[JYO] Boundary Expansion Finds Support, Not Commitment

Boundary Expansion Finds Support, Not  Commitment
_Norman K. Styer_ (mailto:editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)  

May 27, 2004 -- After  years of debate over whether to annex land surrounding 
Leesburg Executive  Airport, support appears to be building to incorporate a 
378-acre property owned  by a developer.  
Members of the town staff are supporting the request by the Peterson  
Companies to extend water and sewer service to its property on the southwest  
side of 
the airport. As part of the deal that was discussed in a Monday night  town 
council work session, the land would be brought into the town through a  
boundary line adjustment (BLA), and then rezoned for office and commercial  
development.  
Council members seemed supportive of the request as well. But on Tuesday, a  
motion by Bob Zoldos to authorize the staff to enter into negotiations with 
the  property owner, failed on a 3-3 vote. Council members David Schmidt and 
Mervin  Jackson supported Zoldos’ motion, while Mayor Kristen Umstattd, and 
council  members Marty Martinez and Melinda Kramer said they weren’t ready to 
take 
that  step. Councilman Frank Butery was absent from Tuesday’s meeting because 
of  illness.  
Peterson representatives made the request after the town council agreed to  
extend utilities to the county-owned Shellhorn property on the east side of the 
 airport. They said that bringing the property into the Leesburg limits would 
 help the town with its transportation and utility infrastructure while  
fulfilling economic development goals—positions that were supported in 
reports  
submitted by town departments.  
The town has completed a number of similar BLA/utility extensions to serve  
schools and other county government land and has debated for the past three  
years whether to annex additional land around the airport. The annexation  
petition filed by the town and later withdrawn had included the Peterson  
property. 
The land is also part of a pending landowner-initiated annexation  petition.  
The property is located in the Joint Land Management Area, where it is  
envisioned that the town ultimately will annex and provide utility servie.  
Town Attorney William E. Donnelly laid out a number of legal concerns about  
the request and how best to incorporate the land in a confidential memo to  
council members. During Monday’s public discussion of the issue, he said that 
a  
deal could be worked out to ensure that the land is developed for office and  
commercial uses, if it is added to the town. He noted that, although both the 
 town plan and the county’s General Plan call for office development on the 
land,  the board of supervisors last year downzoned the land to a low-density  
residential district.  
Purcellville Town Council member Stephen Varmecky attended the discussion  
Monday night, trying to learn more about the potential pitfalls of annexing  
selected properties or extending utility lines into rural areas. The  
Purcellville council is considering similar action in relation to the  
county-owned 
Fields Farm north of town.

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