Little River LCBOS candidates focus on ‘quality of life’ issues

In the inaugural race for the Little River District seat on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the two candidates vying for the only board’s only open seat are placing strong emphasis on “quality of life issues” centered on land use, taxes and transportation.

Republican Ram Venkatachalam and Democrat Laura TeKrony are competing to represent the newly drawn district, which was created last year as part of the decennial redistricting process.

The district is now the only district to include residents of both the Rural Policy Area and the Suburban Policy Area. It encompasses the area including Brambleton, Lenah Mill and Willowsford in the east and the rural area anchored by Middleburg in the west.

Land use and taxes are the “key issues” for Venkatachalam, an IT consultant for Deloitte. His platform aims to “support our local economy here in Loudoun, keeping taxes down — and also to keep any kind of divisive politics out of local government,” he said in an interview with the Times-Mirror.

TeKrony, who currently works as a legislative aide to Board Chair Phyllis Randall, D-At Large, has likewise made land use and other “quality of life” initiatives centerpieces of her campaign. “My focus will be the residents’ quality of life and on policies that really meet the needs of the community,” she said in a separate interview.

“I think it’s a balance,” TeKrony said. “I actually live in the Transition Policy Area, so I definitely want to keep the vision of the Transition Policy Area. ... I also know eastern Loudoun still has some issues. It’s still growing, and I’d like to help them with some of the noise that they’re experiencing with [Dulles International Airport], working with the FAA, getting them to the table and seeing what can be done regarding all the overflights.”

Ram Venkatachalam

Venkatachalam said that, while the district is varied in terms of land use, “it’s all about people. At the end of the day, they care about the bottom line: taxes. They pay to the economy, and they expect us to be a good steward of the money that we collect. … The second piece they look for is quality of life.”

Originally from Chennai, India, Venkatachalam, 42, moved to the United States to pursue a computer science degree and settled in Brambleton 14 years ago. He has since served on Brambleton’s HOA board. In 2017, he was appointed to the Loudoun County Transit Advisory Board and was elected board chair in 2020.

Venkatachalam ran for the Blue Ridge District seat on the Loudoun County School Board in 2019, losing to now-Chair Ian Serotkin by 13 percentage points.

Venkatachalam said his “20 years of business and community experience” made him well-suited to serve on the Board of Supervisors, adding that he would work to “achieve common sense results.”

He said he will advocate for “sensible” zoning, support housing and mixed-use development near Metrorail stations and oppose rezoning land for data centers near residential communities, schools and rural areas. “We don’t want suburban sprawl west of [Route] 15,” Venkatachalam said.

“In the east, if you look at the zoning, the big issues have been airport impact,” he said, pointing to residents’ noise complaints from planes landing and taking off at Dulles.

Venkatachalam said he would also support funding for traffic lights, turn lanes and other road improvements along Route 50 to alleviate traffic concerns.

While not necessarily opposed to new data centers, Venkatachalam said he would prefer to diversify the business environment in the eastern part of the district.

“I want to focus on cybersecurity. I want to focus on healthcare and other retail businesses” that would bring jobs to the county, he said. “When I moved to Loudoun County in 2008, we had a handful of data centers, now we have a lot,” he said. “I understand from a data center perspective, we might be at a saturation point.”

He also called for the board to implement measures to instill “fiduciary responsibility,” including “more rigorous” budget guidance to the Loudoun County School Board to direct education expenditures funded by local tax revenue.

“In terms of government spending, school spending, is it all efficiently being spent?” he asked. “Even though, as a supervisor, I won’t have a direct purview into school spending... I’ll be working with my School Board counterpart in the new Little River District — and, of course, the other School Board members — to ensure that our dollars are going to students and teachers and the support system that’s needed to get the best education for our children.”

Venkatachalam also singled out the county’s sister city program, questioning whether it was in the taxpayer’s best interest. “I’m not sure if [the program] is responsible way to spend” taxpayer money, he said.

Laura TeKrony

TeKrony, 54, has lived in the Aldie area since 2004. Since 2016, she has worked as a legislative aide to Randall, serving during that time on the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Board and the Heritage Commission. Prior to her work with the county, TeKrony was involved with her daughter’s PTA, was a founding member of the Coalition of Small Schools and was involved with the Aldie Heritage Association.

Her years of government experience, she said, make her “uniquely qualified to serve in this diverse district, because I have land use knowledge and constituent service experience to really start working for the residents on day one.”

TeKrony said she would prioritize policies that give western Loudoun landowners incentives not to develop their land. “I want to keep as much of the open space and farms as we can,” she said, “because it’s a very unique part of Loudoun County that everybody enjoys.”

TeKrony said, for instance, she supports funding a purchase of development rights program, in which the county pays landowners to give up development rights on their land. “We had a really successful PDR program ... before it was shut down,” she said. “But it protected more than 2,500 acres of land and half of that funding came from grants. So there are grants out there, so it doesn’t have to come from county funding, necessarily.”

She also said she supports “clear guidelines for data center development” and “working with the industry to improve data center standards that impact the quality of life of residents,” TeKrony said. “For example, increased screening and setback requirements when there are data centers next to residential [areas]. Maybe some greenspace preservation” and on-site renewable energy like solar panels.

TeKrony also proposed creating a new county department focused on the environment and renewable energy. While the county already has an environmental commission, “I think it’s important to get a county department focused on the environment because we have so many data centers and I think it’s time to put an emphasis, a priority on the environment and renewable energy,” she said. “We have lots of experts, but they’re spread out in different departments within the county, and it would be nice to have a department where all the experts can come together.”

Another priority, TeKony said, is addressing school overcrowding in Brambleton. “I would like to accelerate the opening of HS 14 in Dulles North to relieve the overcrowding. That school is not slated to open until the fall of 2028 and I’d like to accelerate it to help with the overcrowding.”

On transportation, TeKrony has her eyes on several road improvement projects. “I would like to get some of the short-term improvements on Belmont Ridge Road done, regarding especially the crosswalks,” she said. “We’ve been waiting desperately for the Route 50 and Trailhead Road roundabout. That got approved on referendum in November 2020, so I’d like to get that moving in 2024, because there’s safety issues at that intersection. There’s also safety issues at Braddock Road and Route 15, and I’d like to see that roundabout moved up in the CIP.”

For more coverage of the 2023 election, click here.

The Loudoun Times-Mirror has been Loudoun County's community newspaper for nearly a century. Our print edition is published each Friday. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. More contact information is available here.

VENKATACHALAM

—Place of residence: Brambleton

—Years in Loudoun County: 14

—Age: 42

—Day job: IT consultant for Deloitte

TEKRONY

—Place of residence: Aldie

—Years in Loudoun County: 19

—Age: 54

—Day job: Legislative aide for LCBOS Chair Phyllis Randall

The Little River District was created by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors as part of the decennial redistricting process following the 2020 Census.

It is the only LCBOS seat without a resident incumbent and the only district that encompasses parts of the Rural Policy Area and the Suburban Policy Area.

The new district comprises mainly of the southern and eastern portions of the Blue Ridge District, which will be retired at the end of this year. Residents of Brambleton, Lenah Mill and Willowsford and the surrounding areas make up most of the Little River District's population. Rural southwestern Loudoun, centered on Middleburg, makes up most of district's land area.

VENKATACHALAM

—Cash contributions: $45,813

—Top donors: Gary Rappaport, of Vienna ($5,000); Sharon Virts Mozer, of Leesburg ($2,500); Vito Germinario, of Bluemont ($1,041)

TEKRONY

—Cash contributions: $95,653

—Top donors: Evelyn Roberts, of Glen Allen ($10,000); Jean Perin, of Upperville ($5,500); Loudoun's Future Inc. ($5,000); Alfred Van Huyck, of Round Hill ($3,410)

Source: Virginia Public Access Project

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