Overcrowding complaints by Loudoun residents who charge that groups of illegal immigrants are packing houses zoned for single families have more than doubled in 2008, prompting a county supervisor to urge an investigation.
The issue has underscored rising tensions in the county between a growing population of immigrants and residents who say zoning and other regulations are being ignored.
“Residential, family-owned housing is not meant to be a barracks or a bunkhouse for workers in between jobs,” said Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, R-Sterling, who sent the letter to county Administrator Kirby Bowers calling for a probe into the way zoning rules are being enforced.
Joe Budzinski, a member of the group Help Save Loudoun, said that a house across from him had five to seven pickup trucks parked out front almost nightly in early April. The zoning board investigated and found no violations, he said.
“If they crack down on the zoning issues, the illegal immigration issue will be solved as well,” said Budzinski.
Immigrant advocates said new arrivals in the county are unfairly being made the target of local anger.
Mauricio Vivero, executive director of Ayuda, an immigrant advocacy group, said he hoped that future immigration enforcement in Loudoun would “not just ask neighbors to call because the Hispanic family next door is illegal since they have a lot of cars parked in the driveway. It can be dangerous to generalize these things.”
Samantha Villegas of La Voz of Loudoun described the environment for immigrants in the county as “intimidating.” She said, “Even for the legal immigrants, the environment is perceived as hostile.”
But Delgaudio sided with county homeowners who say zoning laws designed to protect a family atmosphere in Loudoun suburbs are being ignored.
“Citizens are growing increasingly frustrated over what they perceive to be selective enforcement of the county’s zoning regulations,” he wrote. “Selective enforcement … appears to let some off the hook while aggressively [pursuing] others.”
Under county overcrowding restrictions, no more than four unrelated adults may live in a single-family dwelling, said Zoning Office Program Enforcement Manager Keith Fairfax.
There were 214 overcrowding complaints between July 1, 2006, and June 30, 2007. That number rose to 445 between July 1, 2007, and June 26, 2008, said Fairfax, 65 percent of which came from Sterling.
Supervisor Susan Buckley, D-Sugarland Run, said that she recently spoke with two constituents about the fact that “a significant percentage” of yards with overgrown grass and excess trash belonged to residents who did not speak English.
“There is a sense that many of these people are illegal,” she said. “But there’s no evidence to prove that.”
