Publications by Jason Jacks

PUBLIC TO GET EARLY CRACK AT BUDGET

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors will hold two public input sessions in December on what’s expected to be another woeful county budget next year.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors decided Nov. 17 to launch next year a six month pilot program, where zoning inspectors working on Saturdays will pro-actively investigate areas in eastern Loudoun known for high numbers of complaints of unkempt properties and overcrowded homes.

According to county documents, the program will run between Jan. 1, 2010, and June 30, 2010, and will focus on areas in Sterling that do not have a homeowners association.

Called the Ignite Institute for Individualized Health, the nonprofit will soon set up shop in Fairfax County and employ as many as 415 scientists and health professionals specializing in personalized medicine, or where a patient’s genetic makeup is studied so doctors can tailor treatments for conditions like cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Personalized medicine pioneer Dietrich Stephan, a scientist from California, is behind the project, as he is partnering with Inova Health Systems to build a 300,000-square-foot headquarters at a yet-to-be-determined spot in Fairfax.

MONEY FOR FORECLOSED HOMES IN EASTERN LOUDOUN AVAILABLE
Low-interest loans are available for first-time homebuyers looking to buy foreclosed homes in Sterling Park or Sugarland Run.

The funds are available through the Virginia Housing Development Authority’s Sponsoring Partnerships and Revitalizing Communities, or SPARC, program, which is administered locally by the Loudoun County Department of Family Services.

These funds will be available to first-time homebuyers through June 30, 2010, or until the funds are gone.

At their Nov. 4 meeting in Leesburg, supervisors unanimously agreed to ask state lawmakers for permission to combine duplicated tasks like land acquisition and capital construction, matters that have divided supervisors and school board members of late. Virginia’s General Assembly next meets starting in January.

Supervisors stressed the measure is not an attempt to take power away from the school board, but a change that would cut spending.

On Nov. 4, the board shot down a proposal that would have sought state permission for the county to stop advertising in newspapers, and rely instead on the Web and television to communicate with residents.

For years, Virginia law has required that localities advertise government events, like public hearings, in newspapers. But in early 2009, two bills were introduced in Virginia’s General Assembly that would have removed this requirement. Facing stiff opposition from the newspaper industry and from advocates of open government, both failed.

A majority of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors decided Nov. 4 to give a portion of the county’s $3 million Housing Trust Fund to Loudoun Habitat for Humanity so the nonprofit can build homes for the needy in western Loudoun and purchase a half-dozen bank-owned homes in Sterling to be fixed up and sold to low- and moderate-income families.