The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com Monday, July 10, 2000; Page A18 IT'S GETTING TO be a really old story. Officials from Virginia's high-growth counties troop to Richmond to plead for more authority to control local development. Legislators suggest they already have all the power they need, if only they had enough gumption or foresight to use it. The governor, who in other circumstances touts the Virginia tradition of local control over land-use decisions, opposes slow-growth measures. Bills go nowhere. It happened in the last session and the session before that, and it looked like the same scenario was cranking up again this week at a four-hour legislative hearing on growth issues in Fredericksburg. But a breath of change came in the announcement that a coalition of slow-growth advocates and environmentalists are organizing a Virginia arm of the League of Conservation Voters. They plan to push an anti-sprawl and environmental agenda by offering campaign support to legislators who vote their way and working to defeat those who don't. Joe Maio, whose Voters to Stop Sprawl organization propelled a slow-growth slate onto Loudoun County's board of supervisors, has ambitious plans for the new group. "My goal," he told The Post's Michael Laris, "is to change the nature of politics in Richmond." That will take some doing. The development lobby is powerful. It benefits from a state tradition of reverence for property rights, and it has deep pockets. Members of the two committees that killed this year's local growth bills received 15 percent of their $4.4 million in 1999 campaign contributions from real estate and development interests, a Post analysis of financial reports found. Real estate and construction interests put $1.2 million into Gov. Gilmore's 1997 campaign, according to a Virginia Public Access Project analysis. The Virginia League, starting out with $100,000 in seed money, has a way to go to compete on that level. The group includes some high-tech heavy-hitters and is hoping for support from that wealthy community, but how much they actually can draw remains to be seen. They're starting out with some organizational firepower, though, and if their efforts end up shifting the balance even a little in favor of the counties, it will be welcome. Local governments that want more power to levy fees on developers or to ensure that adequate facilities exist before construction begins are asking for reasonable tools to address local conditions. They ought to get them. © 2000 The Washington Post Company
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