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HomeMy Public PortalAbout1986_01_29SPEC 123 MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING - PUBLIC HEARING ON DRAFT TOWN PLAN - JANUARY 29, 1986. A special meeting of the Leesburg Town Council was held in the Council Chambers, 10 Loudoun Street, S.W. , Leesburg, Virginia on January 29, 1986 at 7:30 p.m. pursuant to notice thereof having been delivered to all councilmem- bers, for the purpose of conducting a public hearing on the Leesburg Draft Town Plan. The meeting was called to order by the Mayor, with the invocation given by Mr. Tolbert, and followed with the Salute to the Flag led by Mrs. Hill. Pres- ent were Mayor Robert E. Sevila, Councilmembers Charles A. Bos, Arl Curry, Marylou Hill, Brian T. Kelley, John W. Tolbert, Jr. and Charles J. Williams; also, Town Manager Jeffrey H. Minor, Assistant to Manager Stephen F. Owen, Director of Plan= ning, Zoning and Development Martha Semmes, Principal Planner Thomas R. Poupard and Planner Susan Sherman. Also present were Planning Commission Chairman Lynn- wood L. Lay and Members Marvin Belles, Arl Curry, Mervin Jackson, Jerry Pelkey and William F. Webb, Jr. Mayor Sevila recognized Town Manager Jeffrey H. Minor for a staff presenta- 1 tion of the Draft Town Plan. Mr. Minor explained that Leesburg is governed to- t day by three documents: (1) the 1974 Town Plan that was done by a consultant but it has never been fully updated or replaced by a single comprehensive docu- ment - this plan is used for the pre-1984 corporate limits; (2) The Annexation Area Development Policies, which were a part of our annexation agreement with the County of Loudoun in 1984 - this governs the annexation area until it is re- placed; (3) the Leesburg Area Management Plan adopted by Loudoun County - this governs the LAMP planning area outside the present corporate limits. Leesburg' s first effort to adopt a new plan was done in 1980 by Kamstra, Dickerson and As- sociates - this was a comprehensive up-date - hearings were held and there was a lot of talk but the plan was never formally adopted by the town. In 1983 Council appointed a Town Plan Task Force, consisting of three citizen members, two Planning Commission members and two Council members - they were asked to initiate a first draft of the Town Plan. They met in formal session on at least 20 separate occasions, as well as numerous other meetings and staff work performed by Martha Semmes, Marc Weiss and Mark Nelis. Council hoped they would generate a document more in line with its thoughts. There was then review by the Plan- ning Commission, which held a public hearing and met on this plan for over a year. Then came Council review and consideration. Some six months ago Council appointed Russ Linden, Director of Executive Programs for the University of Virginia Insti- tute of Government, to coordinate seven separate meetings where the Council and staff tried to address and identify the outstanding issues that were not resolved in the plan and to take a more strategic look at Council' s overall vision for a future Leesburg. It has taken three years and this is a result of a lot of ef- fort by a lot of people. Ms. Semmes explained that the Town has an adopted plan and it has been re- viewed every five years, in accordance with State Code requirements - however, with the tremendous changes in the town, it was necessary to come up with a whole new document . The State Code envisions this as a guide for decision making for developments and for public facilities - specifically, it requires that any public facilities or utilities must be located in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan. The land use map is not a zoning map - the zoning map tells you exactly what you can and can' t do with your property. Council develops the land use map as a guide for future decisions and makes a policy statement that it does not intend to initiate a lot of rezonings as a result of this particular document. This is im- portant for owners and developers to understand. This is a long-term guide as to how the town will evolve over the next ten years. The Plan includes seven ele- ments - environment ; population, housing and community development; jobs; public services; land use; transportation and a chapter on the greater Leesburg area. The population chart shows the growth of Leesburg from its beginning, with the big leap occurring in 1950 and increasing at the rate of approximately 5 percent a year since then, going off the chart this year. We have just concluded our biggest year ever in terms of housing units approved and envision another banner year as it appears the Metropolitan Washington area is reaching the fringes of Leesburg. Intermediate projects shown in the Plan show about 15,000 people in Leesburg by 1990 and, by 1995, approximately 18,300. This translates into ap- proximately 7,200 dwelling units (we now have approximately 4,200) . One of the important parts of this element is what kind of housing units these are; going to be and how they will fit into the present Leesburg. Council spent a lot of time with this housing mix question. Currently it is 46 percent single family, 19 percent townhouse, 34 percent apartments and 1 percent mobile homes. They would like to shoot for about 50 percent single family, 30 percent townhouse and 20 per cent apartment. This is a guideline to be used in reviewing major development proposals. A lot of the old farms are being developed as a whole and Council is trying to keep some kind of balance. We would like to have jobs for everybody so 124 MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING - PUBLIC HEARING ON TOWN PLAN, January 29, 1986 they would not have to commute. We are fortunate that we now have a job for every person in the labor force and Council would like to maintain that one to one ratio. This will take a very aggressive development strategy - we have a lot of competi- tion on both the national and regional scale. There are specific actions indi- cated for the town to follow to strengthen Council' s hands in bringing good clean jobs to Leesburg. The most visible element of the plan comes from the land use map (indicating the colored map exhibited) , which is intended to be a guide for Council' s development decisions over the next ten years. There are 4,000 vacant acres that were annexed in 1984 and the Task Force looked at alternative land use scenarios to determine the best land use for Leesburg -they looked at the existing zoning pattern, the land use pattern presented in the AADPs and at the mixed use centers concept (this ,being the one finally adopted) . There are two such centers indicated on the map - these would include approximately 350,000 square feet of commercial office development and some high density residential components. These would be mini-downtown centers for these major new development areas out- side of the By-pass. The plan calls for infill to occur at our existing shopping centers. The overall density proposed is 3.5 units to the acre for all the resi- dential areas in town. This is the historical density and Council would like to keep that. The plan also identifies two major employment areas which would follow along the Route 7 corridor coming into town, along with its close connection -. to what is happening in the County along Route 7 and its closeness to the metropoli- tan corridor and also in the airport area. We are now expanding our runway to ac- commodate corporate aircraft - this could be a real asset in attracting aircraft related businesses and other businesses in that area. The transportation plan is very important in making sure that the land use occurring is able to be accommo- dated and that we don't have a Tyson' s Corner mess. This plan was developed by VDH&T in December of 1984. It was reviewed by the Planning Commission and they felt this was a policy matter for the Council. They questioned the intersections of Sycolin Road, Edwards Ferry RoadaJPort Evans Road with the By-pass and'_[he northern loop of Catoctin Circle. Council hired Gorove-Slade to look at some of these issues. Their-recommendations are reflected in this plan. The plan shows the general alignment for roads - it is not intended to show exactly where new roads will go. The actual determination will be made when the developer comes in so the town can dovetail the new roads with his for the property. The major new road is the circumferential road that parallels the By-pass around the north, east and south part of town. Other major recommendations include controlling access on our major arterials and grade-separating all of the intersections on the By-pass so that there will not be any at-grade separations with the By-pass. However, there will be six grade-separated interchanges on the By-pass. Con- cerning the airport, they have done a noise analysis that indicates where the noise areas are that will be protected from residential development. They are in the process of extending the runway another 2,000 feet - this will bring it to 5500 feet and enable us to take care of corporate aircraft. Council is very supportive of continuing the airport expansion program and making sure we can make the most of this airport as an economical asset. Mr. Minor commented that the town had spent a great deal of time in evalu- ating the role of the town and the county in the services we provide and how we do this can affect the future quality of life and help make our community a bet- ter place to live. The plan looks at general government, utilities, public safety, recreation and education. The major goal was to continue to provide quality services with stable taxes. Some of the major policies that came out of this discussion included improved stormwater management standards, expanded parks and recreation, policies, maintenance of our historic district as a govern- ment center, a parking structure downtown and a new town office in the Historic District. Council also decided to continue to look at the Greater Leesburg area - the State law gives the town authority to at least address and plan for this area. EPA has designated this the Town' s utility study area. Leesburg and Loud- oun County have bilateral control over any utility decision that affects the LAMP area outside the corporate limits for the next ten years. They also felt this section was the vehicle to explore and develop a Greenbelt concept. This is an effort to protect Leesburg' s visual identity, its uniqueness, from the rest of Loudoun County. We want to be an identifiable urban community. Mayor Sevila advised that Council does not intend to adopt the Town Plan to- night, but they would like to conclude the hearing tonight. The record of this hearing will remain open until February 24th - this would give Council two work sessions to consider the comments received tonight. These workshop sessions are open to the public. I 125 MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING - PUBLIC HEARING ON TOWN PLAN, January 29, . 1986. 1 William Chapman, representing Washington-Virginia TraditieraL Home Sites, Inc. , owner and proposed developer of a tract of land referred to as Leesburg South, said this property is immediately south of the By-pass, with the western boundary formed • by Route 15, the_eastern boundary following Route 621 and the southern boundary formed by Route 654. He said they will be submitting a written opinion on this proposed mixed use center within the allotted time. Either he or Mr. Mason have attended many meetings with Council and the Planning Commission and are concerned t that LAMP, originally followed by the AADP' s, talked in terms of such a center"be- ing located between Routes 15 and Route 621 south of town, whereas the proposed I Town Plan now calls for location to be somewhere between Route 15 and -Route 643. He was also concerned regarding the overall size of the mixed use center. There was a boundary discrepancy that has been changed in the executive summary - this will be picked up in the document itself when the final _,plan comes out. Mrs. Helmi Carr, speaking for her family who own Fort Evans Farm and land on the other side of Edwards Ferry Road, said she sometimes feels pecluliar ap- pearing before this Council because they seem to have been non-existent people for the last forty years - their land has always been shown as vacant. Twenty years ago the Town took land from them for a major non-access arterial highway which is now the By-pass north from Route 7 to 15 going to Frederick. They were advised that their access onto Fort Evans Road would be closed. They negotiated with them to take Fort Evans Road down the By-pass to Edwards Ferry Road in order to give them access. The town shows on a lot of documents that the By-pass has been completed, but it has not - they took six lanes and only two have been com- pleted. In this proposed plan they are still asking for completion of the By-pass but nothing is shown to give them access. Since they already took the land twenty years ago, she was not sure it is legal for the town to take their access without providing what they negotiated at that time. Unbelievably, this plan shows. another four-lane major limited access arterial highway about 400 yards from the By-pass that has not yet been completed - this would accommodate about 40,000 vehicles per day. That would mean eight to ten lanes running parallel both from Route 7 to 15 north - yet the first By-pass has not been completed. This would give the potential for 80,000 vehicles. Even if the population is around 40!000 in 15 years, that would mean every man, woman and child would have to drive on one by-pass every day. The town has not only not completed the By-pass, but she did not believe they have the money to do this either. Another major arterial highway would be so costly at this time because it would go through prime commercial land. She and her family have no intention of donating or proffering land for a major ar- terial highway coming right through the middle of their land. It would be a travesty on the taxpayers to require anything such as this. They would be will- ing to discuss a less pretentious- transportation policy plan. Mr. Howard Middleton, representing Leesburg East II Associates and Russell Aaronson, the principal owner, indicated two parcels of land owned by Mr. Aaron- son - 150 acres at the intersection of Route 7 and Route 15 By-pass on the north bounded by Fort Evans Road - the other 200 acres on the north side of Route 7 at the easternmost limit of the town adjacent to the Xerox property. With regard to the first parcel, the southern portion is planned for planned employment and the northern portion proposed for medium density residential. They would prefer one designation to be flexible enough to permit a mix of uses, concentrating on the office, employment and commercial uses. Presently medium density residential is sandwiched in between these two - this would violate one of the principles of gradual transition. -.-.=Secondiy;a.".it is ideally located alongside Route 7 and the By-pass at the entrance to the central part of the town - it is one of the major parcels coming into town from the east. The transportation policy map shows the blue line for a major arterial in the future - this line would go to the east of their parcel so it would be bounded by Route 7, the By-pass and a major arterial, with Fort Evans to the north. They feel this adds to the cen- trality of that parcel and the easy access for all parts of the area. The AADP's indicate that as substantially primary employment. They would hope the town would designate this whole 150-acre parcel as a mixed use employment commer- cial area. Concerning the 200-acre tract, it is presently proposed -for planned em- - ployment along Route 7 and along the back portion for low-density residential. They would propose that it be designated for high density residential.The princi- ple of transition from the employment and office use along the highway should allow for a more gradual transition than intensity of use. They have heard of this hearing rather late and he understood there have been meetings with land- holders of substantial holdings. This is a total of 350 acres, with 150 being prime employment commercial property - he also has 600 north of Balls Bluff. He is very committed to careful consideration given to the town with the de- velopment of his parcels. They would like to work with the staff, the Council, Planning Commission or other proper official to see if they can work out a planned designation which would be satisfactory for both the town principles, hope for the future and for his clients. I ' 126 MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING - PUBLIC HEARING ON TOWN PLAN - January 29, 1986. Mr. Charles M. Smith, a resident of 217 Shenandoah Street and President of the Virginia Knolls (Brandon) Community Association of 140 homes, was pleased to see some of the changes in this draft of the Town Plan, particularly from - their standpoint. The Plan is well done and comprehensive - he commended the staff and the Council for the public interest shown. Forty-two percent of the residents working in Leesburg is an outstanding ratio, however, "Are they the kind of jobs people-want?" The flood plain policy is stated and reaffirmed - it is important that there basically be parks and- other development that will not be seriously damaged by flooding. Stormwater drainage is a major problem, but it • is not identified in the Plan as such and will get worse as development occurs. It should be in the Plan and recognized as a real problem. The Transportation Plan would by-pass high density areas-. one in Virginia Knolls and the other the Fort Evans Apartments, etc. It would -be inconsistent to run major highways through such areas. It also shows bypassing of the new Harrison Street alignment to the west of the Virginia Knolls area. Existing Harrison Street will not stand four-laning, nor the removal of parking. A traffic light is being engi- neered for Harrison Street and Catoctin Circle. Generally, they like the idea of the interchange at Edwards Ferry Road and the By-Pass. Private streets are not the way to go because one of the functions of the town is to provide snow removal, etc. - he suggested the policy be stronger to have public streets. Ca- toctin Circle should be four lanes and development in the southeast quadrant should move very carefully. Mr. Woodrow Turner, attorney representing two landowners, said he represents Charles DeLashmutt and his sister, Mrs. Samuel D. Engle, who own seven acres on the By-pass at Sycolin Road. They are surprised that the Draft Town Plan did not include the recommendation from the Planning Commission that this area be desig- nated as Office Limited Commercial. The town and the landowners have planned a commercial center directly across the By-pass from it. The area to the north already has a warehouse designation. Those two factors, combined with the fact that it sits just above the By-pass at a major traffic corridor, it doesn' t make sense from a planning point-of-view nor from the landowner' s point of view to construct or develop low density. He would not want to live in a single-family house at that location. The landowners request that this be designated as Office- Limited Commercial and that Council consider this. This request will be followed up with written justification. He asked Marc Weiss to address the questions in- volving the European American Furniture site - 20 acres which is already zoned Commercial and the 108 acres that is sandwiched between the area Mr. Middleton was talking about. Mr. Marc Weiss, speaking on behalf of Mr. Carl Mintjens, owner of European American Furniture Company, advised that Mr. Mintjens owns 108 acres just to the east of the Euram store (near the break where residential density shifts from 3 to 5 to 2 to 3) . They were glad to see that the Plan has been amended to allow employment uses on the front part of the land. However, on the back portion of this tract, they don' t feel that low density residential is appropriate in that location because (1) it is adjacent to the employment uses to the south and (2) the probable alignment of Route 654 will be to the east of the Euram store, which would place that road either on or near the 108 acres. The combination of the employment uses and Route 7 and a major arterial on the east or west or travers- ing that property would be incompatible with low density residential uses. He asked that Council consider either a higher density residential or perhaps a non-residential use would be more appropriate. Ms. Vernie Warren, a resident of Leesburg and a senior citizen whose fore • - fathers helped build Leesburg and Loudoun County, felt the proposed Town Plan "puts the cart before the horse." She has been to the Town and the County offices concerning many problems she has had and always gets the answer that either the County or the Town takes care of her particular problem, depending on which office she is in. She referred to parking problems in her neighborhood and to the hous- ing situation where she lives - so many are there because they are renting under Government assistance (HUD) . The realtors rent to two or three people and, once they are in, they bring in others through "the back door". She urged that the Town take care of what they already have before they expand and don' t have the funds to take care of that expansion. Mr. Joseph Trocino, representing Rock Spring Builders, Inc. , felt this is a "super" Comprehensive Plan and congratulated Ms. Semmes, Mr. Nelis and the staff. However, he felt it needed a few minor adjustments. His clients own 60 acres in the old town located at the By-pass, Market Street and adjoining existing Mosby Drive. Present zoning of the major portion of this land is entirely appropriate, however, the 17-acre portion (entirely enclosed by two major arterials, the By-Pass and another collector road\ is inappropriately planned. He asked that Council con- sider some other density for this tract. This area is not fit for single-family 127 MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING - PUBLIC HEARING ON TOWN PLAN - JANUARY 29, 1986. homes - with the clustering tools available, they can do a better job for the people that will live there in the future and can do a better job for the town (particularly with the new court designs available) if they are at a somewhat higher density. He distributed a sketch plan for the area (they will back this up with a written statement) . He asked Council to give every consideration for a change in the density on that portion of their land next to the By-pass; also, look at how this plan will work, in reality, on a natural piece of infill land the way they propose it now. Also, Mr. Trocino questioned whether the extension of Catoctin Circle up through Fairview and Normandy Village is really a necessity at this time, given the fact that the road doesn't continue. This would be a major intersection near his home if this road is built. He could be happy with it if it serves some useful purpose. Mr. Penn Whitescarver, owner of the bicycle shop on South King Street, felt the town should have architectural review for the entire town, not just for the downtown area. Leesburg is unique and we must do something to insure that. He was concerned that the developers coming in from outside with big money and a lot of promises don' t feel the same as we do about the town and we want to keep it as it is now, or at least reasonably so. He was pleased that Route 15 will continue to go right by his shop. He would be interested in working with the town to perhaps make a small bicycle park on the land right across the street from his shop, where riders might park their bikes, eat. a sandwich or perhaps walk downtown before they start back (this is the end of the trail at this time). They would be willing to help get the materials for this and to keep it clean. Mr. Alton Echols, speaking with regard to the Leesburg Shopping Center which he owns exclusively, said the old traffic plan shows an extension of Harrison Street fry Loudoun to Market Street. He will follow up with a written report on this. Concerning the Leesburg Station Office Park (or Leesburg Gateway) , they have turned over their plans for roads to an expert and don't know how long it will be until they get them back (here again they will submit a written report) . He believes this Plan is a very detailed instrument - it was a great undertaking and those from the original Task Force, the Planning Commission, the Council and the staff are to be commended. He believed most of the imperfections can and will be addressed in the next weeks. There are five areas for which he would suggest a more in- depth review: (1) Downtown parking - the Plan should speak with a priority, if not the greatest of the downtown parking. (2) The parks we are going to have are wonderful, but no-one has given a Fire Department. They need one so they do not have to go through town just about every time they respond to a call. One pinned a car the other day and one almost came into his office recently. Put them in an employment area. The reason the Old Towne apartments are not sell- ing is the Fire Department being located next door to it. Please consider re- locating the Fire Hall. (3) We do need architectural review in the entire town - one group for the historic area and another for the remainder of town. - in the employment areas as well as the residential areas. There needs to be something of Leesburg throughout the town. (4) The Transportation Plan leaves a lot to be desired - why not let some of the citizens from the private sectors- have some input in it? They have worked hard on land use, but not hard enough. It is ludicrous to consider single-family and low density housing around major ar- terial highways. They need to re-address the by-passes and the future potential large major arteries. These are the places for mixed use, particularly in the employment sector or within the commercial or higher residential sectors. (6) • The airport is a very precious commodity and should be addressed further. If there is any possible way to make a deal with the County, the town should be able to control the area west of the airport. It should be an area that can have water and sewer. - One of the most important things would be to get the area around the airport designated as a free trade zone. With all the employment at CIT and Xerox, we are a prime candidate for it. Mr. Bruce Drenning, representing the contract purchaser of about 600 acres of land from Edwards Ferry Road north on the east side of the By-pass, was concerned primarily with the Transportation Plan. He has been involved with land use and com- prehensive planning efforts for quite some time (going back to 1980 when he helped prepare a draft of the predecessor plan) and has followed the various versions of the plan as it has evolved in the Council and the Planning Commission. He is some- what surprised to see the parallel road to the By-pass (particularly the section on the east of the By-pass and the section connecting old Route 15 and the By-pass) turn, from_a.minor_arterial into a major arterial highway. In December of 1983, the Highway Department prepared some projections indicating that the section of 128 MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING - PUBLIC HEARING ON TOWN PLAN - JANUARY 29, 1986. from Edwards Ferry Road north of the By-pass would only carry about 18,000 ve- hicles a day in the year 2005. He feels this is high, but - it bears a reason- • able relationship to what 's going to happen and they assume pretty much full development of this area. Now they are projecting a major arterial highway with 120-foot right-of-way, plus the By-pass with four lanes, paralleling each other within a distance of less than one-half a mile. He didn't feel we need all of this. The area plan designating it as a minor arterial is much more realistic. He pointed out that Edwards Ferry Road on the east side of the By-pass is not classified on the illustration, but it is classified as a through collector on the plan document. It should probably be classified as a minor ar- terial in that section since the Land Use Plan calls for an employment and shop- ping/retail office center in that location. The classification of a major ar- terial is above 15,000 vehicles a day but he did not think we will have the vol- umes, given the two roads to justify this. He recommended making Edwards Ferry Road north a minor arterial. In terms of procedure, Council has adopted a por- tion of the Comprehensive Plan when they approve the concept plan for Potomac Crossing (the Beus tract) . In that plan, it is classified as a minor arterial, with a 100-foot right-of-way through the development. There is a lot of time, effort and money involved in all the planning. It would cause them some grief if it were to be changed at this time. Mrs. Fred Hetzel asked if the Farmers ' Market is included in the Town Plan? Mayor Sevila acknowledged a letter from Mrs. Hetzel concerning this matter and submitted it to be a part of the public record and said her comments and concerns will be addressed by the Council in its next workshop. Mr. Fred Hetzel, who helped his wife at the Farmer's Market last summer, felt Council does not realize how much dedication was shown by this small group of farmers who brought their vegetables and fruits to this market last summer, and how well it was received by the town as a whole. At first there were only two or three, the next Saturday five or ten- but, by the time it ended, there were literally dozens of people there that relied on those farmers to bring these vegetables, etc. to the market. He felt it is an attraction that could be de- veloped into something paralleling August Court Days. He hoped Council would give it the support it deserves. Mr. Hetzel also expressed the hope that architectural control will be ex- tended to the whole town. He also hoped that Council will implement the strenth- ening of the historic area by zoning, Architectural Review Board or whatever. The rules and regulations have to be spelled out . He has a particular concern about a fence ordinance. Mayor Sevila declared the public hearing closed and reminded that the public record will remain open until February 24th for written comments and exhibits. During the month of February there will be at least two Finance and Administra- tion Committee meetings - it would be wise to submit written comments for con- sideration at those meetings. They would intend to act on the Town Plan at the February 26th meeting. He submitted letters from Mrs. Hetzel and Mr. Middleton and a plat submitted by Mr. Trocino for the record. He thanked those who are here tonight - their presence and the size of the crowd indicate to Council the important task of adoption of this plan - this document will serve as our blueprint and plan for at least the next five years and beyond. The comments received to- night will be summarized and considered before the final draft is prepared. • On motion of Mr. Williams, seconded by Mr. Tolbert , the meeting was adjourned at 9: 20 p.m. / ✓ /( .✓ Mayor Clerk of th Council