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During the second half of 2007, the effects of a cooling real estate market were being felt in other areas of the county's economy and the national economy was entering recession. As 2008 opened, there was hope that Loudoun's super-heated housing sector simply was experiencing a short-term market correction that would lead to a flattening of home prices and a slower pace of new construction. The alternative scenario was that the county was in the early stages of a deeper economic trouble.
Unfortunately, the latter turned out to be the case.
New home construction typically topped 6,000 units, more than 11 new homes per square mile, annually in recent years. In 2007, fewer than 3,000 new building permits were issued. In 2008, construction again slowed significantly with the final tally likely to come in around the 2,000-unit mark. Many large-scale builders halted their Loudoun operations and focused on selling their inventory until the market rebounded.
That anticipated rebound was undermined by an unprecedented number of home foreclosures. During 2004 and 2005, fewer than a dozen homes were foreclosed annually, according to records kept by the county's financial services department. In the second half of 2006 the number of foreclosures monthly grew from 10 in May, June and July to 20 in October and 40 in December. During 2007, the number of foreclosures grew steadily, exceeding 100 in August and reaching 312 in December. There were a record 1,258 foreclosures in 2007, 46 percent of them in the fourth quarter. The situation worsened in 2008. The record was broken by August and 2008's end-of-year totals were projected to almost double the 2007 figure.
Communities in eastern Loudoun were hardest hit by foreclosures, with banks taking action against more than 400 homes in the Sterling District. By mid-year, the Board of Supervisors was looking for ways to mandate better upkeep of vacant homes, including the adopting of an ordinance permitting the government to mow unkempt lawns and bill the owner.
The foreclosures that reached record levels in Loudoun, Northern Virginia and other once-hot real estate markets across the country contributed to the collapse of the financial markets with many of the nation's largest banks forced to pursue mergers or take U.S. government bailout money to avoid collapse.
Ample inventories of unsold new homes, distressed sales of existing homes and tightening credit requirements for mortgages combined to drive down residential property values by the sharpest decline since the 1989 real estate recession. However, home sales picked up by spring of 2008. In May more than 500 homes were sold in a single month for the first time since June, 2006, according to the Dulles Area Association of Realtors. The median sales price declined by 10.3 percent during that period. In November 2008, 317 homes were sold at a median price of $305,000. The previous November, 285 homes sold at a median price of $405,000, a 24.7 percent decline in one year.
The spin-off effects of the housing and financial industry troubles were reflected in the county's unemployment rate, which exceeded 3 percent for most of the year. April's 3.4 percent unemployment rate was the highest in Loudoun since September 2002, when 3.8 percent of workers were unemployed.
Just like the year before, 2008 closed with continuing uncertainty about whether the economic downturn had bottomed out and how much longer the recession would last. Record low mortgage rates and talks of a federal economic stimulus package that could total $1 trillion spurred hope for a rebound in 2009, although many county business and government leaders were just hopeful that next year wouldn't be any worse.
It is rare that a presidential election elicits much excitement locally or much interest in Loudoun from the national campaigns. That wasn't the case in 2008 as the county's voters were wooed-in person-by Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden and Republican Sarah Palin. In the end, Loudouners played a significant role in sending Obama to the White House.
Like Virginia as a whole, a majority of Loudoun County voters has backed the Republican presidential ticket in every election since Democrat Lyndon Johnson's victory 44 years prior. Even as election victories for local and state offices switched between Republican and Democrat candidates during the ensuring decades, the GOP counted Loudoun and Virginia in its column for the presidential races.
As the year opened, few politicos expected anything different in 2008, even after Loudoun voters swung their support to Democrats in many local, state and congressional races in recent years. That thinking began to change as the campaigns entered their fall push to Election Day.
In September, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden stopped in Loudoun for a Claude Moore Park rally highlighting the ticket's views on women's concerns and giving a couple of thousand enthusiastic supporters an up-close look at the candidate. A month later, Obama held a rally at Ida Lee Park, drawing more than 20,000 people to participate in the largest political gathering in Loudoun history. Spectators lined up on Leesburg area streets and then again at the park's security gates to participate in the rally. Thousands more never made it into the park, listening to the remarks from the surrounding hillside. A week before the election, Palin held a rally at the Festival Lakes complex in Leesburg, attracting a crowd more than 7,000.
Nov. 4, the Democrats' extra attention to voters in Loudoun and Prince William County, where rallies also were held, paid off. A 53.5 percent majority of Loudoun voters backed Obama and Biden, with 45.4 percent voting for John McCain and Palin. As in past presidential elections, the margins were similar to the final statewide results, further cementing the county's reputation as a barometer of the White House races in Virginia.
However, claims by some Democrats that Loudoun had moved onto the "blue" side of the political map were a bit overstated as the county's large contingent of independent voters continued to demonstrate its key role, backing the Obama ticket and the senatorial campaign of Mark Warner (D) but also sending U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-VA-10) back to Capitol Hill for a 15th two-year term.
Looking toward the 2009 election, candidates for the governorship already have begun wooing Loudoun voters, with Democrat Brian Moran and Republican Bob McDonnell among the first to make local campaign swings as they work to secure their party's nominations. In 2005, 51.4 percent of Loudoun voters backed Tim Kaine (D) over Republican Jerry Kilgore and Independent H. Russ Potts. Statewide, Kaine won with 51.7 percent of the vote.
In November 2007, county voters elected four new members to join five incumbents on the Board of Supervisors and installed the first Democratic majority since 1987. Supervisors worked quickly to move in a different direction from the previous, Republican-led board, which drew criticism for being too supportive of new residential growth, dismissive of residents' calls for slower growth and better fiscal management, and abrasive in the conduct of county business.
Among the changes enacted during the board's first meeting were to establish a new joint committee in an attempt to build more harmonious relations with the county School Board and to create more time available for public comment. An ad hoc committee was created to focus on green government initiatives and another to streamline the work of government advisory boards.
The board signaled a change in land use direction in March, voting to deny the Braddock Village rezoning application, which would have allowed additional residential development in the Transition Policy Area. With the recession resulting in a slower pace of development, the board faced few decisions on large development proposals, but worked through a number of projects that sparked neighborhood concerns. Supervisors approved a private sports complex and the Good Shepard Alliance's Center for Hope facility, both in Ashburn. They also agreed to permit HCA to resubmit applications required to clear the way for the state-approved Broadlands Regional Medical Center. At year's end, it appeared that the mixed-use Kincora project planned near the intersection of Rt. 7 and Rt. 28 also would get a new look after a rejection by the previous board.
The spring budget work proved challenging, with flattening real estate assessments providing little additional revenue and the prior board's decision to use accumulated surplus funds to keep the election-year tax rate lower leaving supervisors with little wiggle room. A School Board request for a more than $80 million increase in local funding raised tensions between the two bodies even as they were working to forge a better working relationship. Supervisors voted 5-4 in April to adopt a FY 2009 budget that set the real estate tax rate at $1.14, an 18-cent increase and giving the schools a $55 million funding increase.
The new board also advanced plans to establish a new government office complex, a project begun by the previous board. Supervisors held several closed meetings to review developer-submitted proposals after voting in January to limit their consideration to three sites: Village at Leesburg and Oaklawn, both in Leesburg, and Moorefield Station in Ashburn. Funding for the effort to replace the current offices in downtown Leesburg and in leased space at other locations was pushed back during the FY09 budget talks even as supervisors continued to highlight the importance of the project. Falling revenues, however, make the project an unlikely candidate to move forward next year as well.
While eight of the nine supervisors elected in the fall of 2007 formed a loose slate-only Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) survived a challenge by a candidate supported by a coalition of activists pushing for slower growth and increased civility in board operations-supervisors didn't walk lockstep through the year. Despite returning his full powers to him during the first business meeting of 2008, at times a majority of supervisors appeared poised to rein in the role of County Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large), who attracted particular criticism in his efforts to push the Woodgrove High School controversy to settlement and after he appeared as a featured speaker at the Leesburg campaign rally of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. And, despite the unity displayed during the campaign and following the election, supervisors rarely voted in blocs, with most controversial issues resulting in a different alignment of supervisors voting to support or oppose a specific action.
With a year of experience working together under their belts, supervisors will be challenged early in 2009 as they face the worse county budget crisis in almost two decades.
As 2008 opened, the county's legal team was preparing to defend the prior board's vote to deny the special application needed by HCA to begin construction of its state-approved 164-bed Broadlands Regional Medical Center near the intersection of the Dulles Greenway and Belmont Ridge Road. A week before the trial was scheduled to begin on HCA's Circuit Court lawsuit challenging that action, the new board voted 5-4 to permit the company to resubmit its application in exchange for dropping the litigation.
That decision spurred a year-long battle between HCA, which operates 166 hospitals in 20 states and London, and Inova Health System, Northern Virginia's largest hospital chain. Inova and its supporters argued that a new hospital should not be permitted in Ashburn, a location only five miles from Inova Loudoun Hospital in Lansdowne, but in the Rt. 50 corridor where residents of emerging subdivisions have access to few services and where Inova and HCA both own property planned for future use. Inova was joined in opposing the BRMC by residents living near the proposed hospital site who are worried about traffic, noise and other impacts that could result from its operations.
Both sides mounted well-funded countywide public relations campaigns, including full-page newspaper ads, bulk mailings and support for residents' groups backing their views.
As the application reached the county Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for formal review in the fall when hundreds of residents attended public hearings held at a school auditorium, the hospital controversy found its way back to the legal arena. A lawyer representing Broadlands residents opposed to the project pointed out flaws in the public notice that required commissioners to hold a second public hearing while the group raised concerns that the applications were moving too quickly through the process. The Broadlands Homeowners Association Board of Directors was sued over its votes in August and September to endorse the BRMC application. Two residents, Bruce and Christine Biggs, filed suit in Loudoun County Circuit Court challenging the validity of the action and seeking an injunction against the HOA board to prevent members from making public comments about their resolution of support for the hospital. The injunction was denied, but the case is pending.
In November, following a joint public hearing with supervisors, the commission voted 5-4 to recommend approval of the BRMC application.
County supervisors will meet for the first time on the application in January. If approved, Inova representatives have warned the project could undermine efforts by the nonprofit company to expand medical services to western Loudon and to expand its operations at its Cornwall campus in downtown Leesburg. During 2008, Inova introduced new services at both locations, including a new pediatric unit at the Lansdowne hospital. HCA representatives argue that the project offers more health care options for county residents, while creating new jobs and new tax revenue and securing funds to improve the area's transportation network. No matter what the board's decision, it is likely that the project will return to the courtroom before construction of Loudoun's second hospital begins.
Efforts to infuse more funding into Northern Virginia's gridlocked transportation network were derailed in February. The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that regional taxes and fees authorized by the General Assembly and imposed by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority in 2007 were unconstitutional.
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-13) were among the parties challenging the authority of the NVTA to impose taxes and fees without votes by elected representatives, either in the General Assembly or in the affected localities. The NVTA tax controversy moved to the Supreme Court on appeal of an Arlington Circuit Court ruling that validated the NVTA's authority to issue revenue bonds backed by regional taxes on rental cars, hotel stays, auto repairs and home sales, among other fees. The high court held that the General Assembly could not delegate taxing authority to a political body not elected by voters.
The assembly ended its session without constructing a new funding package. In May, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) prepared for a special session of the legislature by proposing a new plan that included funding for statewide highway maintenance, an investment in a Transportation Change Fund and a 1-percent regional sales tax to fund more than $300 million of Northern Virginia projects annually. Although Loudoun supervisors and other political and business leaders urged the assembly to move quickly to provide needed funding, the legislators rejected Kaine's proposal and failed to build agreement on an alternative.
Although legislators promised to tackle the issue again early in their 2009 session, falling state revenues prompted VDOT administrators to sharply reduce construction plans starting immediately. Transportation funding work that begins in January likely will focus on how to keep the remaining projects on track, rather than finding money to accelerate construction for others. For Loudoun, key projects removed from the plan include widening of the Leesburg Bypass, including construction of the Sycolin Road overpass, and the widening of Rt. 50.
While state funding efforts failed, several transportation projects advanced in 2008. Supported by federal funding the Rt. 50 traffic-calming project took shape, with work completed in Upperville and construction underway of the roundabout planned for the Gilbert's Corner intersection of Rt. 50 and Rt. 15. Kettler constructed and opened the first phase of the interchange at Rt. 7 and River Creek Parkway as part of its Village of Leesburg project where Wegman's will open next year. Construction of the final interchanges planned for Rt. 28 also continued, funded primarily by a special tax on commercial property in the corridor. Next year, work is scheduled to begin on two other Rt. 7 interchanges: at Loudoun County Parkway, funded by county-issued road bonds; and at Ashburn Village Boulevard, funded by the developers of One Loudoun.
Late in the year, regional leaders celebrated a ruling by the Federal Transit Administration that the planned rail extension from Falls Church to Reston and then to Dulles Airport and Ashburn had met the qualifications to receive promised federal funding. The $4 billion project is being managed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which also took over operation of the state-owned Dulles Toll Road and will dedicate surplus toll revenue to that project.
One highway that isn't facing funding problems is the privately-owned Dulles Greenway. Despite opposition from local leaders and strong criticism from U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA-10), the State Corporation Commission approved toll increases on the 14.5-mile road from Leesburg to Rt. 28. Starting Jan. 1, 2009, fees increased by 40 cents, requiring drivers of passenger cars to pay $3.40 per trip. During rush hours, the tolls increased to $4.
With the sitting of a new Board of Supervisors in January, one of the key hopes was for quick resolution to the dispute over plans to construct Woodgrove High School at the county-owned Fields Farm property north of Purcellville.
The project erupted into a hard-fought legal battle after the Town Council raised objections that the county government failed to comply with planning and zoning regulations that would apply to other private developers and that the county was not adequately addressing impacts the school would have on the town. Supervisors charged that town leaders were attempting to delay construction in hopes that a new location would be selected. The stalemate proved hard to break, even as legal arguments worked through the Loudoun Circuit Court and the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Efforts by the new board to reach a settlement collapsed in May after the county board rejected a settlement offer. The action came days before Purcellville's municipal election, which pitted a slate of candidates promising to abandon the objections to the county's plans against the incumbents who told residents it was more important to defend the town's authority to control development around its borders as outlined in the town-county Joint Land Area Management Plan. A handy victory by the incumbents put the county and town back at the negotiating table without results, pending the much anticipated ruling by the Supreme Court. That opinion came in September and narrowed the town's role, stating that zoning review was solely the purview of the county government outside the town's boundaries. That action sent the cases back to the Circuit Court and in October, Judge Thomas D. Horne set the litigation for trial in January, while tacitly encouraging the sides to resolve their differences in the meantime.
In December they accomplished that with a settlement that included commitment by the town to annex the property and provide water and sewer service and that the county government provide phased funding for town road and intersection improvements, totaling more than $5 million. Following a public hearing in December, the Board of Supervisors and the Town Council agreed to the deal. The School Board plans to approve a construction contract for the school in January.
Reacting to the September Supreme Court ruling, the Town Council in December annexed other areas of its Phase 1 development area, a move that ensures that town leaders, not county supervisors, will determine how the properties are developed.
Although the high school appears to be on track for construction and a fall 2010 opening, there is continuing friction between the Town Council and Blue Ridge District Supervisor Jim Burton (I), who represents the town. Council members blamed Burton for delaying the project and undermining the cooperative planning role envisioned by PUGAMP. Burton blamed the town for the delays and characterized the town's push for road funding as "extortion."
The slowing economy provided county supervisors with a break in the wave of applications for new development and time to fulfill campaign promises to devote more attention to the needs of residents in existing communities.
The hallmark of that initiative was the community planning exercises for the Potomac and Sterling areas. Starting in April, public workshops were held to hear from residents what was needed in their neighborhoods, with concerns ranging from safe road crossings to improved shopping choices.
Sterling, where supervisors previously wrestled with concerns about the impacts of illegal immigration, emerged as a primary area of focus after a string of violent crimes and neighborhood problems resulted from a high number of vacant, foreclosed homes. During a special community meeting in July, Sterling residents urged supervisors to provide more assistance.
Then in September, after a week of violence including a shooting, a stabbing and a drive-by shooting that left three people injured, residents called on supervisors to take immediate action and find some short-term fixes to the community's increasing problems.
With little chance of an increase in the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office budget, residents took matters into their own hands as neighborhood watch programs began cropping up on streets and in communities around eastern Loudoun. Members of the public also joined on to the sheriff's auxiliary force, hoping to take some of the non-essential jobs off of deputies and put them back out on the streets.
A focus on increased community policing, including the construction of a new Eastern Loudoun Sheriff's Office substation, was cited as a way to help fight crime. Supervisors also worked to address neighborhood maintenance concerns by exploring ways to more aggressively enforce zoning violations and enacting an ordinance to permit the county government to mow grass on un-maintained properties if needed.
Following a tour of the community and a meeting with business and community leaders late in the year, supervisors promised to continue efforts to address their concerns.
The Town of Leesburg's staff and council members entered 2008 intent on improving its operation-and public image-in the business development arena following an embarrassing controversy sparked by Wolf Furniture's decision to abandon plans for a Leesburg showroom complex because of difficulty in the plan review process.
Town Manager John Wells restructured the staff to bring the Economic Development Department under his direct control and tapped Marantha Edwards to lead the department, while reassigning former director Betsy Fields to the position of economic research analyst. Wells also filled several vacancies in his own office, promoting Parks and Recreation Director Kaj Dentler to deputy town manager.
Even as those changes were taking shape, veteran Economic Development Advisory Commission member Karen Jones challenged the Town Council in January to do better quickly. She delivered a blunt and highly critical assessment of the town's dealings with prospective businesses and landowners, comparing the municipal regulatory review process with the uncertainty of a "Chutes and Ladders" board game. In May, Jones was provided the opportunity to help shape the town's policies when she was hired as the town's business retention coordinator.
In June, Wells hired Loudoun County planner Susan Berry Hill to be the town's new director of planning and zoning. Berry Hill was manager of the Community Information and Outreach Division in the county's Planning Department, and joined the town staff with more than 25 years of planning experience, 19 in Virginia. Wells restructured the former Planning, Zoning and Development Department so that site plan and permit applications were under the purview of the Department of Plan Review headed by William Ackman as director, with legislative planning and zoning applications going to Berry Hill's department. Town veteran Brian Boucher continued as zoning administrator.
The restructuring won public accolades and a year after the Wolf Furniture debacle, business leaders are reporting notable improvements in the processing of applications.
While Leesburg leaders drew praise for staffing changes designed to better meet the needs of businesses and developers, 2008 also featured significant challenges, especially in the downtown area.
As the Downtown Improvement Association, Waterford Development and others worked to advance a downtown redevelopment vision, the slowing economy hit merchants hard, with several closing their shops over the summer. The Potomac Gallery, Courthouse Deli and Market Street Coffee were among the well-established businesses that closed, helping to spur calls for the town to provide more support for downtown businesses. Suggestions included improved access to customer parking and increased marketing and event planning to bring more residents and foot traffic to the area. Johnson's restaurant, a landmark at the corner of East Market Street and Catoctin Circle, closed to make way for a Chevy Chase Bank branch office.
The town's Board of Architectural Review found itself in the spotlight much of the year, during its review of high-profile projects ranging from Waterford Development's proposed building and parking structure in the South King Street area to the suitability of synthetic decking material at the new Hamburg Doener restaurant on Harrison Street. The latter spurred consideration by the Town Council to sharply reduce the scope of the BAR's regulatory authority, although no changes were made.
In January, Urban Land Institute panelists visited Leesburg for two days and sent back a report detailing their recommendations for downtown revitalization. In May, the DIA and ULI followed up with a report that stressed the importance of promoting private investment, public/private initiatives and programs and public infrastructure improvements. Among the initiatives suggested were street beautification efforts, WiFi accessibility downtown, the creation of public art and pocket gardens and a targeted mix of business types. DIA also urged the town to host a parking summit and provide better signage directing motorists to all available parking areas in downtown.
The broad scope of opportunities and challenges facing Leesburg on the economic development front was laid out in a retail market analysis, conducted by Arnett & Muldrow Associates. The study found that the town's trade area consistently remains in the town and points west, as the area fails to attract shoppers and diners from the east. The lone exceptions to that rule continue to be Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets and the niche retailers in the downtown historic district. The consultant recommended the town pursue catalyst projects in the downtown area, including feasibility studies evaluating a George Mason University campus, a performing arts center and a business incubator. The council had endorsed design work for improvements to the King Street corridor.
Although the town's budget challenges will limit the scale of public investment next year, council members have made it clear that they intend to keep a keen focus on providing opportunities for new businesses while working to address the concerns of the town's more established commercial operations.
Loudoun's real estate market was the first to feel the effects of the economic recession, but in 2008 the commercial market remained relatively strong.
Not only did non-residential property values hold up better than home prices, several large projects moved to construction.
Two of the largest were Kettler's Village of Leesburg 150-acre mixed-use project on the town's eastern border and the 360-acre One Loudoun project along Rt. 7 near Ashburn. Kettler's project showed significant progress with the construction of a Rt. 7 interchange and completion of steel work on the Wegman's store planned to open in 2009 and several office buildings and parking structures. With the help of Gov. Tim Kaine (D) at the groundbreaking, One Loudoun got started with the construction of area road links and the opening of Steuart Weller Elementary School. Once complete, One Loudoun will offer 3 million square feet of office space, 700,000 square feet of retail with fine dining and shopping, two hotels and a movie theater. Some 1,040 homes also are planned, built around the concept of a central park setting, walking trails, a town center and other public and civic spaces. The development will include an outdoor amphitheater and recreation center, with a pool and tennis courts, that will be central to the property.
In Middleburg, work is progressing on the $100 million-plus Salamander Resort & Spa, one of the county's largest building projects. The 168-room luxury complex is planned for a 2010 opening. When completed the resort will include conference facilities, a restaurant and other dining spaces, a large octagonal lobby at the center of the building, ground-level spa, fitness room and pool, a library and a large accommodations wing featuring a range of bedrooms and suites. Other amenities will include tennis courts and a 22-stall equestrian barn and horse paddocks, along with a huge herb garden whose produce will be used on a daily basis in the Salamander cuisine. Extensive parking areas will be shielded from view with trees. Nature trails extend into deep woods beyond the resort.
The planned four-year expansion of Orbital Science's Corporation's 77-arce Rt. 28 headquarters began early in 2008, with the first of three new office buildings opening in November. Also planned is a 35,000-square-foot manufacturing building. In December, the company was awarded a $1.9 billion NASA contract to provide cargo transportation services to the International Space Station between 2011 and 2015.
One large Loudoun development to welcome its first residents this year was Ashby Ponds. The Ashburn retirement community is under development by Erickson on a 132-acre campus. With about 200 residents today, the community is expected to serve more than 2,000 at buildout.
After a year-long battle in 2007 over Dominion Virginia Power's plans to build a new 230-kv transmission line between Leesburg and Purcellville, community disputes about power lines remained a top concern through 2008.
That controversial line between the Pleasant View substation east of Leesburg to the planned Hamilton substation just east of Purcellville was approved by the State Corporation Commission in February. Construction is expected to begin in January.
The SCC marked the end of a long debate, at least in most neighborhoods, over the alignment of the line and whether the utility company should be required to bury it.
The Wage Drive neighborhood in Leesburg was an exception as residents discovered in the fall Dominion's plans to erect a transmission line tower near their homes. A series of community meetings was held to find a more acceptable location for the tower.
As the SCC approved that cross-county line, controversy continued over Dominion's plans to join with Allegheny Energy to construct a 500-kv transmission line from Pennsylvania to the South Loudoun substation near Chantilly. The proposal drew strong opposition from rural landowners south and west of Loudoun, supported by the Piedmont Environmental Council and U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA-10) because of the line's impact on numerous historic properties and scenic vistas. The line required and received approval from Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia's SCC. While a legal challenge has been filed in Virginia, the project is planned for construction starting in January.
On Loudoun's northern tip, Lovettsville area residents are closely watching Allegheny Energy's plans for another line, this one carrying 765kv, from West Virginia to Maryland. One route option has the line passing through Loudoun just north of the Lovettsville town limits. Del. Joe T. May (R-33), Supervisor Sally R. Kurtz (D-Catoctin) and Lovettsville Mayor Elaine Walker are working with residents to make sure their concerns are addressed by power company representatives. A community meeting is expected in late January.
