Eighteen Thousand Straws
November brought an election, a second State of the Town, and some hard numbers about Western Loudoun's water. In 1990 there were about a thousand private wells west of Leesburg. Now there are about 18,000, three in four of them within 250 feet of a neighbor's, and some 750 have gone dry since 1985. Council lifted the Town's voluntary water restrictions anyway, because the Town's own wells are holding for now. The Mayor said it's time to push the County. Council also signed off on Burns Night and America 250, and took another hard look at the farmers market.
Council met November 13 with all members present. Mayor Bridge Littleton, re-elected November 4, votes only to break a tie.
Eighteen Thousand Straws
On November 13 Town Manager Danny Davis reported no significant rain in a month, but low winter demand and no trouble in the system ▶ video. Well 3, now running once or twice a week, was supplementing Well 4, and Well 4 was staying above its sensor. On staff and Utilities Committee advice, Council lifted voluntary conservation, 7-0, with the understanding that it could come back quickly.
Littleton then reported on the Coalition of Loudoun Towns' meeting with the Loudoun County Conservation & Preservation Coalition, attended by Board Chair Phyllis Randall and Supervisor Kershner. The coalition's study maps 40 years of falling water levels across the county. A former County hydrologist, David Ward, told the mayors "75% of the wells in western Loudoun are within 250ft of each other," Littleton said, when they should be a thousand feet apart. "In 1990, there was a thousand wells in Western Loudoun. There's now 18,000." When he suggested stopping development in the west, the Supervisors answered that the County hasn't approved a new home there since 2016. Littleton's answer was well-spacing rules and building standards for by-right development, not taking away anyone's right to build. He wants a working group of the towns. Davis said it should include the County, because the towns alone have little say.
At the State of the Town on November 18, Littleton came back to it ▶ video. One idea floated is for Loudoun Water to pipe river water west. Most of Western Loudoun opposes that because it would bring growth, and Littleton repeated a line he'd heard: "developers are like rats. They follow the water and sewer." "We also have to start actually doing something," he said, "because these problems don't happen overnight."
The State of the Town
Littleton's second annual address ran about 45 minutes:
- Money: fiscal 2025 met its revenue projections despite tariffs and turbulent markets. The general fund had an operating surplus of $927,897 and the tax rate went down again. About $10.6 million is invested at 4 to 4.5 percent, earning roughly $550,000 a year. Of that, $8 million is the untouchable reserve, and $3.1 million of the rest is already committed to the Asbury Church, South Madison Street, pipes and sidewalks. Two-thirds of revenue still depends on tourism.
- Proudest: asked by Councilmember Pam Curran what he was proudest of, he named the Ridgeview rules: "The tear downs have stopped." The three big houses on Martin Avenue were all permitted before the change.
- Next year: the Asbury Church film premieres February 11, with a final restoration design in September 2026. There's a building-code agreement with the County, a planner starting in January, America 250 events every month, and a new logo with stars.
- Goodbyes: with a straight face, Littleton reported "the betrayal by two outgoing Councilmembers who decided not to run for reelection." Peter Leonard-Morgan joined Council about when Littleton did, in 2016, and championed the Sustainability ("Go Green") and Utilities committees. Bud Jacobs first chaired the old Source Water Protection Committee, joined Council in 2019, and as Council's Planning Commission representative helped steer the Ridgeview rules. "There's no politics with Bud," Littleton said. "It's just what he thinks is right and what he thinks is wrong."
- Hellos: Dr. Chris Hersh, already on the Planning Commission, and Deborah Gallagher were elected November 4 and take their seats in January.
Wrong Location
The farmers market's 26-week season ended with 225 to 400 visitors a week and a vendor count that fell from 20 to between 9 and 14 ▶ video. It cost about $25,000 of its $40,000 budget, plus about 10 percent of Ali MacIntyre's time. Everyone agreed it was better than last year. The trouble was business. Littleton said two vendors had called to say it was the most enjoyable market they go to, "but they will go bankrupt" if they keep coming. You can have the best restaurant in the world, he said, but in the wrong location it fails. Jacobs, in his last month, said residents greet the market "with a big yawn," that compared with other markets "our little market is kind of sad," and that "if I were going to vote next year, I'd be voting to stop doing it again." Councilmembers Cindy Pearson and Kevin Daly agreed that prices and foot traffic are the problem. A local group may offer to run a market at its own site, and Council asked staff to survey every vendor first.
Also This Month
- Burns Night: January 24 at the Community Center: 160 seats at $100, a Scottish buffet, a ceilidh band, and lodging packages to fill weekend rooms ▶ video. Council raised the budget from $15,000 to $23,000, 7-0. Ticket and sponsor revenue should offset it, though no sponsors had signed on yet. Vice Mayor Chris Bernard wanted Council to watch the net cost. - America 250: a monthly program starting January 23, then the Asbury premiere in February. Later months cover women's history, local government, the arts and veterans, along with a bigger Fourth of July ▶ video. Bernard said the $15,000 request would not be enough, and staff will return with a full budget. - Asbury Church: six of the ten individual oral-history videos are nearly final; the composite film runs about 20 minutes, and all the videos together more than two hours. Interviewees get a private screening in December. The architects are working to keep the church's allowed occupancy low, since a lower number keeps down the cost of required safety items like the heating and cooling system and accessible restrooms. - Other business: - Council vacated a strip of Independence Street right-of-way to Catawba Associates for $9,250, 7-0. - It signed a five-year security system maintenance contract for Town Hall at $10,363 a year. - It rewrote the Sustainability Committee's charter, 7-0. - Council thanked Charles Proffitt, Remington's police chief, for eleven years as a Middleburg part-time officer. - Town Hall's exterior repairs paused for the winter. - Committee vacancies are being advertised under the new open-application rule. - At the State of the Town, Littleton reported that the Piedmont Steakhouse has a new, well-funded partner and plans to restart next year with new permits. He credited the late Reverend Swann as one of the four friends who, with James "Smitty" Smith, ended segregation in Middleburg in 1961, and said Smith had finally told that story in public at Juneteenth.
Public Comment
November 13 ▶ video
- Liz White, Stonewall Avenue, asked for a four-way stop at Chestnut Street and Stonewall Avenue, a school bus stop, after a driver ran the stop sign and hit a school bus. She said new fencing blocks the view of northbound traffic.
- Punkin Lee, president of the business association, thanked the police for the Halloween parade, which drew about 200 children and parents, and left copies of the new events card.
Public hearing, Independence Street right-of-way: no one spoke.
November 18, State of the Town questions: Councilmember Pam Curran asked about the year's proudest accomplishment. Unidentified residents asked about inflation-adjusted revenue, emergency planning, the health of street trees, and the Piedmont Steakhouse.
Tips & Wags (opinion)
Tip of the Hat to Peter Leonard-Morgan and Bud Jacobs. Nearly ten years and seven years, a lot of water policy, and the Ridgeview rules. The "betrayal" is forgiven.
Tip of the Hat to David Ward and the Conservation & Preservation Coalition for putting the wells on a map. Eighteen thousand straws in one glass is a number nobody can unhear.
Wag of the Finger to the corner of Chestnut and Stonewall. A stop sign drivers run, a hill, a fence that blocks the view, and three school buses a day. Liz White asked nicely; next time it may be worse than a dented bus.
Coming Up
- November 17: draft audit to the Strategic Finance Committee.
- December 6: Christmas in Middleburg.
- December 11: Council's only December meeting and the audit; the possible farmers market proposal.
- December 12: Stuff the Cruiser at Safeway. December 13: Jingle in the Burg. December 20: Jingle Paws Parade.
- January 8, 2026: new Council sworn in.
- January 23–24, 2026: America 250 kickoff and Burns Night.
- February 11, 2026: Asbury Church oral-history premiere.
Sources: the meeting videos (November 13, State of the Town, November 18), the Town's minutes (pending approval) and the transcripts attached to them, and the January 8, 2026 minutes for the new Councilmembers' names. Quotes come from the Town contractor's transcripts; each ▶ link opens the video at the start of that agenda item.