The Evolution of Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia in 1834
Source: Library of Congress, Map of the United States compiled from the latest and most accurate surveys by Amos Lay (1834)
- In 1999, at the I-66 exit to Manassas, AOL spent over a half-billion dollars to construct a facility to transmit video over the Internet. In the Fall of 2000, AOL committed another half-billion for a second data center and USDataPort proposed to spend $800 million to build a number of such facilities at Gainesville, two exits away.
- Think these were good investment decisions?
- Also in 1999, ground was broken for a 2,000-home subdivision where Disney America had been planned. If we define a location by New Jersey standards ("You live in Jersey? What exit on the Turnpike?"), the subdivision is located one interchange west of Gainesville, at Haymarket.
- Think building this subdivision was a good investment decision?
- Also in 1999, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ("Metro") started building a $25 million garage at the Vienna Metro station. It now provides 2,200 new parking spaces.
- Think building this garage was a good investment decision?
- The 8-year project for expanding the Springfield Interchange where I-95 meets the Capital Beltway started with a truck wreck on the first night of road closures. The replacement for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is now carrying traffic, the extension of Metro from Falls Church to Dulles Airport has been approved, and plans for extending the Virginia Railway Express to Gainesville/Haymarket are well underway.
- Think these are good investment decisions?
If you live or work in Virginia, these are more than theoretical questions. Your tax dollars and elected officials were involved in all of these decisions. The decisionmakers may have been both visionary and wise... but perhaps you've been watching those NBC News stories with the tag line, "It's your money."
- - The state reimbursed Prince William County with $500,000 from the State Economic Development Opportunity Fund for incentives provided by the county to attract the AOL video streaming center to Virginia. The county also cut its tax rate on the computer-related equipment by more than half. Even after the change, the county projected receiving $4 million in new taxes from the facility. Since commercial buildings - unlike subdivisions - send no children to school, the county would still "make money" on the deal. Unfortunately, the data center was never occupied by AOL, and it remained empty for 5 years after the dot.com bust.
- - The state offered financial incentives to support the proposed transformation of the planned Waverley subdivision near Haymarket into the Disney America theme park. When Disney dropped its development plans, Prince William County approved building 2,000 homes at that location. With that decision, the county accepted the anticipated costs for expanding the school system, utilities, fire and police services, etc. to service the new residents - with an expectation that property and other taxes would provide some revenue to finance the new costs.
- - Extension of rail systems are equally expensive, and political. And rail systems are rigid, too. If development does not occur as projected, there's no possibility of moving the rail system to another location to recoup some of the investment. If Metro is extended west to Centreville, those two parking garages at Vienna can't be picked up and shifted to the west...
Though high-tech manufacturing boosted the City of Manassas tax base, it has been the service economy that made Northern Virginia boom as a region in the 1990's. How did we get to this point, where Northern Virginia was the beneficiary of so much development that slow-growth advocates are a major factor in local elections?
Tysons II Shopping Center, Fairfax County
Regional differences are reflected in economics, politics, and culture. Economically, Northern Virginia is clearly moving towards growth through high-tech businesses taking advantage of computers and the Internet. IBM built Virginia's first computer-chip manufacturing plant in Manassas in the 1960's, and maintained a presence even after closing the chip manufacturing facility a decade later. The plant was re-opened in the 1990's as a joint venture with Toshiba, and in 1999 IBM agreed to sell full control of the Dominion Semiconductor plant to its Japanese partner. In 2005, the facility was owned by Micron.
On October 30, 1999 the Washington Post published a Letter to the Editor that reflected some of the angst regarding Northern Virginia's success:
- The 'Real' Virginia
- The Oct. 22, 1999 Metro article on voting differences in Virginia omitted the truth that Northern Virginia is not a part of the real Virginia. Try finding a Virginia town within 30 miles of Washington that retains any southern character - you most likely will fail. Many of us from "down state" point to the Rappahannock River as the commonwealth's real border.
unincorporated community of Paris, in still-rural Fauquier County near Ashby Gap (Route 50)
Prince William County is projected to have to have the greatest percentage increase in jobs to 2045
Source: Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, Growth Trends to 2045: Cooperative Forecasting in Metropolitan Washington (Fall 2018)
Amazon chose Northern Virginia for part of its second headquarters in 2018
Source: Governor of Virginia, Governor Northam Announces Amazon Selects Virginia for Major New Corporate Headquarters
Links
"Super Northern Virginia" region included portions of Shenandoah and Orange counties, according to one study by Virginia Department of Transportation
Source: Virginia Department of Transportation, Super NoVa Transit/Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Vision
Sprawl in Virginia
Virginia Places