EASTERN Loundon County looks so ugly from the air (Arlington: condo, homes)

[NC211]

I live in that picture! The last one was taken in October. Trust me, there are plenty of trees out here.

One Tired Man, you remind me of my old neighbors in Chicago. We lived in an area west of the city that represents exactly what people think they want. Nice and unique houses with mature landscaping and higher end materials. Walkable community with a downtown setting, established. It's called Glen Ellyn, and anyone with any knowledge of Chicago will confirm that it truly is one of the highest end suburbs of all Chicago (we rented by the way, thank goodness). Lived there for nearly 3 years. Didn't make a single friend in that setting, and listened to all of the "locals" moan and groan about how Naperville is nothing but tract housing on scraped land. Turns out, Naperville was nicer in many regards than Glen Ellyn. And the friends that did make, were from there. Why? Because Naperville, much like Eastern Loidoun, serve a population base on the income spectrum. Those of us in our late 30's and 40's, who are doing the minivan drag race on the weekends, tend to group together. Not because we travel in packs, but because when you're at that stage in life when Toys R Us is a big part of your lifestyle, size matters! We need square footage! And since we're still on the career ladder, we really don't want to blow Jr's college fund for a smaller house that is 15 minutes closer to work for the same price, if not sizably more.

What you're complaining about is no different than any other city in the country, whereby suburban spraw is seen as a threat to what is now considered a more urban establishment. Mission Hills to Johnson County, KS. Raleigh proper to Cary. And now Cary to Apex. Mountain Brook to Vestavia, Al (1980's) around B'ham.
And on and on and on.

To say E.Loudoun is nothing but ugly cookie cutter housing that has destroyed the landscape of the area, is in my opinion, a statement that reflects more on a level of insecurity that it presents to those who, for whatever reason, feel the like their own quality of life has been threatened by it. I've flown into this city countless times over the years (its why we decided to just move here). I find your comment on how the area around Dulles to be ugly because of the lack of trees, yet the approach to National and the concrete jungle that surrounds it to be beautiful, a bit odd.

Yes, we have two (or 20) of the same houses here. But, don't forget, we're just getting started out here with ownership character. Fairfax has had decades of ownership character to alter its original bones for unique and individualized curb appeal. Just as Johnson County once looked like nothing but a 1,000 of the same house 20 years ago, no longer is the case today.

PS: there is sooo much rock out here, I'm surprised the place even has grass! As one of the Loudoun folks once told me about the area - "greatest place for a major international airport, as Captain Kirk could probably land the USS Enterprise on this soil and barely leave a dent in the ground"!

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by cdmurphy

Loudoun still has over 25 farms and 27 wineries. The soil in the west is fertile. The east was mostly dairy farming. (See Ashburn Village's Agrarian Roots.) Don't tell anyone, but Loudoun Valley Estates is not actually in the Loudoun Valley.

Yes, the LVE sign does make me chuckle.

So, back then western Loudoun was farming and eastern Loudoun was pastoralism, eh? I wonder whether there were any interesting conflicts between the two groups.

[midlifeman]

The problem with the older neighborhoods is that they lack a community feel, walkability, commercial access, and of course curb appeal. My wife calls the homes in fairfax the moldy oldies. I don't want to be so secluded on an acre or two on some culdasac where the neighbors never come out.

Brambleton may be a cookie cutter neighborhood but at least it was built with community in mind first. I do feel your pain about the trees. We need more to cover up that hideous siding in loundon county.

[IndiaLimaDelta]

Originally Posted by midlifeman

We need more to cover up that hideous siding in loundon county.

I think painted siding is more attractive and honest than brick- or stone-façade we see too often in all of NoVA, not just Ashburn.

[Fallout Zone]

Originally Posted by IndiaLimaDelta

I think painted siding is more attractive and honest than brick- or stone-façade we see too often in all of NoVA, not just Ashburn.

The worst is brick facade on the front and then siding all around, especially when the homes are deeper than wide.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by midlifeman

The problem with the older neighborhoods is that they lack a community feel, walkability, commercial access, and of course curb appeal. My wife calls the homes in fairfax the moldy oldies. I don't want to be so secluded on an acre or two on some culdasac where the neighbors never come out.

Brambleton may be a cookie cutter neighborhood but at least it was built with community in mind first. I do feel your pain about the trees. We need more to cover up that hideous siding in loundon county.

I don't want to invest much in this thread, since I think its underlying goal is to decry the present and try and make people feel bad about where they live. Other recent threads by the same poster, for example, celebrate the impending sequestration and job furloughs. The main thing that I've found interesting about it are the aerial photos that other posters contributed that show the land use in eastern Loudoun at different times in the past and how the current residential density there compares to other parts of the region.

Having said that, I'm sorry you apparently aren't looking at nicer areas in Fairfax, but there are plenty of older neighborhoods - in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax - that have the amenities you suggest are lacking.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Having said that, I'm sorry you apparently aren't looking at nicer areas in Fairfax, but there are plenty of older neighborhoods - in Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax - that have the amenities you suggest are lacking.

Definitely agree. And this is true not only for Fairfax and Arlington, but also for all the counties that make up Nova. Every county has a mix of nice areas and not-as-nice areas, areas that are walkable and those that aren't as much, as well as communities with lots of amenities and those with not many at all.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by jillybean720

Being pretty is not the priority of progress, growth, and development. More people = more homes = smaller lots. Reality.

I have to quibble - in places in DC, Arlington, Alexandria, and inside the beltway Fairfax, progress, growth and development often does mean "prettification" when a good looking development replaces a parking lot, car dealership, decayed old shopping center, boring warehouse, etc.

Not that everyone will ever want to live in 800 sq ft condos - and there MAY not be enough current SFHs for all the folks who will choose them in the future (meaning building more may be necessary) - but I did want to point out that from this aspect, not all growth is equal.

"Pave paradise and put in a parking lot" Or rip up a parking lot and put in something that somewhere between one fifth and one third of us (and maybe someday even more of us?) will find to be paradisical.

I note that of course there may be some people who find a parking lot more attractive than a cow pasture. And that there are people who consider all aesthetic judgements strictly subjective, so to those people my distinction will be incorrect, or meaningless.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by NC211

Not because we travel in packs, but because when you're at that stage in life when Toys R Us is a big part of your lifestyle, size matters! We need square footage! And since we're still on the career ladder, we really don't want to blow Jr's college fund for a smaller house that is 15 minutes closer to work for the same price, if not sizably more.

hoiw many people, as adults, look back and wish their parents had commuted longer so they could have had a bigger house with more toys?

I completely support the right of people to make their own choices. I find some of the "we NEED square footage - its for the CHILDREN" stuff a tad offputting.

That lifestyle is one choice. There are others, that are also "child friendly".

[JD984]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

hoiw many people, as adults, look back and wish their parents had commuted longer so they could have had a bigger house with more toys?

I completely support the right of people to make their own choices. I find some of the "we NEED square footage - its for the CHILDREN" stuff a tad offputting.

That lifestyle is one choice. There are others, that are also "child friendly".

The portion of the post that caught my attention was the following:

Originally Posted by NC211

Because Naperville, much like Eastern Loidoun, serve a population base on the income spectrum. Those of us in our late 30's and 40's, who are doing the minivan drag race on the weekends, tend to group together. Not because we travel in packs, but because when you're at that stage in life when Toys R Us is a big part of your lifestyle, size matters! We need square footage! And since we're still on the career ladder, we really don't want to blow Jr's college fund for a smaller house that is 15 minutes closer to work for the same price, if not sizably more.

I actually think suburban residents around here in their late 30s and early 40s do like to "travel in packs" and that this drives a lot of residential decisions more than square footage. There's a pretty strong desire to live among like-minded and like-situated peers, whether in smaller houses in Arlington or larger houses in Ashburn. People are at a stage in their lives when they are often doing something new for them (the whole work/kid balance thing) and take comfort from being among others following a similar path. At its best, it's having neighbors with whom you have things in common; at its worst, it's keeping up with the Jones. But, I'm firmly convinced that a lot of the promoting of areas (and denigration of other areas) that takes place on internet forums is driven more by some basic desire to recruit fellow travelers than it is by a desire to prop up RE values.