Lenah Run Home Owners Association

This is the June 2009 Dulles District Planning Update. It has been a couple of very busy months on the Planning Commission.

 

I am very pleased to announce that the Planning Commission recommended approval for the new Middle School-5 site on Braddock Road on June 18. It was so nice to have widespread community support for this school site.

 

The Planning Commission (PC) has been going through the 1,200+ comments that we have received on the draft Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP) and map from public input sessions, stakeholder meetings, email and the County’s CTP website. If you provided input to us, thank you.

 

I am currently working on a list of priority bike routes for the plan. If you have any suggestions please let me know. My initial suggestions are Loudoun County Parkway, Tall Cedars Parkway, and Gum Spring Road for our District.

 

For the past 3 or 4 weeks, the Commission has been conducting straw votes on proposed changes to the draft CTP map and plan. We agreed to remove New Road, Route 860 extended, Route 860 relocated, and Route 648 relocated from the draft CTP map. The Commission also agreed to limit the number of lanes on Braddock Road between Route 15 and Lenah Loop Road to 2 lanes, Gum Spring Road (between Braddock and Route 50) to 4 lanes, Tall Cedars Parkway to 4 lanes, and Loudoun County Pkwy to 6 lanes. We have received a number of emails from residents who are concerned about the number of highway lanes being proposed through residential neighborhoods.

 

I have requested additional information from staff on the residential unit, density, employment data, commuting pattern and growth assumptions that were used in the transportation model to justify the number of new roads being proposed in the Transition Area. My concern is that the road grid being proposed by staff here is not warranted or consistent with the low density residential that is called for in the County’s Comprehensive Plan.

 

I have requested that the County postpone the proposed July CTP  Planning Commission public hearing until such time as the Planning Commission can review the modeling data and assumptions, complete a comprehensive review of the plan, consult with surrounding jurisdictions and VDOT, and can evaluate the proposed transportation network around the future metro stations in more detail.

I want to make sure that the draft CTP that goes to the Board of Supervisors for final review is one that Dulles District residents and businesses have contributed to and support.

 

Sincerely,

Sandra Chaloux,
Dulles District Planning Commissioner