Sound familiar?

Currently Rappahannock County has a fairly large proportion of retired people. They are increasingly important in the supporting enormous variety of community organizations which make this county so pleasant.

We have also a churning population of workers who commute to the Washington metropolitan area. Some try for a few years, and then tire of the longer and longer commute times and move closer to their jobs. We have, like the rest of the country, a growing population of families with two wage earners. Many of our school children have parents who leave before rst light and return a er dark during the winter. Many of these parents arrive home too tired to invest energy in community a airs.

We have also a growing portion of our housing in the hands of weekenders. Some of these are very involved in community a airs. Some seek only escape during their weekends here. Most expect one day to join the ranks of the retirees.

What will happen if it is possible to live in Rappahannock and work for a company in the Washington metropolitan area without ever leaving home? One likely result will be to make the area more desirable as a place to live. Like the prospect of jobs closer to the county in Gainesville or Haymarket, this will put increasing pressure on the county’s resources. It will make preserving farmland more di cult.

Rappahannock County cannot hold back these trends. We can only seek to balance residential growth with other growth so that the burden on the real estate tax rate does not force an end to our rural lifestyle.