realloudoun

Our all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors just keeps on showing its gratitude and loyalty to them that brought ’em — viz., the developers who plunked down half a million bucks in the 2011 election campaign to get them where they are today.

The Board is pushing ahead with a series of zoning amendments that will cut in half the amount of time staff is allowed to review rezoning and special exception applications; that would allow the Board to “waive” the requirement for any public hearing on proffers, special exceptions, and concept plans; and that would further shut the public out of the chance to be aware of or comment on proposed special changes being made for the benefit of special developers.

While of course presenting this package of goodies as part of its effort to “streamline” the process and make the county more “businesslike,” there is no doubt whatever why the Board is doing this. Continue reading →

Back in the old, old days — before the current all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors took office in 2011 — most of the appointees to Loudoun’s local government advisory boards and regulatory commissions were ordinary citizens who had a genuine expertise they wished to share in the service of their community.

A rendering of the modest 20,000-square-foot home that the son of recently appointed Historic District Review Committee member Lewis Leigh is proposing to build in the protected Shelburne Glebe historic district, complete with historic swimming pool and historic hot tub.

That changed abruptly on January 2012, when the new Board threw off almost every Democrat, independent, and impartial expert and packed the county commissions and boards with major campaign contributors, local Republican Party activists and operatives, and representatives of businesses who stood directly to gain by the actions and decisions of these supposedly independent bodies.

The Facilities Standards Review Committee, which sets technical engineering regulations for developing land, was filled by the new all-Republican Board with employees of development firms. The extraordinarily politicized Lyme Commission the Board created is headed by a doctor who operates practices that provide highly questionable and non-FDA-approved “treatments” for the disease.

And then last year Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) pushed for and secured the appointment to the Historic District Review Committee of one Lewis Leigh, whose major qualifications appeared to be that he owns land in a protected historic district, Shelburne Glebe . . . where his son has been trying for years to build a monster house in contravention of the protective easements that apply to the historic district. Continue reading →