Council majority takes the reigns, rejects Valley Commerce Center annexation

By Valerie Cury

Wasting no time, the new Purcellville Town Council majority voted 4-3 to reject the Valley Commerce Center annexation request. At their Jan. 8 Special Meeting Mayor Chris Bertaut, Vice Mayor Ben Nett, who had just been appointed Vice Mayor, and Council Members Carol Luke and Susan Khalil voted to deny the annexation request, with Council Member Erin Rayner saying “I decline to vote on this matter,” Council Member Caleb Stought said, “I won’t vote on this issue” and Council Member Kevin Wright voted present. 

The 118.81-acre Valley Commerce Center annexation application request to the Town of Purcellville is for 1,274,982-square feet of industrial and is located along the eastern side of Purcellville Road north of Rt. 7. The parcel is zoned Joint Land Management Area-3 and is in the County. If built at its allowed use it can be developed for 39 homes. 

On Sept. 1, 2023, the County Planning Department weighed in on the owner’s County application request because the owner has two requests for the same rezoning, one at the Town level and one at the County level. 

According to the County Planning Department’s memo, “Community Planning finds the proposed rezoning request to allow the development of a business/industrial park on the subject property is not supported by the land use policies or design characteristics for the Purcellville JLMA Rural Neighborhood Place Type. Community Planning cannot support the rezoning request due to fundamental conflicts with the land use and land development policies of the 2019 GP for the Purcellville JLMA Rural Neighborhood Place Type.”

The department further encouraged the applicant to have “further discussions with the Town of Purcellville pertaining to” annexation. They concluded, “Community Planning finds the proposed rezoning and development of a business/industrial park on the subject property is inconsistent with types of rural business, land development pattern, and design characteristics anticipated for the Purcellville JLMA Rural Neighborhood Place Type.”

At the Jan. 8 Special Meeting, Council Member Carol Luke said the residents “do not want industrial there.” She said residents want the current zoning of one house per 3-acres. “I think we got a large response when we talked about it in many of the meetings we have had on this proposal.”

Mayor Chris Bertaut said the annexation request by Chuck Kuhn came before Town Council at the second quarter of last year. “That application does not meet specific requirements set forth in Plan Purcellville 2030 which is our Comprehensive Plan for land uses in the area where the proposed annexation would have occurred.

“And in addition, public opinion as measured by a survey by the residents of Mayfair and some of the surrounding communities were strongly against this annexation application,” said Bertaut.

He later explained in a 2024 meeting the then Town Council majority directed the Town Manager and planning staff to gather additional information regarding the proposed annexation by means of a Memorandum of Understanding between the town and the applicant.

At that same meeting, then Mayor Stan Milan, justifying his position to continue with the annexation application said to a room full of citizens opposed to the project, “I’m just trying to find out more information, people.” 

Bertaut said, “To this date no MOU has been completed between those parties. The information sought would not have altered the clear direction given by both the nearby residents and our town residents.” Bertaut reiterated the application did not comply with the 2030 Town’s Comprehensive Plan.

Council Member Erin Rayner complained that the annexation discussion lacked both a staff report and supporting information. She pointed to a previous council majority, including herself, who had voted to proceed with the annexation by gathering more information. 

Vice Mayor Ben Nett said he “listened to and heard the residents of the town especially those in Mayfair,” and he was ready to take a vote.

Council Member Susan Khalil said “there is a lot of attention needed to the current infrastructure of our town, and to bring in additional property into our town is putting the cart before the horse.

“In my campaign the residents that I spoke with do not want the annexation; this annexation will not be good for our town.” Khalil said it will bring more traffic [approximately 3,527 weekday trips] and she didn’t believe that the water can support it. “Overall, it is not a good fit.”

Khalil said that there have been threats from council members “that if we don’t annex it in, we lose control.” She said the property is zoned for one house every 3-acres. “The county is already controlling it, and I would not be in favor at all of annexing that area.”

Council Member Caleb Stought said he opposes the project. Before the November election he voted against continuing with the application. But on the Jan. 8 meeting he said the previous Town Council majority voted to continue the discussion and proceed with a MOU. So he wouldn’t vote to deny the annexation application.

Stought said there is a parallel application with the County and if the Town Council denies it—the County could approve “a rezoning application for that property.” He then said he wouldn’t participate in the vote.

Bertaut pointed out that there are several staff reports on the town website regarding the annexation application. “They are meticulous and full of due diligence in terms of investigation into the merits of this annexation application. 

“In terms of the water studies that have been requested, I would counter that they are not needed given that this annexation application does not meet the basic standards set forth in our Comprehensive Plan.

Bertaut said the rezoning in the County is currently on hold because there aren’t the utility resources “available at the scale and scope” for a project of this magnitude. So unless he [the owner] resubmits in some other fashion or some other form vastly different than what has been submitted to the County—it’s not going forward in that fashion,” he concluded.