LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
LoudounNow
[ Vol. 5, No. 2 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
■ PUBLIC AND LEGAL NOTICES - PAGE 22 ■ RESOURCE DIRECTORY PAGE 40 ■ NOW HIRING LOUDOUN PAGE 43
[November 28, 2019 ]
New Board Brings New Leadership, New Plans BY RENSS GREENE
Patrick Szabo/Loudoun Now
The dilapidated building on Ashburn Road, sandwiched between the road and the backs of residential lots behind it, is one of the properties supervisors had in mind when they adopted a local blight ordinance in October 2017.
Supervisors Move to Raze Ashburn House BY RENSS GREENE Loudoun County supervisors are taking steps to raze a privately owned house on Ashburn Road, the second time they will use the blight ordinance adopted in 2017 to force a property owner to knock over a building or have it knocked over for them. And the owner of the property said the county government has backed her into a corner, with no way to sell the property or recoup a generational investment. The abandoned house was one of the properties supervisors had in mind when they adopted a blight ordinance in October 2017. It stands between Gloucester Parkway and the W&OD Trail crossing in Old Ashburn, nearly across the street from the Ashburn Colored School—now known as the Loudoun School for the Gifted. The property’s owner is Carmen Felder, a marketing professional, Lees-
burg resident, and among other things, co-founder of former Redskins player Santana Moss’s charitable nonprofit, 89 Ways to Give. She has retained legal counsel, and said if the county doesn’t back down, she’ll take them to court. She also said the pressure from the county results from a complaint filed about the property by Supervisor Ralph M. Buona (R-Ashburn). Ashburn Road forms the boundary between Ashburn and the neighboring Broad Run electoral district; the property is on the Broad Run District side. Jim Sisley, the at-large appointee to the county Planning Commission and the owner and principal broker of Paladin Real Estate, represents Felder. He said the abandoned, boarded-up building stands on a piece of black history in Loudoun. According to Sisley, tax records document the sale of a half-acre property on that site on Feb. 20, 1889, by a couple from Alexandria to Sally Simmons for
$135. Based on the way the sale is recorded—to Sally Simmons, rather than to a Mr. and Mrs. Simmons, for example—he surmised Simmons was a single woman. “This is a very rare instance where somebody of color owned property in the very late 1800s,” Sisley told supervisors at their meeting Nov. 21. “It’s reasonable to infer that an even smaller percent of improved properties were owned by single females of a minority ethnicity at that time.” He also suggested Simmons may have been a teacher at the Ashburn Colored School, based in part on how close the property is to that historic building. The long, narrow property—about 640 feet long along the road and about 100 feet across at its widest point, according to the county geographic information system—is also a sliver of industrial zoning in an area of residential and rural
In November, Loudoun voters tipped the balance of power for political parties on the county board dramatically, reversing a 6-3 Republican majority on the Board of Supervisors. What will change as the government shifts to Democratic control? “People should not expect really drastic differences,” said re-elected County Chairwoman Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large). The incoming board formally met for the first time last Saturday as part of a briefing by the county staff on what to expect when they formally take office Jan. 1. Randall will continue to chair the board, run meetings, rule on parliamentary matters and appoint committee members. “A county board is a board that does zoning, and land use, and the county budget, and all those things that we already do. We will continue to do those things, and I am kind of a believer in ‘steady as she goes,’” she said. Randall also pointed out there will be more continuity on this board than in many previous boards. Loudoun is prone to dramatic swings on its Board of Supervisors, seeing a changeover of most— once even all—of its county supervisors every four years. This year, despite the dramatic shift in the party balance of the board, the slim majority of supervisors will be returning for the first time since voters in 2008 brought back five of nine previous members. This year, Randall is joined by fellow incumbents Kristen C. Umstattd (D-Leesburg), Koran T. Saines (D-Sterling), Matthew F. Letourneau (R-Dulles) and Tony R. Buffington (R-Blue Ridge). Letourneau will be the longest-serving current member of the Board of Supervisors, entering his third term. But Randall said there will be some
ASHBURN HOUSE >> 47
NEW LEADERSHIP >> 45
Come in and see why we’ve been voted Loudoun’s Favorite Mattress Store, 4 years in a row! Family Owned for 37 years Guaranteed Low Prices All the top brands & bed in a box
www.baersmattressden.com Across from Target & Costco, next to Ledo Pizza MATTRESS STORE
1035 Edwards Ferry Rd., NE Leesburg 703-777-1600
ECRWSS Postal Customer
Permit #1401 Southern MD
PAID
U.S. Postage PRESRT STD