loudoun County are ready for a change. Disenchanted with local politicians who wanted to keep Loudoun growing at warp speed, they tossed out four of the five reliably pro-growth Republicans who controlled the county Board of Supervisors. Inevitably, the new board will want to signal that the days of rubber-stamping new subdivisions are over. It should be wary of an overreaction. What Loudoun needs, and has lacked, is a moderate middle course on development and a new civility in its politics.

It's no surprise that places that expand at breakneck pace give rise to political tumult and elected officials who confuse their constituents' interests with those of developers. In Loudoun, which has been among the nation's fastest-growing counties, the ethical murk has prompted an FBI investigation. That, together with horrific traffic, overcrowded schools and the extraordinary venom of political discourse, left many residents dismayed and disgusted. Little wonder they threw out nearly all the rascals.

Still, the rascals are not quite done; the outgoing board remains in office through the end of the year. And, starting this week, developers, having waited out election season on the sidelines, will be presenting the incumbents with applications to build at least 4,000 new homes. In deference to voters who have spoken clearly in electing new supervisors of a different cast, the outgoing board should defer a final decision on those applications to its successors.

Still, if the new board that takes office in January jams on the brakes too hard, the result could be lawsuits, adverse court rulings and a return to the politics of inflexibility and character assassination that marked the past few years. That's not in the county's interest, and it's not what voters want, either. With the county facing a depressed housing market, falling revenue and swelling spending on education, this is a moment for pragmatism.