Judgment Day

Recently the Town of Leesburg lost a round in court when Loudoun Circuit Court Judge James Chamblin ruled in favor of Centex Homes who had filed a by-right development plan for the Meadowbrook property. Once again the Leesburg taxpayers are bearing the cost of litigation that should never have taken place. It all started a year ago when the Town Council down-planned this land in the face of pleadings by Centex that a compromise was possible. This left Centex with only the option, to develop this land as “by-right” with one home per acre instead of a density level that would be negotiated through a proffered rezoning.

By down-planning the R-1 zoned Meadowbrook property from a recommendation of 2 to 5 dwelling units per acre to not more than 1 dwelling unit per acre, the last Town Council basically forced Centex to go with by-right, un-proffered development with no regional road improvements, no dedicated school sites, no parkland, no cash proffers, and no mixed use non-residential components. Undoubtedly, the Town does not like the specter of over 300 acres of this by-right development at its southern entrance and would prefer Centex to keep the land in sod farm use. But, Judge Chamblin apparently saw the Town's motives at play and ordered the Town to start processing the Centex by-right plan without delay.

I hope this new Town Council will be more flexible than the last. If not, it is likely the Town will be spending over $20 million to bring Battlefield Parkway to Rt. 15, and millions more to widen Rt. 15. An invitation to Centex by the Town to develop a Plan Amendment for this property might avoid continuing litigation and open this proposal up for reasonable negotiations.

Now more litigation is being threatened by some Council member over the right to provide water and sewer service to the proposed Crosstrail development. As I have said before, that horse left the barn years ago when Mayor Umstattd and her supporters on the Council rejected the idea of annexing any more land into the Town. The Town can not shove pipes into the County unless the County agrees to it. The Town can not make zoning decisions on land that is in the County. Of course the Town can petition the County and make their views known, just like any other citizen, but the Town does not have a vote on County land use issues.

If all this was not enough, threats of more litigation are being made over an easement granted long-ago by the Town for access to Peterson’s Crosstrail property. This relatively small part of this planned development is within the Town, so the issue needs to be resolved with the Town. Let’s hope the Leesburg taxpayers do not once again have to pay for more expensive litigation.

Unheard from yet are our neighbors in the NE quadrant just outside of the Town boundary who are served by Town water and sewer. They are still smarting from the 100% increase in their utility bills from the Town. Stay tuned.