14,000 NEW homes proposed in South Loudoun

4 projects put forth on U.S. 50

Loudoun Times Mirror
By Bob Twigg
08/31/2004

A developer wants the county to approve land-use plan changes to allow construction of more than 14,000 houses plus commercial space on four sites over 4,200 acres along U.S. 50 in south Loudoun.

To sweeten the request, Greenvest LLC of Vienna proposes doing major road improvements, building six schools and offering sites for a hospital and a park, at an estimated cost of more than $500 million.

A big selling point, said Greenvest's Packie Crown, is inclusion of what is being called "workforce housing" for middle-income workers struggling to find housing in Loudoun. It also will include affordable housing for low-income residents. If approved, the first units would be completed in 2008.

The proposal was submitted to the county for review. It will face intense public scrutiny through the zoning hearing process. Ultimately, the Board of Supervisors must approve it.

The proposal would upend one of the jewels of the county's land-use plan crafted by the last Board of Supervisors.

It would load development on four tracts in a "transition" area, designed as a low-density buffer between dense suburban-style development and rural open space. The transition-area rules limit development to a minimum of one house per acre. Some of Greenvest's parcels are zoned one house for three acres.

Greenvest wants the county to approve an average of 3.5 houses per acre.

Crown said the county must approve the heavier development or the projects won't happen. "We do need the critical mass [of housing] to make it work," Crown said. "The cost is so high."

The project includes some 477 acres around Arcola once held by one of the leading critics of the county's land-use policy, Jack Shockey of Aldie. He has sold four parcels to Greenvest for an undisclosed sum and is listed as a co-applicant on two tracts.

Greenvest's projects are:

Arcola – 583 acres with 623 single-family detached units, 561 attached units and 681 multifamily units, plus 280,000 square feet for a hospital, medical office and commercial space plus an elementary school.

Broad Run Village – 1,132 acres mostly age-restricted housing in 1,617 single-family detached units, 1,435 attached units and 1,578 multifamily units and about 120,000 square feet of commercial space plus a golf course and a school.

Lenah and Greenfields – straddling Braddock Road (now unpaved), over 2,451 acres that would include 3,525 single-family detached units, 2,098 attached units, 1,944 multifamily units plus 394,000 square feet of commercial space. The sites would have four schools, a town center with government buildings and a 450-acre regional park.

One surprise was a potential site for a hospital. It is "within the cone," Crown said, of a hospital site included in a plan the county is now reviewing.

Loudoun Healthcare spokesman Tony Raker said "there have been discussions" with Greenvest to donate a 50-acre site for a hospital.

"The developer recognizes the need for health care services along U.S. 50," Raker said.

To serve those developments, Greenvest will undertake major road work, including widening a stretch of U.S. 50, relocating and widening Route 659 from its intersection with Evergreen Mill Road at Arcola to the county line with an overpass at U.S. 50, paving a section of Braddock Road, building the Lenah Connector at Route 600 and U.S. 50.

To pay the estimated $250 million for roads and $250 million for schools, Greenvest will create a Community Development Authority to issue bonds, backed by the developer.

The projects will be connected to water and sewer lines operated by the Loudoun County Sanitation Authority.

The projects will undergo the county's zoning review and amendment process and must be approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Also Tuesday, Toll Bros. filed for land-use plan changes on a U.S. 50 property called Westport, adjacent to Greenvest's properties south of the highway. Details were not available.


©Times Community Newspapers 2004

 

Everytime I sit in traffic along Rt 50, Rt 28, Rt 7 or the Greenway and pay my $2.50-$3.00 one way in tolls to go to work it's hard to imagine things getting any worse with all these thousands of additional homes that developers are proposing, many of which will be approved I am sure by the current board. The whole area along Ryan Rd up to Brambleton probably has about 2,000 - 2,500 homes/townhomes/apts that are occupied now. This total will grow to well over 15,000 as Brambleton is completed, the new Toll Brothers development of 3,000 homes is completed adjacent to Brambleton, Moorefield and Loudoun Stations are built up and all the other smaller developments in this corridor are built. I just can't imagine a doubling of the county's population within the next decade or so and what that will do to all of our quality of lives.

 

Maybe the gangs will move there...

 

Here's the Washington Post's take on this report: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50725-2004Aug31.html

Interesting idea. I'm no "smart growth" expert, but this certainly seems to make a lot more sense than what this county has seen up to now...

 

I completely agree, the growth projected for this area is astonishing and I think in many ways unrestrained. The amount of money to make in developing real estate is staggaring and fuels this expansion. I wish there were ways to regulate the growth so that the fundamentals of roads and other projects don't fall behind. How do developers get construction approval, what are the governing bodies that make these decisions?

 

I wish before proposing yet more homes and development, the powers that be would start to fix the outdated infrastructure! It is incredible that although Dulles Airport is among the busiest airports in the WORLD, we have yet to have metro service to Dulles. Most other major (and not so major) airports have a metro which goes directly to the airport. Secondly, the transportation infrastructure in Loudoun County is still not much better than it was 10 years ago and it seems like road projects, even those that should be relatively simple, take a year or more to complete.

If more homes and developments are brought to the area before the ongoing issues are resolved, we are going to face more problems.

 

Pats Fan et al: apparently the Greenvest proposals include $500M in infrastucture--improvements to 50, 659 relocated and complete from Arcola south, six schools (not just the sites, but the buildings), a regional parks with regional playing fields etc. There will not just be the usual pittance ADUs, but the scale of the project will allow for actual affordable housing segments. Cost to be included (apparently through the equivalent of a community tax district) in the price of the homes. I gather it is basically a voluntary impact fee, plus the actual building of the roads and schools. One article noted the donation of a hospital site to the county. One project appears to be within Arcola, so maybe that's the parcel stuff I heard at the PO. We'll see.

Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

You can always use the toll road [}]. As you know, they believe that once we realise the value of our time their price gouging wont matter!

 

I do use the toll road priced as it is but if more building as proposed continues, even the overpriced toll road won't be able to handle the flow of traffic. It barely handles it at the peak times now. In fact, I would gladly support a group of private investors to fund expansion of the metro to Dulles airport and beyond!

 

Interesting article…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16301-2004Jul26.html

It shows a connection between Steve Snow’s campaign treasurer, Roma Dawson, and Greenvest…she’s selling the farm to them. She’s also suing the county – challenging building restrictions on her property (that she’s selling).

Also…interesting comments at the Loudoun Times Mirror website regarding the article in this thread that Skins fan posted:

"The projects will be connected to water and sewer lines operated by the Loudoun County Sanitation Authority. And so the other shoe has now fallen. This is the reason for wanting to extend utilities into the transition zone. Well played Tulloch and brothers/sisters-in-arms.”

“Ohh! Widening route 659 from Arcola to Bull Run? Oh yes yes yes.. please Mr developer, move right along in... Oh and just how many other land parcels to you happen to own down the 659 corridor? You see, we're not ALL fooled by your apparent show of generocity. Improving 659 will only allow an increase in development in the extreme southern area of the county, but of course, you knew that, didn't you?”

 

Jeanne: Do you know the Dawsons? Do you know how old their lawsuit is? This is one of the famous Route 659 lawsuits, which predate the Comp Plan lawsuits by some years. If you read any of the Comp Plan documents I recommended, you would have seen the section advising an immediate moratorium on building in Dulles South (back in 99). This is the lawsuit in which Scott York's Transition Team was allowed to be deposed, after much foaming at the mouth by the defendants, apparently on those very documents, which were not laws, but were being followed as if they were laws, in contravention of existing law, on the grounds that the existing laws were going to be changed (all proposed and published before the public process even began).

Law doesn't work that way, which is why the suit is still active, and heavily weighted in the Dawson's favor.

Roma and her husband have been active Republicans here since before most of us got here, and always volunteer in their district. The sale has been pending for years, and hinges on the county's approval of allowing building on the property (which was legal, but disallowed by the preceding BoS before they changed the law to NOT allow suburban building in that region, and NOT allow access to EXISTING utilities which exist as a result of suburban density allowed to bring the utilities to existing residents like the Dawsons). It appears from the wording of your post that you believe the suit and the sale are new. They are in fact years old.

As far as the LTM comments--the author of the first comment was (through his company) one of the top ten VSS donors in 99, and in the top five for the first quarter of 03. VERY surprising that he disagrees, as a smart growth advocate. He is also a small community schools advocate--at least for his community.

I don't know the second guy by name, but do know that the Prince William VSS has been leafleting South Riding this year against ANY road building in Loudoun, particularly any improvements to 659 (which both your and my community would benefit from seeing improved the length of the road). Think about it, folks: how do you think we got in this road mess? The houses come, whether by-right or planned. If every no-growther in the metro area succeeds in blocking every road improvement in their attrition-based approach to protecting their own comfort zone, we end up exactly where we are--gridlocked.

We need the roads, and VDOT will build them as soon as Santa brings hospital beds. Just think, Jeanne: your position is that BRMC is the best and only hope for the region--how will people get to it from the region discussed for the projects proposed if 659 is NOT relocated, widened and improved? Again, you can't have it both ways.



Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

$500M will certainly make a dent but for all the items listed, it is really not that much. Who will foot the bill for the reaminder of the costs? HMMMMM........

 

T8erman: homes above a certain assessed value are tax positive in relation to service consumed, and a good chunk of tax money will come with those homes. As I understand it, the capital costs are covered in the CBA, and revenue from the taxes (res AND commercial) generated from the project will cover operating cost of the facilities.

Meanwhile, don't forget that residential land used by-right brings houses while eliminating any easement for any future improvement. How do we fix existing infrastructure problems if there's no land to fix it with?

Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

Barbara…No, I don’t know the Dawsons, nor did I know the background of their lawsuit, so thank you for the education. Your knowledge is certainly impressive in every aspect of the political arena in Loudoun County.

Did you happen to catch the articles in the Post on Sept 1 and 2? Interesting comments regarding contributions given by Greenvest to winning Republican candidates in last November’s election….in fact, they gave more than any other contributor.

Julie Pastor, the planning director made the following statement that appeared in the Post on Sept 1 regarding the “flurry of proposals for new development delivered to Loudoun County planners”… “We’ve never had a situation like this. That suggests there’s something bigger at issue.”

I guess it’s time to cash in on those campaign contributions.

 

Jeanne: Thank you for the compliment, but I always feel as if I know only 10% of what I ought to in order to try to keep up around here. The history of many of the county situations goes back so far, any current soundbite often presents only one dimension, depending on who's doing the sound-biting. Remember what I said about having to ask questions until you ask the right one?

I did read the Post articles on 9/1 and 9/2. The first one seemed to be more of a news article, with more balanced presentation of fact. The second seemed to cover more "analysis", i.e. opinion, speculation and sometimes insinuation.

Builders in general contributed to both sides, as does any large industry which will have to do business with whoever wins.

Julie Pastor, senior county staffer, quoted with a foreboding opinion? The same Ms. Pastor who got grilled at the dais during the process of allowing the same Transition Area to use the existing utilities? Who was one of two county staffers so grilled, who had to admit for the record that the Trans zone as planned allowed for approx. 13K homes, and they had no clue where the PEC and the Post got the 60K number, which had been quoted as coming from county staff?

That was an interesting little drama: The PEC calls an action alert about 60K homes definitely being built in an area with "no utilities", the Post runs with it and said the numbers came "from staff", the PEC when asked said they got their figures from the Post, and staff had to cough it up to the board that yes, that wasn't true and they don't know HOW it all got started.

The crux of that was that a) development was approved in Dulles South years ago because only suburban scale development can afford to bring in utilities, and the soil here doesn't perc, so drainfields end up getting into the groundwater. The water issue here has been a matter of public health since the first county health dept. was formed, in 1947. b) under the area plan preceding the new Comp Plan (DSAMP-Dulles South Area Management Plan), the scenario was that Brambleton would develop, bringing the utilities down from Ashburn, after which South Riding would develop, and then the locals down here would get their safe water and sewer. But, as you know, Brambleton got caught in a crunch, got sold, and sat around for a long time--during which SR began and took off, and the utilities came west on 50, an effluent line was extended north to the Broad Run interceptor, and the utility framework was then existing and operational along the spines of the "transitional" zone.

c) then came the Comp Plan, and denied the ability to hook into the utilities to the existing residents, who were the motivation for bringing them in the first place. (The Dawsons rezoning suit predates the denial of the existing utilities) d) then came the VSS loss in November, and history has been rewritten that there are no utilities, this BoS is putting them in, and every step to deal with the mess in this area is trumpeted as a whole "new" crisis.

As far as cashing in on campaign contributions, I find that humorous for two reasons: a) your tone tends to confirm for me that sooner or later you and I might be discussing growth instead of the hospital (if there is no growth anywhere but on the Greenway--and that is the plan for some--we can put all services where we plan to vertically redevelop in perpetuity, just like Rosslyn), and b) the Broad Run and Dulles districts provide most of the buffer zone (of buildable/never to be built! land) between the primarily built-out northeastern areas and the western districts. And the NVBIA endorsements in those two districts went to: VSS-endorsed Democrats Chuck Harris and John Murphy. Go figure.

Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

I like all the road improvements these developers are promising, especially widening Belmont Ridge from the Greenway to route 7 and paving Sycolin from Belmont Ridge to Leesburg.

 

I not like all so much house build so close, think what trafic now, and what then? Good idea about hopsital! Put hopsital farther from one already here, near 50. I like that part. If HCA opose this plan, it because they not like competition!!!

 

Has anyone really taken a good look at Greenvest's idea ??

They want to create a separate tax district, much like the one used in Dulles Town Center to create the interchange with Alqonkian. Sounds like a good idea, the money is guaranteed by the county, the bonds are sold, money comes in, and the owners of the land pay the taxes to pay off the bonds.

Trouble is, in this new case, the initial landowners won't be the final landowners. They want $500 Mil in bonds, and then be allowed to build 12,000 houses. The owners of those 12,000 houses will be the final land owners. So on top of their county taxes, each homeowner will have to assist in paying off those $500 Mil in bonds.

Lessee ... that's an additonal $41,667 debt per household. Of course, these ponds will be paid off in 30 years, so add in the cost of borrowing ... at least an additional $1,400 a year.

I sure hope the developer sales agents add that in to the cost of a monthly payment ... !! Of course, there's Scott York's comment about how all these roads will still pour into Rts 7, 28 and 50, with no money available to fix the problems on those roads.



Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

Neil Z: your guesstimate sounds pretty close to what was estimated in the first Post article on the subject.

As far as Mr. York's comment, I find it relates to the circular logic of the attrition-based approach to services by smart growth.

Route 659, the Loudoun County Parkway, the Tri-County Parkway, the WTC are all opposed by smart growth on the grounds that east-west improvements are more crucially needed. If that is the case, why did smart growth initiate and garner initial federal funding for the Route 50 Traffic Calming Project?

That runs from Mt. Zion Church (a fairly recent LCPRCS acquisition, just as Aldie Mill is now being proposed to be turned over to the county from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation over the objections of the former owners and operators. VOF was a player in the PDR deals as one of the third-party land trusts who end up the deed holders of the non-public use easements.) near Lenah to Paris on the Clarke border. Watch for properties with rte 50 frontage in Middleburg and Upperville to be next; all of this was begun by the Association for the Historic Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville, which is part of the Mosby Heritage Area project (the first and only such area in VA), which has succeeded in elevating cavalry skirmishes along the Winchester Turnpike during the advances to Gettysburg into major engagements of the War Between the States.

It has also succeeded in getting federal tax money in grant form to begin calming a transcontinental truck route. The Route 50 project will revamp the entrances at each end of Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville, with tree lined medians and shoulder berms. The road will be lined with rail fences, and have gravel pullouts so we can appreciate the viewsheds. The stoplight at Gilbert's Corner will be replaced with three interlocking roundabouts/rotaries, and there may be traffic circles at each village as well.

One of the first portions to be undertaken will remove the four-lane section just west of Middleburg, and reduce that portion of route 50 back to two lanes. Your tax dollars at work, removing highway lanes in Loudoun County.

This also connects with the Beaverdam Historic Roads district, which encompasses a good chunk of the area just north of 50 between Middleburg and Trappe. Since the county (last BoS) couldn't garner the approval of the requisite number of landowners in the desired district to support it, county staff came up with the innovative solution of simply including the roads, plus an easement on either side, in a historic district (historic for being unpaved), and the old BoS approved it.

In other words, anyone coming from any direction should simply drive around the entire western county.

A couple of the proposals butt right up against that, by offering to improve 50 all the way to Mt. Zion Church. The battle will be intense, and intensely interesting. Back in the spring, we HAD to leave the WTC off the plans because east-west was so much more important--let's see how quick east-west becomes something that simply CAN'T be improved. (Except for the Greenway, of course...and the latest toll hike comes on Tuesday? That should be fun on the first day of school, with buses on the roads as well as everyone who can't/won't pay the latest gouge.)

p.s.--did you see the Post article in the extra today about the Driving Clubs? Remember Mrs. Kurtz' proposal under the last BoS to pass a resolution to "make Loudoun roads more buggy-friendly"? Just like the Amish? I believe it passed, and may still be on the books. Adds a lot to the mix, don't it?



Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

Hi .. I've read your 'letters to the editor' in both the Post and the Easterner, and I'm not going to argue whether or not Mr York's concern about roads is an 'attrition-based approach'.

However, it is a issue that needs to be addressed prior to anything new being built. The concern about Rts 7, 28 and 50 is valid ... the comments about the VOF and the former BOS are not. Since the state has no money to pay for any road improvements, we'll see more gridlock, and building more roads won't fix that. Los Angeles is a case in point.

I think the 'double' taxation issue is much more valid. The developer is setting up the county to take the fall, as the new homeowner will have stars in their eyes over their nice brand new home, and not initially realize that the mortgage they're paying, will have a additional $200 a month in escrow payments to keep up with taxes and the bond payment. When they do start looking at the costs (because they're reduced to eating 'beanie weenie' for dinner) guess who winds up as the villian, not the developer !!



Neil Z.
Resident since 1999