The Envision Loudoun Comprehensive Plan review and update continues along the course set forth in the plan charter adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2016. The plan process includes extensive community participation. The Round 1 Listening and Learning Workshops were held in January 2017 and the Round 2 Envision the Future Workshops were held during June 2017 to elicit community input prior to development of plan policies and plan language. The results of these workshops were published in the draft “Visions, Goals and Objectives” report, which was presented in August to the 28-member Stakeholders Committee, composed of residents and community stakeholders concerned with Loudoun planning. The Board of Supervisors created the Stakeholders Committee to help guide the plan development process and provide critical feedback.
The report states that the community focus is primarily on the following topics: balancing residential and nonresidential development, ensuring adequate infrastructure and public facilities, ensuring quality development compatible with surroundings and sensitive to the environment, maintaining existing rural environments, conserving and preserving natural, cultural, and historic resources, ensuring a well-planned transportation system that matches the land use plan, and planning for Metrorail service.
At its August meeting, the Stakeholders Committee organized three subcommittees to delve into critical plan topics: economic development, housing, and revised General Plan (the current Comprehensive Plan) carryover. These subcommittees are beginning to meet in September. Since the June community engagement workshops, the Stakeholders Committee, which meets twice per month, has been reviewing and addressing transportation, place types, the suburban policy area, infill, redevelopment and reinvestment, and the transition policy area and rural policy area.
The new Comprehensive Plan will result in a new General Plan and a new Countywide Transportation Plan, both containing guidelines for the growth and development of Loudoun over the next 20 years. The Stakeholders Committee will continue to meet throughout the remainder of 2017 before another round of community engagement scheduled for January 2018. Once a draft plan is written, public hearings and deliberations will occur before both the planning commission and the Board of Supervisors prior to plan adoption. Staff at the Firm’s Leesburg office will continue to monitor and participate in this major rewrite of Loudoun’s Comprehensive Plan. Please contact the Leesburg office with any questions about the new plan, the process, or the plan’s effect on specific property in Loudoun.
