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Battle Over Development Is Shifting From Loudoun
Pro-Growth Spotlight Switches to County Amid Push for Controls
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 15, 2004; Page C05
The pro-growth movement that swept Loudoun County last fall and overhauled its political landscape has shifted the spotlight to Virginia's next-fastest-growing county, Stafford, where officials say they're under more pressure to push for local and state measures to control growth.
After Loudoun voters replaced most of their supervisors in November with Republicans anxious to make the county more development-friendly again, Stafford County Supervisor Pete Fields was named vice chairman of the state's Coalition of High Growth Communities, a group of fast-growing Virginia communities founded by Scott K. York, who is still chairman of the Loudoun supervisors but part of a powerless minority. Among its first acts, the new Loudoun board majority pulled the county out of the coalition.
A few months ago, Stafford became the first community in Virginia to levy transportation impact fees on developers to offset the projected traffic costs created by their projects. Stafford officials also have been lobbying hard in Richmond for the authority to impose other slow-growth measures, including imposing impact fees for education and public safety services and project delays until proper roads and other infrastructure are in place.
Stafford officials acknowledge that such measures have been proposed and defeated several times in the last five years. But they believe that the ideas are gaining acceptance -- and that the need is more pressing.
"With Loudoun out of the picture, this area will play a dramatically larger role," Fields said. "It's incumbent upon us to carry the flag."
Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a District-based anti-sprawl group, said Loudoun's withdrawal from the slow-growth vanguard means that both slow- and pro-growth advocates probably will pay more attention to Stafford.
"Loudoun won't be the leader in smart growth for the next year or two, and examples will be set in Stafford," he said.
Some developers say doing business in Stafford has become increasingly difficult in recent years because of slow-growth measures and even more so since the fall election. But Andy Garrett, president of Stafford-based Garrett Development Corp., said he expects the county to go the way of Loudoun and reverse course "once the populace understands and is educated that these [slow-growth] groups only want to take your rights away from you.
"Their view is almost of a socialist society: 'We control what you can and can't do,' " said Garrett, who said he has 4,000 to 5,000 acres of land in Stafford, some developed and some undeveloped, and about 10 projects under consideration by county supervisors.
Opinions vary on how the growth debate will play out and where Stafford will fit in.
Stafford isn't Loudoun and has very different demographics. Loudoun is more affluent and is home to major businesses, including America Online and Dulles International Airport, while Stafford is just now trying to attract more defense contractors and become less of a bedroom community with a commercial tax base that isn't so retail- and service-heavy.
"Stafford has been a poorer rural center lacking commercial and employment centers." Fields said. "It's still basically recovering from the Civil War."
Chris Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, said it was partly because builders were focusing their attention on Loudoun that Stafford and neighboring Spotsylvania elected -- and reelected -- slow-growth majorities this fall without a major counterattack from developers.
Having Stafford out front instead of Loudoun could be a political advantage for the slow-growth movement, he said, because many lawmakers from other parts of Virginia see it as less a part of the Washington suburbs.
"In Richmond, Northern Virginia is viewed as being part of another state," said Miller, who considers Stafford more a part of central Virginia than of greater Washington. "In a way, it's probably good."
As Fields becomes more prominent, he could face more criticism, and not just for championing slow-growth measures, which developers argue would actually increase sprawl because they decrease density. Opponents are reaching for any target they can find, including his lifestyle: Fields is a classical guitarist, and his wife, Ren, runs a popular yoga center.
"Here you have a guitar player telling whomever will listen things that don't make sense. He knows nothing of supply-side economics," Garrett said. "How would Pete Fields like it if the board enacted a law saying guitar playing is going to be illegal in six months?"
Kandy A. Hilliard, a Stafford supervisor who advocates the same managed-growth measures, said Fields elicits a mixed reaction.
"I think there's a lot of respect for Pete's knowledge," she said. "But there might be constituencies who think he's out there because we always seem to be at odds with the development community. . . . We need to come up with a middle ground."
Pro-Growth Spotlight Switches to County Amid Push for Controls
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 15, 2004; Page C05
After Loudoun voters replaced most of their supervisors in November with Republicans anxious to make the county more development-friendly again, Stafford County Supervisor Pete Fields was named vice chairman of the state's Coalition of High Growth Communities, a group of fast-growing Virginia communities founded by Scott K. York, who is still chairman of the Loudoun supervisors but part of a powerless minority. Among its first acts, the new Loudoun board majority pulled the county out of the coalition.
A few months ago, Stafford became the first community in Virginia to levy transportation impact fees on developers to offset the projected traffic costs created by their projects. Stafford officials also have been lobbying hard in Richmond for the authority to impose other slow-growth measures, including imposing impact fees for education and public safety services and project delays until proper roads and other infrastructure are in place.
Stafford officials acknowledge that such measures have been proposed and defeated several times in the last five years. But they believe that the ideas are gaining acceptance -- and that the need is more pressing.
"With Loudoun out of the picture, this area will play a dramatically larger role," Fields said. "It's incumbent upon us to carry the flag."
Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, a District-based anti-sprawl group, said Loudoun's withdrawal from the slow-growth vanguard means that both slow- and pro-growth advocates probably will pay more attention to Stafford.
"Loudoun won't be the leader in smart growth for the next year or two, and examples will be set in Stafford," he said.
Some developers say doing business in Stafford has become increasingly difficult in recent years because of slow-growth measures and even more so since the fall election. But Andy Garrett, president of Stafford-based Garrett Development Corp., said he expects the county to go the way of Loudoun and reverse course "once the populace understands and is educated that these [slow-growth] groups only want to take your rights away from you.
"Their view is almost of a socialist society: 'We control what you can and can't do,' " said Garrett, who said he has 4,000 to 5,000 acres of land in Stafford, some developed and some undeveloped, and about 10 projects under consideration by county supervisors.
Opinions vary on how the growth debate will play out and where Stafford will fit in.
Stafford isn't Loudoun and has very different demographics. Loudoun is more affluent and is home to major businesses, including America Online and Dulles International Airport, while Stafford is just now trying to attract more defense contractors and become less of a bedroom community with a commercial tax base that isn't so retail- and service-heavy.
"Stafford has been a poorer rural center lacking commercial and employment centers." Fields said. "It's still basically recovering from the Civil War."
Chris Miller, president of the Piedmont Environmental Council, said it was partly because builders were focusing their attention on Loudoun that Stafford and neighboring Spotsylvania elected -- and reelected -- slow-growth majorities this fall without a major counterattack from developers.
Having Stafford out front instead of Loudoun could be a political advantage for the slow-growth movement, he said, because many lawmakers from other parts of Virginia see it as less a part of the Washington suburbs.
"In Richmond, Northern Virginia is viewed as being part of another state," said Miller, who considers Stafford more a part of central Virginia than of greater Washington. "In a way, it's probably good."
As Fields becomes more prominent, he could face more criticism, and not just for championing slow-growth measures, which developers argue would actually increase sprawl because they decrease density. Opponents are reaching for any target they can find, including his lifestyle: Fields is a classical guitarist, and his wife, Ren, runs a popular yoga center.
"Here you have a guitar player telling whomever will listen things that don't make sense. He knows nothing of supply-side economics," Garrett said. "How would Pete Fields like it if the board enacted a law saying guitar playing is going to be illegal in six months?"
Kandy A. Hilliard, a Stafford supervisor who advocates the same managed-growth measures, said Fields elicits a mixed reaction.
"I think there's a lot of respect for Pete's knowledge," she said. "But there might be constituencies who think he's out there because we always seem to be at odds with the development community. . . . We need to come up with a middle ground."