Rural development: a reminder of the difference between words and actions

By John Ellis

Citizens living on a narrow gravel road on the east side of Short Hill Mountain recently learned that a developer is planning to build a 20-unit “cluster subdivision” on an adjacent property. The development will increase the daily traffic on that road from about 60 to over 250 vehicle trips per day. 

In addition to worries about too many cars on roads that weren’t designed for that much traffic, they also wonder whether drilling so many new wells in such a small area will affect the water pressure in their own homes and whether the concentration of so many private drain fields will pollute local sources of fresh water.

They aren’t alone. Similar cluster subdivisions are also planned or already under development on the Berlin Turnpike, Harpers Ferry Road, Sawmill Lane (a one-lane tributary of Harpers Ferry Road), Hesketh Lane (another gravel road on Short Hill Mountain), and Short Hill Mountain Road. 

Collectively, these developments will add about 1,600 vehicle trips per day to the existing traffic in northwestern rural Loudoun. Much of that traffic will funnel into the congested intersections on the north side of Purcellville.

Those who are affected by this random, unplanned rural development frequently ask: “how can this be happening, since it doesn’t seem to make much sense?” 

The short answer is that cluster subdivision development is permitted “by right” under the Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance. Not only that, but the Ordinance allows three times more houses to be built in a Loudoun cluster subdivision than is allowed in any neighboring county. 

If this latest cluster subdivision was located in Fauquier County, for example, the maximum number of new houses that would be allowed on the same number of acres would be 6 rather than 20, generating 60 new vehicle trips per day rather than 200.

People also ask: “how can this be happening, since the County Board of Supervisors has assured us that they are committed to preserving rural Loudoun from over-development and the County Comprehensive Plan specifically says that we will “limit residential growth to protect the land resource … minimize traffic impacts; and reduce demand for additional public facilities and services” (p. 2-99)? 

County supervisors repeatedly claim that they “have not approved a single new house in rural Loudoun.” The supervisor who represents this district asserts that we are “winning the race” against over-development in rural areas.

Since hundreds of new homes obviously are being built here, one way to square these claims with our reality is to assume that County supervisors have no control over the Zoning Ordinance and its current standards for cluster subdivision development. 

But that assumption just doesn’t hold, since the County is currently re-writing other rural zoning standards and, last year, the Board of Supervisors explicitly instructed County staff to exclude potential revisions to the cluster subdivision standards from that process.

Another possibility is that the supervisors simply disagree with the concerns of the citizens who are immediately affected and do not consider more cluster subdivisions to be a problem, whether from the standpoint of traffic congestion, access to water, water pollution, the taxes required to “improve” historic rural roads, or any other issue. They know what’s best for us, and allowing many more houses in rural areas is part of it.

The final possibility is that supervisors believe there are more important issues than our concerns about traffic, water, or taxes. The current supervisor for the Catoctin District asserts that changing cluster subdivision standards would take away developers’ “property rights.” 

He apparently believes that developers who own identical properties in Loudoun and Fauquier have been endowed with a God-given “right” to build three times more houses in our backyards. This is why he strongly opposed the Board of Supervisor’s decision last year to require preservation of prime farming soils on cluster subdivision properties. 

It may be just a coincidence, but property speculators and developers who support these views strongly agree with his positions and have been very generous in supporting his political campaigns.

Actions should speak louder than words. When we hear County supervisors assure us there is no problem with an unknown number of “by right” cluster subdivisions in unknown locations in Loudoun’s remaining rural areas, we need to remind ourselves that the supervisors are actually working hard to pave the way for that to happen. 

If we agree with their policy, then everyone should be satisfied and happy. But, if we don’t agree, we should not allow ourselves to be distracted by empty rhetoric and we should not allow supervisors to deny responsibility for the results of their actions.

John Ellis lives in Hillsboro and serves on the boards of Save Rural Loudoun and the Between the Hills Conservancy.