Loudoun County (VA) Planning Commission wants input, 1/21

[SaddleFitterVA]

From http://www.loudoun.gov/news/rural06.htm

Planning Commission Seeks Input on Proposed Rural Zoning
The Loudoun County Planning Commission will host a public input session to receive comments on proposed zoning, subdivision and Comprehensive Plan changes regarding rural Loudoun, specifically the Rural Policy Area of the county. The input session will be held Saturday, January 21, 2006, beginning at 9:00 a.m. and ending no later than noon. Registration to speak will begin at 8:45 a.m. The input session will be held in the Board of Supervisors meeting room on the first floor of the Loudoun County Government Center, 1 Harrison Street S.E. in Leesburg.

The proposed amendments would restore the Agricultural Rural zoning designation to the areas predominately zoned A-3 Agricultural Residential. The proposed amendments would allow a property owner to create a subdivision one lot at a time or as a cluster subdivision or as a conventional subdivision. Many uses that are currently allowed by a special exception process in the A-3 district are proposed to be permitted by-right pursuant to a number of performance standards within the Agricultural Rural zoning districts. Generally speaking, north of Goose Creek would be permitted to subdivide at a rate of one lot per ten acres and south of Goose Creek would be permitted to subdivide at a rate of one lot per twenty acres.

Copies of the proposed amendments are available on the Loudoun County Government Website at http://www.loudoun.gov/rural or at the government center at the public counters in the Department of Building and Development and the Department of Planning.

#

Contact: Melinda Artman, Zoning Administrator, 703-737-8915

We need new voices to attend and speak. All you need to do is sign up, get up when your turn comes and support the lower density zoning.

I will try to attend, I’ve already attended several of these and speak, but we need as many people as we can to support the lower density zoning.

The short version is that we’d like to support “option 1, or the Clem-Burton proprosal”.

The meeting is as follows:
Date: Jan. 21, 2006 (this coming Saturday)

Time: The input session will be begin at 9:00 a.m. and end no later than noon. Registration to speak will begin at 8:45 a.m.

Location: The input session will be held in the Board of Supervisors meeting room on the first floor of the Loudoun County Government Center, 1 Harrison Street S.E. in Leesburg.

Mel

[JSwan]

Yes - change your name all you want - just remember that it gets confusing for the rest of us.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to discuss land use (and hunting) without touching on politics at some point. At least in Virginia. When you think a thread is inappropriate, I think what folks do is contact the moderators and ask that the thread be closed or something. I’ve never done it so I’m not sure.

Folks who love foxhunting generally appreciate country life even if they live in an urban area. Cooky McClung once wrote a satirical story about what foxhunting would be like in the not so distant future. When I look around me, I realize that story isn’t funny anymore.

[SaddleFitterVA]

Opportune day to bump this topic up.

I’ll go to an REDC meeting and no doubt we’ll be discussing the zoning issues tonight.

As for the huge houses and the amount of furniture or window coverings…who knows.

I like rooms that are not cluttered and I don’t like window coverings on most windows. Just my preference. I like windows for light and airy atmosphere, not to close them up with frilly curtains.

I also prefer the underfurnished look to the overfurnished look.

I don’t have a McMansion though.

Mel

[La_Gringa]

No, of course not. That is a stupid statement. You are using resources everyday just like everyone else. You consume things that are bought from money that comes from this economy. If the building stops completely, be sure that everyone will suffer…

There are other materials to build out of rather than wood. Wood is a renewable resource as well… so you don’t have a point there.

Everything we do and use has an impact in some way. Where do you think the metal comes from in your car, the wood for the furniture in your house…

I guess we could all give up everything and live in a cave. Sure that will work just fine…

Forget your nice barn, horse trailer and truck then… burning too much gas, using too much metal and wood. Hmmm.

[Elghund2]

Responsible development is the key.

If it were that easy. What is responsible development?

The reality is that developers want max development with no responsibility for the follow on cost it incurs.

Years ago it was suggested that developers pay a per house fee that would cover infrastucture costs that the house would incur. They all balked saying that that would put the house price out of range. Then they started building mcmansions and making record profits.

[xeroxchick]

Why can’t we introduce some sort of tax incentive to get developers to build in big box abandonment? If your community is like mine, the local WalMart wants a bigger venue so it builds an even bigger box further outside of town and leaves the old one. The old KMart is abandoned, the old Belks, etc. Is there really that much difference in the cost of bulldozing trees and pasture and bulldozing an eyesore? Maybe no income from selling the timber, but that’s where the tax incentive would come in. The rural ammenities (horses, land) would be left alone and the ugly eyesores would be removed and improved. I bet the land would be cheap, closer to town and look great after landscaping.

[La_Gringa]

Personally I would like to see Walmart vanish for good everywhere, they don’t care about anything but making billions of dollars, no matter what the cost to the people around them.

Maybe we should rethink our consuming of products etc, as well to help reduce Walmartism.

I hate that place. JMO

[La_Gringa]

.

[wateryglen]

I agree with JS. ALL developments in NoVa are ugly, ugly and ugly. First thing they do is remove all the trees(big money profits here). And all of the developers abandon the nieghborhoods quickly and NONE of the “equestrian estates” have worked in this area. Villages haven’t worked in NoVa either. It just becomes an excuse for higher density building areas. Look at Culpeper county! or Reston.
And although the building industry is a major source of employment (mostly working poor IMHO and NOT those buying McMansions! ) ; It’s NOT a big player by the demographics. The largest employers are the Gov’t, tech firms, gov’t contractors and health care. How ironic that in the construction industry NONE of the workers have/get health insurance. Mostly no benefits with jobs in construction in NoVa.

[JSwan]

go the distance - thanks so much for the update. Do you know if the OPRC has been contacted? Or Trailblazers? I have some friends that belong to those groups and I’d be happy to pass this along.

Let’s see - other groups I can think of is PEC, the Equestrian Land Conservation Resource, Southern Environmental Law Center, the Virginia chapter of The Nature Conservancy in Charlottesvillle (although TNC has become one of those mega charities that really is just into perpetuating itself)- um that’s all that comes to mind at the moment. These groups may not be exactly the audience you’re trying to reach - but they do have free resources and literature that may be of benefit.

oh - don’t forget the American Farmland Trust and the Virginia Farm Bureau. They also advocate for rural issues. Let me know if you need numbers for any of these folks.

[Hunter_s_Rest]

Wglen
There is indeed an Old Dominion Hunt Estates, but, amusingly, its in Warrenton Hunt territory (no-man’s land, actually, but in WH if you stretch the territory to its limits.) Used to be WH leased to ODH but not for years. Jim Atkins made sure he get that land back for WH when he went to WH after leaving ODH many moons ago. He knew good covert when he saw it … (not that ODH estates is esp. good covert - just a half-dozen big houses all on a single lane off of Leeds Manor Road. The only saving grace there is that they’re pretty old, like 20 years or so, so there’s lots of mature trees and good roughlands grown over the culverts and run-off swales. Sort of like olde-towne McLean - which I believe was Fairfax territory way back when …)

[pook]

Actually, your statements to me are a bit presumptious, as I am a very low impact consumer. Drive a 1992 Volvo (30 mpg), house was built in 1837(no new constuction ),have no kids that stress the public tax base,barn is very old also. I believe in making due with what we have and am not part of the “disposable mentality”. As I have 2 degrees in both Agriculture and Environmental Policy I have a pretty good notion of what is renewable, sustainable, and what we should just leave alone.

[gothedistance]

The zoning hearing was very informative – the overwhelming majority of landowners speaking out passionately for the Clem-Burton proposal to be enacted without delay. Some of the speakers were brilliantly inspired and had some very compelling words to express – and it was clear the zoning board was listening closely, and writing down those comments that clearly deserved to be integrated into the process for the good of the whole rural economy.

There were landowners who were sheep producers (I was one of three who spoke), cattle producers, vineyards, small agricultural businesses, and equine business (raising horses and lesson/boarding enterprises) – and even those who live outside the county but partake in the extensive and highly lucrative tourism of the rural western end of the county – that added their collective voices towards supporting the slow-growth for the protection of the rural areas and the vibrant, revenue producing rural businesses. Even citizens from the east were there to support and express their desire to see the down-zoning from A-3 (1 house per 3 acres) to AR (agricultural rural) 1 hours per 20 and 40 acre zoning in order to stem the horrific rise of traffic and congestion in the eastern part of the county.

The people present were there to support the land remaining open and as rural as possible. It would have been wonderful if I’d seen even one of my many foxhunting friends and neighbors there adding their voices as well. But… not one even bothered to show.

[Elghund2]

We use to refer to that condition as “house poor”. When I use to go to business meetings and chat with people the conversation typically started with

“I have a 9999 sq ft house in xxxxx gated community.”

BFD.

[SaddleFitterVA]

J Swan,

Thanks for those statistics. If you have the link handy, would you mind sending it to me? I need to cite sources.

I have to run off and do Lacrosse Mom duty tonight, so I’ll have to write up more later.

Mel

[JSwan]

Oh - you edited your post as I was replying to it. Let’s see:
Uh - did I say I was better than anyone else because I own land? Who cares. I also own a piece of the Berlin Wall. So what.
Uh - did I denigrate your profession in any way? That will come as a shock to my good friend who is a landscape architect - as well as the individual I hired to create a site plan.

You’ll recall you called me a tree hugger with some personal agenda. Which actually was rather bizarre. So puleeze - just knock it off with the persecution complex.

Mel started this thread to try and get some support from foxhunters in the Piedmont- I’m the one who suggested she post here. I think what she’s doing is fantastic - she’s participating in local government. By suggesting that we all have to bend over and take whatever developers give us does not help her cause.

The equine industry is also a viable industry in this Commonwealth. From racing, to hunting, to show venues, to all riding disciplines, to Olympic athletes, it’s all here in Virginia. The hay, tack, boarding - all of that is part of a multi-million dollar industry as well. Loudoun and Fauquier are among the TOP producers in the Commonwealth.

That industry requires land. Land to board, land to compete, land to grow hay and feed, land to mill feed, - land.

The interests of the equine industry and other agriculture are JUST as legitimate as the building industry.

Hope you like your new boarding facility. Until recently it was going to be demolished to make way for a new high school.

[La_Gringa]

.

[Whistlejacket]

An excellent, intelligent, organized and level-headed land conservation group in this area, including Loudoun County, is the Piedmont Environmental Council.

They spearhead a variety activities in the area and always welcome and appreciate the participation of interested and concerned individuals.

Here is the web address:
www.pecva.org

While the “suburbanization” of the area is depressing, even a small victory for land conservation is reason for cheer and continued energy.

[wateryglen]

Xeroxchick you rock! Couldn’t have said it better about not being suckered into something that appeals to sophisticates. THAT’S whats happening in NoVa I think…some kind of snob appeal thing.
Ironically, Mr. Wateryglen works in a building related business and yet we’re anti-development. He works inside many of the McMansions and says more often than not; both spouses are working fulltime and that most do not have furniture, window dressings etc. They can’t afford them. He perceives their values as kinda warped also…snobs. It’s oh so ostentatious(sp?).

[Elghund2]

The problem with high density development is that it drives up taxes even faster than large lot development. Increasing taxes are the biggest threat to farm land. Our taxes increased over 20% for eight straight years.