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Testimony before the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors
May 24, 2010
Loudoun County’s Chesapeake Bay Protection Act amendments

 

Tony Howard, President & CEO
Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce

 

Good evening Mr. Chairman and members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. My name is Tony Howard and I am the President of the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce. On behalf of the Chamber’s 1,100 Loudoun businesses, I am pleased to offer our perspective on the proposed Chesapeake Bay Protection amendments.

The Loudoun County Chamber is a staunch advocate for sensible, effective water quality rules that truly protect both our natural and business environments. Here in Loudoun, our members operate under the County’s already extensive regime of environmental protections governing every type of development

Our Board of Directors is greatly concerned that the Chesapeake Bay Protection Ordinances, as proposed, will impose a new set of rigid, costly and potentially onerous regulatory burdens on every landowner in Loudoun, without any certainty about how these new rules would improve the quality of our waterways and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.

Without a legitimate cost-benefit analysis of the Chesapeake Bay Protection amendments, it is impossible to know whether the sacrifices that Loudoun’s landowners will be forced to make are worth it.

Additionally, the Chamber asks that the Board of Supervisors modify the proposal to address two areas long targeted for economic development: the commercial corridors of Route 28 and Loudoun County Parkway, and the rural agri-businesses of western Loudoun.

For decades, much of Loudoun’s high value commercial development has been planned for the Route 28 and Loudoun County Parkway corridors. Land owners in these areas have invested time and money into their property according to those official County plans. Onerous new costs and regulatory hurdles will make many development projects in these corridors economically unsound, eliminating the opportunities to create new commercial property tax generators that are needed to take the burden off Loudoun’s residential property taxpayers.

The Chamber asks that the Board of Supervisors use the authority granted by the Commonwealth to declare the Route 28 and the Loudoun County Parkway corridors Intensely Developed Areas. The Chamber also advocates “grandfathering” provisions, like those used by other jurisdictions, to provide fairness to property owners that have spent considerable amounts of money to comply with current water quality regulations.

In addition, the Chamber is advocating the careful analysis and understanding of the impacts that the proposed ordinances would have on Loudoun’s farms and other rural businesses. This county will suffer greatly if many rural enterprises close because they are unable to afford the costs and burdens of complying with these regulations. Reasonable modifications must be adopted that balance and protect Loudoun County’s unique rural heritage and environmental legacy.

I thank the Board for this opportunity to address this important business and quality of life issue.