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	Coalition for Smarter Growth PRESS RELEASE September 6, 2005 Laura Olsen (202) 244-4408 ext 4# Andrea McGimsey (703) 477-4722
As Loudoun County Proposes Even More Development Increases, Citizens & Community Groups Launch Expanded Effort

The Campaign for Loudoun’s Future unveiled a new “Don’t Supersize Loudoun” effort at the Loudoun Board of Supervisors’ first meeting since its August recess.

“Developers are trying to turbocharge growth and their profits on the backs of Loudoun’s current residents. We say, ‘Don’t Supersize Loudoun’,” said Andrea McGimsey of the Campaign for Loudoun’s Future. “Loudoun residents need to continue their vigilance in the wake of the unprecedented efforts by developers to change the current plans for reasonable growth.”

Route 50 Proposed as Major Growth Corridor

In a new move, Loudoun County is now joining a set of developers and proposing to change the entire citizen supported County growth plan for the communities bordering Route 50. [The Upper Broad Run & Upper Foley areas of the transition zone]. Instead of 4,500 total homes in the area allowed under the current growth plan, the county is proposing a more than six fold jump to a total of 28,000 total houses with 77,451 residents. The area currently has 1,234 residents.

“Residents keep saying NO to Supersizing Loudoun, because we want ball fields for our kids and enough police and firefighters to keep our families safe. We don't need even more traffic on our congested roads -- we want our husbands to be able to get home in time for dinner,” said Rachael Fisher, a mother of two from Ashburn whose husband routinely is stuck in traffic on the Greenway.

The motion put forward by the Planning Commission to change the County’s citizen supported growth plan for the Route 50 area uses language directly from Greenvest’s proposal, suggesting an all too cozy relationship between the developers who stand to profit and decision makers.

Fisher also commented, "Loudoun has a growth plan supported by the citizens - why are we changing it so a few outside developers can make a major profit, when we don't have the money or services for those new houses - let alone existing houses? We'll need more and more roads - hopefully not dirt roads, community centers, schools, teachers, firefighters...those are my tax dollars we're talking about. I don't want to keep postponing my family's safety and access to resources in order to put more traffic in an already congested area - where's the sense in that?"

Impacts on Loudoun’s Wineries

The massive proposals for increased growth across Loudoun also impact the County’s economy with rural business ventures threatened. These are the same businesses that the County has been trying to encourage as a way to diversify its economic base and secure tax revenue from rural businesses that do not require near the level of services of residential development.
Doug Fabbioli, winemaker at Windham Winery noted, “The Loudoun wine industry has tremendous growth potential, but it all depends on the future of the County. Grapes require a delicate balance to grow, just like the region needs balance.”

Fabbioli, who also grows grapes and raspberries on his own land, noted the strong connection Eastern Loudoun residents have to the agricultural land and open space in western Loudoun. “Folks from Eastern Loudoun feel like the vineyard and the open space is theirs. It is a part of their community, part of the package that provides Loudoun’s eastern residents with fresh produce and recreation and ensures there is enough money for the schools, roads and ball fields they need.”

Supersizing Loudoun?

The County’s proposals for major growth increases along Route 50 would be in addition the 37,000 houses already approved and in the pipeline, and the 40,000 new houses that may be added to western Loudoun through recent changes to the rural zoning.

“Add it all up and again, we are looking at over 100,000 new houses, ONE MILLION daily car trips on our local roads, tens of thousands of new commuters, trying to get to jobs in Eastern Loudoun, Fairfax and DC as well parents and buses trying to get to school, soccer practice and the grocery store,” noted McGimsey. “We don’t need to Supersize Loudoun.”

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NOTE: The Planning Commission hearing on the proposals for changing the county’s growth plan along Route 50 was scheduled for September 26. It has just been cancelled. No information about a new date or reason for the cancellation is currently available.

Maps and more information are available at: www.LoudounsFuture.org

Below is a synopsis of some of the developer requests for additional residential units: