HoodaThunk?

In all of the election-year brou-ha-ha (funny, my spellchecker is going nuts over that word) the issue of the proposed new government center has flown mostly under the radar with most folks. It’s time to put a little thought into the matter, however, because we’re down to 5 of the initial 13 proposals and a decision is likely to come quickly in the matter. I’ll leave you to read the “why do we need this” explanation at the link above on your own but suffice it to say that the issues many of us had with the currently placed government center have turned out to be vindicated. As Loudoun Independent Publisher Amy Burns said in this week’s editorial:

The government center in Leesburg is a touchy subject for some long-term residents. The current site, 1 Harrison Street, was proposed to voters in a bond issue in 1993. The voters declined to fund the building at that site and one of the issues discussed was that there was no room for growth in downtown Leesburg. After it was voted down, the old Board of Supervisors decided to build in downtown Leesburg anyway, without the use of a bond. Here we are again.

Indeed, we are. There are 2 primary factors in my decision process about where I’d like to see this new center placed but we should probably say what locations are being discussed, first. From the Loudoun.gov site:

1. Comstock Loudoun Civic Center, LLC – Loudoun Station, a 43-acre, mixed-use urban development located between the Greenway & Shellhorn Road. The government center buildings would be 13 and 7 stories on 1.73 acres adjacent to the planned Metro station. Expansion would occur on an additional 0.8 acres.
2. Oaklawn Government Center, LLC: (Keane Enterprises, Inc. and Trammel Crow Company) – Oaklawn, within the Town of Leesburg at the Battlefield Parkway interchange of the Greenway. The buildings would 6 and 4 stories on 20.2 acres, part of a 165-acre, mixed-use community.
3. KSI and Boston Properties - Village at Leesburg, within the Town of Leesburg at the intersection of Route 7 and River Creek Parkway and the future Crosstrail Boulevard. Three location options within the 158-acre, mixed-use development  anchored by Wegman’s Food Market.  One or two buildings, depending on the location.
4. Loudoun Civic and Transit Center,  LLC – Moorefield Station, south of the Greenway at the interchange of Loudoun County Parkway & Ryan Road. Adjacent to the planned transit station within the 606-acre, transit oriented development.  The 8-story and 5-story buildings would be located on 27.1 acres.
5. One Loudoun: (A joint venture of Miller & Smith, the Meridian Group, & Capmark Finance) – In Ashburn at the corner of Route 7 and Loudoun County Parkway. A 360-acre, mixed-use Town Center project.  Has been designated as the World Trade Center site.  The government center would be in a campus-style setting with a 12-story & 5-story building.

There’s a map showing these locations here. (PDF) First things first, I agree with Amy Burns that a government center should be centrally located from the perspective of population centers, not geographic boundaries. Western Loudoun interests and certain others have been working diligently to make sure that the eastern part of the county is where the population density is packed so they should be right behind me when I say that the new center should be located well east in the county. That’s 1 reason that I am ruling out Oaklawn, tradition of Leesburg being the County seat be damned. The other reason I’m ruling it out is because of the proposed size of the buildings, suggested as a 6-story and a 4-story office building. Every other proposal (except KSI and Boston Properties’ Village at Leesburg, which doesn’t mention building sizes at all) is suggesting buildings that are taller. Considering that we’re back in this situation of needing to build a new center largely due to insufficient space, it makes sense to build something significantly larger than what we have today. Oaklawn doesn’t do that.

And speaking of Village of Leesburg, that’s out, too. Again, for starters, it’s west of the larger portion of the county’s population. Second, I have no faith that the builders will be required to do the right thing and put in an interchange on Route 7 rather than just another clogged intersection and yet another badly-timed light on an already jammed major traffic artery. The other thing is that it’s too vague. They want to place it on a 158-acre location somewhere and whether they build 1 or 2 buildings depends on where they put it. Sorry, I’m not even considering the location as a whole if they’re not to the point where they can be specific.

All 3 of the remaining locations have things to recommend them. First, they’re significantly closer to the larger portion of Loudoun’s populace. Second, each of them is proposing 2 buildings with much more space than the current one. Finally, all of them are located near interchanges capable of handling the traffic flow.

Comstock offers the largest proposed buildings (13 and 7 stories) with an additional .8 acres for expansion. They tout that it’s located adjacent to the planned Metro station but, frankly, given the progress on getting Metro out as far as Dulles I wouldn’t be counting on that little check in the “plus” column on coming to fruition before we’re thinking about building the next new government center. The nearest exit off the Greenway is Ashburn Village Road which appears to be built to handle a decent traffic flow, as does Shellhorn. I am a bit concerned that the only major road to get into the vicinity is the Greenway, given the fare situation that’s going to exist in the next 5 years.

One Loudoun is also offering 2 buildings, one 12-story and one 5-story. Located at the Town Center project that will be at the corner of Route 7 and the Loudoun County Parkway, it’ll be on roads that can handle the traffic flow – or, rather, it would be if there were an interchange there at Route 7 and L.C. Pkwy instead of the intersection with a light that’s there now. Here’s my take on One Loudoun: get a rock-solid, iron-clad commitment from the builder that they’ll build that interchange first and I’d call it viable. Without it: no way.

And then there’s Loudoun Civic and Transit, located at the corner of Loudoun County Parkway and Ryan Road. This is to be a 2-building deal, one 8-story and one 5-story. While those are smaller than the other 2 sites that are still in my running, there are advantages to the site in question. First, sitting off of Loudoun County Parkway gives folks a travel path to the place that doesn’t require them to pay a toll and it stays off of major commuter runs like Route 7 and the Greenway. (I know, the Parkway gets its share of commuter traffic, too, but it’s not in the same weight class as the other two.) Second, the site itself is much larger than Comstock’s and it’s not going to be a government center/shopping mall like One Loudoun. The planned transit center is going to go there, too, which will help people get there to handle whatever business they’ve got. Ryan Road isn’t a very big road, however, and that might be a problem depending on where the access points to the traffic will be placed.

So
, my take on things is that Loudoun Civic is the superior choice with One Loudoun coming in a very tight second. (Get that commitment to build the interchange on Route 7 and you might just pull ahead.) Comstock is third but don’t take that as an “unacceptable” brand. It’s still way better than the last 2 still in the running.

Be sure you notify your Supervisors as to which one you prefer.