According to The Washington Post ( July 1, 2008), Fairfax County approved a landmark housing program June 30, 2008 yesterday to buy foreclosed properties for middle-income families, becoming one of the first communities in the country to tackle the nation’s growing mortgage crisis while also addressing the region’s increasing demand for affordable housing.

County leaders said the program, through which Fairfax will purchase some properties outright and help families buy others through subsidized loans, takes advantage of a unique moment when thousands of homes are entering foreclosure and available for purchase at below-market prices. The program will expand the county’s stock of affordable housing and help stabilize areas where clusters of abandoned, unkempt properties in foreclosure threaten the value and vitality of surrounding neighborhoods, county officials said. 

Loudoun County is also considering a program that would allow county employees, including firefighters, teachers and deputies, to get a low-interest loan with which to purchase foreclosed homes in the easternmost portion of the county.

The Loudoun County School Board recently adopted a new regulation banning school employees, students and parents from smoking on all school property for any school event. The ban includes non-academic facilities like the school board administration building.

The measure was introduced by Vice Chairman John Stevens (Potomac) who said encouraging adults not to smoke was an important part of educating youth on the dangers of smoking.  It is contended to be in line with the school system’s mission statement of improving the wellness of its employees.

The Virginia General Assembly has approved that, beginning July 1, 2008, vehicles displaying clean fuel license plates with a white background, registered before July 1, 2006 may travel on any open HOV lane at any time between July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009. There is no limit on the number of passengers in these vehicles.

Vehicles displaying clean fuel plates with a blue background (registered on or after July 1, 2006) are not permitted to drive on the I_95/395 HOV lanes in Northern Virginia without the required number of passengers. These vehicles are allowed to utilize all other HOV lanes in Virginia during HOV hours, regardless of the number of passengers, including I_66 and the Dulles Toll Road.

Loudoun County Public Schools are feeling the pinch from escalating fuel costs. The county has 740 school busses which run on diesel fuel. The escalating price of fuel exceeds what was budgeted for the current fiscal year and for the next, which begins in less than two months. The school system already has supplemented its current fiscal year fuel budget with $780,000 from other utility accounts.

If prices continue to increase, the schools would need to look at finding additional funding or cutting back certain services. This could mean making sure all buses are filled to capacity, transporting two athletic teams on the same bus or limiting field trips to locations closer to home.

The government of Loudoun County also is keeping an eye on fuel costs. The county doesn’t pay all of the taxes that people do on gasoline purchases, so there remains some breathing room before what the county pays on gasoline purchases matches or surpasses what was budgeted for next year.

Source: Leesburg Today

Plans for widening the Capital Beltway calls for adding two additional outside lanes in each direction, and then dedicating the two inside lanes as “High Occupancy Toll” Lanes, or HOT Lanes. These expanded lanes will function in part like the HOV lanes and will be free for carpools with three or more people in the vehicles. The HOT lanes will also be open to private cars with one or two passengers for a fee.

The addition of high-occupancy toll lanes on the Capital Beltway will bring with it the replacement of dozens of deteriorating overpasses, bridges and ramps, much of it for the first time since the Beltway’s opening four decades ago, officials say.

The HOT lanes project will bring 59 new structures with the replacement of four bridges, 19 overpasses and four ramps, and the addition of 17 completely new overpasses and 15 new ramps, said VDOT spokesman Steve Titunik.

Local officials have long worried that the HOT lanes, coupled with a bevy of other large scale improvements throughout Northern Virginia, will worsen an already intolerable traffic problem during their construction. The impact of the construction will have on traffic is unknown.

Source: Examiner.com

The Federal Transit Administration has approved the final design phase of the long-sought extension of Metro to Dulles International Airport, but the FTA won’t commit any federal funds for actual construction until the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority ensures it has sufficient funds to cover risks and prove the project will be completed on time and within budget. 

The schedule shows a 2012 completion date for phase 1, which would extend the new "Silver Line" from the East Falls Church Metro station on the Orange line in Arlington County to Wiehle Avenue in Reston. The second phase is expected to be done in 2015 and would extend beyond the airport into Loudoun County.

One Loudoun, a proposed upscale mixed-use village and future home to the World Trade Center Dulles Airport, will begin ground breaking in the fall of 2008, according to One Loudoun’s website.

The Trade Center will be located at the southwest corner of Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway on 360 acres and is expected to provide the County with significant tax revenues.

One Loudoun will offer offices, upscale retail, luxury hotel, movie theater, and homes built around a central park setting. One Loudoun Place is projected to generate up to 14,000 new jobs and promote both international trade & domestic investment from around the world.

The project will include construction of an interchange at the intersection of Route 7 and Ashburn Village Boulevard, giving much needed traffic relief on Route 7. It will also donate a new elementary school site and construct new ball fields for public use on an adjacent county-owned site.

The Hidden Lane Landfill, a closed landfill in Sterling, VA has been added to a federal registry of the nation’s most hazardous waste sites. Trichloroethylene, an agent linked to several types of cancer, has contaminated nearby residential wells in the Broad Run Farms subdivision.

The liquid solvent, known as TCE, is commonly used to de-grease metal was first detected in two wells in the adjacent Broad Run Farms subdivision in 1989, officials said. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added the 25-acre Hidden Lane Landfill in Sterling to its National Priorities List of Superfund sites.

The designation means the agency will begin assessing the extent of the pollution and develop a plan to remove it, although it could take several years for the cleanup to be completed, said Roy Seneca, an EPA spokesman.

Since the contamination became well known, several residents have informed county officials of medical problems, including various types of cancer, said David Goodfriend, director of Loudoun’s Health Department. They are concerned that the contaminated water might have caused the conditions, he said. Source: Washington Post (Thursday, March 20, 2008)

Earlier this month in Richmond, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed a bill intended to prevent future stripped_bare suburbs. The bill, sponsored by Del. David L. Bulova (D_Fairfax), will require Northern Virginia developers to preserve some percentage of their parcels’ original trees. The bill takes effect July 1, but local jurisdictions can choose whether to follow it.

Developers often remove old trees and clear large tracts of land for manditory roads, gas lines and power cables. If saving old trees proves impossible, the developers would replant trees or pay to preserve them elsewhere.

Losing a large tree means the lost of a valuable sponge for storm water, a root system that prevents erosion, and a filter that removes carbon dioxide and the precursors of smog.

Neighborhoods with large trees are more appealing to potential home buyers and provide privacy among neighbors.

Source: WashingtonPost.com (March 9, 2008)

The Virginia Senate has passed a bill which would require the proffer system to be replaced with a series of impact fees. The county opposes the bill because it would eliminate proffers without replacing it with an impact fee that was high enough to offset what the county is getting under the current system.

Loudoun County has relied on the proffer system to help fund schools, road improvements & other needed county facilities. If passed, the bill will remove the county’s ability to negotiate developer proffers to offset the cost of providing schools, parks and other services to residents of new homes.