Local Businesses Play Key Roles in Hillsboro’s ReThink9

When the Town of Hillsboro crafted bid documents for ReThink9, its major multi-faceted traffic-calming and infrastructure project, it included requirements for the prime contractor to seek out and utilize to the extent possible local subcontractors, vendors and businesses. According to Mayor Roger Vance, who also manages the project for the Town, “The policy has been a big success from day one, providing significant revenue opportunities for local businesses, large and small.”

The Town of Hillsboro has had a longstanding “buy local” commitment, Vance said, requiring its services and supplies be procured primarily from local businesses and vendors, and even partnering to create and promote local products. “This is a natural extension of that policy,” Vance said, “but within a project of this magnitude, and because it is Town-managed, we’ve ensured a significant number of local entities are part of it. And, with the huge impact COVID-19 has had on small businesses, this has been critical for some.”

From tree clearing and removal to landscaping and tree planting, from wall and fence construction to signage manufacturing and installation, and to monthly Town-sponsored worker appreciation lunches, some 20 local companies have been employed by ReThink9, according to Vice Mayor and Deputy Project Manager Amy Marasco. “Our contractor, Archer Western, has been very cooperative to bring qualified local subcontractors on the job whenever feasible. As a small business owner myself, I know how the opportunity to participate in a project like this can be a game changer.”

Marasco said about half of the local businesses involved in the project are from within the Town of Hillsboro itself, with the others headquartered in Purcellville, Lovettsville and Leesburg. “We are proud that so much of the project’s direct economic impact—jobs and dollars—are staying right here in western Loudoun.”

According to Vance, even though Archer Western is a national contractor based in Chicago, a number of its executives and project supervisors are Loudoun residents. And, while a large part of the project has been self-performed by Archer crews, significant elements have been the work of local companies. “For example, Archer built the concrete cores for the many new retaining walls, and Leesburg’s Metroplex Retaining Walls provided the expert craftsmen to do the stone masonry work,” Vance said. “Likewise, Archer subcontractor Richardson-Wayland Electrical Co. from Roanoke built the main utility duct banks, but the Town hired northern Virginia electrician E.L. Blackwell Electric to retrofit service connections required to enable many of our historic homes to accept new underground service.”

Hillsboro’s own Evergreen Tree Service has been a consultant and performed the bulk of clearing required by the project. While Winchester’s Reading Landscapes, Inc. is responsible for most of the project landscaping, the Town hired Waterford’s Petals & Hedges landscaping as a design consultant and to perform additional specialty landscaping work. “Hillsboro’s effort to recreate its historic tree canopy, and to be an all-native-species showcase, is being guided by local experts such as Evergreen and Petals & Hedges,” Vance said.

The documentation of ReThink9 itself is another key Town initiative, Vance said. For that he said the Town turned to Lovettsville’s Flying Fox UAV for drone photography and video. “Flying Fox is, quite dramatically, capturing the project’s progress—and Hillsboro’s transformation—from its beginning to its end.”

According to Marasco, the project has been responsible for the creation and installation of hundreds of signs for the work zone and detour wayfinding signs, along with a plethora of other printed materials. “We are so fortunate to have Purcellville Copy as a partner on this project,” said Marasco. “Joan Lehr and her team have—time and again—turned on a dime to create signs critical to our project.”

Other Hillsboro businesses involved in ReThink9 include Northern Virginia Property Services, Metro Landscape Contracting and Michael L. Oxman & Associates. “The wide scope of multiple infrastructure projects under the ReThink9 umbrella requires a spectrum of professional services, and fortunately many of these we can source right here in the immediate Hillsboro area,” Marasco said.

Marasco said the project has also generated income for local bed and breakfasts accommodating project staff and rental income to the Town’s oldest business, Hill Tom Market, which houses the Archer Western offices in a previously unused portion of its building. And, with upwards of 60 workers on site any given day, local eateries and stores such as Hill Tom have seen a brisk breakfast and lunch trade.

In addition, Marasco said, the Town frequently hosts project meetings where it provides refreshments or lunches from local restaurants or caterers. “And, at least once a month the Town, Archer or our engineer Volkert sponsors a worker-appreciation lunch procured from in-town and area businesses.” She said these have included Hill Tom Market, Stoneybrook Farm Market, Andy’s Market in The Gap, Fieldstone Farm B&B Inn and Virginia Picnic Basket Company. Other area providers have been Andy’s Pizza, It’s A Peace of Cake and Dinner Belles Kitchen Cupboard from Lovettsville.

“We are so pleased and proud to have so many of our local businesses take part in the Town’s ReThink9 construction projects,” said Mayor Vance. “And, with the completion of these transformative projects, we expect the ongoing and future expansion of business opportunities within Hillsboro will be among ReThink9’s lasting legacies.”