Western Loudoun Supervisors Unhappy With County Joining NoVA

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — Three members of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors do not want the western part of the county included in Northern Virginia's decision to delay implementation of the state's reopening plan. The board members cited the need for their constituents to go back to work as a reason to allow western Loudoun to participate in the phase one reopening plan starting Friday in most areas of Virginia.

The board members — Caleb Kershner (R), Catoctin District Supervisor; Tony Buffington (R), Blue Ridge District Supervisor; and Kristen Umstattd (D), Leesburg District Supervisor — wrote a letter to Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam Wednesday asking for permission to let Leesburg and areas west to be included in the phase one reopening.

"As a bipartisan request — one of us is a Democrat, two are Republicans — we ask you to amend your Executive Order 62, which currently prevents Loudoun County from beginning Phase One of your Forward Virginia plan until May 28, to allow the westernmost districts of Loudoun County to start reopening as soon as possible prior to that date," the three board members wrote in their letter. "Although we desired to have the entire County reopen under Phase One, our specific districts merit a different solution."

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam approved requests this week from Northern Virginia jurisdictions, the City of Richmond and Accomack County to delay their implementation of phase one of the governor's plan to ease restrictions related to the coronavirus. Instead of starting implementation on Friday, Northern Virginia, Richmond and Accomack County will enter phase one of the state's Forward Virginia plan no earlier than Friday, May 29.

Phase one of Virginia’s three-stage coronavirus economic reopening plan starts Friday for the rest of Virginia. Phase one reopens several types of businesses originally closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus and avoid overwhelming Virginia’s hospitals, including salons and barbershops, expands capacity limits up to 50 percent in churches and non-essential retail, and allows outdoor seating at restaurants at 50 percent capacity.

Kershner, Buffington and Umstattd wanted Loudoun County to be part of this phase one reopening. "What our residents need most right now is to be allowed to restart their jobs and their small businesses," the supervisors said in their letter.

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The Leesburg, Catoctin and Blue Ridge districts are largely rural and the Leesburg District has a high percentage of lower- and middle-income workers who have been without any income for two months and "desperately need and want to go back to work," the supervisors wrote.

Although all three supervisors disagreed with Loudoun County joining the rest of Northern Virginia in the two-week delay and believed it would be safe for the entire county to participate in phase one, they highlighted in their letter that their districts are distinct from eastern Loudoun.

The number of coronavirus cases in the three districts is minimal, they wrote. As of Wednesday, the Virginia Department of Health reported that the Catoctin, Blue Ridge and Leesburg Districts had 378 positive cases of the coronavirus, or less than 30 percent of Loudoun County's total coronavirus cases, the supervisors said.

The supervisors also suggested that, unlike residents in other parts of Northern Virginia, their constituents have been following the governor's orders.

"The letter you recently received, which asked you to delay reopening Loudoun County, confusingly aggregated Loudoun’s data with that of Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington, and the City of Alexandria," the three supervisors wrote. "Loudoun County is in a stronger position to weather the COVID-19 pandemic than much of Northern Virginia. Our residents have been diligently abiding by the quarantine rules."

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