A sincere thank you to the three most senior slow growth planning commissioners

By Kwasi Fraser, former Town
of Purcellville Mayor

First and foremost, I extend my gratitude to each of the three planning commissioners, Nan Forbes, Ed Neham and Nedim Ogelman, whose terms expired on August 31, and were not renewed by the council majority. Your unwavering dedication over the years in revising our 2030 Comprehensive Plan based on citizen input, which the prior Town Council proudly adopted and your commitment to rewriting the zoning ordinances to align with this plan is commendable. The current zoning ordinance you recommended sustains what the Town of Purcellville has and protects our small-town feel.

Many of your critics on council are adamantly opposed to the Comprehensive Plan’s slow growth agenda, even though they dare not label themselves as such. They are acutely aware that a stance against slow growth is not a winning strategy at the ballot box. 

As the November election looms, they aim to infiltrate the Town Council with wolves in sheep’s clothing, eager to drive a pro-growth agenda. They envision transforming Purcellville into yet another Ashburn.

Those who scoff at these words are either wolves in disguise or are blind to the fact that our just recommended updated zoning ordinance replaced our outdated and misaligned one—to align with our newly adopted Comprehensive Plan. 

This negligence is a disservice to the current state of our Town. Case in point, we have witnessed brick structures demolished and replaced by Ashburn-esque rectangular monstrosities devoid of character or charm. 

Consider the travesty on E Street, where Loudoun County razed a solid masonry home at 410 East E Street, erected in 1966 by a distinguished member of the African American community, Pastor E. Terry, only to replace it with a vinyl edifice. This was done without any community notice because the Town currently has no demolition policy in the older parts of Town—that our citizens have stated they wish to sustain. 

Traffic congestion is another pressing matter. Some might question how zoning can mitigate this issue. To them, I say, adding more commercial zoning to our already beleaguered Main Street traffic circle is folly. This area, where one must brave life and limb merely to navigate in and out of existing commercial establishments, is already congested. 

The proposed zoning changes, recommended by a unanimous planning commission vote in July as per our 2030 Comprehensive Plan, promise not to compound this congestion. Those who decry traffic woes in Purcellville should champion this cause, unless, of course, they cater to developers and not the citizens of our town. 

For example, the Planning Commission’s newly recommended zoning ordinance protects all our neighborhoods, sustaining what the citizens of our town want to preserve. It has eliminated the future allowed use of homes being turned into duplexes, in R-2 and R-3 areas, while protecting the 13 existing ones. The planning commission acted on this as well as cluster and PDH zoning because our citizens expressed a preference for maintaining neighborhoods as they are—and not to add anymore. 

Since the majority of Town Council voted in its July Town Council meeting not to extend the terms of Chair Nan Forbes, Vice Chair Ed Neham and Commissioner Nedim Ogelman, the new majority appointed Planning Commissioner Troy Brown has unfortunately foreshadowed what will happen when three new planning commissioners will be appointed to the planning commission. Commissioner Brown said he will in the near future be making amendments to undo what the citizens asked for in their Comprehensive Plan and allow for more duplexes throughout town, more cluster zoning, and more PDH developments.

Your perseverance in the face of bureaucratic resistance over the past two years is laudable. Despite management and a Town Council majority’s reluctance to support your citizen-mandated mission, you have remained steadfast. From my vantage point, I commend you for your service to this great community and your fidelity to Purcellville’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan.

My household of five voters wholeheartedly support your proposed zoning ordinance. It aligns with our adopted Comprehensive Plan, addresses traffic congestion, curbs overdevelopment that threatens our community’s character and charm, and safeguards our precious water resources. I support your approval and advancement of the draft zoning ordinance to the Town Council.