As a result of the continuing troubles with Clarksburg Village, nearly 60 subcontractors working on the project could be out of work if additional building permits are not released soon.
Peter Lyons, vice president of Ryan Homes, asked the planning board to release more permits for the struggling development during Thursday’s hearing. But as of Friday, officials said no more permits were set to be granted now or even at the next hearing on July 20.
“I believe the board is just resolving the acts of noncompliance,” Planning Board spokeswoman Nancy Lineman said Friday of the July 20 hearing. “I don’t know of any other pending building permits that are being considered.”
A call to confirm this with the chief of the board’s development review, Rose Krasnow, was not returned Friday.
The 771-acre development has been plagued withzoning problems from the start. This week, planning board members found the developer, McLean-based Elm Street, in noncompliance with five separate items of the county’s code, ranging from building about 30 residences too close to the road to planning for almost 40 homes in areas not zoned for them.
At this point, only 200 of the proposed 2,500 housing units have been built.
Lyons said right now his subcontractors have enough tasks on the homes there to last them 30 days. But after that?
“We won’t have any new permits so we won’t be able to start on any new homes,” he said. “We’re experiencing a housing slowdown so work has been difficult for them to come by.”
In early May, the Planning Board relieved 83 permits for units not connected to the controversy.
“That seems like a lot, but it’s like giving water to someone that’s been dying of thirst,” Lyons said. “They just want to keep drinking more and more.”
And it all means that customers waiting for their homes to go up will have to wait significantly longer.
Said Lyons: “These people just want to move in.”
