Charlie Houston’s Greatest Hits

By Charles Houston

 My Op-Eds have almost always been about protecting western Loudoun County, often taking a circuitous route to make my points. What if all the columns were distilled to their land-use essence? Have I been right? 

2017

May: A survey says 69 percent of Loudoun citizens think that too much growth, and too much  traffic are our biggest problems.                                               

June: The county belongs to its people, who can say enough growth and sprawl. 

July: The phenomenon of induced demand says that when new roads are built, they quickly fill up and generally spur even more development and traffic. 

August: Some landowners resist more protective zoning by making the claim of a “property right” to make every red cent they can, and to heck with others. That’s bogus since no one has unfettered use of their property thanks to existing zoning. 

September: Property taxes are too high. Reckless spending by the school system is the culprit. 

October: Could affordable housing cause problems with densities? 

November: Developers want to fill the entire county with new houses. 

December: I pen a nightmarish vision of Loudoun in 2050, after years of unchecked growth.

2018

January: Loudoun shouldn’t chase the humongous Amazon HQ2 deal, which would change the county’s character for the worse.  

February: The Planning Commission recommended to the Board of Supervisors that there be 18,000 new houses in the transition zone between east and west. Supervisor Matt Letourneau stopped it with one question, “What planet are you from?” 

March: An allegory highlights the beauty of western Loudoun. 

April: Conservation easements can be better than selling out. 

May: The new Comprehensive Plan envisions 7,500 new houses in western Loudoun. Through 2040, these would cost taxpayers over $500 million. Developers would make over $800 million profit. 

June: Envision Loudoun was an oily prelude to a new Comp Plan. Public comment was negative, but developers on the had the final say. 

July: I sent to Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, saying stay away, our roads were clogged, our taxes were high and citizens didn’t want the project.

August: Land trusts, which hold conservation easements, need to reinvent themselves to be more aggressive. 

September: Development forces out-gun conservationists, but the 2019 Board of Supervisors election holds hope. 

October: Western Loudoun is full of beauty and appeals to all the senses: Sight, smell, touch, taste, sound. 

November: The county’s latest survey showed that 87% of our citizens said that growth and traffic were our biggest problems. 

December: The Planning Commission at the time was a den of development devilry. Thankfully, the Board was not buying what they were selling.

2019

January: The Envision Loudoun pig continues to root in the mud. The Board endorses an Emerald Ribbons trail system. Tony Buffington gets an easement assistance program enacted.

February: Greenway tolls are criminal. March: In allegorical fashion, I place three Planning Commissioners in the lowest level of Dante’s Hell, put there for their assault on the Transition Area. 

April: The draft Comprehensive Plan calls for 72,000 new houses countywide, which would cost the taxpayers billions for new schools, libraries, etc. 

May: In a fantasy piece, famed military genius Sun Tzu says the “Unmet Housing Needs” study was biased and bogus. [Note: This was simply the number of people who wanted to move to Loudoun, not any true need by our citizens. Unfortunately, it’s become dogma.] 

June: At a Board of Supervisors meeting, the stacked Stakeholders” group, since-fired planning director Ricky Barker, the Chamber of Commerce, Ford’s Fish Shack and a young girl in a blue dress were vocal proponents for more sprawl. 

July: It was a mistake to pass a new Comprehensive Plan without knowing exactly what new housing it would bring, and where. “By-Right” zoning brings unsustainable growth. 

August: I use an allegory to say that voting is an important duty. 

September: Commercial development is not without problems since it can bring in new employees who want new houses and expensive schools for their children. 

October: I explain how developers think and operate and I emphasize that rezoning, creates huge profits. 

November: Conservationists need a Big Idea and must be confrontational.  

December: Clusters usually look like generic subdivision streets with cookie-cutter houses while they really should look like small, traditional Loudoun villages such as Waterford.

2020

January: I welcome four new supervisors and say that thousands of by-right new houses would be a disaster.

February: New development can threaten people’s water supply. 

March: I always fear the subtle seductions of “growth,” “business” and “prosperity. 

April: The new Comp Plan seems too oriented towards accommodating growth. It should have been based on just how big the citizens want Loudoun to be. Growth ain’t great – it usually brings a high cost of living, congestion, high housing prices and high taxes, not to mention a destruction of farmland and open space. 

May: This fantasy piece features a fictional Sigmund Freud IV. He loves Morven Park but scorns McMansions. 

June: I rail against clusters, high-density residential in the west, and the loss of 12,000 acres of farmland in the past few years. 

July: What a horrible year 2020 was, for all sorts of reasons. In Latin, it was an “annus horribilis.”

August: Fictional character Byne Rood is irked at proposed developments around Middleburg and the lack of leadership in fighting them. 

September: The miserable year continues with COVID, Antifa riots, and pre-election discord. 

October: Government must be transparent. The school system is the poster child for wasteful spending shielded by opacity. 

November: The Blue Ridge Mountains, from Georgia to Loudoun County, are special and must be protected. Kudos to Friends of the Blue Ridge for their work.

December: My late uncle Bubba is somehow resurrected and transported here. He is gob smacked at 21st century life, but is awed by Loudoun’s countryside. He remonstrates me to help protect it. 

This year is still a work in progress, so I’ve just listed the points I made through last year. So, how did I do? 

Charles Houston developed office buildings for an Atlanta based firm. He lives in Paeonian Springs.