The Wrong Solution for Linden Hill

Everyone loses with the construction of the proposed access road to Country Club Drive.

In politics, everyone is looking for the win-win solution to a given problem – one that benefits all parties. Sometimes, it’s even possible to find such a solution.

More often, solutions tend to be win-lose. Some gain at the expense of others.

What everyone should try to avoid is the lose-lose solution that hurts all parties.

Unfortunately, the Leesburg Town Council’s decision to construct an access road from the Linden Hill subdivision to Country Club Drive, to provide Linden Hill residents with a left-turn outlet to Rt. 15, is just such a lose-lose proposition.

In fact, I would argue that this is a rare trifecta – a lose-lose-lose situation.

1. Leesburg Country Club residents will be left with more traffic congestion and a heavily used intersection that is confusing and dangerous.

2. Linden Hill residents still won’t get what they really want, which is a direct left-turn from Linden Hill Way onto Rt. 15. Instead, they will have to somehow merge onto Country Club Drive, dodge cars that are turning right onto Rt. 15, and then immediately make a tricky and dangerous maneuver into a left-turn lane.

3. To add insult to injury, all Leesburg taxpayers, including residents of the Leesburg Country Club neighborhood who strongly oppose this project – will have to foot the bill for this ill-conceived project, the cost estimates of which range from $800,000 to over $1 million.

Full disclosure: I am a Country Club resident who makes left turns from this intersection nearly every day. But while I may be somewhat biased on this issue, I also have direct knowledge of traffic patterns in my neighborhood.

Traffic in Country Club already increased a few years ago when Bradfield Drive was connected to the Woodlea Manor neighborhood. Many residents of Woodlea Manor and Greenway Farms now use Bradfield to cut through to Country Club Drive when heading toward downtown Leesburg or the bypass.

There are two alternatives when leaving Country Club to head north on Rt. 15. One is to use the intersection in question to make a left turn onto Rt. 15 from Country Club Drive.  Since there is no oncoming
traffic at that stoplight, it is the safest option, and the one I greatly prefer.

The other option is to turn down Governors Drive, then turn left at the stoplight at Rt. 15. I don’t like this option as much because Governors Drive is narrower than Country Club Drive, and often has cars parked on both sides of the street. There is a greater risk of children darting into the street from between parked cars. Also, the left turn from Governors Drive onto Rt. 15 is considerably more dangerous because of oncoming traffic coming from Evergreen Mill Road.

If the Leesburg Town Council goes through with its plan to muddle up the Country Club Drive intersection, I’m sure that many more drivers will take the Governors Drive alternative. Thus, residents of Governors Drive will lose, too.

The plan especially hurts the property owners who live on Country Club Drive, closest to Rt. 15. The roadway there would be narrowed and street parking in front of their homes would be eliminated. Their property values would surely suffer.

I understand why Linden Hill residents would like to have a direct left turn onto Rt. 15, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. In my view, the best feasible alternative for them would be to make a right turn onto Rt. 15, drive less than two-tenths of a mile, then make a U-turn at a new traffic signal that would be installed at the intersection with Greenway Drive when Rt. 15 is widened. This intersection would be re-engineered to make the U-turn safe.

With respect to the high cost of the project, there are several ways to run the numbers. With about 15,000 households in Leesburg, and using the lowest cost estimate of $800,000 for this project, that means that every Leesburg household will pay, on average, at least $53 toward this project.

From a political standpoint, it doesn’t seem wise to require Country Club residents, not to mention residents from all over Leesburg, to pay for a project that doesn’t really benefit anyone.

The Leesburg Town Council has given direction to the Town Attorney to try to purchase the house at 1 Country Club Drive at a September 23 auction, and use a portion of the property to construct the access road. Fortunately, there is still time for the Council to reconsider its decision.

Vice Mayor Kevin Wright, who has opposed this project from the start, will have one more chance to try to persuade others on the Council to join him in opposition. The Council will meet on Tuesday, September 13, and it is likely that they will get another earful from Country Club residents.

I believe that the Mayor and Town Council have good intentions on this matter, and the Council usually manages to arrive at the right decision in the end. I hope that they do in this case; otherwise they may ultimately find themselves losers, too.

Lose-lose-lose-lose...let’s see, what comes after trifecta?