The Northern Virginia Daily

Article Date: January 11, 2007

Warren planners OK Brookfield development

By Robert King

The Warren County Planning Commission on Wednesday recommended approval of a proposed 150- unit development off Catlett Mountain Road with a restriction on how quickly the housed will be built.

Fairfax-based Brookfield Homes had applied to rezone 203 acres from agricultural to R-1 residential.  The company had also applied for a conditional use permit for the 150 homes.  The development is a cluster, which groups houses together in an effort to preserve open space. 

North River Supervisor Ron L. Llewellyn owns the property and Brookfield is the contract purchaser.

The Planning Commission took a separate vote on the permit and rezoning and voted 3-1 both times to recommend approval during its regular meeting Wednesday.  The application will now be forwarded to the Board of Supervisors.

South River District representative Lorraine Smelser voted no both times.  Voting in favor of the project were Chairman Mark Bower, who represents the Fork District, and Shenandoah District representative Harry Drum and North River representative Ronald Mabry.

Happy Creek District representative David McDaniel was not at the meeting.

The Planning Commission had delayed a recommendation on the project after a public hearing in December.

The Commission wanted to hear from the Virginia Department of Transportation about an off-site intersection of Va. 619 and U.S. 340.

VDOT recently submitted a letter to the county saying that it did not have any objections to the plans, said Taryn G. Logan, the county’s deputy planning director.

Logan said county officials met with VDOT, which wanted to make sure that the proffered contributions would go primarily to improving Catlett Mountain Road.

Many residents who spoke at the public hearing expressed concern about the road’s safety.

Brookfield made an additional proffer of $100,000 for road improvements on top of the $24,473 they are proffering per unit.

Some planners brought up new concerns about the project.

Krum said that he did not like the proposed 50-home per year build-out and said, “We don’t need that kind of growth all of a sudden in our county.”

Merle Fallon, an attorney representing Brookfield, said the company must weigh costs and sales.  “One of the things that we have to balance is the cost of the infrastructure, which we have to put in first, and then we have to recover that through the sales,” he said.

The commission agreed to add a condition that the annual build-out be limited to 30 homes.

The commission added that it hopes the Board of Supervisors solicits the Town of Front Royal for water and sewer service for the new development.

Brookfield’s proffer statement says it would seek water and sewer from the town.

Front Royal adopted a policy in September that requires all developments outside town limits to submit a joint request with the county for water and sewer.  The request must come before any county rezoning decision, the policy reads.

Fallon said that Brookfield’s development is dependent upon the town’s services.  If the company does not receive the services and still wants to develop, it would have to amend its proffer statement or file a new application.

The developers could build 80 lots “by right” which means without county approval and without  town water and sewer.  Many planners were hesitant about the project moving forward as a “by right” project.

Bower said he was wary of the use of septic systems because the property is near a Superfund site that was established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.