[JYO] Planning Commission Sends Rural Zoning, Dulles CPAMs Back To Board

Planning Commission Sends Rural Zoning, Dulles  CPAMs Back To Board
_Dusty Smith_ (mailto:dusty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)  

Aug 29, 2006 -- No  surprises arose from the Loudoun Planning Commissionâs 
work session and public  hearing last night, during which it forwarded plans 
for 
downzoning the rural  area and increasing residential densities in the Dulles 
South/Rt. 50 corridor.  
Commissioners edited clerical mistakes in the staff report for the rural  
zoning item and asked that errors in the transcript from a July 24 joint public 
 
hearing with the board of supervisors be corrected before recommending 
approval  of the plan on a 6-2 vote. Commissioners Suzanne Volpe (Sugarland 
Run) and  
Helena Syska (Sterling) voted against that recommendation.  
The downzoning plan calls for changing the zoning categories of most western  
Loudoun property to either AR-1 or AR-2 districts. AR-1 as currently proposed 
 would allow owners to subdivide on 10-acre lots by right with a rezoning 
option  for lots averaging 7.5 acres. AR-2 as currently proposed would allow 
owners to  subdivide on 20-acre lots by right with a rezoning option for lots 
averaging 15  acres.  
The board of supervisors is expected to take up that item during its Sept. 5  
meeting.  
The commission also forwarded two comprehensive plan amendments for the  
Dulles South area.  
Commissioners recommended approval of the Arcola/Rt. 50 CPAM on a 6-2 vote  
with Nancy Doane (Catoctin) and Kevin Ruedisueli (At Large) voting against it.  
That plan is intended to help create a gateway into Loudoun from Fairfax 
along  Rt. 50. The changes, as proposed by the planning commission, would 
increase 
the  potential number of residential units by 1,436 for a total of 4,859. 
About 1  million square feet each of additional office and retail uses would be 
allowed,  and industrial uses would be cut by about 3 million square feet.  
The planning commission eliminated some potential residential uses near the  
airport that had been recommended by the task force that developed the CPAM.  
The commission also recommended for approval on a 6-2 vote the Upper Broad  
Run/Upper Foley Subareas CPAM with Doane and Commissioner Nancy Hsu (Blue 
Ridge)  voting against it.  
A staff report estimated that changes recommended by the planning commission  
allow more residential density than the CPAM would have allowed as submitted 
to  the commission.  
While the initial CPAM would have allowed about 28,000 homes to be built in  
the portion of the Transition Policy Area that straddles Rt. 50, commission  
changes would allow 33,821 homes in that area if it were built out at maximum  
density, according to the staff report. At least one rezoning proposal has  
already been submitted for lower density than that.  
The capital facilities cost for the proposed changes would increase from  
nearly $216 million under current zoning to $1.127 billion under the maximum  
rezoning scenario. That would mean developers would have to pay about $911  
million for the county to break even if all those homes were built.  
The board of supervisors is scheduled to take up both Rt. 50 CPAMs in  
mid-September.

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