During the past decade, the area's population swelled by 40 percent, climbing from about 171,400 to more than 240,000. Growth is squeezing much of the region, particularly Spotsylvania and Stafford counties, fast-growing localities that, combined, contribute more than 75 percent of the region's population. The advancing growth has spawned anti-development sentiments and spurred the formation of a handful of political organizations. Residents rallying around causes ranging from historical and environmental preservation to education and traffic congestion have influenced recent elections in the region. Some see a middle ground.
Local officials say they are trying to plan for the additional, inevitable growth.
Called proffers, the fees are meant to help offset the costs of schools, utilities and other services. In Stafford, the supervisors also are looking to Virginia Beach officials for advice on curbing growth by buying development rights from farmers. For its part, Virginia Beach has spread out into a vast, sprawling suburb. Subdivisions and shopping centers have engulfed the northern part of the Beach and spread west into Chesapeake and, more recently, northern Suffolk. Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Suffolk are all the size of counties.