Opinion
Black's bills, supervisors effort at odds
By P. Lo Presti, Ashburn
[Feb. 21, 2001] Over the past several years, time and time again, citizens, landowners, voters and non-voters unmistakably asked the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission to "manage growth."
We proposed ideas consistent with other nationwide "grass-roots" campaigns to combat sprawl and "control" our eventual growth. We crowded the board room, school auditoriums and community centers during public hearings for development applications, comprehensive plan revisions and even supervisor meetings to make the case for getting a handle on "unbridled residential growth."
Today, we find ourselves with a conscientious board working for the benefits of the citizenry in trying to address the growth problem. The Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission have methodically been working on crafting plans that responsibly control growth, protect our local resources and ensure that growth is paid for equitably by those that profit from it. We know all too well that most new residential units rarely, if ever, pay for the government services their tenants require. We also know that should the supervisors not succeed, the increasing debt and the funds required solely to service that debt will only erode the quality of life here in Loudoun, despite our strong local economy.
Thankfully, that quality of life has been enjoyed by just about all of us, Democrats, Republicans and independents. There is no debating that this county falls right of center on the political scale. Why this is the case, I have no idea, but what does concern me is why so many in the Republican Party have failed to address the actions and intentions of their most conservative representatives.
Citizens only need to look at two recent examples to illustrate this point. With an overwhelming majority and despite a vocal minority, the supervisors had the courage (in a bi-partisan fashion) to remove a recent zoning ordinance provision that required landowner consent in zoning decisions, a provision unique only to Loudoun and not utilized by any other county in the state. Secondly, county officials in the Health Department continue to utilize recognized procedures in the approval of private sewage systems so as to ensure the ground water supply is protected and some small mistake by one does not negatively and irreversibly affect many. Both of these efforts occurred amidst a background of rejection of additional growth management tools that have been requested from the state to help shape local land use policy.
From recent reports, Republican Del. Dick Black has tried to thwart any legitimate attempt to utilize zoning policies and procedure to manage growth. His advocacy of adding landowner consent to any zoning decision (HB 2702) to bypassing local health officials on regulating the installation of private sewage disposal systems (HB 2726) could be disastrous. The whole purpose of zoning and procedure is to protect what is best for the "common" good.
I wonder if the Republicans are aware of these actions of Del. Black.
- extreme. ineffective. dick black.