Comments Sought
<bt>Loudoun County residents and organizations are invited to provide their comments on local housing and community development needs Wednesday, Oct. 12, at 6:30 p.m., at the Department of Social Services, on the second floor of the Shenandoah Building, 102 Heritage Way N.E., Leesburg.
Comments received at the public hearing will be considered in preparing Loudoun County's annual action plan as required under the federal Community Development Block Grant program. The action plan, once approved by the Board of Supervisors, will be submitted to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development in May 2006.
The plan, formally known as the Consolidated Plan One Year Action Plan, is a HUD requirement for receiving funding under certain federal programs, such as the CDBG program. The goals of the plan include establishing a unified vision for housing and community development needs; strengthening partnerships among all levels of government and the private sector, both for-profit and nonprofit; and meeting the needs of low and moderate-income persons by:
* Providing decent housing
* Establishing and maintaining a suitable living environment
* Expanding economic opportunities
Residents and representatives of organizations attending the public hearing are encouraged to address housing and community development needs, including priority nonhousing community development needs; fair housing issues and previous CDBG program performance.
Anyone who requires a reasonable accommodation should contact the Housing Services Division of the Department of Social Services at 703-777-0389 (V/TTY).
<sh>Interchange Meeting
<bt>Local and state officials will provide an update on the Route 28/Sterling Boulevard interchange project at an informational meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m., in the Quinn Room of the Sterling Community Center, 120 Enterprise St., Sterling.
All interested residents and representatives of local businesses are encouraged to attend the meeting, where approved designs plans for the interchange and associated road improvements will be on display.
Loudoun County officials and staff, representatives of the Virginia Department of Transportation, and representatives of Route 28 Corridor Improvements LLC, the contractors working on the job, will provide information about the project. They will address interchange construction, related road improvements and traffic-flow changes during construction.
In addition, representatives of the Sterling Foundation and the Loudoun County Sanitation Authority will be on hand to present plans for landscaping initiatives on Sterling Boulevard.
The Route 28/Sterling Boulevard interchange is one of several planned along the Route 28 corridor as part of a $200 million design-build contract under Virginia's Public-Private Transportation Act, which allows the private sector to make proposals for designing, building, financing and operating transportation improvements.
<sh>Information Needed
<bt>Sheriff's Investigators are seeking information on the identity of a suspect in an overnight armed robbery of a gas station convenience store.
Shortly after 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 4, a male suspect walked into the On the Run store of an Exxon on Bartholomew Fair Drive in Sterling. Inside the suspect brandished a firearm and took an undisclosed amount of cash from the register, according to the Sheriff's Office.
The suspect is described as possibly being a black male, approximately 5 feet 10 inches in height with a medium build. He is said to be in his early to mid-20s and was wearing all black with a dark-colored bandanna around his face.
If you have any information about this incident or the identity of the suspect contact Investigator S. Remick of the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division at 703-777-0475. Callers wishing to remain anonymous should contact Loudoun Crime Solvers at 703-777-1919. If the information provided leads to an arrest and indictment the caller could be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000.
<sh>Man Arrested
<bt>A Sterling man was charged Thursday, Sept. 29, with burglarizing a gas station twice in September and taking more than $1,500 in lottery tickets, according to the Sheriff's Office.
Johnnie Christopher Johnson, 18, is charged with two counts of burglary and two counts of grand larceny after he was identified for allegedly entering the convenience store of the Cascades Shell Station during the overnight hours of Sept. 9 and again on Sept. 13. Inside Johnson is accused of taking scratch-off lottery tickets, alcohol and tobacco products.
Investigators identified Johnson after he went to cash in the winning tickets. Johnson turned himself over to authorities Thursday. A Loudoun magistrate released Johnson on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
<sh>Housing Help
<bt>The Department of Housing and Urban Development has created a new program to provide up to 18 months of temporary rental housing to families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. HUD and a network of approximately 2,500 public housing authorities will jointly administer the Katrina Disaster Housing Assistance Program.
Evacuees must register through FEMA by calling 1-800-621-FEMA or apply online for federal disaster assistance. It is important that individuals and households promptly update their FEMA registration information with any change of address or new telephone numbers so they may receive assistance in a timely and direct manner. Displaced families will decide where they would like to move. Upon arriving in their new community, the evacuated family will meet with the local public housing authority that would help them find a suitable place to live.
Families will be given a rental subsidy based on 100 percent of fair market rent in that community. Eligible families include displaced public housing residents; Section 8 voucher holders; other HUD-assisted households; and, predisaster homeless individuals who were directly affected by the hurricane.
<sh>Street Names Changed
<bt>The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors has approved renaming portions of Ryan Road, West Church Road, Cedar Green Road and all of Tippett Hill Way in eastern Loudoun. By the close of business Tuesday, Oct. 11, residents and motorists should see new signs reflecting those changes.
The action was taken to minimize confusion caused by road construction resulting in segments of West Church and Ryan Roads becoming disconnected from the rest of both roadways. Also, the new names will make it easier for public safety personnel to find homes in the area in an emergency.
Portions of Ryan Road were renamed to Ryan Corner Place, Old Ryan Road and Ashburn Village Boulevard. The portion of Ryan Road from Loudoun County Parkway to Evergreen Mills Road did not change and retains the Ryan Road name.
The construction of the interchange at West Church and Waxpool Roads and Route 28 left many businesses in the southeast quadrant of the Route 28/Route 625 intersection without direct access to those roads and created two West Church Roads. The small, isolated segment of old West Church Road, together with a small portion of Cedar Green Road and all of Tippett Hill Way have been renamed Shaw Road to solve these problems.
The county has worked with property owners in these areas to minimize disruption, though a small number will have their addresses changed at the same time the signs are posted.