Leesburg Town Council to Meet with Local Legislators

The Leesburg Town Council will meet with local state legislators on Monday night for a recap discussion of the 2012 General Assembly Session and preliminary discussions regarding issues for the 2013 Session. Sen. Mark Herring (D-33), Sen. Barbara Favola (D-31) and Del. Randy Minchew (R-10) have confirmed that they will be in attendance.

Some items that will be discussed include the following:

• Town charter amendment 
• Conditional zoning (Cornerstone Chapel issue) 
• Storm water service districts 
• Utility line relocation 
• Flexibility in use of cash proffers
• Diversion of local fine revenue to the state 
• State funding for local law enforcement (HB 599 funding)
• Local taxing authority – BPOL and cigarette taxes 
• Public procurement “preference” bills (bid match for local businesses)
• Authority to establish an endowment for the Balch Library  
• Unintended consequences of defining local government utilities as “public utilities”

"We do not normally meet with our legislators during the summer shortly after the July 1 changes have gone into effect, but I'm glad to see this meeting taking place this year," said Mayor Kristen Umstattd. "Our primary goal is to work with our legislators to protect our citizens from unfunded mandates from the state as well as the federal government and to persuade Richmond to invest more funds in transportation.

"With the defunding of the predicted 15 Virginia Regional Transit routes in Leesburg and Loudoun due to the diversion of County gas tax funds to Metro, now that the County has voted for the extension of Metro to Ashburn, the lack of transportation funding from Richmond takes on an even higher level of concern."

Following the discussion, the Town Council will continue their bi-weekly work session by going over plans to implement a bike and pedestrian plan across Leesburg. More bike racks are planned to be installed throughout the town, as well as maps and signage to improve the visual link from the W&OD Trail (near South King Street) to downtown businesses. They will also follow-up on plans regarding a bike depot at Raflo Park, which will soon be available to the public. 

Monday night's work session will begin at 7:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend or watch the meetings live on Leesburg's Government Access Channel, Comcast Channel 67 and Verizon Channel 35, or by webcast.