“Can we turn this ship around at all?” 

Mayfair residents speak out against Loudoun’s proposed changes

By Valerie Cury

Loudoun County is requesting a zoning change to part of the Fields Farm complex, shifting from its current Transition X zoning to IP – Institutional and Public Use Zoning. Approximately 225 acres, the complex is home to Woodgrove High School and Mountain View Elementary School. 

The County is also asking for a Special Use Permit and Commission Permit to develop a portion of 9.98 acres into a Commuter Parking Lot. The proposed lot would include 250 parking spaces, a kiss-and-ride, and a bus pick-up/drop-off area with bus shelters.

In addition, the County is asking for another Special Use Permit and a Commission Permit to develop 50.54 acres into eight Astro Turf athletic fields – 5 soccer/multipurpose fields and 3 baseball fields. This proposed area would consist of picnic pavilions, maintenance structures, restrooms and a concession structure.

If approved, this request is also within an area of right-of-way that had been previously dedicated to a possible extension of Mayfair Crown Drive. 

Page 17 of the Town of Purcellville’s staff report notes, “Mayfair Crown Drive is to be a local collector road, with all other roadways in the project, as well as development from as far away as Purcellville Road (Route 611), feeding into it. There is an existing school access road which currently consists of a single lane paved road terminating in an open field. It is to be extended to Mayfair Crown Drive, and widened to a two-lane public road, providing a second point of access to the schools.”

After the meeting Council Member Stan Milan said he is concerned that the Mayfair Crown Drive extension to Woodgrove High School a year from now will become a part of the Northern Collector Road, which was rejected by the community of Wright Farm and the residents of the Town of Purcellville. “This road would spur development along undeveloped land and increase traffic and the footprint of Purcellville. The Northern Collector Road was proposed to go across  Purcellville Road and connect from Mayfair Crown Drive – all the way to Berlin Turnpike,” he said

At the July 7 Planning Commission meeting, Mayfair resident Daniel Carvill said the traffic study that was used to justify a modest increase in potential traffic from the proposed County uses was not accurate. He pointed out that the study was done in 2019 when both the single-family homes and the townhomes in Mayfair were not yet built. “You will double or triple the amount of traffic on Mayfair Crown,” Carvel said.

Mayfair resident Sharon Hoffman asked, “Where is the entrance for this parking lot… Is it off of Rt. 7? How do you get into this thing?”

Purcellville Director of Planning and Economic Development Don Dooley responded, “The access to the commuter parking lot would come off the extension of Mayfair Crown. Right now, it doesn’t exist, so when that road is constructed, commuter access would come off that road.”

Mark Hoffman, project and program manager for Loudoun County, said, “The town has the ultimate decision whether they are going to grant the Special Use Permits and the rezonings, and as part of that process there’s the opportunity to place conditions on some of those parameters.”

Mayfair resident Lloyd Harting asked where the County proposal is in the process. “Is there any opportunity for these designs to be changed? Is there a chance to talk about this and change some of this? How far in the process are we – can we turn this ship around at all?” 

Planning Commissioner Nedim Ogelman explained that the County is asking “us the Town for a zoning amendment and a zoning change to be able to do certain things – and we have the right of refusal… So, I think the answer to your question is yes, this is not a done deal, and you have every right to provide input as a citizen.”

At the July 12 Town Council meeting, Mayfair resident Susan Martis said she was hoping that “Mayfair Crown remains a safe place and does not become a Thorofare.” 

Christine Green said she was “very concerned about the sport complex and the park and ride that is set to go around Mayfair.” She said she would like the proposal moved if possible.

Council Member Stan Milan said many areas in Mayfair would be potentially affected by the noise and lighting generated from the proposed ball fields. “If the County can relocate the fields for the athletic activities, it would be very important… Visually seeing it is a lot different than looking at it on a map.”

Vice Mayor Chris Bertaut said he was “deeply concerned about using Mayfair Crown Drive as a Thorofare for people participating in activities on those athletic fields.” He said cut-through traffic is dangerous and a nuisance as well. “There’s got to be some solutions that come out of discussions with the County.”

Purcellville Mayor Kwasi Fraser mentioned that when he attended an EPA meeting “two weeks ago, there was significant concern with artificial turf fields contributing to forever chemicals, and this Town needs to sit with the County and determine if those fields they are actually putting in are artificial turf fields and will they contribute to PFAS? Now we are seeing PFAS in our water.”

Fraser asked Town Manager David Mekarski if all the developer bonds for the Mayfair development have been released. At the time Mekarski did not know the answer. 

In a later phone call, Mekarski said, “All bonds were released and the bonds would not have been applicable to the public safety issues at hand.”

“The reason I asked that is we are seeing one of the challenges of development. When the developers are all gone, we have to live with what comes with it,” the Mayor said. 

“The greatest thing about development is that we have new people coming into the community, and we need that engagement interaction. One of the major challenges of that is once the developers are gone, we cannot pack up streets and put them in our briefcase and leave. 

“The Town and communities throughout this country in their tool kit have a bond that is supposed to be for insuring the security and safety of that community. Once that bond is released, then we have meetings like this, that we have to go and find funds to fix some of these things,” Fraser explained.

“So, I would ask our management team to see if the bond was not released – if there is something we could hold the developer back to come and help fix some of these issues.”

Fraser concluded, “But nonetheless we are committed to taking care of that because our police power is to insure the health, safety and welfare of everyone.”

At the Mayfair Town Hall meeting on July 27, Fraser said that extending Mayfair Crown Drive is not etched in stone because there is now a proposed increase use density that wasn’t presented in 2019, and also the Mayfair community is now fully built out. He stressed – on a major construction project proposed by the County like this – the health safety and welfare of the Town’s citizens must take top priority.