LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
LoudounNow
[ Vol. 4, No. 30 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
■ PUBLIC AND LEGAL NOTICES - PAGE 29 ■ EMPLOYMENT PAGE 39
■ RESOURCE DIRECTORY PAGE 41 [ June 13 2019 ]
Supervisors to Nix Leesburg’s Utility Expectations BY RENSS GREENE AND KARA C. RODRIGUEZ
Patrick Szabo/Loudoun Now
Supervisor Geary M. Higgins (R-Catoctin) and his wife Gail celebrate Higgins’ resounding primary victory in the race for state Senate’s 13th District. He now turns to a general election race against Del. John J. Bell (D-87).
Ballot Set: Primaries Settle 6 Races 70 Candidates Running in November
LOUDOUN NOW STAFF REPORT Democrats and Republicans across Loudoun were called to the polls Tuesday to finish setting the ballot for November’s local and state races. Democrats had the most contested races. Countywide, political newcomer Justin P. Hannah defeated law enforcement veteran Chris R. Harmison to win the nomination for county sheriff. After winning the primary by about 1,200 votes (51 percent), Hannah, 28, of Aldie, will take on two-term Republican Mike Chapman in November. He credited his win to an experienced campaign staff, volunteers, strong support from his family—and a desire for a new face. “The voters, they want real change,” Hannah said. “They’ve seen a lot of things that haven’t gotten done, they want things to be done. They want someone from the outside to say, ‘OK, I’ve seen these problems. Let’s fix it.’” The Democrats‘ most crowded race was for the 87th House District that is being vacated by John Bell, who is running for the 13th Senate District. Suhas Subra-
manyam, 32, of Sterling, outpaced three other candidates to win the nomination. Subramanyam received about 2,500 votes (45.25 percent). Hassan M. Ahmad was second with 24 percent of the votes. Subramanyam will face Republican William M. Drennan Jr. in November. In other Democratic races for the state house, incumbent delegates Jennifer Boysko (33) and Barbara Favola (31) handily turned back primary challengers. Boysko will face Leesburg Town Council member Suzanne Fox (R) in November. There is no other candidate on the ballot in Favola’s district. She is one of four House Democrats from Loudoun’s delegation running unopposed, along with David A. Reid (32), Karrie K. Delaney (67) and Ibraheem S. Samirah (86). In the Sterling District, incumbent supervisor Koran Saines defeated Ibrahim A. Moiz by 99 votes to win the nomination in the closest race of the day. He’ll face independent W. Damien P. Katsirsubus in his bid for a second term. He put his victory down to results in Sterling during his term, such as funding for pedestrian improvements, a new pool in Sterling Park, new rules on parking commercial vehicles, and other, some-
times small projects. “We have seen a difference in the services that we’re getting, so it’s those little things that we’ve been doing and that we will continue to do that brought this home for us,” Saines said. Now, he said, he will team up with the rest of the Democratic slate for November, and get back to work on the Board of Supervisors. “Even though we’ve done some good, we have a long way to go, and we’re not done yet,” Saines said. “So we’re going to work even twice as hard to make sure that we accomplish some good things.” Moiz said his campaign was able to pull close to the incumbent supervisor because of a strong ground game, and that he would support Saines’ work. “I think we both know that I’m going to be around to help him put that focus back on Sterling, and to help Loudoun plan something as the growth occurs,” Moiz said. On the Republican side, Supervisor Geary Higgins outpaced Supervisor Ron A. Meyer to win the nomination in the 13th Senate District, where incumbent PRIMARY >> 1
Loudoun supervisors last week voted to change the longstanding county policy governing development in the planned growth area around Leesburg’s borders, giving Loudoun Water first dibs on new water and sewer hookups in that area. The Joint Land Management Area extends from south of Leesburg Executive Airport and wraps around the town’s eastern boundary to the Potomac River, bounded by Evergreen Mills Road and Goose Creek. Under the existing comprehensive plan, which supervisors are working to replace, it is planned cooperatively between the town and county, and it is planned to eventually be annexed into the town, as the town extends utilities. A draft of the new comprehensive plan continued those decades-old policies, stating the town will have the first opportunity to serve any new development in that area, and another water and sewer provider used only when the town, county, and Health Department agree. But during a June 5 work session supervisors voted that under the new plan, Loudoun Water would get the first cut at serving new development in that area, which includes the Compass Creek development where Walmart opened a supercenter last week and Microsoft planned to build data centers. Board Vice Chairman Ralph M. Buona (R-Ashburn) said the move was prompted by potential big new businesses being scared off by Leesburg’s high out-of-town water and sewer rates—“Fortune top 20 companies that are considering leaving.” A number of companies on that list have previously been talked about for locations in Loudoun, such as Apple and Amazon, and others like Verizon already have corporate offices in the county. Microsoft, number 26 on the Fortune 500 list, purchased its property in Compass Creek last year. WATER WOES >> 1
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