Tourism zone for thee—but not for me

By Valerie Cury

In 2012, the Purcellville Town Council created a Tourism Zone within the C-4 Historic Downtown District, designating five contiguous parcels along North 21^st Street—130 to 144 N. 21^st Street, plus a few rear lots under the same ownership—as the “Old Town Tourism Zone.” 

The ordinance granted those parcels regulatory flexibility—effectively loosening zoning constraints—and economic incentives, including the potential waiver of hookup fees, real estate taxes, meals tax, and occupancy taxes for up to nine years, if the owner invested in a qualifying redevelopment project. Monetary grants from the Town were also permitted.

The incentives were structured to help the property owners of the Vineyard Square project—including a member of the Chapman family—to pursue a boutique hotel on the site. All incentives were tied to that hotel concept, including a required minimum investment of $250,000.

Over the years, however, the project—known as Vineyard Square—drifted far from that original vision. The hotel plan was abandoned and replaced with a six-story mixed-use approved project featuring ground-floor commercial space and 40 residential condominiums on a one-way single- lane street. This development project was approved by the then Lazaro Council. 

A later attempt to “compromise” by reducing the residential unit count from 40 to 36 and dividing the project into several residential buildings was discussed but never approved. The C-4 District is intended to serve as one of the Town’s primary business districts.

Importantly, the C-4 zoning code prohibits multi-family housing. A residential condominium development would not have been allowed unless the Town had used the Tourism Zone to grant exceptions—and it did not—or unless a Town Council voted to approve it—which they did. 

Despite this “compromise,” no construction ever began. Under current zoning, any redesign would have required a new site plan and new permits—an uphill process given that multi-family housing is not permitted in the C-4 District—and would never have been approved by the majority on Town Council.

Now, after more than 15 years of delays, the project’s permits and site plan have officially expired. According to the Purcellville Planning Department, the site plan (TP-14-13) expired on July 1, 2025. Its final extensions stemmed from a temporary statewide COVID-19 measure that kept certain development approvals valid longer than usual. That grace period has ended, and no further extensions are allowed under local regulations.

If the property owner—or any future developer—wishes to pursue a new project, they will need to submit a completely new application that complies with the current zoning code, including the prohibition on multi-family housing in that area, and meet all standard design and review requirements.

Meanwhile, Town Council members—Erin Rayner, Kevin Wright, and Caleb Stought—have indicated support for not only retaining the Tourism Zone but expanding it to cover the entire C-4 District.

According to publicly available campaign finance disclosures, one of Rayner’s largest sources of campaign contributions came from companies affiliated with Casey Chapman, a relative, and a few of that relative’s employees. Chapman serves as manager of the former Vineyard Square project. Rayner also transferred roughly $10,000 of her campaign funds to Council member Stought.

Other council members, along with many residents, question whether the town should continue a policy that grants unique exceptions to a narrow group of properties—particularly when the project the incentives were created to support never materialized, and when Purcellville carries approximately $48 million in debt despite having only about 9,000 residents. Critics argue that maintaining or expanding the Tourism Zone would amount to a special carve-out rather than an equitable development strategy for the entire town.

With Vineyard Square officially expired and the original justification for the Tourism Zone gone, the question now before Purcellville is whether to preserve incentives for a single property owner or restore consistent zoning across the Historic Downtown.

The Town Council is expected to take up the matter in December and may move the issue to a public hearing.