Where are these facts about Loudoun developing just as well? "Probably poised" is sad guesswork and not a risk I want to take.

The article is right about one thing.. the DC metro area will continue to grow.. which means mass transportation needs to be more available to more surrounding areas so THEY can keep growing as well.

I am one of those quiet listeners who moved to Ashburn BECAUSE of the proposed metro and I cannot believe that I am the only one. The cost of the metro has been built into our home values for years, ever since it was first proposed. If metro does not happen, our property values will drop and the ashburn market will be flooded with an over abundance of newly constructed town homes around the metro site. All this will do is bring prices down in order for builders to unload them. As far as increased taxes, when more people come to the area to live because of the metro, there will be more people to share out tax load. My question is too is, why have people moved to loudoun if they knew the metro was being built eventually. Or if they moved here before it was proposed, why is it a surprise since its been coming for years? Why are they upset now? What about the people who moved here to actually use the metro?

As a small business owner in the Dulles area it is extremely concerning to see the number of other small businesses that have moved into our area only to close down and move out a short time later because the business just isn't being brought in. Loudoun county has the potential to be just as booming as Fairfax, Reston. etc (if not more!), but nobody wants to come out here and spend half the day sitting in their cars in gridlocked traffic! As a resident, it's disheartening to see the half built buildings rusting or the brand new empty office buildings just sitting and sitting and sitting. Now THAT is what makes Loudoun County ugly! Get the Silver Line out here and watch the business people flying into Dulles start staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants, etc. Bring business, therefore bring $$ to Loudoun County....yeah I can see how that would be a horrible, horrible thing.

I do not believe that I have ever voted for a Democrat in my life, not sure of my early voting record in local issues in Florida over 25 years ago. But I will never vote for another Republican in Loudoun County again, if they screw up this opportunity to bring the Metro to this County. It is crazy that they can't see the economic growth potential in this. Next year's headline, Richest County in the Universe is too poor for Metro. It just makes me want to scream that my own political party will be the reason that I can't hop on the Metro to enjoy all of the cultural benefits of Washington DC!

You need to take the metro issue up with your real estate agent. They had no bisiness promising you that metro was going to be built. Nothing but a hard selling technique. What restaurants are people going to eat at? Very few top of the line establishments operate here. More people means more children which is a drain on the tax base not a increase. Richest county to poorest is a headline written by the same fool who sold Evelyn her property.

Perhaps there would be more 'top of the line' establishments out here if more people would bring their business and money here. I hate to break it to you, Jonathan, but do you see all the houses they are building on top of each other out here (assuming you even live here)? That means more people and more children draining your tax base with or without the Silver Line. I'm not even sure what your point of commenting was other than to be condescending?

There are benefits to the tax base of bringing rail to Loudoun... several mixed use projects, dependent on rail, will not happen if we opt out. The result will be a continuation of the bedroom community development that has led to Loudoun being upside down in its tax base. The high quality business development that rail will bring goes a long way to helping stabilize the tax burden on residents. Historically as metro and rail lines go up, around in the stations vicinity businesses go up also. Virginia's corporate income tax has not been raised in fourty years, since 1972. At 6 percent, our rate is one of the lowest in the nation. This, combined with the Metro is bound to draw business large and small to the area. With a corporate tax rate so low, why wouldnt a large business want to move into Loudoun. The Silverline means more jobs for people in Loudoun. From construction, maintenance, new local business, large corporatins moving in, etc. This just makes a lot of sense. By bringing in these new businesses it would actually help the tax strain of its residents.

Bottom line.. it's important to the regional economy. A report by George Mason University says if the second phase of the project is approved, Loudoun County stands to add nearly $237 billion to its economy between 2015 and 2040. Thats Big boon..

This is in response to two comments above—one in support of rail and one opposed. In terms of residential development, the notion that having more homes spreads the cost is not accurate. Every new home adds service costs, mostly for schools, with two exceptions: homes that pay more in taxes than they use in services (those valued well over $1 million); or multifamily units (apartments and condos), which generate fewer children per unit than townhouses and single-family detached (that's why developers pay lower proffers for those units). Most, if not all, members of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors campaigned for more commercial development to offset the tax burden on residents. The best way to do that is what this debate centers on.

We moved to Loudoun County twenty four years ago from the immediate vicinity of the West Falls Church Metro. It was evident that in moving to the outer suburbs we were trading some conveniences including access to Metro for open space and tranquility. Also, we desired to bring up our children in safer surroundings in the context of safety and security concerns.

As someone with a master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from University of Virginia (1996), I think I have a pretty good handle on urban planning. It is both inefficient and environmentally damaging to bring the Metro Silver Line beyond Dulles Airport. The consequences of such an extension of Metro would be urban sprawl, pollution, violent crime, property crime, transitory neighbors, enormous debt and subsidies to Metro for perpetuity requiring still higher taxes and further unwanted development. The Metro will transform Loudoun County into a facsimile of Fairfax County. What good is that?

Let’s help save a green Loudoun County by opting out of Metro. Let’s help save historical Loudoun County for posterity by opting out of Metro. We need to establish a virtual urban boundary line at Dulles Airport to do so. By the way, planners tell me that if Loudoun opts out, the rail will still be built to Dulles Airport and commuters will still be within five miles of Metro. Say no to Metro: Opt out!

Roberto Costantino of Loudoun County and the Commonwealth of Virginia

Violent crime... transients? Right now, there is a couple hanging out in Countryside with "will work for food" signs. None of that is going to change just because of Metro. That's just life. Keeping Metro at bay isn't going to keep the boogeyman out.

Am I really to believe that a couple of local rail stations on the east end of Loudoun County are going to cause businesses all across the county to gush hundreds of billions of dollars? (And 2012 dollars, at that.) People leaving Loudoun County in the morning will have to funnel to a couple of nearby stations and take a local train east, and then either they have to work along the rail line, or they have to transfer to... (horrors) a BUS, to get to Fairfax, perhaps. And people coming in to Loudoun County will arrive at the east end of the county, and will either have to work in one of several buildings near the rail stations (where there is NO BUSINESS RAIL TAX DISTRICT, hmmmm), or they will have to transfer to... (horrors again) a BUS, to get to central and other parts of Loudoun County.

Hundreds of billions (in 2012 dollars) of additional Gross County Product, merely because people transfer to a local rail link at some point in all of this travel? I REALLY don't think so! And no business rail tax district to collect a fair share from the main beneficiaries of all of this double-priced rail? People must be very brainwashed to support this nonsense.

The dirty little secret is that Loudoun Rail is "a real estate deal, not a transportation project." Opt Out

Flounder, flounder, spew and scream.
Mr. LaRoche is nothing but mean :(

Oh, I mean LaRock. I must be confused from all the time I spend driving around LoCo in my limo... in Countryside. Seriously, get a grip.

Sink me...the Big time rail station landowner developer CC Mojo can write poetry.

You mock my name
but you don't deny my claim...

PS sorry to have deflated your Dr Full of it "study" will you still let him cash the check since he wouldn't keep your dirty little secret about who paid for his psychic readings

It is so clear that his blather is a specific attempt to discern information with clairvoyance and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. He is a paranormal-based consultant, opinions are given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs...like the one coming up on the 17th, will you be there CC?

"Loudoun", says Fuller, "spend spend spend," trust me I'm from the developers and I'm here to help.

Which claim should I start with, Davey? There's been so many, it's hard for a girl to keep up :)

"Richie Rich syndrome": One must first commute to Loudoun Rail station on the private Greenway, which will be expensive. Then folk will have to pay to park, which will be expensive. Also, folk will have to but round trip Metro tickets. Moreover, expect higher property taxes, sales taxes, charges and fees to hep pay for it. There is little to nothing that is progressive about Loudoun Rail because it will be unaffordable. It is going to cost and arm and a leg to use it.

Rob, isn't your question about businesses stepping up the same thing as accusing me or others of being in this for corporate benefit only? My point, from the beginning, is that we need Metro to encourage the business here. There is nothing but benefit to be had, and that's especially true for my own personal situation in Loudoun. I'm willing to pony up and work together to benefit everyone, and the more this thing is picked apart, the longer it will take... it's been DECADES waiting for Metro to come out here, that's a lot of time and revenue lost over petty bickering and fuzzy party line rhetoric.

Just DO it already.

"So its going to be super expensive to use the metro" No no no. Very few people actually use trains. It is super expensive to build operate and maintain. Users only pay a small fraction of overall costs, that's why Loudoun the cash cow has been invited.

Few people use trains? Have you ever visited a city that has an extensive rail system and tried to get a seat during peak hours? As gas prices are rising with no end in sight, the demand for public transportation that is reliable and economical is also rising.
More people would use the train here too if there WAS ONE. I know my husband will, as it will reduce his commute time and perhaps give him some time everyday to spend with his kids, time he now spends sitting in gridlock, wasting gas that is around $4.00 a gallon.

This is not a subway. We don't live in D.C. or Arlington. Rather, we live in outer suburbia. The great majority of people will acess the Metro line train-station in their car. The said station is to be built along the private Greenway toll road no less. Then you'll have to pay plenty to park. Afterward, you'll have to buy expensive round trip tickets. Next, perhaps, it's another costly Greenway toll or a slow drive home on a heavily traveled secondary road while you burn expensive gas and polute the air. Additionally, you can expect your property taxes and sales taxes to go up along with concocted special charges or fees. There is no way anyone can use this service on a regular basis who earns less than 80K to 100K a year. Opt Out !

My last point is that the Opt Out side is willing to concede a Silver Line running from West Falls Church to Dulles Airport. But, that part beyond or west of Dulles Airport should be off limits. When is enough, enough? The dirty little secret is that Loudoun rail is a "real estate deal, not a transportation project." We don't want to further bail out Wall Street, real estate speculators and the developers who over built in good times.

I agree wholeheartedly! There were similar concerns expressed during every major development in Northern Virginia. Original construction of Metro was controversial and there were howls of protest when I-66 was constructed. I am old enough to remember the gloom and doom predictions when Tysons Corner was first transformed from a rural intersection to the hub of economic activity it is today. Folks, you can't stop progress and I'd prefer an environmentally responsible public transportation system in Loudoun to more road construction and vehicular traffic.

Trust me says the MWAA!

Mary: An "environmentally responsible public transportation system" will soon be accompanied by even more road constrction and vehicular traffic. I remember all the above events, also. You fail to mention the everyday gridlock around the West Falls Church Metro, for example. The Loudoun Rail is not going to be developed in a void. The whole idea is to sell land and space and fill them up with new earthlings. The dirty little secret is that the Metro Silver Line Phase Two is "a real estate deal, not a transportation project." Cheers

All that needs to be said has been said by Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein in his Sunday Business, May 6, 2012 editorial, "Hostage-taking on the Silver Line." Let's just show some back bone, quit whiniing, and get on with it! BOS: you've been hired to make decisions and live with them; make them.