If some western Loudoun citizens get their way, the county could be cleaved in two in the not-so-distant future.
Catoctin County is an idea that's existed for at least 15 years as western Loudouners have felt increasingly disenfranchised and disassociated from the booming suburbia to the east.
It was the recent Virginia Supreme Court ruling that threw out the strict building restrictions in the rural west that spurred people to action this time around. It's an effort that supporters say has already surpassed any previous attempt on splitting the county.
"I think it's clearly a manifestation of the anger and frustration that so many people in western Loudoun feel right now," said Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who was involved in a similar effort more than a decade ago. "It's a natural reaction."
While no line has been established, Route 15 is considered a preliminary demarcation for the new county. Another idea is to draw the line around state Sen. Russell Potts' district — again, more or less, Route 15.
A new county hasn’t been formed in Virginia since Dickinson County more than a century ago. The western population would need a state representative to present its case to the General Assembly to make Catoctin County a reality.
MORE THAN 50 people gathered in the Purcellville Town Hall on March 16 to begin coordinating the effort to leave Loudoun. They broke down into committees on boundaries, economic development and more, and came up with a name: Citizens for Catoctin County.
"There's a feeling that we don't really get our fair share of services from the county in proportion to the amount of taxes that we pay," said Karl Phillips, a co-chair of the organization and Purcellville Town Council member. He first started getting into the idea of secession when the Republican majority on the Board of Supervisors was elected in the fall of 2003.
"The board just doesn't listen," he said. "Not only to people in the west, but just anybody."
The pendulum swing of Loudoun politics has smacked rural Loudouners in the back in the past year: since the Republican majority took office, it has approved building permits for more than 5,000 homes in addition to the 37,000 already in the pipeline.
The Republican majority replaced a group of supervisors that avoided high-density development. That board, in place from 1996-1999, placed vast restrictions on growth that were designed to protect the rural west from becoming a mere extension of the suburban east.
It was those restrictions that were tossed out by the Supreme Court three weeks ago. While no one knows for sure what will happen next — everyone is waiting for the Loudoun County Circuit Court to execute the order — there is a sense of urgency that the time is now for Catoctin County.
"People were interested all along, but now they're willing to act on it," Phillips said.
Plans for a lobbying campaign in Richmond and a public relations campaign here in Loudoun are underway, he added.
The group will also be hiring an economic analyst to see if Catoctin County could make it in the real world.
"If it's unviable, it's unviable," said Bob Lazaro, a Purcellville Town Council member and supporter of the new county.
Lazaro is already receiving heat as a result of his participation in the secession effort. Supervisor Mick Staton (R-Sugarland Run) sent a letter to Chairman Scott York on Monday to address an "untenable situation" — namely, that Lazaro is York’s paid legislative aide.
"Now, more than ever, this county needs to stop playing politics with the growth issue and pull together to come up with a real solution," Staton wrote. "How, then, can you feel it is appropriate to have your office represented by a man who is trying to literally divide this county in two?"
CHAIRMAN York attended Citizens for Catoctin County's organizational meeting, but he was careful to point out that his presence shouldn't be construed as a tacit approval of the plan.
York was chairman when the building restrictions in the west were put in place and said he understood westerners' frustration.
"There's a lot of us in the east feeling in the same way about the Board of Supervisors as they do in the west," York said.
People are "disappointed that the Board of Supervisors isn't listening to the people in the county," he added.
Since the Supreme Court decision, the county has received 800 e-mails on the topic from all geographic locations, York said.
Lazaro stressed that easterners will suffer just as westerners will if thousands of new homes go in because of the Supreme Court ruling.
"Fifty thousand houses in western Loudoun aren't going to make anyone in Ashburn's commute any easier," Lazaro said.