My Village, Dulles South, Was Gone... (Burke, Annandale: power lines, how much, new house)

[Hudlander]

My god, I went on 50 west to Aldie (the REAL Aldie, the village, not the fake one everybody now suddenly claims to live), it really made me sad.

Back in 1998, I took my first drive in the fall out west to Loudoun.
We entered Braddock as it became a dirt road, drove on Poland road where a stop sign is all that stood between Poland and Route 50.
After South Riding BLVD, you were in the sticks.
Nothing but open fields, woods, oh and BJ's crab shack.

Gum Spring road? A stop sign only.
Stone Ridge?
Just woods and fields.
You passed the sign as the road went for 2 to 1 lane in each direction for a Phone; I couldn't believe Route 50, the ugly, neon blighted road just 10 miles west became so pretty.

As the years went by, little by little the bucolic beauty eroded; but it still was there in the picture.
Braddock was unpaved, then in 2005 it was paved to near Gum Spring.
Stone Ridge grew, but was just a fortress, an outpost.
Past South Riding, you had open fields, then Stone Ridge, then plain rural.

The last time I went out here was in the spring of 2012.
There was just one segment left of Braddock Road unpaved, right at the intersection with Lightridge Farm road, 705.
There was a small farm at the junction, and further down, another farm with cattle and power lines in the front yard.
I passed a driver, the only other car, and received a warm, friendly wave from a stranger.

Today I drove down here, and was devastated. Loudoun County did a horrible job of protecting their citizens, the one's who lived there before 2000. Bought and sold has all of Dulles South been.
Aldie, once a quiet village, is just an artifact, corrupted by the light pollution and traffic spilling over from east of Route 15; not much different than what Clifton is to Western Fairfax County.

This was the first time I ever drove on 50 to Gilberts Corner where it really did not feel rural at all.
Even when 50 becomes 1 lane in each direction, it seems Lenah is getting Centreville'd as homes on both sides of the road stand before new clearing.

As the Bull Run Mountains made there way into the foreground, at first it was open fields, then fields with signs directing one to new houses, and now? Aside from the last mile east of 15, total development.

It's very sad a very nice area was developed into such an ugyl, and shall I shall, snobby rich community.
There a million ways to grow, this did not have to be one of them.

Thank you Toll Brothers, Ryan Homes, and Loudoun BOS for selling out Dulles South like it was some 3rd world Banana Republic.
Big thanks to Steve Snow; whose arrogant, short sighted corruptness exponentially nailed the coffin as his lasting legacy.


P.S. What happened to that nice, small farm at Lightridge Farm Road and Braddock Road? It's gone; as is the farm with fence, hill, and power line just west.

[BOS2IAD]

When we moved to LoCo in the late 80s, Ashburn was a sleepy town, population 250

I remember driving up Sycolin Road where Belmont Ridge is now---and it was a dirt road.

Broad Run used to be jokingly called "Corn Field High School" because it was surrounded by corn fields.

The growth has been out of control with no thought to the long term consequences. Back in the 90s, the supervisors were fretting about how much land was rezoned to allow residential development and meanwhile, LoCo wasn't attracting enough businesses to help with the tax base. Yet, here we are---insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results. We have the LCSO stretched thin and apparently no money to give them more deputies. On and on it goes.

[tysonsengineer]

Enter the daily post about whether one can live in Loudoun and commute to DC, followed by plenty of people from Loudoun saying its totally doable.

If only we could keep our farmlands farmlands in this country, and our cities cities. Instead we see an endless expanse of mediocre suburbs. Sorry. They are about to widening Route 7, 66, and complete widening 50. The sprawl will be induced in even greater terms. The closest farmlands might be western Loudoun, but even that I doubt will survive this new nonsense, especially if the bicounty parkway is approved.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by tysonsengineer

If only we could keep our farmlands farmlands in this country, and our cities cities.

So the only two places to live would be inner-city or on a farm? You seem ok with sprawl, as Tysons was once farmland, too. But I guess you just impose your own radius limit for acceptable sprawl....

[tgbwc]

The same could be written for Burke, Annandale, Lorton, Centreville, ...

[car54]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

The same could be written for Burke, Annandale, Lorton, Centreville, ...

Absolutely.

I remember piling into mom's '49 Pontiac and driving out two-lane Little River Turnpike, stopping at Fairdale Store for penny candy, and then on to the dairy farm where Woodson High School is today to buy fresh cream for dad's coffee!

[LynchburgLover]

And when my father was a boy (circa early 20th century), Route 7 was a dirt road with nothing but a crossroads store at Routes 123/7.

Land becomes valuable and development occurs. As Spencgr noted, we don't get to create our own radius around what we think is acceptable growth.

[stpickrell]

Is this another post decrying development and insisting only the 5% should be able to live in a SFH?

Yep, thought so.

Not sure where Tysons and the other anti-Loudoun posters would be having the growth go, unless they really think everyone (singletons, families, etc.) want to live in 12-story highrises or 1200 SF rowhouses ...

the market seems to indicate people think otherwise.

[Hesky]

And I'm sure if a founding father visited the DC metro area today he too would be shocked because everything was a dirt road back then, there were no traffic lights and there were no cars congesting our roads.

Economic prosperity attracts people and that brings growth and development. Deal with it. I would be a lot more worried if there was no growth in Loudoun.

Thank you Toll Brothers, Ryan Homes, and Loudoun BOS for selling out Dulles South like it was some 3rd world Banana Republic

Seriously? Doesn't seem like you are very familiar with the 3rd world. These companies only build what people are willing to buy. And most people put a premium on affordable housing and reasonable commutes. The ones that complain are those that already enjoy both and screw everyone else.

[JD984]

"My Village...Was Gone"? Now I can't get that Pretenders song out of my head. NoVa would be cooler if we had a Cuyahoga Falls.

"I went back to NoVa
But my pretty countryside
Had been paved down the middle
By a government that had no pride
The farms of Loudoun
Had been replaced by shopping malls
And Muzak filled the air
From Aldie to Potomac Falls
Said O, A, Ah Way to Go NoVa..." (apologies to Chryssie Hynde et al.)