More Questions Than Answers Fill Crosstrail Work Session

Next Monday, county supervisors should be prepared to answer two pertinent questions regarding the proposed Crosstrail development south of Leesburg: whether they support changing the land use designation for the 500-acre parcel and whether they would endorse allowing the Loudoun County Sanitation Authority to serve the area with water and sewer utilities.

Stating supervisors were not prepared to answer those two broad questions this week, Supervisor Mick Staton (R-Sugarland Run) adjourned last night's meeting by prompting his colleagues to prepare their answers for the next work session, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 Nov. 27 in the county board room.

"I'm generally supportive of making the land use change," Staton said following the meeting. He disputes the concerns project critics have raised regarding the residential component of the mixed-use application being proposed for the land between the Leesburg Executive Airport and Dulles Greenway, saying the construction of homes near the airport do not concern him.

As for utilities, Staton hadn't made up his mind, saying he was "not opposed to the town providing utilities." The town has planned to serve not only the Crosstrail property, but also the other parcels that make up the Joint Land Management Area south and east of town with water and sewer services.

Peterson Companies, which is developing the site, has asked LCSA to serve the property, which prompted the LCSA to prepare a plan to extend water and sewer lines into the JLMA.

Because developers pay for and build system extensions, Ben Shoemaker, an engineer with LCSA, said it was just a matter of time for the extension to get built. There would be no capital outlay from LCSA or the county, Shoemaker said. He predicted it would take five years to build the extension. The water lines would have to cross Goose Creek or the Dulles Greenway to reach the Crosstrail property from existing LCSA pump stations. Force main sewer lines would extend from the pump station on the south side of Rt. 7 near Goose Creek to the property, Shoemaker said.

The town could serve the Crosstrail property with water service by extending a line from a tank it is building near the county's fire-rescue training facility another 1,000 feet, said Randy Shoemaker, director of utilities for Leesburg. Town Manager John Wells said that extension could take as little as a month.

Randy Shoemaker said it would take the town three to five years to extend sewer service.

"Regardless of who builds it, it is going to take three to five years to build it," he said about the sewer system.

After determining that both utility providers could feasibly serve the area, Supervisor Bruce Tulloch (R-Potomac) asked, "Do we want LCSA to invade the area west of goose creek?"

And although Staton said he wasn't opposed to the town being the utility provider, he didn't want the town to be able to block the project's development by withholding its utilities.

Leesburg has generally withheld its utilities for properties within town limits, requiring properties to be brought into town in exchange for Leesburg water and sewer service.

County Chairman Scott York (I-At Large) said this application brings to light an even large question before the county board. Pointing to several rezoning applications before the board, York said, supervisors should look at them comprehensively.

"It's a little disturbing to me that we're taking this one-by-one without asking ourselves ... what is the overall impact to us to do this?" he said referencing a series of pending rezoning applications that are looking to increase the residential and commercial density beyond what the county has planned.

Recognizing that he hasn't been supportive of the CPAM from the beginning, York said he thinks supervisors are doing a disservice by looking at projects in a piecemeal fashion instead of evaluating how the projects will collectively impact the county.

Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who also opposes the Crosstrail rezoning and CPAM, agreed a holistic approach was approach, but until that could happened, he said supervisors needed to decide if they were willing to allow residential near the airport.

"That's the issue before us and that ought to be pretty easy to deal with," he said yesterday. He pointed out that neither the town, county nor toll road plans call for residential development on the property.

In response to what he's been hearing about concerns with residential density, Peterson Companies Vice President Jeff Sachs said they had reduced the requested number of homes by 100 for a total of 1,100 homes.

Rather than build 134 attached homes on the west side of Hawling Farm Road, Sachs said they are now proposing to build 51 attached age-restricted units there. Sachs said the made the decision to replace non-restricted units with homes where at least one resident must be 55 or older after hearing concerns about the non-restricted units. Age-restricted units won't impact the school system, as non-restricted homes have the tendency to do.

The remaining land freed up by the home reduction would be developed with an active park, complete with a softball field, two volleyball courts and a dog park, Sachs said. The park would be open to everyone, not just the Crosstrail community, he added and when the stream valley is counted, would total 52 acres.

An additional 15 units were also removed from the town center, he said.

Under the revisions, 22 percent of the property would be developed with residential units and 35 percent of the site would be parkland. Nearly 1 million square feet of retail and almost 2 million square feet of office and industrial uses are also planned for the property.