There's one word on the lips of all Loudoun officials, a word that drives just about every decision they make: growth. Leaping, tumbling, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet growth. It's the force behind Loudoun's greatest achievements: as the fastest growing county in the country, Loudoun also has the fastest growing number of jobs and has been named one of the best places to live by American City Business Journal.
Growth is also the cause of the county's biggest problems. According to a 2003 U.S. Census Bureau report, Loudoun's population has experienced a 30 percent increase since 2000, hitting 221,746 in 2003. That's nearly three times the county's 1990 population. And don't expect the numbers to even out anytime soon. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments predicts that Loudoun's population will only increase: 311,800 by 2010; 417,600 by 2020; and 462,100 by 2030.
For a county that was — and still is, west of Route 15 — mostly rural, watching acres of farmland turn to upscale subdivisions is only the most visible effect of population growth. Here's a look at some of the growth-related issues that have been on the minds of Loudouners and the officials who represent them.
LAND USE
Ever since a pro-growth majority was inaugurated on the Board of Supervisors in January, it's been a building bonanza for developers who were stymied by the previous board's smart-growth policies. Upwards of 200 lawsuits were filed by landowners and developers after the previous board redrew county zoning lines to slow high-density housing. While the lawsuits are still pending, there have been hints and allegations that the current board will settle the lawsuits, essentially nulling the previous board's new zoning map.
Since January, supervisors have granted each rezoning request from a developer that has come before them, allowing for more homes than under the original zoning. The smart-growth minority — supervisors Scott York (I-At large), Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) and Sally Kurtz (D-Catoctin) have voted against each rezoning, but the majority prevailed.
The rezoning requests allow for higher-density housing that also covers less of a footprint on the ground, leaving more space for parks or other outdoor facilities. It also brings in more new residents who send their children to Loudoun schools, drive on Loudoun roads and require Loudoun services and amenities. An ongoing debate over whether the costs of having more residents outweighs the benefits of supporting the free market has divided the board and the county.
HOSPITALS
Currently, there is only one inpatient hospital in Loudoun: the nonprofit, 155-bed Loudoun Hospital Center in Lansdowne. A small emergency outpatient facility is located at Cornwall Street in Leesburg. Both facilities are owned by Loudoun Healthcare. Slightly over half — 51 percent — of Loudoun residents receive hospital care outside the county.
In May 2004, Loudoun Healthcare applied for a certificate of public need to add 33 inpatient beds to the Cornwall Street facility. Virginia Health Commissioner Robert Stroube denied the request at the same time he approved a certificate of public need for Broadlands Regional Medical Center, a 164-bed hospital owned by the Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America. The Broadlands proposal, with its location just five miles from Loudoun Hospital Center, created an uproar in the county for two reasons: Loudoun Healthcare worried it would have an immense, negative fiscal impact on the older hospital, and residents who were already a long trip from a hospital felt their needs weren't served by a new hospital so close to the old one.
Loudoun Healthcare responded to the Broadlands proposal with a proposal of its own: a comprehensive plan amendment that would add a countywide health-care facilities policy. The policy would call for inpatient services at Cornwall and another hospital in the Dulles south area, as well as several community health centers. It would not include the proposed Broadlands site.
The only thing everyone can agree on is that the county desperately needs more beds to keep pace with the population. The amendment proposed by Loudoun Healthcare, and the land-use permit needed to built the Broadlands hospital, should come before the board of supervisors and be subject to public hearings in late fall or winter 2004.
TRANSPORTATION
For its ever-expanding population, Loudoun's infrastructure is woefully inadequate. Thousands of residents commute along the Dulles Greenway or Route 7 to work every day. They wait to get on the two major thoroughfares in the morning, sitting on half-finished two-laners like Belmont Ridge Road and Loudoun County Parkway. In the afternoon, they face gridlock heading west back toward home.
For Loudoun's pro-growth developers, the county's transportation problem is a reason to cooperate with developers who want increased density on their land. Virginia uses a system of proffers where developers negotiate with the county to get their wishes: higher density building in exchange for adding a park, building a walking path or most popularly, widening and improving local roads.
On the other hand, as smart-growth supervisors point out, higher density housing equals more residents equals more cars on the road.
The Virginia Department of Transportation, meanwhile, is working to convert many of the intersections along Route 7 into interchanges, eliminating the road's many stoplights. The project, however, is still in the planning stages. VDOT has already begun work on converting the intersections of routes 625 and 606 and Route 27 into interchanges.
VDOT also has been exploring options for a Tri-County Parkway, which would provide a north-south corridor in Loudoun. An environmental impact study is expected by the end of 2004.
In terms of public transportation in Loudoun, well, it's a work in progress. The push to extend Metrorail service to Dulles International Airport has only succeeded in a tentative, $4 billion plan to have tracks laid by 2015.