Milan and Rayner hold private meeting with Kuhn to discuss Purcellville annexation

By Valerie Cury

On Tuesday Feb. 20, Mayor Stan Milan and Vice Mayor Erin Rayner held a private meeting with Chuck Kuhn and his team regarding the potential annexation of his 117.07-acre property on Purcellville Road. His property is located in the county. Attending the meeting along with Milan and Rayner were the town manager, the assistant town manager, the town’s engineering department and the town’s head of public works.

According to an email from Rayner to town council “Kuhn’s team presented to us their desire to apply for annexation of the property into the town. He presented potential site uses, types of industry that he would like to see there, a complete traffic study, a well and water study, and a fiscal impact study.”

Continued Rayner, “This was an informational meeting to gain more insight on the development of that land, which is happening if the annexation occurs or not.”

This is a misleading statement as Loudoun County Planning and Zoning has already weighed in on the proposed rezoning, recommending denial.

Rayner said that Kuhn has applied for rezoning with the county to go from R-3 residential to light industrial. She said the buildings would look like office buildings.

The property is zoned Joint Land Management Area-3 (JLMA-3) which currently allows for one house per 3-acres, which would total 39 homes. It is located north of Rt. 7 and east of Purcellville Road (Rt. 611).

Kuhn has an application with the county to apply to change the zoning to Planned Development – Industrial Park (PD-IP) – with total build out at 1,274,892 sq. ft. of industrial.  

According to a VDOT memo dated Aug. 24, 2023, there is an estimated 4,297 weekday vehicle trips for the proposed site.

A first referral memorandum, on Sept. 21, 2023 from Loudoun County Planning and Zoning stated, “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.”

Community planning further stated, “The proposed business/industrial park is not in keeping with the types of low intensity rural business uses identified within the Purcellville JLMA Rural Neighborhood Place Type, nor does the use contribute to the rural character of the area.

“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 county planners recommended if the applicant wanted to continue to pursue a development with “commercial and industrial uses,” to discuss a possible annexation or boundary line adjustment with the Town of Purcellville. 

Annexation into the Town of Purcellville would be the only way for the owner to achieve the industrial use zoning on his property, and the massive density that comes with annexing a property into the Town of Purcellville. 

Rayner’s email invited the rest of the members of the Purcellville Town Council to email her if “they would like to meet with Mr. Kuhns and his team.” She wrote, to comply with the FOIA laws, council members would have to meet with Kuhn two members at a time, to avoid it becoming a public meeting. 

She said meeting with Kuhn would give council members the opportunity “to hear the presentation and ask questions before he presents to the public.”

“If you would like the Mayor or myself to be one of the council members in the meeting with you, so we can add more context or answer questions from the first meeting that were discussed, please say, we’d be happy to,” wrote Rayner.

Kuhn made a similar presentation of his proposal to turn his property into an industrial complex to the community several years ago. The meeting which was held at Patrick Henry College, with then Council Member Stan Milan in attendance, was well attended. At that time, Kuhn’s plan received an overwhelmingly negative response from the community, who favored leaving his property in the county, and with current zoning.