As a resident of Linden Hill ,in response to the comment abut the town paying for our snow removal, I assure you they do not ,nor for our street lights and their maintenance( an expensive proposition) and our town taxes are the same that everyone else pays.

Bob-
Was the ingress and egress the same now as it was when you bought your home?  If not, what change was forced on you by the Town that ruined it?

I can appreciate you wanting to sustain the value of your property, but that isn’t the responsibility of me and the rest of the taxpayers here in Leesburg.  I bought a house with adequate ingress and egress from the main road.  I am sorry you didn’t. 

Tax dollars should be used for the greater good of the community as a whole.  Not to benefit 37 property owners because they bought in the wrong neighborhood.  If the residents don’t like their options they can move.  I am impressed your group was able to lobby so effectively though.  Its not like $1M for capital improvements in a recession is easy to get.

Bob (resident on Linden Hill)
Finally a view from the other side.  Let’s get the facts right.  When a road is widened to allow for more traffic, one of the benefits is that the new / improved road will be safer than the one it replaces.  Eliminating entry points into traffic does this.  The fact is that having a left turn from Linden Hill would not make the road safer (unless a traffic light was installed - not a good option).

Your access to Leesburg is not ‘intact’ with the access road any more than the U-turn option.  The U-turn may in fact be faster.

The $900,000 you wrote about is stimulus money.  The total cost of the project is much more than that.

Please provide more than anecdotal evidence on how the lack of the access road lowers property values.  It may be more to do with older homes near a busy road and highway.  Here is an example for you - when Ashburn Road access was to closed to Rt 7, the affected homes values did not decline.

I liked your deflection of the cost comment.  The access road is an additional cost.  Not cost neutral. 

Lastly, you wrote about ‘multiple solutions’ to the left turn.  There are not an infinite amount of ways to turn left.  1) Put in a light - not good.  2) Leave it the way it is - Not safe with increased traffic volumes 3)  Build an overpass!

Enjoy your gift from the town council.

This story doesn’t mention the fact that the Linden Hill residents submitted multiple solutions for a left turn, towards Leesburg, that could have been incorporated into the widening of S King St. However, all of these solutions were turned down. This final solution was not the first and only, but the last solution for Linden Hill residents to be able to maintain their access to Leesburg intact. For those that think this is something that shouldn’t be done, let’s restrict your access to Leesburg and lower your property values and see what you will do to protect your property. I understand those who say there can be a better use of money, but the money that should be looked at is the $900,000 for the widening of S King St. I believe the widening of S King St will not solve the congestion problem; it will just move the congestion from two lanes to four lanes. Most of the north bound congestion is from the one lane on ramp to east bound 15 by pass and the south bound congestion is from having only one lane heading south. I don’t see either of these issues being changed in the near future. As for this story explaining the issues, it may have been more helpful for others to get all of the facts. Maybe the story could have listed the solutions that were submitted and the reasons they were turned declined. Comments are great, we all have them, but when making a comment you should be as informed as possible. This story didn’t give all of the facts and many of these comments are only speaking to half the story.

REID’S FOLLY:

2010 marks the last time his sign will be on my front lawn!

Why not take the $1M and spend it ANYWHERE else in Leesburg.  I mean there are plenty of improvements needs on main roads, where spending this kind of money to appease 37 people is a complete waste.  This reeks of back room shenanigans.

Why not take that $1mil and use it for enhancements for Edwards Ferry extended from River Creek pkwy to Costco. There is so much traffic cutting through that area. Or finish off Battlefield from Ft. Evans to Edwards Ferry.

Anyone know where the most effective place to lodge complaints would be?  This is an appalling waste of our money.  Its bad enough Leesburg residents are essentially double taxed on a lot of things.  At least put the money towards something that benefits more than 37 homeowners.  More proof that elected officials at all levels of government are completely clueless and poor stewards for the taxpayer.

Make sure these people know how unhappy you are. K Maybe they can reconsider.  Or at least pass another measure to give all of us $27k per home to improve the neighborhood.  How 5 people thought this was a good use of the Town’s tax dollars is mind boggling.  There are so many more pressing transportation issues that we don’t need to be wasting $1M serving one freaking neighborhood.  Raise the money yourselves.

Suject: Reid’s Million Dollar Folly.

A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight was displayed by Ken Reid and four (4) other Leesburg Council members. My thanks to Kevin Wright and Tom Dunn for demonstarting competency in voting against Reid’s Folly.

Drivers wishng to avoid congestion caused by this access road will be forced to use Governors Dr, a narrow and already crowded residential street. Governors Dr homeowners should be very concerned.

I couldn’t care less about Linden Hill and their little access road. The part that pisses me off the most is ANOTHER traffic light in between Woodlea and Route 7!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Enough with the lights!!!

It’s ridiculous to build an “access” road costing $1million (at least) for 37 houses.
If they want it that bad, let them pay for it.

Incredible…the road in Linden Hill was originally a private road.  Several years back after spending so much of their own money on plowing and upkeep they begged the Town to take over maintenance of the road.  Now they want their own little access road?  And WE all get to pay for it?  Uh?  Why not make them a special taxing district like they did for the folks off Lime Kiln who needed their private bridge replaced.  Linden Hill can make a u-turn at the soon to arrive light at Greenway—-they don’t want to, then let them pay for it.  That new access road and Country Club is going to be one whacked out intersection in the mornings.  Take the money and use it toward extending Battlefield to 15—-now that’s a road improvement that will affect alot of people.

Once again stupid cul-de-sac design by-right crap!  Why not build another access road, if possible, much farther away than 100 feet from an existing intersection?  How about like at the other end ?  Oh yeah, I forgot, then they wouldn’t have their “private” Linden Hill neighborhood and property values would suffer!  I agree, seems like a lot of money for the benefit of the few while making Country Club drive worse!

Let me see here! I live in the Greenway Farms townhouses and every morning I turn right off Connery Terr on to Greenway Dr. and then left on to King Street to go to the by-pass! Not at the light! Sometimes it is a quick process and sometimes I have to wait a couple of minutes to make a left! I am making the same left turn on to King Street as the homeowners are in Linden Hill! Still just as dangerous as their turn and timing of traffic flow is most important! With all the Real Estate taxes that I pay to the Town of Leesburg, ( not counting being double taxed by the county for the same piece of property), maybe I should scream for an over pass at Greenway Farms Dr. and King Street just so my commute to work will not be so complicated so when I get to work I can fuction and do my job! Don’t baby Linden Hill! They bought their houses where they wanted to live! Deal with the traffic and let The Town of Leesburg use the money that they are going to spend on your little comfort zone, to patch some of the pot holes that occur in the streets after the winter has passed! Be smart Leesburg, not political!

From the reporter: Denny F, I added that it was a 5-2 vote and who voted against.  Thanks for bringing to my attention that I neglected to include that detail.

So the town council deviated from the original plan without seeing any design for the access road?  If the residents of this street truly want this access road, make them pay for it.  The argument was they could not make a left.  They still can’t (without making two additional turns). They were given a safe option and it wasn’t good enough.  What a waste!

(Corrected)I would like to see the news reporting a little more inclusive. Why not include who voted for(or against) this action. Does their vote support the will of the people?
“Leesburg Town Council voted July 27 to spend up to $1 million for an access road”. So if the true costs are not known, could this end up to be an “access road to nowhere”?

I would like to see the news reporting a little more inclusive. Why not include (or against) this action. Does their vote support the will of the people?
“Leesburg Town Council voted July 27 to spend up to $1 million for an access road”. So if the true costs are not known, could this end up to be an “access road to nowhere”?

Wow.  The Linden Hillers bought into a street designed with much forethought—for exclusivity, privacy and to have NO connection or interaction whatsoever with the bordering neighborhoods.  And now they want one way access out for their “convenience” and want the town to purchase a private property so they can have a one-way connection into Country Club Drive?  Town Council had better move very carefully on this one.

a once beautiful neighborhood - gimme a break. It’s one street (an overly long cul-de-sac). It’s not part of either of the neighborhoods to the north and south. It looks like a by-right development, I hope others w/ such knowledge can comment on that. I guess everybody who bought there thought the world would never change and they’d always have full access everywhere, huh. Maybe that street (will not call it a neighborhood!) should have left a stub or two somewhere to join to the neighboring developments, just in case. You know, plan ahead! Their developers lack of forethought is now costing every Lsbg resident. I hope they get the treatment on Oct. 30th!

There are so many things wrong with this: 
- $1M to appease 37 homeowners.  That is $27,000 per home.
- How are property values affected?  No one showed this.  They are not.
- Homeowners will not keep up their property if they don’t get a left turn?  Come on!
- Think about the access road.  The driver will need to hope that there are less than 3 cars waiting at the light in order to wait to make a left.  This is wrong.  People will end up blocking right turns from Country Club on to South King.
- I realize the owner of 1 Country Club is selling for a loss, but the house has been on the market for over 5 months!  They must be thrilled it will finally sell for $375k!

BTW, where is the funding?  Oh yes, there isn’t any.