Loudoun County planned density of housing units and commercial/retail districts - clearly concentrating development on eastern border with Fairfax County
Source: Loudoun County
Northern Virginia is a series of separate jurisdictions. Each one offers great opportunity to professional land use planners, including geography graduates, to demonstrate their expertise in shaping development to match the vision and objectives in Comprehensive Plans. Some of the smartest people in the planning profession work here. They all have e-mail accounts and phone numbers. These planners see each other in person at business meetings and professional conferences, and talk to each other about their plans.
Based on results, you'd think the plans were crafted with the land use specialists locked into isolation chambers, in solitary confinement. You can see it in the zoning for high-density development on the eastern edge of Loudoun County next to the western edge of Fairfax County, and zoning for high-density development in Prince William County next to the southern edge of Fairfax County. However, Fairfax is zoning its western and southern edges for low-density development.
So why do we have such fragmented and uncoordinated planning? The basic challenge is that each jurisdiction creates independent, unique Comprehensize Plans. Each jurisdiction has its own zoning ordinance. Each jurisdiction determines where to locate low-density vs. high-density growth.
It's tough enough to create a plan for 1 million people in 1 county with one Board of County Supervisors, in Fairfax County. Think the planners could create a regional plan for 6 counties - Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, Fauquier, and Stafford?
Toss in 6 cities with city councils elected by separate voters - Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, Manassas Park, Fredericksburg. Then add in towns with independent authority for planning and zoning - Clifton, Herndon, Vienna, Leesburg, Hamilton, Hillsboro, Lovettsville, Middleburg, Purcellville, Round Hill, Remington, The Plains, Warrenton, Occoquan, Dumfries, Haymarket, and Quantico. How many elected officials are involved in this jurisdictional bouillabaisse?
Think the planners are to blame for fragmented land use patterns in Northern Virginia? Remember, the planners are staff. They produce documents that go through Planning Commissions appointed by the supervisors/City Councils/Torn Councils. Planning Commissions can recommend approval or disapproval, but the final votes on how a parcel may be developed are made by elected officials. Virginia may be a Dillion Rule state, with constraints on how the local officials may approve/reject a land use proposal, but the key land use decisions are made by the local elected officials. Don't write your Representative in Congress or the President, if you think the property next door is zoned for too much development.
The elected officials are especially important because they make decisions on Capital Improvement Program (CIP) investments. Counties/cities/towns can funds infrastructure projects that subsidize the preferred development in certain areas. Most commonly, jurisdictions finance sewers/roads to steer development to certain areas. At times, as in the case of Innovation Technology Park in Prince William County, the county might even purchase the property, install roads and sewers, and then sell the parcels to businesses expected to stimulate the economic growth desired by the county.
Look at:
- Loudoun County Revised Comprehensive Plan - Planned Land Use
- Comprehensive Plan Frequently Asked Questions (Fairfax County)
- Zoning Requirements Frequently Asked Questions (Fairfax County)
- A History of INNOVATION (in Prince William County)
- High-Tech Hub Still a Work in Progress (Washington Post, October 1, 2007)
However, jurisdictions can also steer development away from certain areas, to implement their vision of an area:
- Fulfilling The Promise: The Occoquan Watershed In The New Millennium
- on Blackboard: FOOTBALL; Making Plans to Move the Redskins? Over Their Political Powers, 2 Mayors Say (New York Times, July 19, 1992)
- Cooke, Wilder Give Up on Stadium(Washington Post, October 15, 1992)
- The Rural Crescent (in Prince William County)
Planning and zoning restrictions used to limit development in an area are not engraved in stone, however. A new set of elected officials can change the rules of the game:
- Pr. William Agrees to Sewer Line In Preserve (Washington Post, December 6, 2007)
