Loudoun population now more than 300,000

Loudoun County, once the nation's fastest growing county, is still growing fast.
The U.S. Census Bureau last week announced its 2009 population estimates, showing Loudoun County to now be home to 301,171 people.
Loudoun and Alexandria both grew about 3.8 percent during the past year, leading all other Washington suburbs, The Washington Post reported. Loudoun's population was up almost 78 percent during the decade, coming in as the nation's 5th fastest growing county.
Those of us who lived here in the 1980s and '90s can remember being the nation's fastest growing county for a string of years. No other area of the country could compete with the rapid growth that followed the opening of Dulles International Airport, leading to a continuing string of government contractors and other businesses relocating here, while the flat "Piedmont" eastern part of the county proved attractive to home developers and first-time homebuyers wanting space for children to play.
Loudoun's new population estimate is a 77.6 percent increase from the 169,599 people counted in the 2000 census. The Bureau reports the county's population now is 50.2 percent female, 30 percent under age 18, and 6.1 percent 65 years of age or older.
The Bureau estimates 104,261 occupied households here in Loudoun -- a 79 percent increase since 2000. Median 2008 household income is now estimated at $111,582. (The number of dual income households was not listed by the Census Bureau, but has been estimated by Forbes Magazine to be about two-thirds.)

-- martin casey

Don't Tysons Dulles

Many of the folks who live in Loudoun County moved here from Fairfax County. Roughly half of new residents who moved into Loudoun after Dulles Airport opened in November, 1962, came from Fairfax County. Most were "young marrieds" with small children. They wanted a house they could afford, and a lifestyle similar to the hometowns they grew up in.
Loudouon has been fortunate to be able also to attract a significant number of businesses, including AOL, Orbital and others that contribute to our tax base and enable some residents to work near their homes.
But since Loudoun's rapid growth began, the cry "Don't Fairfax Loudoun" has been applied to first one and then another of many proposals for growth that residents don't want. Loudoun was the nation's fastest-growing county for a number of successive years -- until the county grew too large to maintain high growth percentages, even though substantial growth continued each year.
Now we have outgrown the "Don't Fairfax Loudoun" cry -- and its successor is "Don't Tysons Dulles."
Tysons Corner, at Route 7 and the I-495 Beltway, is a highrise congested city with extensive offices and numorous retailers.
I know people who say that the very best, high-end stores are there, among an extensive array of virtually all kinds of retailers from clothing to auto dealerships.
But I hear more of my friends saying, "I never go to Tyson's. It takes forever to drive through there and when you do want to shop there, you can't find a place to park."
Our Board of Supervisors is considering substantial additions to and around Dulles Town Center. In addition, there are plans for the "Kincora" development on the other side of Rt. 28 at Rt 7 extending toward Loudoun County Parkway, while the One Loudoun project has already been approved for the property west of the that parkway. There is even talk of building a minor league baseball stadium in or near the Kincora development.
Though passersby still don't see much of the One Loudoun development, it will offer office space, homes, apartments and retail shopping opportunities when it is complete. There has been talk of locating a World Trade Center there as well.
So it looks to me that our supervisors will soon be confronting a series of key decisions that will significantly impact the daily lives of folks like me who live in and around CountrySide, Cascades and Sterling Park -- an area so populous already that three of our nine supervisors represent these specific residents.
My cry is "Don't Tysons Dulles!"
I want to continue living here and I don't want to commit an hour to go from Loudoun County Parkway or Route 28 to the Fairfax County line down Rt. 7.
Maybe the first step our supervisors should take now -- before we start approving the Dulles Center and Kincora developments -- is to first expand the traffic capacities of Rt. 7.
And above all: Don't Tysons Dulles!
--martin casey

Welcome to my new Life in Loudoun County blog

Welcome to my new blog about life here in Loudoun County, Va.

I'm Martin Casey, and I've been writing about life in Loudoun County as a community newspaper editor since 1996. I hope you will visit this site from time to time.

Loudoun is a wonderful place to live. In many ways it is like life elsewhere, but in many other ways Loudoun is unique -- and parts of Loudoun are really quite different from other parts.

For example, the county's geology actually divides the way people live in the mountains west of Leesburg from the way people live in the populous eastern part of Loudoun where housing developments have replaced the dairy farms that that once produced more milk than any other county in Virginia prior to construction of Dulles International Airport. Dulles hosted its first commercial landing in November, 1962.

The airport, of course, drew not only homes but many large businesses (and jobs) -- making Loudoun the nation's fastest growing county well into the new century.

This rapid growth came into a county with roots deep into our country's colonization period. The county is named for Lord Loudoun of England (who never visited here). Leesburg still cherishes its colonial roots; the town originally was the destination of "Leesburg Pike;" a toll road from Alexandria. Today, thousands of us drive on Route 7 from Alexandria west across the Blue Ridge Mountains. Route 7 roughly follows the route of the old Leesburg Pike.

Loudoun's history, from colonial times until the present, and especially the current context of life here in Loudoun County, will be a basis for this Life in Loudoun County blog.

I expect to report here on current activities and issue, maybe from a perspective that regular readers will find helpful.

Thanks for reading this first post -- and please come again.

-- martin casey