Where Does The Dc Sprawl Stop (Arlington, Reston: townhomes, live in, prices)

[Crew Chief]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

By my own definition, the DC area's sprawl sort of ends at Leesburg to the West, Gainesville to the Southwest, Quantico to the South, Waldorf to the Southwest and Frederick to the Northwest. It doesn't really "end" in the Northeast as it sort of merges into the Baltimore sprawl. My definition of sprawl however is bit more conservative than others'.

Give it a few years and the answer will be "North Carolina border..."

[EricD]

I live in Caroline county, and several of the people in my community work in DC... it's a long commute, but people do what they have to, to afford a house...

[marymadog]

Originally Posted by greenhornetnc

I am trying to stay around the harrisoinburg area but i might get a job offer around the winchester strasburg area and wanted to see what areas to stay away from. We want some small town country living with what i said in my previous post. I am hoping that I can get a job in or around the valley, I work in heating and air so i hope it is only finding the right wage.

Harrisonburg is really nice and country. If you are getting a job in Winchester- you can almost consider West Virginia. The thing with the Front Royal, Winchester area- it can get crowded with weekend tourists. But lots of great land out that way. Look between Warrenton and Winchester. But moving down to Harrisonburg is far enough away from DC to worry about sprawl. It's not a commuting area. It's a college town.

[dayfielder]

Originally Posted by theburro

Try the following as a rule of thumb:

Draw a line from the west side of Winchester, south to Stevens City. Then over to Front Royal, from there to Amissville (north Rappahanock Co.) Continue the line to Bealton, then more-or-less down U.S. 17 to Fredericksburg.

However, within this imaginery line there are several nice samll towns and lots of uncrowded countryside. Beyond the line, some messy sprawl situations, e.g., some of these medium cities create their own sprawl, Front Royal sprawl in Strasburg, Fredericksburg sprawl down as far as Hanover, etc. But I can't imagine that too many people beyond this range would try to work in D.C. or the close-in VA suburbs on any regular basis.

I really don't know about that. I've lived in Fairfax County since 1989 and we always considered Fauquier to be the boonies. PWC has always been suburban aside from the rural cresent which serves as a transition. If we go by your logic then -New Baltimore/Warrenton/Catlett in East Fauquier are not rural? -You ever been south of RT 28? -Lenah/Gilberts Corner/Middleburg/Upperville/Paris/Berryville/Winchester aren't rural? My rule of thumb....anything where route 50 goes from 2 to 1 lanes IS rural in Loudon from that point west. I can not envision that Clarke County or Frederick County, VA would be suburban. They are past Virginia Hunt Country and the Blue Ridge Moutains...they aren't even northern VA....more like the Shendoah Valley culture. It is not like Winchester/Stephens City border the Dulles corridor...that's in far western Virginia...so how can those towns NOT be the country? How can they be suburbs when they isn't a big town nearby and the towns that are nearby (Paris/VA Hunt Country) are rural? It defies ALL logic.

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by dayfielder

I really don't know about that. I've lived in Fairfax County since 1989 and we always considered Fauquier to be the boonies. PWC has always been suburban aside from the rural cresent which serves as a transition. If we go by your logic then -New Baltimore/Warrenton/Catlett in East Fauquier are not rural? -You ever been south of RT 28? -Lenah/Gilberts Corner/Middleburg/Upperville/Paris/Berryville/Winchester aren't rural? My rule of thumb....anything where route 50 goes from 2 to 1 lanes IS rural in Loudon from that point west. I can not envision that Clarke County or Frederick County, VA would be suburban. They are past Virginia Hunt Country and the Blue Ridge Moutains...they aren't even northern VA....more like the Shendoah Valley culture. It is not like Winchester/Stephens City border the Dulles corridor...that's in far western Virginia...so how can those towns NOT be the country? How can they be suburbs when they isn't a big town nearby and the towns that are nearby (Paris/VA Hunt Country) are rural? It defies ALL logic.

I remember you...You've been on here before trying to pick fights about suburban sprawl and urban development. Your past name was blue something. Glad to see you came back.

[ScranBarre]

If some of the people on this forum had their way the DC sprawl would stop in Texas! I don't understand why more people don't want to PRESERVE some of the little rural sanctity and gorgeous vistas NoVA has left to offer by being in favor of destroying that for tract-housing when you can much more easily reinvest by building UP in the areas nearer to DC.

[Stephen 81]

Out of curiosity, wouldn't it be better from an environmental standpoint to just abandon that cute rural lifestyle and just let the forests regrow? I mean, it's not like western Loudoun's natural state is open fields dotted with cute farmhouses. If we really wanted to preserve things, we would try to maximize density and then let nature reclaim what we took from it.

The above paragraph was (mostly) tongue in cheek, but I really do want to know why people think preserving a rural landscape mostly devoid of forests is such a good idea. It's about as unnatural as tract housing, at least for the East Coast.

[typical guy]

In my opinion, the sprawl ends where the inflated land prices end. When you can get an acre for 10,000 dollars then you know you're rural.

[jfields]

Originally Posted by Crew Chief

Give it a few years and the answer will be "North Carolina border..."

The guy has got a good point. Be careful where you buy because what is a nice little town today may easily be suburban sprawl 15 years from now. Just so you see what I'm talking about, when my family moved to Nova in 1986, pretty much everything west of Dulles Airport was small towns. Now there are several suburbs west of Dulles Airport: Sterling, Sterling Park, Ashburn. South Riding Brambleton.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by jfields

The guy has got a good point. Be careful where you buy because what is a nice little town today may easily be suburban sprawl 15 years from now. Just so you see what I'm talking about, when my family moved to Nova in 1986, pretty much everything west of Dulles Airport was small towns. Now there are several suburbs west of Dulles Airport: Sterling, Sterling Park, Ashburn. South Riding Brambleton.

...West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio....