Citizens who want to weigh in on an alternative growth plan for Dulles south will get their chance on June 8.
The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC) will host a Community Visioning Session at Arcola Elementary School in order to begin crafting a growth plan that does not include the developer proposals for the area.
Six developer-initiated plans that could result in 22,000 new homes in Dulles south will also bring proffered roads, schools and parks — but, some believe, at a cost too high for the already over stressed infrastructure of the area.
One of the proposals, from Greenvest LC, could result in 14,000 homes and is one of the largest development proposals in the country.
Public hearings on the developer plans will most likely be held this fall, and the PEC wants to have an alternative plan to present to the county at the same time.
"This is an opportunity for folks to participate in the planning process, which the current Board of Supervisors has failed to do these last 18 months," said Bob Lazaro, PEC spokesman.
THE SIX developer proposals were submitted to the county in comprehensive plan amendment form last fall. The county adopted them as a single amendment that will be used to rethink how the Dulles south area should grow — essentially changing the current comprehensive plan, which had earmarked the area as a moderate-growth area to transition between the suburban east and rural west.
The amendment is currently under consideration with the county's Planning Commission.
Lazaro said the PEC plans to hire outside experts to provide fiscal and traffic analyses on the developments once the developers submit rezoning requests, which will have more details about how many units each wants to build.
What Lazaro hopes to show citizens is that the area will have transportation and retail improvements without new developer deals — that in fact the needed improvements are already in the pipeline for the area's current population.
"You don't need these rezonings to have these amenities," Lazaro said.
The meeting, which is free and open to the public, will be held June 8, at Arcola Elementary School, at 7 p.m.
— Suzannah Evans