Leesburg, VA — The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved a motion on June 7, 2016, in response to the Proffer Reform Bill (Senate Bill 549, Va. Code Ann. § 15.2-2303.4), which takes effect July 1, 2016. The motion directs staff to return to the Board’s June 23 business meeting with the following three resolutions for action:
A resolution to initiate a small area plan with boundaries that encompass the Suburban Policy Area and the County’s two Metrorail stations;
A resolution to amend relevant sections of the Revised 1993 Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance affected by the Proffer Reform Bill; and
A resolution proposing an interim approach to processing new residential rezonings filed after July 1 but prior to the adoption of the anticipated small area plan and zoning ordinance changes under Numbers 1 and 2 above.
The Board’s action follows two information-gathering meetings initiated by its Transportation and Land Use Committee Chair Suzanne M. Volpe, and attended by local land use practitioners, to discuss the Proffer Reform Bill’s effect on the County’s rezoning process.
Per the Board’s June 7 action, the County’s preferred approach is to exempt from the Proffer Reform Bill all rezoning applications in the Suburban Policy Area by using one of the bill’s three permitted exemptions under Va. Code Ann. § 15.2-2303.4(E). Subsection 2 of that provision exempts residential rezonings located “… in an approved small area comprehensive plan that encompasses an existing or planned Metrorail station, or is adjacent to a Metrorail station located in a neighboring locality, and allows additional density within the vicinity of such existing or planned station.”
Staff will return on June 23 with the proposed resolutions. If the resolutions are adopted, staff will move forward with a communications plan to advise the public of the County’s approach and a time line to administer the new legislation.
A copy of the Board’s motion and summary may be accessed online here.
Please direct any questions you have regarding the Board’s resolution to Andrew Painter or Randy Minchew in our Loudoun Office at 703.737.3633 or apainter@thelandlawyers.com.
