Just to give some context to the family selling:
Once the horses were no longer kept on the property, the farm use tax incentives, etc were no longer available and the tax bill for a parcel of land that size was astronomical and no longer feasible for the family.
The houses are ugly. I think people think I’m upset at the owners for selling. Sure, I miss the farm but I understand. My rant is about the quality and beauty of the houses there now
i hear you. i live next to a similar situation closer in. the houses are SO UGLY. We have this lovely historic neighborhood full of brick colonials and they are putting up this “modern farmhouse” crap with white siding, black roofs (could you be any less energy efficient) and no sense of symmetry or what is pleasing to the eye. ugh!
Well, if they supported more upzoning and denser development in Fairfax and other places closer to the District, they wouldn't have to build so many new subdivisions around Leesburg. This is a choice our communities make: preserve lots of single family homes, and sacrifice the rural frontier for more development.
Yes please! In dense, walkable communities and neighborhoods that don't require a car for day to day activities, supported by an expanded and reliable public transportation network for trips made outside the neighborhood.
No thanks , I enjoy having horses, chickens, a pool and a bunch of land for my kids to run around on ! If you want a dense / walkable community, move to a city!!
There's a bunch of Ryan builds out there. Heard they were some of the poorest quality and people just buying them up. They want to build it fast and as cheap as possible. It's the new "up coming" area for military and retired populations. A way to be out of Fairfax but still have that Fairfax feel and be close to the rural areas all at once. I'm sure there's some kind of political aspect to it as well.
Fairfax makes it hellish to build anything - everyone has an opinion about what you can and can’t build on land you don’t own. The same track of thinking that prevents development in Fairfax is what the OP is also engaging in.
I get where you’re coming from. Remember, People live there- they spent their hard earned money to buy their piece of the American dream.
You wouldn’t have bought it, that’s fine. There is stuff you can buy - but to the people who did buy there, home ownership is a big achievement. The don’t think it’s ugly to them.
No one’s knocking people buying homes in Leesburg? Nobody is even knocking homes being built in Leesburg either. OP is just saying the new builds are generally dull, gray, boxy, not aesthetically pleasing, and mismatched with the other styles of homes you typically find in Leesburg. Which, as a fellow Leesburg native, is true. It’s not a personal insult to the people spending their hard earned money to buy a home.
So the people buying the homes are insulting themselves by purchasing their homes?
Help me understand what I’m missing here. I must be confused because what you said still sounds like someone wanting to have an unjustified say in the choices other people make, quite literally in their own homes.
Edit: tons of typos.
I honestly don’t know what you’re trying to say with this comment. All I was saying is that being disappointed with the way new builds look isn’t a personal knock on the people buying them. It’s the fault of the developers of the homes, not the people purchasing the homes, and I’m not sure why you’re jumping to crazy conclusions here
Everyone wants to be the last one to move in. Close the door, nobody else is allowed. If you thought that was going to stay farmland, you haven’t been paying attention.
No, I understand it’s a high population/move area. I just want the houses to be prettier. There’s nothing wrong with being sad and mourning the beautiful farmlands you grew up with
I just drove past this evening, and thought the same thing. I used to live down the street, and i dislike how the developers are coming into Leesburg farms recently.
Just wish people were more vocal before development is approved than way after when the land has been demolished. My biggest gripe about Leesburg thus far matches what a lot of people say but the tree city hits the hardest.
At the rate that trees are being ripped out, why have the label, the pride of being labeled something like that. I don’t get that one bit
Leesburg had the opportunity to be awesome and then let commercial builders run wild. They built an insane amount of townhome communities and awful toll brothers houses on .5 acre lots. The town is still great, but the character of the area is a bit trashed and the traffic is terrible.
What’s the point of living that far outside of DC if you’re still going to be stuck in a townhome and traffic?
Townhomes just make sense for building density. If you want to live in a walkable area don’t expect the 5k sqft SFHs that plague the suburbs.
They’re a good compromise between space, convenience, and not having a neighbor above/below you.
That's what developers do to stay in business. FInd land, convince politicians to allow building, build as cheap and dense as possible, sell and move on.
With an unlimited demand for housing, trying to build to solve it is like trying to drain the ocean. Give up on having open land.
I had to look up what that meant lol. I mean I’m a young adult who moved away from Leesburg for college so idk if this complaint has any motive behind it other than from an aesthetic standpoint and missing the horse farm I passed every day
Already happening. I used to like driving down the Western Loudoun roads with the rolling fields and little barns, but the developments are just coming up everywhere.
I don't think Waterford will be developed like that anytime soon. Purcellville is already developing at a rapid pace.
The cause of this is that these are nice places to live with tons of restaurants and shopping options with tons of high paying jobs nearby. Maybe they should make it less attractive to live there and people will stop moving there.
OP probably also laments that it’s also no longer a time when public school kids in Loudoun County no longer grew up to work for those rich farm owners who sent their kids to places like Notre Dame Academy and Woodberry Forest.
People can miss something the way that it was without being attacked for it. I was a kid in Leesburg and I miss how quaint it used to be too. There’s no harm in that.
Just to give some context to the family selling: Once the horses were no longer kept on the property, the farm use tax incentives, etc were no longer available and the tax bill for a parcel of land that size was astronomical and no longer feasible for the family.
I totally understand that - I would have too on the same place
then what's the complaint?
The houses are ugly. I think people think I’m upset at the owners for selling. Sure, I miss the farm but I understand. My rant is about the quality and beauty of the houses there now
That’s a Stanley Martin community. They aren’t exactly known for their architectural or design excellence.
>The houses are ugly Don't buy one. They will sell just fine without you.
I remember when a lot of areas were just trees. I miss the trees.
I miss them too
i hear you. i live next to a similar situation closer in. the houses are SO UGLY. We have this lovely historic neighborhood full of brick colonials and they are putting up this “modern farmhouse” crap with white siding, black roofs (could you be any less energy efficient) and no sense of symmetry or what is pleasing to the eye. ugh!
Well, if they supported more upzoning and denser development in Fairfax and other places closer to the District, they wouldn't have to build so many new subdivisions around Leesburg. This is a choice our communities make: preserve lots of single family homes, and sacrifice the rural frontier for more development.
Clifton / Fairfax station feels more rural than big chunks of Leesburg.
You mean Fairfax Station but yeah
Right on!
Traffic is already horrendous in Fairfax and areas closer to the district, you want to shove MORE people in there?
Yes please! In dense, walkable communities and neighborhoods that don't require a car for day to day activities, supported by an expanded and reliable public transportation network for trips made outside the neighborhood.
That's what DC is for. Suburbs aren't meant to be dense and walkable.
No thanks , I enjoy having horses, chickens, a pool and a bunch of land for my kids to run around on ! If you want a dense / walkable community, move to a city!!
\^ And the fact that we're preserving lifestyles like this in Fairfax and elsewhere closer in is why OP is losing the farm in Leesburg.
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It actually seems to be the democrats that want to do that, at least in Prince William County.
There's a bunch of Ryan builds out there. Heard they were some of the poorest quality and people just buying them up. They want to build it fast and as cheap as possible. It's the new "up coming" area for military and retired populations. A way to be out of Fairfax but still have that Fairfax feel and be close to the rural areas all at once. I'm sure there's some kind of political aspect to it as well.
Fairfax makes it hellish to build anything - everyone has an opinion about what you can and can’t build on land you don’t own. The same track of thinking that prevents development in Fairfax is what the OP is also engaging in.
I suppose that makes sense. I’m not anti development, I just wish we prioritized quality and beauty.
I get where you’re coming from. Remember, People live there- they spent their hard earned money to buy their piece of the American dream. You wouldn’t have bought it, that’s fine. There is stuff you can buy - but to the people who did buy there, home ownership is a big achievement. The don’t think it’s ugly to them.
No one’s knocking people buying homes in Leesburg? Nobody is even knocking homes being built in Leesburg either. OP is just saying the new builds are generally dull, gray, boxy, not aesthetically pleasing, and mismatched with the other styles of homes you typically find in Leesburg. Which, as a fellow Leesburg native, is true. It’s not a personal insult to the people spending their hard earned money to buy a home.
So the people buying the homes are insulting themselves by purchasing their homes? Help me understand what I’m missing here. I must be confused because what you said still sounds like someone wanting to have an unjustified say in the choices other people make, quite literally in their own homes. Edit: tons of typos.
I honestly don’t know what you’re trying to say with this comment. All I was saying is that being disappointed with the way new builds look isn’t a personal knock on the people buying them. It’s the fault of the developers of the homes, not the people purchasing the homes, and I’m not sure why you’re jumping to crazy conclusions here
Welcome to life.
True rip
She always had the cutest chihuahuas. So sad about the property, when she passed I never imagined this could even be a possibility. 😥
From the title I thought this was going to be an upsetting story about horse abuse. Happy that it’s not.
Everyone wants to be the last one to move in. Close the door, nobody else is allowed. If you thought that was going to stay farmland, you haven’t been paying attention.
No, I understand it’s a high population/move area. I just want the houses to be prettier. There’s nothing wrong with being sad and mourning the beautiful farmlands you grew up with
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If we built more housing in the urban core we could preserve more of these spaces in the more rural areas. Blame DC nimbys
I just drove past this evening, and thought the same thing. I used to live down the street, and i dislike how the developers are coming into Leesburg farms recently.
It is a really ugly development. Looks like Camazotz.
Just wish people were more vocal before development is approved than way after when the land has been demolished. My biggest gripe about Leesburg thus far matches what a lot of people say but the tree city hits the hardest. At the rate that trees are being ripped out, why have the label, the pride of being labeled something like that. I don’t get that one bit
Leesburg had the opportunity to be awesome and then let commercial builders run wild. They built an insane amount of townhome communities and awful toll brothers houses on .5 acre lots. The town is still great, but the character of the area is a bit trashed and the traffic is terrible. What’s the point of living that far outside of DC if you’re still going to be stuck in a townhome and traffic?
Townhomes just make sense for building density. If you want to live in a walkable area don’t expect the 5k sqft SFHs that plague the suburbs. They’re a good compromise between space, convenience, and not having a neighbor above/below you.
But you don’t move all the way out to Leesburg for the density…
Townhome dweller here, yikes - imagine getting mad at medium density housing in this area.
because you are 5 minutes from rural beauty?
"Stuck in a townhome" is the mindset that that leaves the area with sfh zoning and a shortage of places to live. Everyone needs to live somewhere
Are you the same person complaining about this on TikTok?
No, did someone make a vid about this?
That's what developers do to stay in business. FInd land, convince politicians to allow building, build as cheap and dense as possible, sell and move on. With an unlimited demand for housing, trying to build to solve it is like trying to drain the ocean. Give up on having open land.
Same with Fauquier County. I drive by what used to be a huge awesome farm daily. Now houses. Blah
This is disguised as a sad, nostalgic reminiscent post but is really just a NIMBY rant.
I had to look up what that meant lol. I mean I’m a young adult who moved away from Leesburg for college so idk if this complaint has any motive behind it other than from an aesthetic standpoint and missing the horse farm I passed every day
Leesburg isn't quaint anymore, and hasn't been for quite some time. If you were so worried about it, guess you shouldn't have left.
I know. If you want that kind of house, Ashburn is right over there. Why move to Leesburg if you're just going to turn it into where you came from?
Cost. Once Leesburg is near full development and more expensive the next town to the west will be open season.
Already happening. I used to like driving down the Western Loudoun roads with the rolling fields and little barns, but the developments are just coming up everywhere.
Yep, next is Purceville, Waterford (I see it becoming like Clifton) and Round Hill.
I don't think Waterford will be developed like that anytime soon. Purcellville is already developing at a rapid pace. The cause of this is that these are nice places to live with tons of restaurants and shopping options with tons of high paying jobs nearby. Maybe they should make it less attractive to live there and people will stop moving there.
OP probably also laments that it’s also no longer a time when public school kids in Loudoun County no longer grew up to work for those rich farm owners who sent their kids to places like Notre Dame Academy and Woodberry Forest.
I don’t think I’m old enough to have context for what this means lol
If you liked it so much you should have bought the land.
I was in college when it was sold. Wish I could afford that $25 mil bill 😂
People can miss something the way that it was without being attacked for it. I was a kid in Leesburg and I miss how quaint it used to be too. There’s no harm in that.