Del. Geary Higgins on preserving Loudoun through economics

By Reed Carver

“Working as a public servant in local government has not always been easy, but it’s been rewarding.” Del. Geary Higgins (R-30) said in an interview on July 15. Everyone in politics must balance the public life, and then there’s your private life, but … “unfortunately, all too often, it takes a backseat to your public responsibilities,” he said. 

Higgins first entered politics in Loudoun in 2000. He was elected to and began by serving on the school board, because his three children were in the county’s schools at the time, and he wanted to have some influence in their education. 

Blue Ridge Leader: How are you working to promote conservation abilities? 

Geary Higgins: As a representative in Richmond, Higgins and the other delegates make state laws. He has been working to pass several bills to aid in conservation and preservation in 2024, he said.

There are some relevant bills which have passed, like HB 1395. This applies in the following situation: someone goes to the local governing body, be that the town council or supervisors, and applies for a permit to tear down, or significantly alter a structure. If that structure is within a locally established historic district, then there is a 30-day period required to pass before any action can be taken. That will give the governing body time to evaluate if this structure should  be preserved as is, explained Higgins. 

“It’s essentially a cool-down period,” Higgins said. This bill on delayed deconstructioncan be read on Virginia’s Legislative Information System. 

His own bill HB 1223 to restore the funding level for land preservation tax credits (conservation easements) from $75 million to $100 million was killed in committee. 

However, two other historic preservation bills he supported which did pass were HB 914 allowing local jurisdictions to establish historic district tax incentives, and HB 960 that increased the amount of state funding available for historic rehabilitation tax credits from $5 million to $7.5 million. These bills create tax incentives to preserve historic structures and preserve open space by putting land into conservation easements.

BRL: Can you describe your role on The Counties, Cities, and Towns committee?

GH: Higgins said he serves as a member of the “Counties, Cities, and Towns” Committee in Richmond. And, that all delegates are assigned to committees, but he is well suited for this one because of his experience as a supervisor in Loudoun, which began in 2011.

The goal of the committees is to look into the details of bills sent to the committee, using their particular expertise. A few “conservation” bills that came though the committee sounded good, Higgins said, but on closer examination did not yield the results he was looking for.

For example, he said, there was a bill that purportedly was about “tree-conservation,” but it did not require the conservation of any of the existing trees. Higgins said this bill required the planting of small trees about six feet tall at development sites, but failed to preserve any of the native trees already there. 

On his own road near Waterford, the property around Higgins was developed for residential uses, and while the construction equipment was coming through, they took down all the trees on both sides of the road. “There were plenty of scrub trees in there,” Higgins said, “but there were also some large native ones that were worth preserving.”

He did not support that “so called” tree conservation bill because it made no effort to conserve any of the existing trees, he also mentioned, “normally the first thing people moving into new residential developments do is plant their own trees.” He also acknowledged preserving existing trees can increase the property values. 

BRL: How do we mitigate the tension in western Loudoun between rural residents, and commercial uses like breweries, wedding venues, etc.?

GH: To keep western Loudoun rural, we have to find ways to make it work economically. So, between economic interests and conservation interests, the question becomes, “How do we strike a balance?” Conventional farming is getting tougher and tougher in western Loudoun, he said. 

“To preserve open space, landowners have to have ways to be able to monetize their property, so that it pays for itself and housing does not become the best only use. Farmers are businessmen. They have to make the land pay for itself, if they can’t, they’ll sell out to residential [uses]. “If you take away their options, they will cash out.”

So, if we want the land to have some agricultural uses, he concluded, “people need alternatives other than houses.”

He recalled a farmer he knew in western Loudoun who had over 300 acres. “The farm is not just your income, but the value of your farm is your line of credit to do business when times are tough.”

“If you take away value from the farm, through zoning changes, you take away his ability to do business.” He was forced to sell, rather than lose his land value and now we have 78 houses and almost 800 car trips a day on a gravel road, Higgins said. 

Conservation easements are also another option to preserve land. In this case, the owner of the property can get tax credits based on the value of their property, because the County will not have to provide the same level of services required for residential development to that piece of land. This is one area in which Higgins wants to help, since the state level is where the funding comes from to make easements. 

“We can fight that [growth] pressure by throwing up a stone wall, but as the pressure builds, it will eventually give way. Or we can find ways to make it work.”

If economic balances are not found, “you know what we’re going to look like? Fairfax.” 

BRL: How specifically are you going to deal with tensions between residents and commercial uses?

GH: Some of the work on the committee allowed them to set slower speed limits in towns, but Higgins said his role is limited at the state level, and he strongly believes that decisions about local zoning should be made at the most local level possible, not by people in Richmond. 

He does not support the bills that would attempt to roll over local governments by means of the State Corporation Commission.

BRL: What about the noise disruptions from breweries and party venues?

GH: “There are a few bad actors, that will push the limits, but they need to be considerate of their neighbors, and that’s part of what the county was trying to do with the noise ordinance.” [that is a maximum of up to 55 decibels and silent after 11 p.m.] But, dealing with those types of situations is a local issue, he said.

But, “there is also a possibility in local zoning that if you abuse your rights, you can lose them,” he said. “We don’t want to correct the bad behavior of a few by destroying the whole industry.” That would just leave western Loudoun open to complete residential development. Remember Loudoun County is number one in the state for agritourism. Visitors come to Loudoun to visit, spend their money and go home.

Higgins said he has always tried to strike that balance. “However, fewer options will only lead to more residential development.”