[JYO] Another Annexation Article... Leesburg2day

 <A 
HREF="http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=1&newsid=4716";>Annexation 
Opposition Continues; Pilots Urge Look At Airport Area -- 
Leesburg2Day-- The Journal of Loudoun County</A> 

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Annexation Opposition Continues; Pilots Urge Look At Airport Area
<A HREF="mailto:andrew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";>Andrew Parker</A> 

 

Jan 31, 2002 -- Twenty-seven Leesburg residents, interested county citizens 
and business owners last night lambasted the Leesburg Town Council for its 
proposal to annex up to 6,970 acres south and east of town. They were among 
an overflow crowd that turned out for the council’s first public hearing on 
annexation. While most of the participants opposed annexation, an option of 
expanding the town’s boundaries to the south to include more land around 
Leesburg Executive Airport was supported by local pilots and the chairman of 
the town’s Economic Development Commission. Comments by the crowd ranged from 
colorful analogies to threats of un-seating council members in the May 
election. Some of the citizens who opposed residential annexation of areas 
east and southwest of Leesburg said they had no objection to annexation of 
areas around the airport, but many voiced opposition to the entire proposal. 
Part of Potomac Station, River Creek Northlake, Edwards Ferry and Edwards 
Landing subdivisions would be affected by annexation in the east, and parts 
of Woodlea Manor, Emerald Park Estates, Dun Robin and Dal-Shar Estates would 
be affected southwest of Leesburg’s current boundaries. Some citizens said 
the proposal was based in “ignorance, arrogance and greed,” said it was “
unethical” and “Leesburg has lost its soul.” Several residents wore “No 
Annexation, Potomac Station” stickers on their lapels. “Which part of 
‘this 
stinks’ don’t you understand,” said Oatlands resident Jane Morgenstern. 
“
How much time and effort and money are we diverting,” by spending town and 
county staff time on annexation. “This makes no sense. Period,” she said, 
calling the proposal “sloppy sprawl.” Charles Coleman, a Leesburg resident, 
said “I can guarantee you, that if this annexation goes through, we will 
remove you from your offices. EDC Chairman LaMott Smith said during his time 
on the panel, he has “seen where we’ve lost opportunities because we 
don’t 
have a place to grow.” Leesburg needs to expand its commercial tax base, he 
said.“[We] need to be planning now. I feel more comfortable with these people 
here to manage that growth than I do the county,” Smith said, adding 
annexation would create jobs in the community. The council should help plan 
the area around the airport smartly and wisely for the future, he said. 
Councilman George Atwell, who chairs the town’s annexation negotiating 
committee, told the crowd annexation is still a long and involved process, 
and there is a procedure in which boundaries can be changed jointly by the 
county and town if an agreement is reached. He said the public will have 
additional opportunities to comment before the council takes any action. A 
General Assembly Commission On Local Government public hearing will be held 
May 20-21 in Leesburg. Atwell summarized why the council thinks an expansion 
of its boundaries is essential to the future. “This proposed annexation is to 
benefit the taxpaying citizens of the town. Quality economic development is 
the way to stabilize taxes,” Atwell said. Gaining control or the area 
surrounding the airport ensures that no residential development will occur 
around the airport, he said, adding annexation would increase the business 
tax base to level out property taxes in the area. It is the town’s 
responsibility to lead the traffic initiatives, Atwell said. River Creek 
Homeowners’ Association president Vernon Davis brought signatures of 493 
River Creek homeowners who opposed annexation of their development. “We would 
pay the same as other town residents, but would not get the services. We like 
being a neighbor. Don’t have us in the middle as your bargaining chip,” 
Davis said. “If we are annexed, I will be a voter again, and so will all the 
residents in this petition ... and we have a long memory,” Davis said. 
Leesburg resident Todd Nelson said, “We do not like being held hostage ... don
’t put us in the middle of it,” referring to Atwell’s suggestion that the 
annexation committee and the council would consider dropping the residential 
annexation in exchange for some guarantees from the county that the airport 
area would be annexed and Crosstrail Boulevard, a 4- to 6-lane collector road 
running from Rt. 7 south of Leesburg through the Shellhorn property and to 
the Dulles Greenway and beyond, would be built. “Your treatment of the 
residents of Areas 1 and 3 is not only wrong,” said Exeter resident Marty 
Martinez. “It’s lacking in judgement and inconsiderate.” Martinez is 
running 
for council in the May elections. Tony Virgilio, who lives south of current 
boundaries, said “What used to be quaint and charming like Colonial 
Williamsburg has been taken away” by developers and land speculators. He said 
the town had a “certain pompousness” during a series of closed session 
meetings held before the November decision. Virgilio said the proposal was 
silly and “swallowing 7000 acres to solve problems this town has created,” 
was not the right thing to do. Gem Bingol, who lives in Leesburg, noted 
environmental concerns with increased development. She said sprawled-out 
growth will have a negative economic impact, and said the town should take 
advantage of Leesburg’s niche market. “Annexation is no guarantee. Annexed 
land carries the implication that the land will be commercially developed,” 
Bingol said. She gave the council a petitions signed by 430 town residents 
opposing annexation. Barbara Emmons, who lives about two miles from the 
proposed annexation boundary, said the Leesburg Premium Outlet Mall, the 
Wal-Mart shopping center and “the Sheetz mess” are “eyesores.” “It 
will 
happen again if we let this annexation go forward,” she warned. 
“Battlefield 
Parkway’s already in the books. Why annex all that rural land just for a 
road. Let’s fix what we’ve got instead of build some more,” Emmons said. 
“
We can’t afford it. We’re looking at a disaster,” said Hub Turner, who 
lives 
on Bradfield Drive. “Let’s put this on hold.” Joe Andrews, vice president 
of 
the Luck Stone Corporation, requested the council drop consideration of two 
land bays set for future mining to be taken out of the annexation proposal. “
The quarry operations do not necessarily require the services the town would 
provide,” he said. Leesburg resident Doug Goolsby played a tape of Vice Mayor 
Kristen Umstattd saying at a July council meeting that the closed sessions 
should be brought into the public. He said Umstattd and Councilman David 
Schmidt were exactly right in calling for public involvement and said the 
council should work on “slowing this annexation train and let concerned 
citizens get on.” Local pilots said they fear that housing developments will 
encroach on the runway path in the future and the town would have better 
control of growth if it annexed the area. Longtime Leesburg resident and 
business owner Stanley Caulkins said “annexation is a win-win situation.” 
He 
noted Leesburg is “35 miles west of the capital of the world,” and said 
“you 
will not remain a cow pasture.” A member of the town airport commission, 
Caulkins said housing developments are encroaching on one of the “town’s 
great facilities,” that generates $23 million per year for the local economy. 
“We need this tool,” he said. “We have to understand that these things 
are a 
natural progression and they are going to happen. The survival of the town 
and the airport is crucial to the future of Leesburg.” Drew Steketee, 
representing a number of local pilots, said the town should have better 
control of the development of the airport area. He said most of his options 
for avoiding housing around Leesburg airport is harder than it was even two 
years ago. “Airport encroachment makes everybody unhappy, from pilots to 
residents. The key to protect the public and the airport ... is a single 
government to maintain better coordination and land use around the airport,” 
Steketee said. “What we will see down the road is continued and increasing 
pressure. I’ve watched this happen in two towns before,” where housing 
developments encroach on a runway, said pilot Dennis Boykin. Residents who 
end up living near the airport “will replace you and they will shut that 
facility [the airport] down.” After the meeting, Atwell said he doesn’t 
know 
what will happen next in the annexation deliberations and isn’t sure whether 
the council will reverse its decision. “What the council created, the council 
can un create,” he said. The massive opposition to residential annexation was 
about what he expected, Atwell said. The next meeting of the town and county 
annexation committee is Feb. 6 and the next council meetings are Feb. 11 and 
12. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors meets Jan. 4.

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