Idle Thoughts

By Charles Houston

A lot is happening: War in Ukraine, Israeli retaliation against Hamas, the ascendance of China; our lousy economy; a nasty presidential election between two old guys (one of whom quit) and an assassination attempt; a wide gulf between Americans on issues like abortion, the open border and illegal immigration; the fentanyl that pours through from that border; crimes of all sorts.  

Though I ponder these weighty problems, I don’t really have a topic for today. Thus, I’ll share some odds and ends that are floating in my mind. I’ll start with something simple.

Good Governance

Politicians and bureaucrats should serve the people. What a radical concept! They should be wise, fair, honest and effective. In reality, though, those standards are seldom met. I’ll deem our Supervisors and Staff honest and usually fair, but at times I’m not sure about their wisdom. Viz.  The data center crisis and rapacious sprawl that threatens the west, both of which seemed to catch them—and most of us—by surprise.

County Staff is amazingly effective in grabbing the reins of governance and directing it as they see fit. That’s not necessarily good.

Another element of good governance is transparency. Supervisors do a good job of disseminating some information through newsletters but the County as a whole fails miserably in transparency: It treats FOIA—Freedom of Information Act— requests as intrusive irritants it will find some way to ignore. I’ve experienced this first-hand, several times.

Term Limits

We really see the need for term limits in the federal government, where geriatrics rule the roost. The longer they hold office, the more they seem to cater to big business and reelection is always their primary goal.

Term limits do cause a loss of some institutional knowledge, but that’s not automatically bad. Virginia’s governors get only one term and in many ways that’s too short, but it’s far better than the endless terms that legislators can serve.

We truly need term limits for judges. Try this for federal courts: District Court judges—7 years. Circuit (Appellate) judges—10 years. Supreme Court justices—15 years.

Campaign Contributions

Good governance should start here. 

Ban campaign contributions from corporations, unions, PACs and SuperPACs, partnerships. Allow contributions only from individuals and impose strict limits … let’s say $10,000 for a presidential candidate and $2,000 for a Supervisor. The challenge is that candidates will try to bypass these limits by forming cozy relationships with like-minded entities that push common issues. Think the DNC and Planned Parenthood or the RNC and the NRA. 

HOAs

I’ve seen many real estate listings that add an exclamation point to one big selling point: “No HOA!” I’m not burdened by an HOA, but I’m quick to anger when I see an HOA-homeowner dispute in the news, on picayune disagreements such as the number of Christmas lights, or a flag they think is too big. These disputes can become personal.

Loudoun’s HOAs let the Board of Supervisors save time and hassle by handing neighborhood complaints off to HOAs. That’s unlikely to change.

A solution exists. Let local governments create “HOA Appeal Board” to rule on homeowner appeals of HOA rulings. We already have the Board of Zoning Appeals, so why not an official body covering HOAs? 

Design Cabinet

Loudoun has an official “Design Cabinet,” comprised of architects, engineers, designers and such. Its purpose is to “promote high-quality ecological, urban, architectural and landscape design in the county.” Lord knows we need help.

Loudoun lacks an urban area that would be a logical place for major buildings that can emphasize architectural expression. Thus, the Design Cabinet seems to consider mostly low-rise projects—shopping centers, churches, apartments, mid-rise commercial buildings and such. 

This year’s winners were presented to the public at a recent Board meeting and they looked deserving. Aside from data centers, Loudoun is a bedroom county and housing is paramount, but no residences made the Design Cabinet’s merit list. That’s not good.

Predictable Houses

Most of our new houses fall into the “Neo-colonial” genre and don’t excite me. However, I acknowledge that most other housing types would not fit the context of their Loudoun surroundings. Imagine a Victorian house in a cluster subdivision, or an ultra-modern, flat-roofed house in a former pasture. Victorian houses fit in Waterford and Hillsboro but probably not in Middleburg or Ashburn.

I think we’re stuck with neo-colonials but they bother me and I’ve tried to figure out why. I started by thinking about some graceful residential areas elsewhere such as Mountain Brook in Birmingham, Buckhead in Atlanta, or River Road in Richmond. Leesburg’s Historic District is also delightful. 

I like these places, which have some commonalities: Older and traditional houses, diverse design from architectural form to ornamentation, exterior materials and roofs, mature trees and so forth. They don’t flaunt their size, which is the opposite of most new houses here. Patterns of gables and roofs are simple, again the opposite of what we see in the more expensive new houses here.

Of course, mature landscaping can’t be rushed. Nor can the age of a house. One notable exception is Habersham in Beaufort, South Carolina where the emphasis was on replicating the look of an old and appealing neighborhood. Design diversity was one of its primary goals.

Google any of these places, especially Habersham, and you’ll see what I mean.

Most production homebuilders here lack the taste and imagination to tackle something like Habersham, so here are some easy tips for them: Eliminate “signature” details like identical mailboxes or identical little brick columns at driveway entrances. Spend some money for more and larger new trees. Most of all, eliminate the “neo” and focus just on “Colonial.”  

In his career developing office buildings, Charlie Houston was deeply involved in all areas of design, from site planning to elevator interiors, from architecture to lobbies and so on.