Leesburg To Annex Crosstrail Land

In the continuing saga of development south of Town, the Board of Supervisors has approved Leesburg's proposed annexation of 2500 acres of property into the Town limits. This approval from the Board of Supervisors is necessary because the land is currently governed by the County, and the County must consent for it to be annexed into the Town.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Nov. 20 in favor of annexing 2,500 acres of land into Leesburg's town limits.

Adding this land, which sits south of Leesburg roughly between Route 7 and the Dulles Greenway, would give Leesburg greater control over its destiny by controlling the land around the town, said Councilman Kevin Wright.

“I'm hopeful [the council] will support it,” said Wright.

The land is largely undeveloped, he said, and has a low population. - Loudoun Times- Mirror

The saga of annexation of this property has been spun into oblivion by political winds for years. In all cases, the question has been whether this property should be developed, not whether this property should be annexed. Annexation is a development management tool, not an ends in and of itself, and the parties to the political debate understood this, whether they admitted it or not.

When the town was managed by officials interested in seeing this property developed, and the County had a Board of Supervisors who generally opposed development (before 2004), then there was a push for annexation by then-Mayor Jim Clem and his colleagues. After the 2003 elections, a pro-development board took over Loudoun, and Town annexation was deprecated by the developer in favor of working with the Board of Supervisors to build Crosstrail.

Meanwhile, in 2006, the Leesburg Town elections turned on issues related to development, and the Town Council adopted a consistent position against developing the property near the airport that would be Crosstrail. The Town Council began considering annexation as a tool to inhibit the development of this area in the face of a Board of Supervisors intent on developing it. The basic positions of the Town Council and Board of Supervisors had switched due to the changes in political fortunes and voter preferences at the Town and County levels.

Thus, when the question of Annexation comes up in next year's Town Elections, it behooves voters to understand that at issue is not an administrative tool used to increase the size of the town, but the purpose the tool is being used for. The question is whether the Town or the County is better able to manage the development of areas nearby. This question is prescient for the County at large, since it is at the heart of urban growth areas, and the conflicts over school sites.

When officials control one level of government, they use the tools of that level of government to achieve their ends. It is the officials, not the tools, that make the difference in the long-run.