What Can You Tell Me About Winchester/Stephens City/Berryville/Frederick/Clarke County (Centreville: cul-de-sac)

[dayfielder]

I'm curious as to how you would rate these areas in terms of if they are
1) Rural
2) Exurban
3) Suburban


To me, being a FFX resident, I used to take drives on RTE 50 to see the country.
10 years ago once you passed south riding in E. Loudon it became rural.
Heck I remember going to Gilberts Corner, then Middleburg, then Upperville, and no question this was a rural area.

I thought if this area is rural, then surely areas even further out like
Berryville/Winchester/Stephens City....Frederick and Clarke County had to be rural.

I've done the drive a couple of times, read many articles, but still am not sure if there is a clear cut composition of this area.

To me logically, if you have 25+ miles of open country between Paris, VA and Gilberts Corner, VA, then it would make all the sense areas 20 miles further west would be rural, like Stephens City.

In FFX County you have Clifton, which is not developed, but that is small oasis engulfed by sprawl and without a rural, agriculture economy.
Manassas Nat'l Battlefield is another example.


If Clarke and Frederick County are exubran or not rural, it would seem to cheapen Middleburgh and Paris as being a larger, more further out version of Clifton...just a rich oasis...not a true rural area...and that's not something I want to believe.


Furthermore.....you have Manassas and Centreville....past Clifton and Manassas Battlefield, but still right next door and easily in the DC region.

Clarke and Frederick County are NOWHERE near DC.
As mentioned, in order to get there you have to past a VAST stretch of green space that far exceeds what was left in Clifton.
You also have to cross the mountains and in fact are technically not even in NOVA but the Shendoad Valley and certainly face a different culture.


Thereforce given that Stephens City is not "proxmite" to say Leesburg like Clifton is to Fairfax...and that it is in another region...I don't see how this area can be suburban...but I would like to know from others your points.


Is this area authentically rural, is Paris-Middleburg just a fake 'rich' oasis ala Clifton, what do you see this area becoming (Clarke and Frederick) like Loudoun or staying rural due to the buffers with the Blue Ridge Mountains?


Thanks.

[SteelCityRising]

It is definitely "endangered." If and when the rapidly-growing Leesburg starts sprouting office parks instead of just tract-housing you're going to see thousands of jobs being created with thousands of people wanting to live in an affordable McMansion within 30-45-minute commute of Leesburg. This means places like Hamilton, Purcellville, Lucketts, Oatlands, and Clarke County will be overrun with new low-density housing developments to cater to that job growth.

Let's be fair though in that some of the sprawl has been GOOD. For example, member cdmurphy lives in Brambleton, and I think that is a CRYSTAL CLEAR example of what I think all new suburban development in NW Loudoun County should aspire to become. Her community has a park, movie theater, grocery store (I think it's a Harris Teeter?), Blue Ridge Grille, Johnny Rocket's, and various other conveniences all within a walk or very quick drive of most homes in the community. In this sense the people who adore suburbia can have their cake while we sprawl-haters can let them eat it too! I fear though that more of the growth over the next 10-20 years outside of Leesburg will be along the lines of South Riding or Loudoun Valley Estates---just home after home after home on cul-de-sacs with no real identity and requiring a car for EVERYTHING!

[Rhett_Butler]

Originally Posted by dayfielder

I'm curious as to how you would rate these areas in terms of if they are
1) Rural
2) Exurban
3) Suburban


To me, being a FFX resident, I used to take drives on RTE 50 to see the country.
10 years ago once you passed south riding in E. Loudon it became rural.
Heck I remember going to Gilberts Corner, then Middleburg, then Upperville, and no question this was a rural area.

I thought if this area is rural, then surely areas even further out like
Berryville/Winchester/Stephens City....Frederick and Clarke County had to be rural.

I've done the drive a couple of times, read many articles, but still am not sure if there is a clear cut composition of this area.

To me logically, if you have 25+ miles of open country between Paris, VA and Gilberts Corner, VA, then it would make all the sense areas 20 miles further west would be rural, like Stephens City.

In FFX County you have Clifton, which is not developed, but that is small oasis engulfed by sprawl and without a rural, agriculture economy.
Manassas Nat'l Battlefield is another example.


If Clarke and Frederick County are exubran or not rural, it would seem to cheapen Middleburgh and Paris as being a larger, more further out version of Clifton...just a rich oasis...not a true rural area...and that's not something I want to believe.


Furthermore.....you have Manassas and Centreville....past Clifton and Manassas Battlefield, but still right next door and easily in the DC region.

Clarke and Frederick County are NOWHERE near DC.
As mentioned, in order to get there you have to past a VAST stretch of green space that far exceeds what was left in Clifton.
You also have to cross the mountains and in fact are technically not even in NOVA but the Shendoad Valley and certainly face a different culture.


Thereforce given that Stephens City is not "proxmite" to say Leesburg like Clifton is to Fairfax...and that it is in another region...I don't see how this area can be suburban...but I would like to know from others your points.


Is this area authentically rural, is Paris-Middleburg just a fake 'rich' oasis ala Clifton, what do you see this area becoming (Clarke and Frederick) like Loudoun or staying rural due to the buffers with the Blue Ridge Mountains?


Thanks.

Hmmm, well, as a resident of Stephens City I can tell you that it may very well fall under the "endangered" category... The housing bust may have "saved" it from itself for the time being, but the formation of housing developments was most certainly underway...

As one who hates sprawl as much as the next guy, I have to profess my guilt as I bought into one of the newer neighborhoods. It was the only choice that made any sense as the newer homes were going for less than delusional owners trying to sell their homes that just couldn't believe we weren't at '06 prices anymore..... So I did what I had to do...

Stephens City isn't a "burb" of D.C. which I think is what you're getting at. It is sort of a satellite small town of Winchester which is, at best, a small city.... As Winchester grows, so will surrounding Frederick County. Just the nature of the beast, and Winchester most likely WILL grow..... The Federal Government is already moving offices out this way....

As for the rest?? Well, Clarke County is still pretty rural. Berryville succumbed a bit to the pressure of development, but is still a pretty quaint town though there are a couple of cookie-cutter neighborhoods off of 340.....

You can kind of see what was GOING to happen had real estate not tanked, so I guess there's no reason to think that if there's another boom or even a return to normalcy and slow-growth, that these areas won't get developed somewhat....

Anyway, Stephens City is DEFINATELY not suburban at this point, and like I said, it's status depends more on the growth of Winchester than further DC sprawl I'd think..... Of course another thing that is happening is that a LOT of people in the area communte into Loudoun for their jobs (I'm guilty of it), working in Ashburn, Chantilly, Leesburg, etc.... So I guess the unaffordability of houses in Loudoun has led to some of our growth as well.....

Anyway, that's about what I got on that subject...