Zoning Ordinance Overhaul Underway

Critics Say Plan Promotes Density

The Loudoun Board of Supervisors last week began considering scores of changes to the county's zoning ordinance, a set of proposals designed to improve and clarify the 900-page document that dictates what kind of development is allowed where in the county.

The recommendations were developed over three years in an effort led by the Zoning Ordinance Review Committee, a panel of residents that included building industry specialists.

The committee delved deep into Loudoun's complicated land-use guidelines to "clean up many longstanding sources of aggravation, confusion and 'brain damage' for landowners, real estate professionals, county staff, and elected or appointed officials," Robert M. Gordon, chairman of the panel, wrote in a letter to the board.

But at a Tuesday public hearing before the Board of Supervisors, the recommendations met with criticism from several speakers, who said that the committee was dominated by real estate industry representatives and that some of the changes recommended could increase the county's housing density.

Though technical in nature, the changes could have a broad effect because of the pace of growth in Loudoun. The county is projected to have an additional 35,000 housing units by 2015, according to an annual report on growth issued by the county government last week.

One of the most vocal critics of the committee's recommendations was the slow-growth Piedmont Environmental Council. The group calculated that housing density in eastern Loudoun could increase by as much as 20 percent if the recommendations were carried out -- a number that was rejected by supervisors and committee members, who said it was alarmist and unfounded.

"I can't for the life of me figure out where that came from," said Gordon, a land-use lawyer. "They seem to be conveying that the entire ZORC is an under-the-radar subterfuge between the board and the development industry to put 26,000 more homes in the county."

Gordon said the committee, which the Board of Supervisors appointed in December 2004, worked tirelessly and in good faith on a highly technical document. If there seemed to be a lot of building industry representatives on the panel, he said, it was because few outside the industry know much about zoning.

Supervisor Stephen J. Snow (R-Dulles), one of the environmental group's leading critics, put it in harsher terms: "I'll just say it: They're lying to the people, and they claim facts when they have none. This is their modus operandi."

Gem Bingol, a Loudoun field representative for the Warrenton-based group, said that the 20 percent figure was calculated by a PEC official who is an expert in zoning issues and that she could not explain the number. The official was out of town last week and unreachable.

But Bingol gave an example of how housing density could increase if the recommendations were implemented. Currently, a landowner with a major flood plain on his or her property can calculate the density only by using the acreage that is not in the flood plain. Under the recommended changes, in certain circumstances the landowner would be able to calculate the density by using the entire area, which would mean more houses on the developable part of the property.

The county's zoning administrator, Melinda Artman, however, said she did not think that this factor in itself could contribute to a dramatic increase in density. She said her department would study the issue and report to the Board of Supervisors next month.

Bingol also said the county should consider adopting environmental protections as it overhauls the ordinance.

"If the ZORC is going through all these changes, why aren't we getting stronger environmental protections?" Bingol said.

The board is expected to consider the recommendations, as well as the Loudoun County Planning Commission's recommended changes to the zoning ordinance, at a meeting next month.