Leesburg District Grows Minus Airport

Leesburg will mostly remain intact following an election redistricting vote by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors last Tuesday, but it will be missing the Leesburg Executive Airport.

A plan proposed by homeowners associations, the HOA 4 plan, would have placed the town, except for three precincts, in a district with the Rt. 15 corridor to the north. Those three precincts include homeowners living outside town limits who share town water rate issues. The HOA 4 Plan also put Leesburg Executive Airport in a district with the town, while the adopted plan puts it elsewhere.

Most of the key votes fell along the same 5-4 divide, including the final vote on the plan. Waters, Miller, York and Delgaudio were in the minority.

In response to concerns about dividing Leesburg, the HOAs offered alternate plans that kept the existing Leesburg District intact and added parts of the existing Catoctin District, which currently surrounds the Leesburg District.

“They didn’t just create one version of their plan,” Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run) said. “They ended up with four because they wanted to do better each time.”

There were also several proposals that appeared to be more for show than to seriously win a majority of support. One such motion called for 10 districts (Burton), while another called for all at-large districts (Waters).

The new plan also divides other communities in the county, and created ripples on the board.

For instance, a majority of supervisors rejected pleas from Ashburn’s representatives to contemplate for even one more day ways to carve up the county into new magisterial districts.

Instead, members of that majority accused Waters and Supervisor Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) of “ginning” up east versus west emotions because they – along with at-large Chairman Scott K. York (I) and Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) – attempted to keep more HOAs from being divided between districts.

Miller and Waters, neither of whom plan to run for reelection, represent the two largest districts in a county that grew by 84 percent between 2000 (169,599) and 2010 (312,311). Broad Run’s (51,113) and Dulles’ (81,409) populations combined equal more than 42 percent of the total county population.

The new redistricting plan is finalized pending unforeseen snags, which, if found, staff members will present to the board this week. There was reason for urgency in terms of legal deadlines: Any necessary ordinance changes must be advertised to the public before the county files its plan with the U.S. Department of Justice by the May 1 deadline. Staff members told supervisors a preliminary vote by the end of the month would have sufficed.

As a result of the board’s vote, five supervisors will serve Ashburn’s two ZIP codes after the 2011 election. Concerning to several homeowners associations are the ways their communities are divided into more than one district, which will make for unusual partnerships.

For example, most of Brambleton will share a supervisor with the town of Middleburg and county residents all the way to Loudoun’s western border, while the majority of its adjacent neighbor – Loudoun Valley Estates – will share representation with Dulles International Airport and South Riding. No longer will either group share a supervisor with any other Ashburn community.

“We’re really carving these neighborhoods up,” York said. “I have fought alongside many of my colleagues here to preserve west. In order to keep what is currently there in configuration, some are sacrificing, I think, the good will of the east.”

Broadlands will be grouped with Ashburn Village and the Dulles Town Center. Ashburn Farm – divided into two districts for the past ten years – will be united, and join Belmont Country Club and Lansdowne in a district.

“I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to take those around the Dulles Town Center and place them in the same district with Ashburn Village,” Waters said. “It’s a stretch. I think the voters are going to have something to say about this and it’s not going to be pretty.”

University Center, Ashburn’s northern thumb, will be paired with CountrySide, Cascades, Lowe’s Island and Sugarland Run. An attempt by Waters to swap University Center with part of the exiting Potomac District – to keep each with more voters in their current district – was rebuffed by Kurtz, who also has announced that she will not run for reelection.

I don’t see it visually,” Kurtz said. “I don’t know that the numbers are switchable and that it makes a better community.”

Waters said Kurtz and other members of the majority on the issue were not seriously considering her requests.

“You say you’re open to tweaks and amendments, but you didn’t vote that way, not even to ask staff to go back and look at an Ashburn precinct that’s going to be put in all the way with Sterling to the far east of the county,” she said.

The majority locked on the option that preserved two rural districts.

“The two western districts are very important to me, and keeping as much of Leesburg a coherent district is important to me,” Supervisor Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg) said. Kurtz said changing western Loudoun to one district would leave one supervisor with an unwieldy district that’s too large to maintain.

“We’re talking well over an hour to get from one end to the other,” Kurtz said. “It would be impossible for me to support … what would really be a six-town, six-village rural residential district … This is massive.”

Supporters of some variation of the HOA plans said the majority was ignoring citizen input.

“The [HOAs] added to the discussion, but nobody’s listening to them,” York said. “Not one iota.”

Supervisor Susan Klimek Buckley (D-Sugarland Run) said it was not possible to make everyone happy, and that preserving rural districts was among her priorities. Buckley does not plan to run for reelection. Sugarland Run will be absorbed into another district.

“It’s just simply not possible to keep everybody together,” she said. “I appreciate all of the work that the HOAs put forth. [But] I think finally we have a plan that’s a balanced plan.”

Miller seemed to take exception with the notion that desires of HOAs – which pushed for the convenience of having one supervisor, one school member and one planning commissioner to lobby – were evenly weighed.

“Fair respects the interests of that many citizens of Loudoun,” Miller said. “These HOAs are composed of our people. Their proposal deserves as much time as these tweaks.”

In the end, the following communities were or will remain divided in some manner:

• Brambleton
• Lansdowne (although, only if what would presumably be the Catoctin District needs the voters)
• Kirkpatrick Farms
• Loudoun Valley Estates
• Broadlands
• Potomac Station

South Riding will remain united in the adopted plan, but still supported the HOA plan.

“Listening to the comments up here, you would think we aren’t keeping any communities of interest together,” Buckley said.

As she noted, Ashburn Village, CountrySide, Sugarland Run, Sterling Park, River Creek, Lowe’s Island, Belmont Country Club and Potomac Station will each remain within one district. In addition, Ashburn Farm and Cascades/Potomac Lakes will be united in the plan.

The action also resulted in the adoption of a plan that bears the name of the Ashburn supervisor who authored, but then opposed, it – Miller. Some members of the majority on the item took jabs at Miller for abandoning his own plan, while he argued that he was listening to constituents who took the time to offer alternate plans.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t stay with your own plan,” Burk said to Miller, but “let’s take a vote and get going.”

Miller fumed over the unwillingness to change the name of the plan.

“You put your name it,” he said. “Everybody says they’re for it, but it’s got to have my name on it because I put it in first. You’re going to back it, but not one of you has the courage put your own name on it. Cowards!”

Kurtz and Buckley both suggested that previous preliminary votes in support of Miller’s plan should stick. At one point early in the process, every plan proposed was rejected except Miller’s. But that was prior to final release of census numbers, which forced most plans to be completely reworked and resulted in new submissions.

If you have any questions, contact members of the board of supervisors at 703-777-0204 or:

• Lori Waters, Broad Run, lori.waters@loudoun.gov
• Stevens Miller, Dulles, stevens.miller@loudoun.gov
• Scott K. York, At Large, scott.york@loudoun.gov
• Jim Burton, Blue Ridge, jim.burton@loudoun.gov
• Sally R. Kurtz, Catoctin, sally.kurtz@loudoun.gov
• Kelly Burk, Leesburg, supervisor.kelly.burk@loudoun.gov
• Andrea McGimsey, Potomac, andrea.mcgimsey@loudoun.gov
• Susan Klimek Buckley, Sugarland Run, susan.buckley@loudoun.gov
• Eugene Delgaudio, Sterling, eugene.delgaudio@loudoun.gov

IN THEIR OWN WORDS:

Dividing Leesburg: Several supervisors expressed concerns about how to divide Leesburg its neighbors. The HOA representatives responded with several revisions attempting to address the issue.

Burk: “So many of the maps divide Leesburg into three different areas, three different districts. It is a concern. Leesburg is probably the strongest community of interest. Yet we’re talking about dividing that up and letting communities in other areas determine what ends up happening. The two western districts are very important to me, and keeping as much of Leesburg a coherent district is important to me.” She also opposes pairing portions of Leesburg with Lucketts or Hamilton.

York: “We’re really carving these neighborhoods up,” he said, referring to eastern communities. “I appreciate the arguments of Leesburg. Leesburg is a town. It is not a giant HOA. It is not … We’ve had this great debate that we should save our two western districts. We want our cake and to eat it to.

Waters: “Addition, this splits Brambleton. Also, it fundamentally changes what had been the Broad Run district.”

Kurtz: “The Miller plan enjoyed a majority of support.”

Buckley: “One of the things I look at is how many districts are created in western Loudoun.”

Kurtz: “We’re talking well over an hour to get from one end to the other,” referring the size of the county and how long it would take to traverse a single western district. “To my mind, when you think of communities of interest, Rt. 7 is a natural district line between the northern end of the county and the southern end of the county. It would be impossible for me to support … what would really be a six-town, six-village rural residential district … This is massive.”

York: “Your argument Mrs. Kurtz doesn’t wash with me, since I have the county and I go form one corner to the other and the other corner to the other corner.”

Waters (on Lansdowne): “This community has been divided. They have sought and repeatedly asked me to reunite them. They want to be able to work with one school member and one supervisors on issues that face each body.”

Burton: “In the past, I have opposed this plan because it extends the rural districts to far into the east,” he said, explaining why he had changed his mind, while other members of the majority criticized Tuesday’s opponents for changing theirs.

Waters: “I’m not sure why they’re being carved up in the way they are being carved up.”

Miller: “We are tweaking so we said. No we’re not. We’re making a bunch of scrambling last-minute changes. [HOA 4] maintains communities of interest in districts together, one of our stated goals. We can not do that for everyone.” Some communities, he said, have been split for the past decade. “It’s only fair that they not be split for the next 10 years.”

He made an unsuccessful motion to required staff to develop a plan that did not divide any of the following communities: Brambleton, Broadlands, Ashburn Farm, Lansdowne, South Riding, Kirkpatrick Farms, Stone Ridge, “each to remain together, undivided. Fair respects the interests of that many citizens of Loudoun. These HOAs are composed of our people. Their proposal deserves as much time as these tweaks.”

McGimsey: “I have to say in the three and half years that I’ve represented them, I’ve never heard them complain to me that Supervisor Buckley represents part of them,” she said, referring to Cascades. “Some neighborhoods are going to be split up.”

Waters: “The HOAs plans actually proved that you could keep the neighborhoods together. The HOAs plans do that. They don’t split neighborhoods.” If we ignore the HOA plans, “What a message that sends to our community.”

Buckley: “Listening to the comments up here, you would think we aren’t keeping any communities of interest together. This issue isn’t always grouping like HOAs. It’s just simply not possible to keep everybody together. I appreciate all of the work that the HOAs put forth. [But] I think finally we have a plan that’s a balanced plan.”

York: “They added to the discussion, but nobody’s listening to them. Not one iota. The best these folks could do that day was to wait for the data. Every plan before the census numbers came out had to scrap.”

Citizens worked hard on proposals: “We’re not giving serious consideration.”

York: “I have fought along side many of my colleague here to preserve west. In order to keep what is currently there in configuration, some are sacrificing, I think, the good will of the east to keep it that way. Many of these HOAs have fought for the last two years very hard on these school situations.”

McGimsey: “What this change would do is put the Metro line in my district and I’d be able to work on it. I’d be willing to go here,” she said to a district precinct swap with proposed Sterling-area district.

Miller: “Mrs. Kurtz, it’s not about what they have in common, it’s about what they want. They told us what they want. They have a right to see us care. But we’re just going to say we know better. This is not democratic, this is not fair, this is selfish.”

Previous Vote: Some supervisors questioned the change of heart of their colleagues, although some supporters of the adopted plan previously opposed it.

Buckley: “Eight members of this board supported the Miller plan. To be up here now looking make significant changes, I think, is an attempt to derail the process. We have five votes. We need to vote to approve the plan that the majority of the board supports.”

Miller: “With all due respect what we need to is work until we get the best plan that we can, not the first one that achieves five votes. I’m disappointed that we’re seeking to rush this through when there’s time. We don’t have to pass it today. What’s the big hurry?”

Name: Miller attempted to change the name of the plan that bore his name because he no longer supported it. He even offered to vote for it in exchange for renaming it.

“I find myself in the awkward position of wanting to remove the plan with my name on it. My constituency is in favor of the HOA plans and not the one with my name on it. It’s still a good plan, we just have better options.”

Kurtz: “I refuse to have it called the Kurtz plan. This is know to the public as the Miller plan. I do believe it needs to be called the Miller Plan amended or the amended Miller plan.”

Burk (to Miller): “I’m sorry you couldn’t stay with your own plan. Let’s take a vote and get going.”

Miller: “Mrs. Burk, you’re not happy I’m sticking with my plan. You put your name on it. I don’t get you guys. Everybody says they’re for [the Miller 5 plan], but it’s got to have my name on it because I put it in first. I got presented with a superior alternative and I back [that alternative] now. You’re going to back [the Miller 5 plan], but not one of you has the courage to put your own name on it. Some of you who have insisted that Leesburg can’t be split or there must be two western districts – things that don’t matter much to me, but the certainly matter to your reelection chances ­– you’re not putting your name on it. You insist I get it. Well the e-mail I send out will point out that nobody who said they support it had the courage to put their name on it. Cowards!”

Politics: Politically bent shots were abundant.

York: “The beauty of the plans coming forward from the HOAs is it took politics out of it. I won’t support the Miller plan. I think it takes what we have tried to keep in the Sterling area and the Potomac area and shifts them into other planning areas. It doesn’t even match up with our comp plan policies.”

Waters: “A great thing about the HOA plans is that they have been community-driven. The big issue is the room is politics, and some of these plans that we are discussing and will discuss were drawn in ways to favor particular candidates or to disadvantage particular candidates. That’s just the facts. We know what’s trumping neighborhoods and communities.”

Miller (to Waters): “I was not present at the LCRC meeting when the plan with its name made it here,” he said, adding that he accepts word of GOP members that it was not political. He said his original plan was good, but a better came along. “It would and still could be a good plan. I take exception to the assertions that it was drawn for the purpose of protecting any individual’s candidacy. I was there. You weren’t. It wasn’t.”

Kurtz: “I will agree that all of these plans are politics. You can look at politics in many ways. It is the balancing the special interests of one community against another community. It is trying to find a common ground for many communities.”

Miller: “Mr. Burton, I represent some of the people you used to represent. You are about to vote against some of those people you are about to represent. I don’t know if that’s a good move. I don’t know if that’s a good start.”

Waters: “I think the citizens are going to have something to say about this. Some of you are not running again, but some of you are. I think you have woken up a sleeping giant in these communities.”

York: “I think Mrs. Waters is right. You’re waking a sleeping giant. They’re tired of dealing with the issues and feeling they’re being sacrificed to get to this point. I find it interesting that at least one returning representative will no longer represent the majority of the constituents he once represented.”

Buckley: “One would think that those not supporting the Miller plan are not disenfranchising other voters. That’s not the case. There is no perfect plan.”

Kurtz: Said she was surprised “Waters was ginning up east versus west. Last week, it was Mr. Miller who was ginning up east versus west. I don’t think there is, frankly to my mind, validity … such a difference that a district can’t include people from different neighborhoods.”

She then said having more than one supervisor opposing the Western Transportation Corridor helped fights that road.

“We are the ones that fought outer beltway from being rammed down right on the power lines. We have stood up for the good of the entire county and the public common interest for at least a decade. I’m really pretty tired of hearing, not form the public, but from a couple of elected officials that, in fact, come voting time, that we’re going to really regret [it] because this isn’t a balanced plan. I’ve got some questions for some motivations for this whole line of yap, frankly.”

Lansdowne: When Kurtz made a move to keep a portion of Lansdowne in a western district, Waters objected. 

Waters: “Don’t do it. Where are your priorities? These eastern neighborhoods, those are real communities of interest.”

Ashburn Changes: Kurtz opposed a precinct swap that Waters requested.

Kurtz: “I don’t see it visually. I don’t know that the numbers are switchable and that it makes a better community.”

Waters: “You say you’re open to tweaks and amendments, but you didn’t vote that way – not even to ask staff to go back and look at an Ashburn precinct that’s going to be put in all the way with Sterling to the far east of the county, along the border of Loudoun and Fairfax. That’s not a very compact district.”

Burton: “I believe that Mrs. Waters amendments are primarily designed to destroy what is on the table.” Burton was referring to a series of amendments Waters to unite elements of the existing Broad Run District with precincts that were matched elsewhere.

[Correction: The original version of this story indicated Supervisor Miller offered to vote for the plan that was ultimately adopted if it were renamed. He agreed only to rename it. Also, Potomac Station is divided in the plan, contrary to the initial report, and more than the commercial space in Broadlands is divided from the residential area. Patch apologizes for the errors.]