Developers who do business in Loudoun have received a $4,000 break, although it's likely to be a temporary measure.
The Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors reduced the "Capital Facility Intensity Factors" used for rezoning. The former board had set the service standards for a single family detached house at $37,028, a guideline used when county officials and developers negotiate proffers. Developers sometimes offer cash or to pay for roads or land when they are trying to get permission to build. The offer to pay is called a proffer.
The new board reduced the standards to $33,034, based on the level set by supervisors in 1999 and adjusted for inflation and other criteria. It also decreased the standards for a single family attached unit from $23,429 to $20,060. And the multi-family standard was lowered from $13,361 to $10,937.
The supervisors also agreed to provide additional credit to developers who build or pay for roads that go beyond the transportation needs of the application.
IN ADDITION, the board changed the method for calculating how much credit to provide developers. Take a property that has been zoned for one single-family home per acre, and the developer wants to rezone it for a mix of single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums. Before the supervisors' change, the credit would have been based on the eventual mix of units being rezoned. They decided instead to calculate the credit based on the original zoning mix.
The Board of Supervisors discussed how much credit to give developers for amenities that do not directly benefit the county. For example, should credit be given when Home Owner's Associations (HOAs) build swimming pools? If the HOAs had not built the pools, the county would have to spend money building community pools.
The board directed the Fiscal Impact Committee to review the amenities issue, to study the appropriate service levels for the future of Loudoun County, and to recommend new standards. Several board members said the 1999 adjusted level would be acceptable until the committee comes up with a better figure.
THE SUPERVISORS ALSO amended the Comprehensive Plan to allow "active and passive" recreation facilities in flood plains. Active facilities comprise athletic activities and fields, goal posts, fences and dugouts. Passive recreation uses include hiking, biking, horseback riding, camping, climbing, hunting, fishing and similar activities. The amended plan also allows swimming and non-powered boating on specified rivers and streams.
The Comprehensive Plan serves as a guide for land use decisions in the county.
In other business, the board:
* Amended the Comprehensive Plan to set development standards for golf courses, restricting their development near streams, rivers, reservoirs or flood plains The board prohibited golf courses from being developed within the boundaries of flood plains, unless they meet the criteria set in the Special Exception process.
* Asked the Finance Committee to look for efficiencies in state government spending and County Treasurer Roger Zurn to review municipalities to determine how some have been able to cut taxes. Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) said he did not know how useful it would be to look at other counties, because they all have different circumstances. "I think this is busy work," he said.
* Authorized the county attorney to either buy or take by eminent domain an easement on Cottage Road at Mirror Ridge in Sterling for the construction of two mental health residential facilities.
* Moved to ask VDOT to implement and install $200 speed fines on Thomas Avenue, Lakeland Drive and Cedar Road in the Richland Forest subdivision in Sterling.