“If we make mistakes, let’s fix them” says Chair Randall regarding the Mountainside Overlay District

By Sophia Clifton

The Mountainside Overlay District (MOD) was created to protect Loudoun County’s ridge lines, steep slopes and springs from development that could compromise their environmental, scenic and recreational value. 

According to a flyer from Loudoun.gov, “The Mountainside Overlay District is an area of mountainous terrain that contributes to scenic beauty as well as provides many ecosystem services such as groundwater recharge, wildlife habitats and headwaters for local streams. Included in the MOD are Spring Features (natural groundwater emergence points) and Ridge Features (continuous crests formed where both sides of a mountain meet).”

The flyer continues, “Additional development standards are required in MOD areas to avoid major erosion or soil slippage, and minimize impacts on wildlife habitat, natural beauty and water resources.”

Under these current regulations, any new disturbance of a designated ridge, steep slope or spring feature requires strict adherence to development standards—and there is no avenue for special exceptions or administrative relief.

Back in April of this year, Loudoun’s Board of Supervisors debated whether to begin loosening those protections—first by asking staff to explore amendment options, and then by suspending enforcement of any MOD violations until later this year.

During a quarterly briefing on the Department of Planning and Zoning’s work plan on April 15, 2025, Supervisor Caleb Kershner (R-Catoctin) asked that the zoning-rewrite project include a review of the mountainside feature protections. He argued that several pending applications had been tripped up by the rigidity of the rules—developers couldn’t even apply for a special exception, meaning there was zero flexibility for legitimate, minor adjustments.

“Right now, there is no ability to even consider any differences to what the standards are,” admitted Dan Galindo, the county’s Planning and Zoning director. He suggested staff could propose limited “modification options” for the Board or zoning administrator to review on a case-by-case basis.

But Supervisors Laura TeKrony (D-Little River) and Vice Chair Michael Turner (D-Ashburn) pushed back. TeKrony noted that the county is already conducting a comprehensive zoning-ordinance update for western Loudoun—the Rural ZOAM and Comprehensive Plan Amendment —which would revisit the MOD protections, along with requirements affecting the county’s agricultural and equine industries. She argued it made little sense to carve out a standalone amendment now when a broader rewrite is already underway.

Turner went further, questioning whether it was fair to grant special treatment to one industry or applicant while others waited on the comprehensive process. “I’m not comfortable privileging one group in the rural CPAM and ZOAM process,” he said.

Chair Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) suggested referring the matter to the Transportation and Land Use Committee (TLUC) “to see if issues even need to be worked out.” When Kershner’s motion to send the MOD changes to TLUC ended in a 4-4-1 deadlock (with one abstention), the Board moved on—but later returned with a second proposal.

Acting at the request of County Attorney Leo Rogers—who was reluctant to file suit against an applicant currently out of compliance—the Board then considered suspending enforcement of all MOD violations until the fall. Rogers explained that litigation could not realistically proceed for a year, by which time the zoning rewrite might have altered the rules.

Despite heated criticism from Supervisors Juli Briskman (D-Algonkian), Koran Saines (D-Sterling) and Turner—who warned that the move would set a dangerous precedent of seeking relief for “just one constituent”—Kershner’s second motion passed 6-3. 

The dissenting supervisors had feared this would undermine confidence in Loudoun’s zoning process and encourage future lobbying for personal exemptions. Randall, however, had chided her colleagues for their tone and supported sending the broader issue to TLUC for deliberate review.

During the Board of Supervisors Business Meeting on May 6, 2025, supervisors revisited their previous 4-4-1 vote at April’s meeting to send the Mountainside Overlay District standards to TLUC for a more comprehensive review. 

“This reconsideration is only to reconsider the vote to send it to TLUC. That’s all we’re doing right now, is reconsidering that vote,” Randall said when opening the agenda item up for discussion. 

After reading the motion to reconsider, Turner explained that Randall had approached him after the April meeting and as a professional courtesy she had requested the motion be sent to TLUC for “fine tuning.” 

Turner explained that he was “by no means convinced of the argument,” but said he’d like to hear it again anyway, noting that he did not see a reason for the sense of urgency at the time and was still not sure there even was a reason for that urgency. 

Supervisor TeKrony agreed that there was no need for urgency, especially when staff already had a very full workplan. However, she did concede that she also wanted to hear the argument. The motion to reconsider passed 7-1-1, with Briskman voting no and Umstattd absent from the dais.  

With reconsideration on the agenda, Turner then made the motion to move discussion of the MOD feature standards to TLUC for further review, and Randall opened the floor by offering her thoughts on the urgency of the motion. She explained that at the previous meeting, some of what was discussed were “literally health and safety issues.” 

“When you start talking about sewage, sewer lines, when you start talking about people’s wells that are not producing correctly, those are health and safety issues. If health and safety issues, and water, safe water issues are not an emergency, I’m not quite sure what is,” Randall said. “I completely disagree that these things are not urgent. If my well is going bad, that is an urgent issue for me.”

Randall continued her argument, saying that “TLUC is the exact right place to work out these issues. It’s why we have committees. If this goes to TLUC, Ms. TeKrony, it is up to you as the TLUC chair whether people come speak on the item in TLUC. … So the idea that we can’t have people comment in the committee meeting is incorrect; it’s your committee. If you want commenters, people to comment, the public, let them comment.”

“The way we got into this situation is the Board—a board that you were not a part of, and you weren’t, it wasn’t your fault—kind of did this Mountainside Overlay almost as a response to something that was going on at the time,” Randall explained to the newer board members. “And so there’s never a time that we can make a decision that we can’t be wrong or have missed something.

“In this one, I think we made this so narrow that we’ve caused people to not be able to take care of their health and safety needs. Of course we look at that. And of course that’s urgent. We’re human beings up here just doing the best that we can, and sometimes we make mistakes. And if we make mistakes, let’s fix them. As quickly as possible, let’s fix them,” Randall concluded. 

After her argument supporting it, the motion to move the MOD standards to TLUC for review passed 7-1-1, with Briskman voting no and Umstattd absent.