I'm sticking this here because smart growth strategies are often framed in environmental terms (e.g., if you build around public transportation, people won't need to move 50 miles away to find housing)
To hear Fairfax County leaders tell it, nearly every bit of empty or underused land close to a Metro station is a golden opportunity to develop dense, new housing that can absorb residential growth without aggravating sprawl or traffic.
But as residents of Poplar Terrace will tell you, the county's vision comes with an asterisk: One person's definition of "close" isn't the same as another's. Their neighborhood, 70 aging brick ramblers on large lots roughly a 10-minute walk from the Vienna station, might seem ideally suited for apartments and townhouses. Yet when a builder offered to buy them out for that purpose, the county blocked it, saying the site is too far from the station.
The county's denial is particularly puzzling to residents because officials appear poised to approve the 2,250-home MetroWest development on the site of another aging subdivision just through the woods. Now, some Poplar Terrace residents have become so fed up with waiting for the county to change its stance that they are instead selling to buyers who will replace their homes with McMansions.
"It doesn't make sense," said Dennis Miller, 58, a retired gas company worker who has lived most of his life in the home his father built in 1962. "They talk about 'smart growth' and everything, and then they turn around and don't let you do it."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400975.html
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