LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
LoudounNow
[ Vol. 4, No. 29 ]
■ PUBLIC AND LEGAL NOTICES - PAGE 29 ■ EMPLOYMENT PAGE 39
■ RESOURCE DIRECTORY PAGE 41 [ June 6, 2019 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
Supervisors Cut Growth Proposals in Rural Buffer BY RENSS GREENE
Patrick Szabo/Loudoun Now
A tributary of the Catoctin Creek that flows into the village of Waterford recently has been filled with stagnant, ever-lowering water levels.
Water Woes in Waterford Residents Split on County Assistance Plan BY PATRICK SZABO Waterford was once one of Loudoun’s largest towns, with an industry powered by the flows of the Catoctin Creek. Today, water is in scarce supply for many residents of the historic village, but there’s little agreement on how to address the concern. While the county provided residents with public sewer service in the 1970s, residents have always relied on their own private wells for water. In some spots of the village, residents have more than enough water for all their needs. In others, residents have barely any water at all. With a goal of helping their water-deficient neighbors, the owners of 51 parcels in March signed an application requesting the county government study
whether water service could be provided through its Water and Wastewater Program, which provides utility service to communities plagued with inadequate water or sewer systems. But as county authorities consider moving forward with a study, some residents are having second thoughts about the idea. Tom Edmunds, a 24-year Waterford resident and former president of the Waterford Citizens’ Association who did not sign the application, said residents first need to find out who needs water and what the options are before the village decides to install a “city-like” water system. He fears residents won’t get a say in the outcome. “People were told you get another bite at the apple—you don’t,” Edmunds said. “Very clearly the county has said that’s
not true.” Edmunds said many of the residents signed the application in “good community spirit” to help their neighbors who lack water, thinking they could “just back out” if they didn’t want to pursue the program. Phil Paschall, a 37-year village resident and citizens’ association member who also did not sign the application, said residents are generally unsure as to how many of their neighbors need water. He’s heard numbers as low as three and as high as 15. “That’s why we need more information,” he said. “We need to know specifically who is having water problems [before the county implements its program].” WATER WOES >> 28
County supervisors have scaled back proposals to allow much more development in the area buffering Loudoun’s rural west from suburban sprawl. Although they plan to permit more development in the Transition Policy Area, a strip of land dividing Loudoun’s suburban east from rural western Loudoun and rural Fauquier and Prince William Counties to the south, supervisors and county planners are dramatically scaling back recommendations made by the county Planning Commission. Where the Planning Commission’s recommendations were expected to allow 19,010 more homes in the transition area than the existing plan, including the areas newly removed from the rural area, county staff recommendations were expected to allow only 6,800 new homes in the transition area. County planners will calculate how many houses will be allowed in the transition area after supervisors’ votes, according to county spokesman Glen Barbour. Supervisors are on track to more closely match the staff number. And, while supervisors are making changes to transition area planning in reaction to development already on the ground, they made a symbolic motion to encourage future boards to stop that trend. Supervisors unanimously adopted a motion presented by County Chairwoman Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) to “permit no further expansion of the boundaries of the Transition Policy Area beyond the adoption of the Loudoun 2019 Comprehensive Plan.” “The Transition Policy Area is meant to do something specific, and if we keep expanding the boundaries, then it will not be able to do the specific thing that it’s meant to do,” Randall said. “… In the future, we don’t have to keep going down this track if we can at least put some language in place to encourage that to not happen in the future.” Although universally supported, other supervisors noted that there is no legal COMP PLAN >> 28
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