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Out here in Loudoun County, the following was stated by a former planner for the area in January 1999, while speaking at a Loudoun Public School meeting.
"In the past, there was an implied contract in Loudoun County whereby Western Loudoun would remain rural, with low populations and a strong rural economy. It would enjoy smaller, older school facilities without all of the bells and whistles of the new schools in the east, but with the old fashion commitment of dedicated teachers in small classes. Conversely Eastern Loudoun would be the growth center of houses, jobs, and retail services. Western Loudoun would pay through taxes a fair share in supporting this new development in the east and in return would preserve a lifestyle the residents valued."

Somewhere in 2001 to 2002, that line was crossed and whether thru trying to offer a consession to growth pundits, or thru an act of outright greed, building in the West was begun. To add insult to injury, the funds that the west had always offered for it's security in being relatively build-free were "jacked" up in ever increasing percentages as the east keeps requiring more and more infrastructure.

Loudoun has been borrowing from Peter to pay Paul for so long, and in opening west Loudoun to development and refusing to garner proffers and impact fees from the developers who are running thru the county....
Loudoun is approaching the day where both sides of the county have huge infrastructures and no money buffer anywhere else to pull from.
Basically, when all of it is developed and Peter and Paul are both broke, all eyes will turn to the lowly taxpayer to pick up that slack.

Meanwhile, those to blame for the development will be retired in Florida on their multi-million dollar estates while we are stuck in Loudoun dealing with their contributions to our County. Developers and Board members alike.

There is no doubt you have been hosed.

We are so far from the centers of power that those who live here are mostly cussedly independent. Whenever our township board tried to hold an election where they thought they would sneak through smart growth, suddenly, the entire township showed up for the meeting. The organizers were reduced to sneaking around the edges and the Chairman weakly announced an *agenda change*. They were reduced to taking a mail-in vote on whether or not we should spend what was at that time $25k to initiate the smart growth studies and they lost. The County can't impose a plan on any one township. Once in a while, a radical gets on the County Board and can come close to ruining things, but in the past, those impacted have successfully sued them over various laws they have passed that were unreasonable.

We just want the right to sell our land to the largest possible pool of buyers, given that it isn't so valuable that people are willing to bribe to get it. None of us will make even one million. Those building the starter castles are content to own 80-120 acres that were in hay and pasture. They then plant trees.

It is odd to me that this county had such a compact: to have one half paying protection money to preserve their life style. Although, I have heard stories over the decades that the original designation of our area as greenbelt/recreational was achieved by the influence of outsiders on the regional planning commission. I haven't found any proof of this, however. We are just too far from the high-paying jobs on land too hilly for mass development.Even with watershed dams, some portions ofthe river flood every few years.

Smart Growth will make the land more expensive. It will allow the area to remain undeveloped while giving the Greens too much power over the individual landowner. While some flat land on the ridges may be developed into 1/2 acre home sites if things are left alone over the next 20 years, the majority will remain in 20-acre or larger parcels. The costs of development are just too high to entice the developers, so far.