Planning Commission unanimously recommends denial of Rt. 7/690 Interchange

By Valerie Cury

At the Purcellville Planning Commission Special Meeting on March 23, commissioners voted unanimously to recommend that the Town Council “deny the proposed Rt. 7/690 Interchange Project or condition its approval in a manner that fully addresses the issues raised in the Planning Commission’s Resolution to the Town Council’s satisfaction.”

The resolution deals with numerous items such as landscaping, buffering and open space regulations. It also addresses streams, creek buffers, and zoning ordinances, as well as steep slope requirements and floodplain issues should a large-scale water event occur. A legal review concerning a three-party easement between Loudoun County, the Town of Purcellville, and Catoctin Meadows HOA is also required by the Town.

According to their March 23 resolution, the Planning Commission discovered that “the FEMA Hazard floodplain map for the South Fork of the Catoctin Creek for Purcellville, and specifically the creek floodplain located west of North Hatcher Avenue, is out of date according to the April 2018 County Floodplain Alteration analysis for the Rt. 7/690 Interchange South Fork Catoctin Creek analysis,” a major floodplain according to County documents.

The County has not begun “the FEMA-required Letter of Map Revision to update the Catoctin Creek floodplain,” known to be out of date since 2013. This County Floodplain Alteration for the Rt. 7/690 identified 24 different property owners affected by what was described by the Town Engineer as a dramatic change in the existing FEMA Floodplain.

Commissioners noted that “a doubling of the floodplain flow rates from 3,617 cubic feet per second to 7,447 cubic feet per second, according to both the County and Town’s hydrology consultants, is due in part to changes in land use and roadway configurations in the creek’s upstream watershed in Loudoun County.” 

In its Feb. 16 report to the Planning Commission, town staff noted: “Since the Town has received the (updated) floodplain modeling from Loudoun County, we need to take this information into consideration when considering the floodplain for the South Fork of Catoctin Creek. 

“Neglecting to take reasonable action to ensure the safety of lives and property may subject the community to potential liability when flooding occurs. Regardless of whether the 7/690 Project is constructed or not, Town Staff recommends that the Town update the floodplain mapping, using the best available data.”

Furthermore, “the Purcellville Planning Commission strongly advises the Town Council to not agree to vacate the floodplain easement agreement with Catoctin Meadows HOA and reject any support for the construction of the Rt.7/690 interchange … until the floodplain issue is addressed by Loudoun County officials,” and a FEMA Letter of Map Revision is in place.

Chair Nan Forbes said that the level of service throughout the Town hardly improves with the 7/690 Interchange and used some key intersections to illustrate her point. Main Street and 32nd Street goes from an E to a D in the morning, and is an A, F, and C in the evening.

Main and 23rd goes from a B to a C in the morning and from a C to a D in the evening. At 21st and 23rd Street with no signal, the LOS is no change with A, C, and D in the morning and A, D, and C in the evening. Main Street and Hatcher Avenue is a C in the morning and a D in the evening. 

Main Street and Maple Avenue goes from an E to a D in the morning and remains a D in the evening. “These aren’t great grades, by the way,” said Forbes. “We are not seeing A’s and B’s here.”

“I would submit that this is hardly a significant improvement for Purcellville traffic … three intersections improve slightly, and four get worse,” she said. “This interchange is not designed or intended to benefit the Town of Purcellville.”

At the March 16 Planning Commission Meeting, a letter was read into the record from Commissioner Nedim Ogelman who was not able to attend the meeting. He pointed out that the FEMA floodplain mapping of the South Fork of the Catoctin Creek through Purcellville was a matter of great concern. 

“According to Purcellville’s hydrology consultants, this doubling of the floodplain flow from 3,617 …  to 7,447 cubic feet per second is due in part to changes in land use and roadway configuration in the creek’s upstream water shed in Loudoun County.”

Despite the commission’s inquiries, Ogelman wrote, they have not received any assurances from County officials “that the construction of the Rt. 7/690 Interchange will contribute to further intensification of land use upstream from Purcellville, potentially exasperating the floodplain flow and putting our community at risk of disastrous consequences.” 

Ogelman said that the floodplain flow issue must be addressed. “It’s not only our duty, but our responsibility to ensure the construction of the interchange will have no negative higher order of impact on the floodplain issue in Purcellville. 

“Pursuing this project without addressing these concerns would be nothing short of irresponsible,” he said. 

Commissioner Ron Rise Sr. reiterated that with the floodplain flow, the “magnitudes of 3,776 cubic feet per second changing to over 7,000 – in tonnage those are big numbers – it’s 200 tons to 250 tons of water per second. Is there a Conditional Letter of Map Review to get moving on this?” he asked.

Dale Lehnig, Director of Engineering and Planning and Development, said she asked the County if they would do a CLOMR and they are not requiring one. “But at the end they would do the Letter of Map Revision,” she said.

“But how does that deal with the insurance for residents that are not aware of this?” Rise Sr. asked. Lehnig said the process would be like a CLOMR, and the residents would be notified. Rise Sr. said that FEMA has to be involved in order for residents’ insurance to be updated.

“What we didn’t do is look at the rest of the Town. We didn’t trigger a CLOMR west of North Hatcher for these significantly higher flow rates for nearly a half a decade? … So, the mapping isn’t updated, which means the insurance… is not updated. None of that has been done, and I think that is my concern from a Town perspective.

“When I look at these maps that they [the County] gave us… the new limits show the water definitely jumping across N. 21st Street and getting across the road… It’s been five years we’ve known this.”

Vice Mayor and Commissioner Chris Bertaut said that the flow rate changes are of great concern, and they were caused by “massive development further up in the watershed in the South Fork of Catoctin Creek.”

“So, the question is: What does this interchange do in terms of development patterns? It has little detectable improvement, at least from the modeling in terms of traffic flows within town … I deliberately ignore those small improvements that go from an F to a D. I don’t think people are going to notice that on a day-to-day basis,” Bertaut said.

“It appears from all evidence that the purpose of this interchange is not going to do anything for traffic flows within the Town of Purcellville. It’s to improve and bring in additional traffic up the 690 Corridor.

“The question is – Is it there just to encourage high density development up the 690 corridor?” Bertaut concluded.