Democratic Party gains in the General Assembly, including the takeover of the state Senate, has rightfully been treated as the big story of Virginia’s 2007 elections. But there’s another story big story: the swelling anti-growth backlash at the level of local government.
Anti-growth candidates swept to victory in Loudoun County, Fairfax County and Chesterfield County. The smart growth movement also gained ground in Warren, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Orange, Albemarle, Hanover and Powhatan counties.
Conservationists are spinning the Tuesday election results as a huge victory for “smart growth.”
Said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of Coalition for Smarter Growth: “Governor Kaine is widely seen as having won his election, particularly in the outer suburbs, because of his support for better growth management. Two years later, growth management remains the hot-button issue, with those local candidates who were most strongly identified with smarter growth often carrying the day.”
Said Lisa Guthrie, Executive Director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters: “The local support for better growth management remains strong and I hope it signals to state legislators, both new and old, the importance of supporting land use tools for local governments and transportation investments that support smarter growth. The frustrations over growth expressed in this election shows that the state must do more, not less, to help localities to focus growth and infrastructure in walkable communities, protect rural farmland and open space, and invest in transit.”
While I am a strong advocate of smart growth, in my observation newly elected anti-growth activists often make matters worse. They naively impose growth controls that have harmful unintended consequences: restricting housing supply, pushing growth to outlying counties, forcing people to commute longer distances. Indeed, the remedies of many anti-growth populists are the very antithesis of smart growth: prohibition of higher-density development, opposition to Transit Oriented Development, even opposition to mass transit itself. Just witness Prince William County.
I interpret the local election results as an articulate cry of rage against Business As Usual. Until more evidence comes it, I do not assume that the newly elected boards of supervisors will embrace anything resembling “smart growth.” I hope the optimism of Schwartz and Guthrie is well founded. But I wouldn’t bet money on it.
