Density and noise concerns slow Stone Hill development

By Katie Northcott

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors again tackled the issue of residential development as it discussed the rezoning of a Stone Hill property during its Public Hearing on Oct. 9.

The property is currently zoned for Commercial Center development, meaning that the developers expected retailers to build in this area. The applicant, Angela Rassas, who represents Toll Brothers, Inc., asked for the property to be rezoned to Multifamily Residential development. This request came after the applicant held four community meetings with the Loudoun Valley Estates II (LVE II) Homeowners Association.

“When we took [the original plan] to the community, they said, ‘No, thank you.’” said Curata Partners Planning and Development Specialist Molly Novotny, speaking for the applicant.

Novotny attributed the community’s reluctance to embrace more retailers to the “prolific amount of retail around the property.” When the developers came back with a new plan, the community again rejected the plan.

“So, we came back and said, ‘Okay, what else can we do here?’” Novotny said.

The applicant continued to communicate with LVE II residents and discovered that what the community wanted was more parking and pickleball courts. Taking inspiration from Buckingham and other properties across the street from Stone Hill, the applicant constructed the current proposal. The proposal included two pickleball courts and 355 parking spaces.

Stephen Hoffman represented the LVE II Homeowners Association in a public comment. He said that the Homeowners Association supported the applicant’s plan. He explained that though the number of parking spaces currently on the property complies with zoning ordinances, there are not enough parking spaces for residents since some residents own two or three cars. As a result, some residents park on Hopewell Manor Terrace.

“The additional parking spaces will substantively improve parking ability and safety,” Hoffman said.

At a Planning Commission meeting on July 30, two Loudoun County residents spoke during public comment to express their concerns about the plan for development such as compatibility with the surrounding homes, building height, and communication with surrounding Homeowners Associations. 

One commenter, Tia Earman from the Piedmont Environmental Council, wanted to draw attention to the amount of outdoor recreational space available to residents. The applicant is seeking an exception on the yard standards to reduce the internal front yard setbacks from 25 feet to 15 feet. According to Earman, these outdoor spaces are correlated with the happiness of the community and reducing them would be detrimental to residents.

“This is an all-too-common theme in Loudoun development applications when it comes quality of life feature minimums developed from public input. And modern planning practices are not the starting point they should be,” Earman said.

Members of the Board of Supervisors had concerns of their own. Because the property was originally zoned for retailers, there are some issues that may affect the livability of residential developments on the property.

One of the board members’ biggest concerns was the amount of noise coming from Dulles Airport. The development is 400 feet outside of an area that is rated at or above a 65 day/night average sound level (Ldn). Since 65 Ldn is the highest sound level rated for all normal land uses, the property is just barely within an area considered suitable for residential development. 

Supervisor Laura TeKrony (D-Little River) suggested that the applicant use windows and insulation that will help mitigate the noise. Supervisor Michael Turner (D-Ashburn) agreed. He would not even consider voting for the plan unless Ldn 67 noise mitigation, the highest quality technology available, is used in the dwelling units.

TeKrony compared the level of airport noise to that of the Birchwood neighborhood. The Board has received many complaints from Birchwood residents. Hearing these complaints, Turner would like to address the airport noise problem on a wider scale.

“I don’t care if it takes every second of the remaining time I’m in this office, however long that is. I’m going to get MWAA and Dulles Airport to change the flight path of Runway 30,” Turner said. He believes a change in flight path would help reduce airport noise for many Loudoun County residents, including residents of Stone Hill.

A few members of the Board suggested that disclosure about the airport noise to residents before they buy the home would cut down on complaints.

“New developers do a good job with this. It’s the re-sale where this falls apart, and often it’s the re-sale where we hear the complaints,” Supervisor Matthew Letourneau said.

In May, a bill passed in the Virginia General Assembly prohibiting localities from requiring disclosures in real estate listings. The bill was intended to make disclosure requirements consistent across the state to avoid confusing residents trying to sell their homes. The Loudoun Board of Supervisors opposed this bill because it prevented the Board from requiring homeowners to disclose the proximity of their homes to Dulles Airport. The bill does not affect the county’s ability to enforce disclosure requirements on developments, but affects subsequent sales.

“We were protecting our residents, and we were protecting their future constituents when we did that. And they took that away from us, not even knowing anything about what we did and how hard we worked on that. And they took their power and flipped it over on us,” Vice Chair Juli Briskman (D-Algonkian) said.

The proposal also raised concerns about density. The current plan includes 104 dwelling units, bringing the density to 6.25 dwelling units per acre. The county’s policy allows 6 dwelling units per acre. Supervisor Koran Saines (D-Sterling) asked the applicant to reduce the number of dwelling units to 100 though this would mean the development would lose an Attainable Dwelling Unit (ADU). However, Briskman disagreed, saying she preferred to keep the ADU instead of reducing the density.

Letourneau said that the density of the residential dwelling could be contributing to the parking issues.

“I will contend that every two-over-two property in this county has a parking problem,” he said.

Staff recommended that the applicant reduce the density of the residential units and add more civic space. Currently, the plan designates five percent of the property as civic space, which is under the county requirement of 10 percent.

One single family unit encroaches on the cemetery preservation buffer zone around Mankin Cemetery. The applicant asked that the buffer zone be reduced from 25 feet to 20 feet. TeKrony refused.

“That was a big accomplishment, getting that buffer zone around cemeteries. So, I am concerned about reducing that at all,” TeKrony said.

Board members decided to forward the proposal to their Nov. 19 business meeting for action with a vote of 7-0-2. Chair Phyllis Randall (D-At-Large) and Supervisor Kristen Umstattd (D-Leesburg were absent. At the November meeting, the board deferred the proposal to a future meeting.