[JYO] County, Town Spar Over JLMA Planning

_http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=21&newsid=12241_ 
(http://www.leesburg2day.com/current.cfm?catid=21&newsid=12241) 
 
County, Town Spar Over JLMA Planning 
_Molly Novotny_ (mailto:)  

Jul 13, 2006 -- Following on the heels of last weekâs  joint planning work 
session between Leesburg and Loudoun planning commissioners,  the Leesburg Town 
Council Tuesday reiterated its desire to collaborate in the  review of The 
Peterson Companiesâ mixed-use Crosstrail rezoning application and  in future 
planning within the Joint Land Management Area. 
Council members unanimously approved a  letter Tuesday stressing that âbefore 
any decisions can be made regarding this  or any other property within the 
JLMA, a joint planning effort should be  accomplished, as has been the desire 
of 
the town for many years.â The letter  states that the town intends to serve 
the area with utilities and eventually to  expand the townâs boundaries to 
include the property.  
The townâs message was clear: It wants  more than just lip service from the 
county in respect to a joint planning  effort; it wants a seat at the table. 
The county commission will hold its next  work session Monday at 5 p.m. in the 
county boardroom.  
âWe feel that the county has not  responded to this [planning] effort, and we 
further feel that the joint planning  effort for the JLMA has not taken 
necessary precedence, in favor of processing  specific applications for 
specific 
properties, particularly Crosstrail and  Ridgewater Park (formerly 
Creekside),â 
the letter continues.  
âI truly felt that we didnât have a  voice at the table,â said Leesburg 
Planning Commissioner Earl Hoovler, who  attended last weekâs meeting 
representing 
his commission. âI thought we really  would have been a partner in this, but 
I donât know that the county really is  interested in joint planning with the 
town.â  
Last weekâs meeting turned into more of  a free-for-all for county 
commissioners to grill Leesburg staff members and  commissioners on everything 
from 
airport management, to past land use decisions,  utility expansion plans, and 
the 
higher water and sewer rates Leesburg charges  out-of-town customers.  
Few questions addressed specifics of  the Crosstrail application, despite 
county and town plannersâ assertions that  the homes planned so close to the 
airport are incompatible with planes and the  applicantâs proposed road 
network 
would not adequately handle the traffic the  development would generate.  
When transportation did come up, it was  in the form of a question from 
Loudoun Planning Commissioner Helena Syska  (Sterling) about whether there 
would be 
paths for golf carts in the development.  
In addition to Hoovler, the town had  representatives of its airport 
commission, town council and seven staff members,  including four department 
directors, on hand to participate in what they thought  would be a joint 
planning 
process.  
County Planning Commissioner John Elgin  (Leesburg) said the chairman of his 
commission, Theresa White Whitmore, sets the  tone for the meeting.  
âPretty much, weâre given free reign to  express our feelings,â he said 
about topics independent of their specificity to  the application. If the town 
wanted a seat at the table, Elgin said a  representative should have asked 
Whitmore for one.  
âIf I was Earl [Hoovler], I would have  just gone up there and said something 
to Teresa [White Whitmore]. I didnât see  that stopping anyone from the 
town,â
 Elgin said.  
Elgin is Supervisor Jim Clemâs  (R-Leesburg) appointee to the commission, 
which town leaders assert means that  he should be looking out for Leesburgâs 
interests. He has compared himself to  At-Large Commissioner Kevin Ruedisueli, 
saying he that his roles goes beyond  representing Leesburg.  
âI represent Leesburg as best I can,  given the constraints that I have,â 
he 
said last month.  
Elgin specifically brought up water and  sewer rates, as well as the taxes 
the town collects on airplanes.  
âI lambasted the airport commission â  over the issue of personal property 
taxes,â he said this week, adding that what  the county is âtrying to do is 
come up with other means of generating income for  the county in this case, and 
for the town, through this development.â  
The Peterson Companies asserts that its  500-acre development, similar to its 
Fair Oaks project in Fairfax County, will  generate $236 million in positive 
net fiscal benefit for the county. Ben Mays,  from the countyâs management 
and 
financial services department, refuted that  number, saying âThis thing 
probably is a net positive fiscal [impact], but I  donât see it anywhere in 
the 
range of what theyâre talking about.â  
The project, as presented in a county  staff report for the July 6 meeting, 
would intermix 1,380 homes with 751,000  square feet of retail, 1.3 million 
square feet of office and 230 hotel rooms on  land the county and town had 
earmarked for high-end office uses. The countyâs  comprehensive plan 
specifically 
calls for 5.9 million square feet of office,  according to the same report.  
Although the property is in the county  and under its control, it is more 
specifically located in the JLMA, a swath of  land along the townâs southern 
border that elected leaders from the town and  county agreed more than 20 years 
ago to plan together, earmarking it for future  annexation by the town. Because 
the town has anticipated incorporating that  area, it has planned its water 
and sewer system expansion projects to service  the land and, along with the 
county, has identified the region as high-end  office use to provide a 
commercial 
tax base the town.  
County commissioners sought answers  from the town on its long-term airport 
plans, as well as whether the town wanted  to annex the property and serve it 
with utilities; the focus was not on the  planning specifics of the 
application.  
âWe came in their prepared to discuss  the applicationâthe fact that the 
residential component was not compatible with  the airport. I was surprised 
that 
the majority of their questions had to do with  the townâs management of the 
airport, which is not in their purview,â said  Leesburg Airport Commission 
Vice 
Chairman Dennis Boykin.  
Many county commissioners focused on  airport financials and whether the town 
was properly planning for future growth  at the town-owned airfield, as well 
as past town decisions approving residential  subdivisions on the airportâs 
eastern border.  
The town embarked on a master plan  revision in 2003, but two temporary stops 
on that work means approval of the  updated plan isnât expected until early 
2007, said Town Manager John Wells. The  town put all or parts of the revision 
on hold twice, the first because of the  2004 council elections and the 
second, from September 2005 to March of this  year, to allow a new airport 
director 
to be hired, Wells said.  
County commissioners got frustrated  when the town couldnât identify or point 
to the airport master plan under which  it currently is operating. Boykin 
said he thought it was from 1990, but he  wasnât positive. The town had to 
request a copy the following day from the  Federal Aviation Administration.  
âI begin to doubt the seriousness of  the airportâs effortsâ in ensuring 
its 
survival, Syska said.  
If the town is committed to protecting  the airport amid development 
pressures, Syska and other county commissioners  asked why town leaders 
hadnât 
actively pursued purchasing additional land,  specifically the portion of The 
Peterson Companiesâ parcel that runs the length  of runway.  
Boykin said the revised master plan  will identify all growth opportunities 
the town intends to pursue around the  airport, but until that document is 
vetted with the public and adopted by the  town council and FAA, which funds 95 
percent of land purchases, discussions on  expansion plans would be 
presumptuous.  
âWeâre not supposed to have that  discussion yet until the master plan is 
adopted by the sponsor,â he said at last  weekâs meeting.  
That answer didnât satisfy Loudoun  Commissioner Nancy Hsu (Blue Ridge), who 
said her biggest concern was that the  application was moving forward with a 
decision required in September, months  before the town said it would be ready 
to discuss additional land purchases.  
Hsu said she didnât know how the county  could protect the land, unless the 
town specifically identifies it as land it  needs protected.  
âIâm asking, I guess, for you to step  up and give us a tool to work 
with,â 
said Hsu, who expressed concern that the  development could prohibit future 
growth of the airport.  
Town Attorney Barbara Beach said  Tuesday that the town council canât preempt 
the planning process, which requires  public input.  
The county commissioners are âasking  the town to make policy decisions 
without public input,â Beach said. The airport  master plan requires public 
hearings at the planning commission and town council  level before it can be 
approved, which will allow Leesburg residents to voice  their thoughts about 
future 
airport expansion and protection.  
She did add that this week was the  first time in the multi-month planning 
process that the applicant has reached  out to the town offering land for 
purchase.  
The Peterson Companies had earmarked  five acres for a through-the-fence 
operation, per the request of the town,  according to Peterson representatives. 
But the airport commission has said it no  longer seeks a relationship that 
would allow airplane hangars to be built on the  Crosstrail property with a 
taxiway linking the private operation to the town-run  facility. It voted 
against 
the idea at its last meeting.  
With that information, Jeff Saxe,  senior vice president of planning with The 
Peterson Companies, told county and  town representatives that his company 
would now offer to sell 10 acres outright  to the town.  
âWe wouldnât be in a position to sell  another 45 acres for an additional 
strip,â running the length of the airport, he  said. Saxe was referencing the 
45 
acres the company already sold the town as  part of a runway protection zone, 
but an offer of 10 acres to be purchased  sometime in the next five years or 
so is in the works, he said.  
That said, Hsu turned to the town  representatives and said, âWe would like 
the town to take a position â so we can  reasonably proceed without taking 
away 
the airportâs development opportunity.â  
Loudoun Commissioner Suzanne Volpe  (Sugarland Run) agreed.  
âI donât want to hurt one to help the  other,â she said in respect to the 
adjacent property owners. âTheyâre both  landowners.â  
Jonathan Howe, a former attorney for  the FAA who has most recently joined 
the Crosstrail team as a paid consultant,  said FAA policy does not bar the 
town 
from discussing potential land purchases  before specifically listing them on 
the master plan.  
âThere is nothing from the FAA  standpoint that precludes the town from 
having discussions with the property  owner,â he said.  
County commissioners also focused on  the distance between the homes in 
Tavistock Farms and the airport, pulling out a  ruler at one point to try and 
determine if those homes are closer to the runway  than those Peterson has 
proposed.  
Boykin said that exercise was  fruitless.  
âWe canât do anything about the houses  that exist there. Best we can do is 
try not to allow any additional  encroachment,â he said at the work session. 
The town does want to extend its  runway 500 feet to the south, on undeveloped 
land, to allow more space for  larger jets to land.  
When Elgin asked if 250 feet could be  added to either end, Boykin said that 
would require the protection zone to the  north to be pushed back into already 
approved developments, to which Elgin  replied, âthe town has blocked its own 
airport in.â  
Flight patterns lend themselves for an  extension to the south, not the 
north, airport commissioners said.  
In respect to servicing the Crosstrail  property with utilities, the town has 
a plan to extend water and sewer to the  entire JLMA, and put on hold last 
month its award of a design contract for the  sewer extension plans.  
âThe water is a little bit ahead of the  sewer, but the sewer would have been 
in the design process right now,â said Aref  Etemadi, deputy director of 
utilities for the town.  
The Peterson Companies is asking the  Loudoun County Sanitation Authority to 
service its property, instead of the  town, a change it formally included as 
part of its comprehensive plan amendment.  
âThe applicant is outside our service  area,â said LCSAâs manager of 
planning Mohammed Shammet.  
Rick Thoesen, deputy general manager  for the authority, said the plan had 
always been for the town to service that  area, and that the change is 
âclearly 
the applicantâs proposal.â He said it is  feasible for LCSA to extend 
utilities north of Goose Creek, but that it hadnât  embarked on any design 
work 
because it had not been directed.  
Although all county planning  commissioners were not unified on which utility 
provider should service the  area, the commission asked the authority to 
begin working out a design and cost  estimate.  
âIt strikes me that the Leesburg Town  Council policy and approach makes a 
great deal of sense, they want to serve that  area that is Leesburg. It seems 
equally reasonable to me that the LCSA should  serve those areas that are the 
county,â said Loudoun Commissioner Robert  Klancher (Broad Run).  
The council has made it a practice to  only extend utilities to adjacent 
properties that agree to be brought into the  town. Beach and Wells said they 
couldnât find a written policy.  
Calling the behavior of the county  planning commission ârude,â Leesburg 
Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd said she thought  it was more appropriate to send a 
letter than an elected official to the next  work session, which is scheduled 
for 
Monday. Members of the airport and planning  commission again plan to be in 
attendance.

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