[JYO] Annexation article in the news...

 <A 
HREF="http://www.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/ffx/story.cfm?paper=ffx&section=st&snumber=13";>The
 Journal Newspapers Online</A> 

Residents speak against annex 
By AMENA H. SAIYID 
Journal staff writer 

     Leesburg officials were inundated with complaints Wednesday from angry 
Loudoun County residents who demanded their neighborhoods be excluded from 
the town's annexation plans. 
    More than 100 people attended the Town Council's first public hearing on 
the proposed annexation of 6,970 acres, which includes nearly 2,000 acres of 
residential neighborhoods. They packed the council chambers and spilled over 
into an adjoining room. 
    Most speakers opposed the proposal. Council members themselves generally 
remained quiet, letting the public do the talking. 
    Last week, Leesburg council members indicated their willingness to scale 
back plans to annex residential areas of Loudoun County, provided the County 
Board agrees to endorse commercial development around Leesburg Executive 
Airport and construction of Crosstrails Boulevard as a major connector 
highway in the county's Comprehensive Plan. 
    ``We don't like being the bargaining chips for the county," said River 
Creek resident Vernon Davis, who submitted a petition of 493 homeowners 
opposed to the town's annexation. ``The issue of commercial development 
around Leesburg Airport can be debated on its own merits." 
    Leesburg Mayor B.J. Webb has indicated her opposition to adding ``more 
rooftops," saying the town does not stand to benefit from adding the 
residences. 
    The Town Council voted 5-2 in November to push ahead with a proposal 
members say will nearly double the town's size in hopes of boosting 
commercial development around Leesburg Executive Airport. The proposed 
acreage also will include residential communities, including River Creek and 
Potomac Station in the northeast and Emerald Estates in the southwest. 
    Council member George Atwell, who chairs the town's annexation committee, 
has said he was not opposed to giving up a ``chunk here and there," provided 
commercial development was part of the annexation deal with the County Board. 

    Brian McDermott, an Emerald Estates resident, on Wednesday challenged the 
Town Council to show evidence from town or county residents for the 
annexation plans. 
    ``Show us independent numbers with even a 10 percent support," McDermott 
said. 
    The town wasn't completely without support. ``Growth has to come to 
Leesburg and we should be prepared for it," said Stanley Caulkin, a former 
Town Council member. 
    Ed Levine, a pilot and resident of Sterling, said he supports commercial 
development around the airport. 
    Town officials contend annexation will increase the town's tax base by 
opening up land for about 12 million square feet of office space. They hope 
the move will generate nearly 32,000 jobs north of the Dulles Greenway and 
south of the town and Leesburg Airport. 
    Despite requests since early December, Loudoun Supervisor Mark Herring, 
D-Leesburg, said the town has no evidence of how it plans to attract 
businesses into the area. 
    ``I believe in setting good public policy, but not in horse-trading," 
Herring said last week. ``What I mean to say is that the town needs to prove 
the annexation is a good idea." 
    Herring said the Town Council is clinging to the planning ideas dating 
back to the 1980s. 
    ``We all have seen the results of development planning from the 1980s," 
Herring said. ``It is time the Town Council revised their ideas." 
    The Loudoun County Board had a public hearing two weeks ago on the 
annexation proposal. Supervisors and council members will hold a joint public 
hearing at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at Leesburg Town Hall. 
    Town Vice Mayor Kristen Umstattd's motion last week to rescind the town's 
earlier decision to annex nearly 7,000 acres was deferred because only five 
members of the seven-member Town Council were present. 
    Town Deputy Manager Phillip Rodenburg said the Town Council will vote on 
how to proceed with the annexation plan at its next meeting, 7:30 p.m. 
Feb.12. 
    If the town and county agree on a plan, it must be approved by the 
Commission on Local Government. If the matter remains in dispute, it goes to 
the Virginia Supreme Court for a ruling.

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