Wetlands are for more than weird frogs

By Laura Longley

If you’re heading from Hillsboro to Purcellville, where the County road enters the Town, on your right you’ll see a residence on a little over a half an acre, nestled within 14.2 acres of mature forest and wetlands. Those wetlands—rich with frogs and salamanders, turtles and fish, snakes and beavers and long-eared bats and all manner of plants and bugs and dragonflies —belong to the owner of the home and its 73 neighbors in the Catoctin Meadows Subdivision. All these properties are bound together by a Declaration of Covenants that runs with the land.

Just north of the community is South Fork Catoctin Creek, which flows eastward to the   Suzanne R. Kane Nature Preserve and the Chapman DeMary Trail. 

Why do these 0.6 acres matter—to the property owner, the residents of Catoctin Meadows, the historic north end of Purcellville, the state of Virginia, the federal government, Loudoun County, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Virginia Department of Transportation?

This site—601 N. 21 St., Purcellville—is essential for construction of the 7/690 interchange, which the key parties agree would alleviate connectivity issues in the roadway network around Purcellville, reduce traffic in downtown Purcellville and on Rt. 287, and provide a more direct route to destinations north and northeast of Rt. 7, including Woodgrove High School and Mountain View Elementary.

Because the project will be built with the use of federal funds, it must adhere to the National Environmental Policy Act process, which evaluates wetlands and their level of protection. However, in rapidly urbanizing areas, wetlands may be in danger from habitat fragmentation, polluted runoff, and other loss of tree and plant roots.

How does the NEPA process for the interchange impact the Catoctin Meadows wetlands and woodlands? Because plans for the interchange were altered to accommodate the addition of roundabouts. And the roundabouts require more land to build them.

Where could they find that extra land?  Lot 74 at 601 N. 21^st St in Catoctin Meadows, which backs up to the wetlands and will require removal of the stand of old growth trees for a parking area for heavy equipment.

But how does a project partner acquire that critical parcel without the legal and political ramifidtions of declaring eminent domain? The partner—Loudoun County—buys Lot 74 in 2018, when it was not for sale. It is zoned R-2 by the Town of Purcellville and is shown on the Town’s Zoning Map as part of its Historic Overlay District.

It appears, at the “request” of Loudoun County, that became the owner of the residence, and also a member of the HOA, the Town has without public notice or letter to the community “extinguished” from the Catoctin Meadows Community, and the Town of Purcellville – the home at 601 N 21^st Street. The property is now rezoned as a Public Street Right of Way without any regard or rule of law for any County recorded land deeds, or declaration covenants that are bound by all owners of this small community and that that run with the land. 

Town officials have claimed they have no knowledge of this new transaction, even though their signatures are on the document.

So, Loudoun County bought the property—house, land, and access to the common area of wetlands by becoming an HOA member – and then Loudoun County gifted it to VDOT.

The 7/690 interchange project will target up to 15.5 acres of trees to be removed and of that the Catoctin Meadows Common Open Space is targeted to sacrifice as much as 40 percent of that forest, wetlands, and the South Fork Catoctin Creek bed.

Why do these wetlands matter? We know that nature sanctuaries protect vulnerable species and environment. They also protect you. Wetlands are a natural filtering system.

Once the 7/690 interchange construction phase begins, it will need a lot of heavy equipment. When that’s not in use, it must be parked somewhere. A convenient place would be the area south of 21^st Street/Hillsboro Road where old growth trees would be cut down and their roots pulled out. Then the run-off from the road and bare hillside begins. Where does all the gas, oil, and silt go? Into the wetlands, of course. 

To see what we’ll lose as we gain an interchange that brings more traffic into and out of the Town of Purcellville, to view an aerial video of the Catoctin Meadows wetlands, go to https://www.aryeo.com/v2/720f63a4-17c0-41c1-aba4-b261a15dae7a/videos/79806.