------> "I'll get you and kill your property values too"
A developer has abandoned a proposal to build as many as 995 homes south of Leesburg, announcing his decision yesterday during the final meeting of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors before it reconvenes next month with a new majority that is sharply critical of the county's explosive growth in the past decade.
Ridgewater Park is one of four developments that the board has been considering in the waning months of its term, which ends Dec. 31. Slow-growth activists had feared that the outgoing members would make an eleventh-hour push to approve the projects, which would have allowed construction of more than 4,000 homes in Loudoun, where the population has virtually doubled since 2000.
The developer, Leonard S. "Hobie" Mitchel, said he regretted withdrawing his application, which had been working its way through the county's approval process for four years and had been rejected twice.
"It does my heart sad, and, emotionally, it has drained me to no end," said Mitchel, who was negotiating with county officials as recently as Monday night. "But I think this was the thing to do right now."
County planners had recommended that the board reject Ridgewater Park for several reasons, including the predicted effects on nearby roads and schools. Opponents also said they worried that it would open up a 9,200-acre buffer zone separating the county's developed east and rural west to suburban-style construction. Officials want to keep that dividing zone intact, said Supervisor Sarah R. "Sally" Kurtz (D-Catoctin).
"I thought Mr. Mitchel made a wise decision," said Kurtz, in whose district the homes would have been built, "because the only way you can pace growth is to not open up new areas."
Mitchel's supporters said Ridgewater Park was a worthwhile project by a respected businessman who has volunteered for local boards and developed two of the county's largest planned communities, Lansdowne and South Riding.
Moreover, they said, Mitchel had promised millions of dollars in transportation improvements and land for a school, which would have saved taxpayers money.
Only one of the four controversial projects up for consideration in the past few weeks was approved: Arcola Center, a pedestrian-friendly community of shops, offices and more than 1,000 residences southwest of Dulles International Airport.
Another, called Kincora, was rejected by the board last month.
The other one, Braddock Village, failed to get a yes-or-no vote because of a technicality and will probably be brought before the next board.
All four proposals were criticized by slow-growth advocates after the Nov. 6 election, in which voters replaced four Republican supervisors with Democrats who made controlling growth their key campaign issue. The slow-growth proponents worried that the board's pro-growth Republicans would use their remaining time in office to subvert the voters' will.
In parting remarks yesterday, Supervisor Stephen J. Snow (R-Dulles), who lost in November, took issue with the board's being described as pro-growth, citing a dramatic slowdown in the real estate market.
"This board will be known as the slow-slow-growth board," he said. "The traffic out there is not this board's. The number of children in school is not this board's. . . . The tax problem that you're going to incur on the next board is not this board's making."
Snow has been the board's most vocal supporter of approving large, planned developments in exchange for millions of dollars in roads and amenities.
Although Mitchel did not disclose a reason for abandoning Ridgewater Park, it is likely that the board that takes office Jan. 1 would have been skeptical of the project. And it will probably take a hard line on Braddock Village, which would bring about 500 suburban-style homes to an area southwest of Dulles Airport.
By Sandhya Somashekhar
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