Coverage of recently released demographic trends in last week’s GazetteLeader confirmed what most could reasonably discern: Fairfax County will see another population growth spurt in coming decades.
Oh, not as big as what transpired in the 1970s and 1980s (as those who lived to tell the tale can well remember). But the county’s population is expected to rise another couple of hundred thousand people to about 1.4 million by 2050.
Trying to forecast population trends is part science, part guesswork, part voodoo. But it does seem likely that both a larger population and more urbanization are on the horizon. Not just for Fairfax, but across Northern Virginia.
Nothing is intrinsically wrong with that. But allowing it to happen unfettered, or alternately to have a government-knows-best approach to the planning with little flexibility to roll with the punches, creates dangers.
What we need is a flexible approach where community voices genuinely are listened to.
• • •
On the issue of the future, residents in Fairfax single-family neighborhoods need to watch carefully. Housing activists are coming for you in an effort to enable willy-nilly development, as they have in Arlington and are working toward in Alexandria.
The move to impose free-range zoning will snare Fairfax County leaders eventually. Those who oppose moving to it can expect to be called all kinds of names, from troglodyte to racist.
The battle is coming. Don’t say we didn’t tell you.
