“There was more of a confusion than a problem” – Purcellville Town Attorney Sally Hankins

By Valerie Cury

In preparation for the construction of the 690/Rt.7 Interchange, the County and the Town of Purcellville did not follow the proper Town Zoning Ordinance procedures. 

As a result, Catoctin Meadows Lot 74 has been removed from the Catoctin Meadows Deed of Dedication – effectively extinguishing the lot from public records, giving it to VDOT, and making it a public street use Right of Way. 

Neither the Purcellville Town Council nor its Planning Commission were aware of this action, taken unilaterally by members of the Town’s senior management team. They bypassed public hearings
required by the Planning Commission, who vote and make recommendations to the Town Council whether to approve or disapprove such an extensive zoning change within the Town of Purcellville. 

In essence there was a direct violation of the Town Zoning Ordinance provisions found within Article 10 Section 1-3, which eliminated the public process.

On October 16, 2018, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors became a voting member of Catoctin Meadows Homeowners Association with their purchase of lot 74, located at 691 North 21^st Street in Purcellville.

Nearly four years after this purchase of Lot 74, on July 12, 2022, the Town of Purcellville Director of Planning and Economic Development, Don Dooley, approved the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Land Development Application ESMT-20-05 plat. It showed a Dedication of Right of Way and further indicated “The Entity of Lot 74-Phase 2 Catoctin Meadows Pin number 522-10-8098 is Hereby Dedicated for Public Street Purposes, Thereby Extinguishing such lot.”

That same day in July, County Administrator Tim Hemstreet and Senior Assistant County Attorney John Sherwood Jr. signed a Recordation Deed of Dedication completing the zoning change from “residential” to a Right of Way. This extinguished Lot 74 from the Catoctin Meadows Subdivision and the Town of Purcellville, altering town boundary lines and gifting the 0.6-acre property to VDOT for the 690 /Rt.7 Interchange.

At the Nov. 2 Town Council Special meeting a Catoctin Meadows resident said he had no idea “how this happened in our association – we had no notice of it.”

He said, “This property was part of the deed of dedication of subdivision easements made back in May 14, 1997. In that document it’s very, very, clear … the owner and the association with the consent of the trustee do hereby impose the declaration of covenants and restrictions for the Catoctin Meadows subdivision as recorded in the deed book.” 

The resident then explained that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors bought a residence from a family “and became a voting member of our HOA and are bound to the association covenants as acknowledged voting members who are paying association dues.

“I want to understand how the County and the Town were able to break our covenants and release the Loudoun County BOS to extinguish this property. It’s been extinguished. It is no longer in our subdivision. This property is no longer in the Town of Purcellville. They have gifted it to VDOT. Are we no longer a 74-home residence community?” 

“Let me tell you, it’s not just me who needs to know this,” the resident said. “I want to know how this is possible … and just how all of you didn’t know about this.”

Council Member Stan Milan said he wanted to comment on the “revelation of missing property” in the Catoctin Meadows HOA. 

“I was called on Friday morning and told that this property was missing [in current County records]. I came down to the Town Hall and asked questions about why and how this happened. No one really knew, or could answer that question. 

“I received some documentation from the engineer and it revealed that they in fact did know what was going on. I looked at the dates on the documentation, and it was back in May,” Milan said.

“I further looked into this, and I saw that there was a signature on the plat that was given to VDOT” and it was the signature of one of the staff members. 

“I asked him directly to his face, ‘Do you know anything about this?’ and he said, ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ But his signature was on the plat map.”

Milan said he once again asked how this could happen without either the Planning Commission or the Town Council being made aware of it. He said the Catoctin Meadows HOA “has a legal obligation to be made aware of what’s happening in their community.”

At the Nov. 3 Planning Commission meeting, a resident of Catoctin Meadows again asked how lot 74 went from R2 residential zoning to a dedicated right of way for Public Transportation – public use/street use. “That lot 74 was dedicated by deed to our community association in 1997 … all lots are bound by the covenants and covenants are a legal contract between association members.”

He added that the Catoctin Meadows subdivision also has 14.2 acres of common open space with trees and streams that may be required by the County for use as a construction support site, which would necessitate taking down trees and disturbing wetlands and stream beds of the South Fork Catoctin Creek. 

There is also concern that disturbing the 14.2-acre property would violate the Town’s Comprehensive Plan, which describes the property as “privately owned green space.”

The resident also expressed concern that the County has asked the Town to “vacate some of the Common area floodplain – this common area includes pristine wetlands and streams that feeds all your parks… Who is running the Town? Is the County running the Town or are we running the Town?”

“Why is it okay to extinguish a piece of property dedicated to our HOA from our subdivision and the Town, and then deed it to VDOT?” the resident asked. “It is part of the Historic Corridor Overlay District according to your Comprehensive Plan.”

“The Town approved this without notifying you and the Town Council or anyone,” he added. 

Milan asked, “Don, your signature is on this. Can you provide any information to us about this then?” 

Don Dooley responded, “I did what I thought was based on what I understood of what [sic] was appropriate.”

Milan said that none of this was on anyone’s radar, until he received a call from a citizen of Catoctin Meadows “and I went to Town Hall and inquired about it. At the time everyone told me they didn’t know anything about it. They had no recollection of it.”

He said the Town engineer provided him with “a plat map and the deed change and emails from the County. That’s when I discovered that the signature was from Mr. Dooley… our zoning administrator … I am at a loss to understand how this happened.”

Planning Commissioner Nedim Ogelman said that the process should have included public hearings for a rezoning and both the Town Council and the Planning Commission should have been involved in the process. He also pointed out that “it sounds like some land left the Town,” and that means “there was a boundary line adjustment.” 

Ogelman continued, “That would have meant that it should have gone through the Planning Commission and the Town Council with two public hearings.”

“Did I miss those? Did those public hearings happen and I just didn’t pay attention?” he rhetorically asked.

“I don’t understand. I am under the impression that the County and the administrative part of the Town [Town staff] can go through that process without these touch points – public hearings and … us as a committee going through the process and the Town Council as the citizens elected representatives,” Ogelman said.

At the Nov. 17 Planning Commission meeting, Town Attorney Sally Hankins summarized the issue saying, “There was more of a confusion than a problem.”

Chair Nan Forbes said, “I would submit that there’s certainly a lot more than simply a misunderstanding or confusion. I would submit there seems to be a variety of opinions with the legitimacy of this process.”