Village at Clear Springs re-zoning calls for 1,077 homes and tennis complex

By Reed Carver 

At the end of the Jan. 10 Board of Supervisors Public Hearing, the Board listened to county staff’s evaluation of the Village at Clear Springs development proposal, the applicant’s arguments, and public comments, until 2 a.m. The decision was not made that night. 

The applicant is Leonard S. “Hobie” Mitchel, of Clear Springs Development, LLC. The application was recommended for approval by the Planning Commission with 2 opposed. 

Loudoun County staff presented the application as an assemblage pieced together from 29 parcels totaling 245.95 acres. It is sandwiched between Evergreen Mills Road to the west, and the Dulles Greenway to the east. The north border is the Leesburg Town Limits. Its southern border is Shreve Mill Road.

It is currently zoned AR-1, Agricultural Rural, and is within the Transition Policy Area, and Transition Compact Neighborhood Place Type (TCN). The application would require a zoning map amendment. Special exceptions must be made to accommodate yard sizes and playing fields with 106 overhead lights.

The proposal calls for 1,077 dwellings with 28 outdoor courts, an indoor tennis facility, two parks, and trails. They consist of:

• Two hundred and thirty are typical houses – single family detached, with 121 age restricted units, for 55 and over.
• Six hundred sixty-seven are single family attached, with 153 age-restricted units, to include 12 Affordable Dwelling Units. ADUs are restricted for those who earn 30 to 70 percent of the AMI [annual median income] in the county. 
• One hundred and eighty will be Multi-Family Attached Affordable Dwelling Units. These units will have varied facades to break up their profile.

The Village at Clear Springs is also just outside the Airport Impact Overlay District but within 1 mile of LDN 60 [day-night average sound level] airport noise contours. One mile away will be an average of 60 decibels 24/7.

Staff in February 2023 wrote that the project does not fit the vision for the Transition Compact Neighborhoods. They believe that the development is more fundamentally suburban.  

The concept of TCNs calls for a mix of attached and detached housing, which is dense, but accompanied by deep setbacks to preserve open space as the dominant feature.

The project includes two large non-residential areas which are a tennis facility, and a linear park running through the middle. There is also going to be a park on the southernmost end. 

The developer is willing to build with or without the tennis facility, an L-shaped building, that is the indoor club/HOA headquarters. Since it reaches a height of 45 feet, staff rejects it as the TCN standards set a limit on building height at three stories or 36 feet. 

The applicant is also proffering $16 million to widen Evergreen Mills Road to four, median-divided lanes.

Nevertheless, staff rejects the proposal because it doesn’t make a transition between the suburban areas and rural areas. Its scale, intensity, and density are inconsistent with the TPA. In order to be consistent, “open space and natural vegetation,” according to the 2019 Comprehensive Plan, need to be the dominant visual feature of the landscape.

Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk said that residential uses are not compatible with this spot because of the proximity to the airport. The Leesburg Airport, she said, is the second busiest airport in Virginia, with 90,000 takeoffs and landings last year [247 per day]. The key reason for denial, is that the development will be directly below these flight paths, she said. 

Burk said, “future residents will be subject to a significant amount of noise … and the airport continues to grow.” At the minimum, the builder should be required to build in noise reducing materials, she said. 

As of Jan. 10, the builders are not planning to use any construction measures to reduce noise. 

J.C. Silvey, a Leesburg resident and airline pilot said that air contamination from the lead present in jet fuel must be considered. The public expressed concern about the increased amount of light pollution.  

The public comments displayed a tension between the desire for affordable housing versus protection of the rural elements necessary to preserve the TPA. However, many supported the application due to the affordable housing.

Supervisor Caleb Kershner (R-Catoctin) made a motion to differ the decision until the March 13 BOS public hearing, at 6 p.m.