Leesburg Does Well in County Redistricting

In , we looked at the recent redistricting plan adopted by the , and how the decision to have two western Loudoun districts could lead to the unintended consequence of leaving rural Loudoun with no representation on the Board.

Leesburg, however, potentially fares much better with the newly redrawn districts.  Leesburg could easily wind up with two or, if the planets align just right, even three representatives on the nine-member Board.

As has been the case in the past, the town is guaranteed at least one member on the Board – the Leesburg District representative – since that district falls entirely in the town.

In order to have two districts composed primarily of western Loudoun residents – Blue Ridge and Catoctin – the Board drew the Catoctin District lines so as to include residents from the outskirts of Leesburg, either inside or just outside the town limits.  Blue Ridge, on the other hand, was expanded into the Brambleton area to bring in a significant number of eastern Loudoun residents.

Among the greater Leesburg neighborhoods that remain in the Catoctin District are Stratford, Oaklawn and Evergreen Meadows on the south side of town, and Red Rocks, Spring Lakes and River Creek to the east.

In all, more than 15,000 people with Leesburg addresses live in the Catoctin District, more than 42% of the district population.  Most likely, it is just a matter of time before someone from the greater Leesburg area is elected to represent the Catoctin District.

Leesburg could even find itself with a third representative if county voters were to elect a Leesburg resident to serve as chairman-at-large.  This convergence of circumstances is not likely, perhaps, but within the realm of possibility.

I should point out that speculation about who might be elected to the Board of Supervisors, and where they live, can also be extended to other boards and commissions that have representation based on election districts, including the School Board and .

Another change that affects many Leesburg residents under the new redistricting plan is the expansion of the Leesburg District to include slightly more than 39,000 residents.  Under the new plan, the population in the Leesburg District will increase from 25,533 to 39,315, based on 2010 Census figures.

To reach the target population of 39,000 for each district, several Leesburg neighborhoods were shifted from the Catoctin District to the Leesburg District.  Leesburg Country Club, Leesburg Estates, Greenway Farms, Woodlea Manor, Potomac Crossing, Evans Ridge, Sycamore Hill, Potomac Station and the Village at Leesburg are among the neighborhoods that shift to the Leesburg District.

This change alone means that nearly 14,000 additional residents will have local representation.

For the last decade, residents of these neighborhoods have been represented on the Board of Supervisors by Sally Kurtz, a resident of the Lovettsville area.  To her credit, Kurtz has been very responsive to her Leesburg-area constituents, and has been active and engaged on issues that affect Leesburg.

Kurtz is not running for re-election, however, and her Catoctin District successor will have the challenge of meeting the needs of constituents in areas as diverse as Lovettsville, Neersville, Waterford, Hamilton, Lucketts, Evergreen Meadows and River Creek.

The neighborhood where I have lived for more than two decades, Leesburg Country Club, will be one of the neighborhoods that moves into the Leesburg District under the new plan. This means that we will have a representative who lives nearby for the first time in recent memory.

Since my neighborhood and others in southwestern Leesburg were redrawn into the Catoctin District after the 1990 Census, we have been represented on the Board of Supervisors by Rick Roberts, Helen Marcum and Sally Kurtz, all of whom lived in the Waterford or Lovettsville areas.

That trend is likely to continue for at least another four years, since the two declared Catoctin District candidates for the Board of Supervisors are from Lovettsville (Democrat Malcolm Baldwin) and Waterford (Republican Geary Higgins).

Of course, having Leesburg-area representatives on the Board of Supervisors, School Board, and Planning Commission does not guarantee that Leesburg residents will be represented well.  But it makes it more likely that our representatives will listen carefully to those of us who live in Leesburg, and that they will look out for our interests.