Guest column by Link Hoewing, Jim Brown and Tom Kettler.
Last week on December 29th, hundreds of citizens from Poolesville and the surrounding Ag Reserve in Western Montgomery County gathered to acknowledge with frustration and some anger the second anniversary of the closure of White’s Ferry. The Ferry, which connects Poolesville and points south in Montgomery County via Route 107 with Leesburg/Loudoun County and Route 15, has been closed for two years due to a contract dispute between the two private landowners involved in the Ferry’s operation.
The dispute began with a court decision in November of 2020 in favor of the owner of the landing where the Ferry docks on the Virginia side. In simple terms, it required the Ferry owner in Maryland to pay damages for trespassing on and altering the Virginia owner’s property without permission. The then Ferry owner decided to sell the property to a new owner. Each of the two parties blamed the other for the failure of negotiations since then.
We believe that there has been far too little urgency on the part of many public officials to get traffic flowing again over what is in many ways the “main street” of Poolesville. A simple contract dispute has been allowed to drag on when it should have been settled long ago. Just fifteen thousand people out of one million Montgomery Countians live in this part of the County, and the very real impacts of the closure – economic and social – seems to have had too little resonance in much of the rest of the highly populated county.
The fact that the Ferry is privately owned should not blind us to the fact that it is a vital public service. If any other critical transportation link in the county was suddenly blocked, you can bet public officials would find a way to fix it pronto.
The Ferry is a transportation mode that has worked for our region for 240 years. It is a direct and vital commuter connection between two of the most traveled counties in the region, both of which have extensive high-tech sectors and jobs. A quarter million cars per year have used the Ferry, reducing traffic on heavily congested Route 15 in Loudoun County and importantly the Capital Beltway.
The Ferry’s unique characteristics help preserve the rural landscape on both sides of the river, in particular helping the Agricultural Reserve in Western Montgomery County to thrive. It allows traffic to flow while effectively metering it, so it does not overwhelm the rural roads and towns of the area.
Poolesville is at the center of the Reserve and by far the most affected jurisdiction. Ferry traffic runs right through the Town on its central avenue. Two years ago, Loudoun and Montgomery Counties launched a study of the Ferry and its operations. A major purpose of the study was to bring the two counties together to ensure the Ferry’s future. Since then, nothing has really been achieved.
It has been clear for many months that the two private parties involved in the Ferry’s operation simply won’t work together despite the public’s suffering. The Virginia landowner where the Ferry lands has signaled she is seeking a long-term agreement, a revenue flow from Ferry operations for the right to land on her property, and a way to accurately assess traffic levels. Since the private parties won’t solve the problem, it falls to government to negotiate an easement.
The economic and social impacts on Poolesville and on those living on both sides of the rural expanse around the Ferry due to its closure is substantial. According to the White’s Ferry study, an extra 16 miles per trip occurs from Leesburg to Poolesville if the Ferry is closed. If you do the math, assuming 800 trips a day cross the Ferry, that amounts to more than 9 million extra miles since the Ferry’s closure. That is more than 9 trips to the moon and back.
Surveys and information the Fair Access Committee and Poolesville Area Chamber of Commerce have gathered suggest that traffic to some businesses in Poolesville has dropped by 20 percent or more since the Ferry’s closure. Commuters describe spending several hours more a day in their cars away from their families and paying thousands of dollars more annually for gasoline. Some families have moved because of the excessively long commute.
At our urging, the Montgomery County Government has initiated discussions towards reaching a long-term easement agreement with the Virginia landowner presumably including compensation. This effort began months ago and at this juncture, there is still no time frame for a settlement nor much information about how things will be brought to a resolution. This is a public service. If the Ferry and the landing were not privately owned, the government would be paying for the operation of this crossing. The amount of money involved is minuscule compared to the budgets of both Loudoun and Montgomery Counties and the two states involved.
In the latest election, the incoming Governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, had a tag line – “Leave No One Behind.” After two long years, no one can yet say when an easement agreement will be reached. Poolesville residents and the Western County have been left behind for too long. We must make reopening White’s Ferry a priority.
Link Hoewing is Chair of the Fair Access Committee of Western Montgomery County. Jim Brown is a Member of the Fair Access Committee and President of the Poolesville Commission. Tom Kettler is President of the Poolesville Area Chamber of Commerce.