Majority council vote clears way for Rt. 7/690 Interchange

By Valerie Cury

“I understand; and I hear you; and I feel you,” said Purcellville Mayor Stan Milan at the Jan. 23 Town of Purcellville Town Council Work Session before his – and a majority council yes vote – to vacate “a part of a plat on which is shown a 100-year flood plain easement.” The vote to vacate was 5-2 with Council Members Chris Bertaut and Carol Luke voting no. Milan voted against his repeated promises to Purcellville citizens in the Catoctin Meadows community to defend them.

Council Member Carol Luke said she had read a lot about the Rt/ 7690 Interchange. “I lived in a flood plain. I lived in a 100-year flood plain in Aldie and it did do the 100-year flood. It wasn’t any fun. I know what it feels like.

“I know what it feels like to lose electricity for 3 days in an 1803 farm house. I know what it feels like to bail my basement all night long. 

“This is on us. This isn’t a joke and try to get homeowners insurance when you live in a 100-year flood plain.” Luke said she was lucky enough that her insurance had a tiny loop hole that “saved our goose.”

“I totally think that the county wants what they want and I think we are letting down our citizens when we don’t protect our rights and their property. Most of us have most of our money in our houses … and you need to protect that.

“Don’t go take all of my money out of my house. I want it and we don’t want to do that to you. I don’t think it’s right.

“As I read all the information that we have, all I can think of is bailing water all night and loosing a whole lot. You can not afford to do this to people.”

Said Luke, “It’s just the wrong thing to do and I would say, since the county has used a flood plain survey from 1977 in order to come up with this plan – they owe it to the citizens of the town to do a current flood plain analysis.” Luke said the residents “need to be thoroughly involved in what you are planning to do to their properties.”

Council Member Chris Bertaut, who had to give his comments standing due to a leg cramp said he was “calling on my fellow members of the town council to vote against the vacation of the flood plain easement in Catoctin Meadows.

“This vote is a test that will show whether each town council member has the best interest of our town and its residents in mind on whether we consider the desires of the county before we consider the impacts to residents.

“The county has admitted the additional culvert does not solve the 100-year flood plain easement,” Bertaut said.

“There’s also the matter of truthful disclosure regarding flooding risk; the town and county are both guilty in withholding it.

 “And please stop pretending that there’s been a negotiation in good faith going on” with the county and the Catoctin Meadows Homeowners Association. “It’s the county that broke off negotiations with the homeowners association.”

Bertaut was referring to the last communication from the county’s land acquisition manager which was June 26, 2023. Christopher Helmick wrote that things were changing regarding phasing of the Rt. 7/690 Interchange and once the county receives more details, they will get back to the Catoctin Meadows Homeowners Association. This date was the last Catoctin Meadows heard from the county.

Bertaut continued, “The county’s insistence on doing a flood plain study after the interchange is built makes it certain that other property transactions will occur without full disclosure to the buyers. That in itself will generate additional lawsuits against this town.”

He said the town has heard that without the east bound exit ramp that public safety will suffer, “but no data has been provided to support this claim.”

“Should we try to appease the county who claims funding for future road projects to be in jeopardy if we don’t approve this vacation of easement – even though doing so opens the door to many lawsuits against the town for the vacation of these easements?”

He said the town has yet to send a revised flood plain map to FEMA– yet the town has known for years that the flood plain has changed. “This has an impact on homeowners insurance because FEMA is one of the regulatory bodies who specifies whether you’re in a flood plain or not – and what your ability to get insurance is as a result of that.”

Mayor Milan said, “I think there’s been miscommunication on both parts of the county and the HOA. There’s been no, in my understanding, fair negotiations on both parts. We need to have better communication and understanding from the county with them [Catoctin Meadows] speaking about the potential condemnation of property …”

Brian Green spoke in the citizen comment portion of the meeting. “What have we learned so far about this easement? We’ve learned that there’s really no benefit for the town. It doesn’t help us on traffic. It’s going to be impacting our citizens. So why are we even vacating it? It doesn’t make sense.”

Green said the studies the county “has been using are old or ancient. We should ask the county for money to do a flood plain study from one side of the town all the way to the other – not just the area in question. Water doesn’t just stop here; it runs throughout the town.” Green also recommended asking the county to put funds towards reducing the town’s water debt.”

Green concluded, “Your job is to look out for the town citizens.”

Ron Rise Sr. pointed out the omissions from the county at the Jan. 9 public hearing on the vacation of the easement. He said it was “impossible to negotiate in good faith when one party knowingly omits, neglects and or misrepresents the truth.” 

He said, “The area of flood plain easement to vacate was misrepresented by underestimating a much larger easement area required from the HOA property when using the updated 2013 FEMA models.”

The floodplain area requested by Loudoun County to be vacated is 21,643 square feet or 0.4968 acres. However the county has the right to trim, cut, and remove trees, shrubbery, fences, structures deemed by the county to interfere with the proper and efficient construction, operation and maintenance of the easements. They will also be dumping 24,604 cubic yards of structural fill into the overburdened flood plain which is part of the Historic Corridor Overlay District.

Rise Sr. said the 2018 VDOT Value Engineering Study was left out, which recommended not building Ramp C due to the lack of traffic volume during peak hours, at a cost savings of $6 million taxpayer dollars.

Rise Sr. said the county neglected to point out the flood plain studies which identified 25 property owners who are affected by the updated 2013 FEMA regression model flows. To date none of the property owners have received official notice of flooding risk identified in the studies, and requested by the town in April 2020, said Rise. 

Rise Sr. said the county also left out the Town’s use of the county’s updated 2013 FEMA flood plain mapping limits in zoning requirements to one of the 25 affected homeowners.

The vote paves the way for the county to take the property belonging to the homeowners in Catoctin Meadows via eminent domain. In the Jan. 9 public hearing and in emails received, most Purcellville citizens opposed vacating the easement.

Residents in attendance left immediately after the vote, and were visibly upset.