Supervisors in fast-growing Loudoun County delayed a vote Tuesday on a controversial 500-acre development near Leesburg Airport and the Dulles Toll Road.
Concerned neighbors and airport advocates urged the supervisors to shoot down or modify the proposal, but supervisors decided they want more input on the plan before rescheduling a final vote for later this year. Three supervisors will hold a public hearing on the 1,000-home Crosstrail project this summer in a move that could push for more concessions from developers.
As proposed, the business park — located just outside of Leesburg — would include hotels, restaurants, office space and movie theaters.
Yet critics warn it could spark more traffic congestion and harm the airport’s long-term future.
“Is it really necessary to put residents that close to the runway?” asked Randall Burdette, director of aviation for the commonwealth of Virginia.
The site was originally designed for commercial and industrial sites only, but supervisors rezoned it to allow for new homes. Crosstrail is an example of the smaller, mixed-use projects that are becoming the norm as growth slows somewhat in the Northern Virginia region.
Loudoun County can absorb this kind of project better than projects put forth in the past, George Mason University professor Stephen Fuller said.
“One thousand homes is nothing. You put them all at the same intersection and you notice them,” Fuller said, but the county can sustain that type of growth. “There is more traffic coming and people will learn to live with it. … 1,000 homes is an improvement over what they’ve been doing in terms of demand for services.”
