“But I advocate for the citizens of the town”  – Planning Commissioner Nedim Ogelman

By Valerie Cury

At the Purcellville Planning Commission on June 20, commissioners asked why there was a need for a Request for Quotation for a Historic Downtown Master Plan and Design Guidelines proposal. It was subsequently amended to a Request for Qualifications and reissued on May 30 with a due date of June 12. There was no council discussion in public or vote about putting out the RFQ. 

There is a master plan in the comprehensive plan’s list of priorities and it is listed as a midterm effort. The initiative is to update the Comprehensive Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Master Plan. The only references to the downtown area are to sustain the Historic Downtown area.

Updating the zoning is the second short term priority for the comprehensive plan. The first priority listed is to update the Townwide Transportation Plan, which has been sidelined due to a lack of funding. 

Purcellville Mayor Stan Milan has insisted that the completion of the zoning ordinance has been taking too long, despite knowing the company which was hired by the town returned the draft ordinance in a form that needed extensive work. Milan experienced this when he worked on the zoning ordinance while serving on the planning commission. He was then town council liaison for two years.

However, at the June 25 Town Council Work Session, Milan—along with Vice Mayor Erin Rayner and Caleb Stought—expressed their displeasure over what they felt was the planning commission rushing to get the zoning ordinance completed. The draft zoning ordinance rewrite was finished in January and handed back to the planning department for formatting and implementation. The final draft is supposed to be ready in early July.

In September 2023, Milan attended the planning commission meeting to show his support and thank the commissioners for their hard work on the zoning ordinance rewrite. This was right before he did an about-face on his campaign promises of slow growth.

His campaign literature in 2022 when running for mayor stated: “Our zoning should be guided by our comprehensive plan. Adhering to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan reflects an official who listens to the people and is not setting out to satisfy the persistent special interests lobbying the town. Zoning provides a firm guide to how the town and its neighborhoods can grow, develop, change, or not change.”

At the June 20 planning commission meeting, Planning and Development Director Summer Wilkes said that the town has received six RFQs from firms. She said the town will have a review committee for the Historic Downtown Master Plan and Design Guidelines. 

The committee will be comprised of Summer Wilkes, Economic Development Advisor John Heather, Planning Manager Boyd Lawrence, Division Manager Parks and Recreation Aime Ware, Assistant Town Manager Diana Hays, and Procurement Specialist Kathy Elgin.

Commissioner Brian Green asked if the proposals would be made public—Summer Wilkes replied, “Not during the review process.” 

Vice Chair Ed Neham asked, “What could the respondents be proposing? Are they talking about something they could bill [or] their qualifications?”  

Wilkes replied, “Both.”

Commissioner Ron Rise Sr. said, “The last time we spoke, you said there was no money being spent. There are six full-time employees on this project. They are not actually charging, but anytime you spend time on anything—that costs citizens money.

“So this is costing the town and we should be keeping track of what it is costing the town,” he stated. The time associated with town staff working on this also takes time away from working on other things, he added. “That to me is concerning because this isn’t supported by the comprehensive plan.” He said it is a burden on the taxpayers of the town.

Commissioner Nedim Ogelman said the point about the costs “is a very good one … and it just fortifies the resolution we passed previously requesting that there be some transparency and accountability for our democratic process for how the citizens’ money is going to be used.” 

“Right now, it is just as clear as mud where the legitimate authority is coming from to pursue this,” Ogelman said. The planning commission previously voted 7-0 that they do not support “pursuing that effort right now,” he said.

The planning commission, he continued, rather supports “getting the zoning ordinance aligned with the existing comprehensive plan. Many of us believe that the focus area [in the comprehensive plan] that included 21^st Street addressed the development of 21^st Street.” 

Ogelman said that he does not want the commission’s effort to develop a zoning ordinance reflective of the comprehensive plan to “in any way be stalled by additional effort to relook at this particular area of town.”

Wilkes said she doesn’t believe that it will slow down the process. Referring to the RFQ Downtown Master Plan and Design Guidelines, she said, “It is clearly supported by the comprehensive plan.”

Ogelman disagreed, saying, “I have to definitely take issue with that. I know the comprehensive plan; I can site you verse. To this date, you have never once cited any part of the comprehensive plan that referenced or supports this.”

Ogelman said that Wilkes has asserted “that the comprehensive plan supports this, but what would help me, certainly, would be for you to point out [the passage].” He does not want to see “a sort of long twist—inference. It’s just not in there; I can say that.”

Wilkes said she would put a report together. “It would be better for me to put it all on paper.”

Ogelman asked if it was going to be “a report that actually cites line and verse—or one that takes a six-step inference to something?”

“The real victim here in all of this is the transparent democratic process.” He said it was clear to him how our comprehensive plan came to be and who voted for it. 

“What is unclear to me is what is driving this desire to have this downtown master plan. What I need to see is the stakeholders that are driving this. I need to understand if those stakeholders are citizens of the town or people with other interests in the town” who do not live there. “Up to now, that is not clear.”

Wilkes said, “It’s important to the business owners of 21^st Street” to do the master plan.

Ogelman responded, “Okay, so now you are talking a little bit more about who are the stakeholders that you are advocating for in this process. But I advocate for the citizens of the town.”

Wilkes interrupted, “So do I.”

Ogelman answered, “Well, if you are advocating for the citizens of the town, nothing should be more important than the most transparent language that’s in our comprehensive plan. Then you wouldn’t need to take the time to do a report on this … to justify doing a master plan …Tell me one line; tell me one page that supports this master plan idea.”  

Town Planner Jordan Andrews said the RFQ addresses the design guidelines and the widths of roads and streets and that will be in the master plan. 

Community Development Advisor John Heather said in an Economic Development Advisory Committee meeting that the extension of O Street, from 21^st Street through to Hatcher Avenue, would be in the master plan. O Street is currently a dead-end street, and the developers of the Vineyard Square project need to circulate traffic from their development onto Hatcher Avenue.

Ogelman asked, “Are we talking about the design guidelines that we have been asking for [over] the past four years?” This is something the Board of Architectural Review was supposed to take on, said Ogelman.  

Andrews answered yes. Ogelman asked, “Then why are you all talking about the comprehensive plan?” Ogelman wanted to know with respect to the road networks “what this master plan is supposed to provide net of what we already have.” He said this looks like “a do over of what citizens wanted in their comprehensive plan.”