Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Business Meeting, Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 6h 57m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7984
Meeting page: https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7984

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-11. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:04:44] Well, good afternoon, supervisors. Good afternoon, staff. Good afternoon, Loudoun. I'd like to call to order the July 15, 2025 Loudoun County Board Supervisors Business Meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please switch your hearing aid to the telecoil mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well.

[00:05:02] I'd like to make note at this very second that the meeting starts at 4 o'clock, and at 4 o'clock, all the women on the board are on the dais, and none of the men are. That's all I'm going to say about that. Mr. Kirshner is not here to give us words of inspiration or leads in the pledge, and so I'm going to – I just came back from the National Association of Counties, and I like to write down quotes that I find to be helpful or insightful.

[00:05:30] So I wrote down two quotes about elected office that I thought were really good, and so I want to read them both. The first one was from Adelaide Stevenson. He wrote, the challenge of elected office is doing what it takes to be elected and still deserve the job.

[00:05:49] I like that. Hubert Humphrey, I love this. Hubert Humphrey said, it was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of their life, the children, those who are in the twilight of their life, the elderly, and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped. I liked both those, so I thought I would share those. Would everyone please join me

[00:06:18] in the Pledge of Allegiance? I'm going to say right now I'm not a great voice tonight, I promise.

[00:06:41] I don't have a code. I think it's just allergies or maybe just spending four days in Philadelphia. So supervisors, I'm going to do a add this agenda, add this following item to the agenda and then place it on consent. Item 3G is a timeline expansion for ledger 2025-0056, The Dallas Technology part, ZMAP 2024-0017 and ZMAP 2024-0018, special exception, 2024-0081.

[00:07:19] It is a commission permit, and that number is 2025-0009. The timeline needs to be extended, so we're not doing anything one way or the other. We're just extending the timeline so we can get past the September, really the August break and all those things. So without objection, I will add that to the consent agenda as I read the consent agenda right now. Item R1, Proclamation to Recognize American with Disabilities Act Awareness Day. That is for approval and presentation. Ms. Glass will join me down front for that resolution. Item 1A, Contract

[00:07:58] renewal fuel services. Item 1B contract renewal architectural services. 1C contract award next generation bus fare box system. Item 1D contract award construction support services for building and parks. Item 1D award authority increase fire apparatus and related vehicles.

[00:08:23] 1F, award authority during the August break recess. Item 1G, contract award construction management at risk for the Western Loudoun Recreation Complex. Item 1H, FY 2025, Section 8 Management Assessment Program Certification and Submission. Item 1J, mental health, substance abuse and developmental services group home replacement scope modification. Item 1K, Route 50 and North Star Boulevard crosswalks. Item 11, safe passage to school, the pilot relocation

[00:09:01] and pilot location recommendations. I will say I have checked, I believe, with everyone who was on TLUC because this came through finance. I just wanted to make sure all the TLUC supervisors were fine with this being on consent, and I've gotten no objection from anybody on TLEC so it will remain on consent. Item FY, 2027 Budget Development, Preliminary Capital Improvement Program Guidance and Fiscal Policy Updates. Again, TLEC members, if you have information, if you want more information about that, please talk to staff and they will give you whatever you need if you have not received it already. Item 2A, Appointments

[00:09:37] and Confirmations. Item 3, the Administrative Item Report as of July 15, 2025, which will now include the 3G that I just added. Item 4, incentive package for retention and expansion of ORBCOM. Item 5, contract award labor relations administration services. Item 6, practices and procedures on advisory boards, commissions and committees and bylaws, templates, amendments.

[00:10:05] That is the consent agenda. I'll make a motion to approve that agenda. Is there a second on my motion second seconded by um supervisor bricksman discussion on the motion for any lixon agenda items mr crony uh thank you chair randall um i just want to briefly uh um talk about the safe passages to school pilot recommendations uh the joint board of supervisors and school board committee has been working on this program since 2022 and i'm pleased to see that the eight highest

[00:10:39] priority crosswalks for the safe passage of school program will be considered in the future cip and that the county is applying for two grants so i think that's wonderful staff has identified two grant funding opportunities and while the pilot has eight crosswalks it's not just about crosswalks but includes missing sidewalks and trails to get students safely to school crosswalks cannot be viewed in isolation and need to be included as part of a comprehensive strategy to improve

[00:11:13] pedestrian access to and from schools. In my district, there's a community located just to recall Cross Willard Middle School where there's a crosswalk and two crossing guards in place, but students still have to ride the bus because there's no sidewalk connecting the neighborhood to the crosswalk and literally it's like not even a half mile um so i believe um these missing segments in the um school uh walk zone should be a priority and i look forward to working with staff

[00:11:48] to develop a scope of work for this project i also want to bring up the route 50 and north star boulevard crosswalk i think that's a great idea and i would like to see um crosswalks that potentially fleetwood road um and um you know the lena mill route 50 intersection it's a great way to get people across route 50 to like john champ and to um different amenities on you know from route 50 north uh to route 50 south so i thank staff for doing a crosswalk at north star boulevard

[00:12:22] thank you thank you mr um laterno yeah i was just going to comment on that one briefly um i do have a trepidation about crossing Route 50 and I want to make clear that the crosswalks that we're doing here will not obviate the need for the ultimate configuration which is interchange especially at Loudoun County Parkway and Route 50 which would be a much safer path which is what ultimately happened on Route 7. That said we did ask that this be looked at because this this project kind of got caught. It was not included in the southern, if you remember, the whole of North Star

[00:13:01] Boulevard from Tall Cedars Parkway up to Brambleton were two different projects. They got split in half. So the first project was the southern one, and that did not, actually the first was the north one, but either way, didn't get added to the southern one, and VDOT would not approve a warrant for it because there was no northern connection at that time because it opened first. The northern connection was a federalized project that we didn't have the ability to add anything to so this crosswalk got completely left behind is the bottom line so what we're doing now is going back and completing this which really should have been done as part of the original north star

[00:13:39] projects by putting some additional funding in there to fund the crosswalk because neither project that actually built north star boulevard on the north or the south actually included the crosswalk so that's what this is and i appreciate uh staff's work on this and uh the board's support thank you sir miss brixman thank you madam chair i'll echo what supervisor uh tacrony said about the safe routes to schools and i know that um the horizon elementary school families will be really happy that there will be a safe crosswalk from a couple townhome communities across broadmoore for for the school or to the school.

[00:14:17] I do wanna clear up a couple or some misconceptions about the budget development item that came through finance last week. We start our budget development and finance as we know now in July.

[00:14:32] Staff comes to the finance committee to kind of feel out where the board is on budget growth and some other things. It is not new for staff to be talking about potentially lowering the rate of the general rate on personal property, which is what the largest chunk of our revenue comes from through the data centers.

[00:14:57] But I just want to make it clear that staff is recommending this for the fiscal health of the county. They're thinking 10 or 15 years ahead. My MBA and my finance chair hat really understands where they're coming from. But my policy hat doesn't necessarily agree, and I don't know that the supervisors will agree at that meeting.

[00:15:19] So no decision has been made, and we don't vote on FY27 final tax rates probably until early April 26. And so there is a lot of time to debate this and discuss this. And, again, the supervisors, I have a feeling there may be some disagreements with staff's recommendation, which is, you know, not super unusual, but as finance chair, I did ask staff to come up with some scenarios as to what would happen if we did lower that rate, you know, a nickel, 10 cents, 15 cents. I'm also planning to meet with our finance and budget office

[00:15:55] to hopefully brainstorm some more creative ideas on how we could use this revenue productively without ballooning our budget, and that is the biggest concern from staff, is ballooning the budget because under law we have to have a balanced budget at the local level so we can't just put these sorts of revenues into savings and forget about it it still is an expense item so it's ballooning the budget and the fact that we have a skewed revenue pie toward one industry and so staff is rightly bringing this to our attention and has for the last couple of years

[00:16:32] and the process to make a decision on this will be very, very transparent, and we'll see where it goes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Bricksman, and thanks for saying that, because sometimes I think the staff, as you said, the staff is supposed to bring us options, and that's what they did, and that's all that was.

[00:16:54] So thank you for saying that. Anybody else on the consent agenda? I do know that Mr. Kirshner and Mr. Sainz are both coming. They're just going to be running a little late. All the people who say aye. Any opposed? Senator Jennifer Pass, 702. Okay, I do not have a voice for a cause this evening, mostly because I have quite a few updates I'm going to try to get through.

[00:17:16] First, some good news. I heard back, I got a message today from Congressman Supramanyam that said that he has secured the funding for the Route 15 Braddock Roundabout and the Abilene Apartments.

[00:17:34] And so that was the first time we heard that. So that's good news, and so we will have a little bit more on that later on. I will say that I've had a very, very, very busy two weeks, but most of it was spent the past four days.

[00:17:49] I was joined by Supervisors Glass, Supervisor Brickman, Supervisor Turner, and Supervisor Sainz at the National Association of Counties Conference. We are very involved at NACO, and I think that's a good thing.

[00:18:05] There are always literally hundreds of things discussed at NACO and all the committees. But the two big things this year that kind of took over the conversations were the effect of H.R.1, which is what Donald Trump, President Trump, calls the one big beautiful bill on counties and localities.

[00:18:28] And for the first time, it felt like everybody else in the country looked up and went, There's these things called data centers, and we want to know about them. And so, no kidding, the county supervisors who were there were kind of inundated with questions about data centers. And so it was really interesting for the first time, you know, people from Wyoming were asking us about data centers.

[00:18:49] So I'll go through some of the things. First, I'll talk a little bit about H.R. 1. NACO put out a statement, and I'm going to read it verbatim. A recent evaluation of H.R.1 by the National Association of Counties concluded that the federal changes as a result of H.R.1 present three distinct challenges for counties.

[00:19:12] One, increased cost. Two, diminished federal support. And three, reduced local autonomy. This triad could strain local budgets beyond their capacity, potentially leading to a delayed services, workforce reductions, or increased local taxes to sustain essential required services. All right, supervisors, I bought back for all of you and the staff, and even for if we have any media that wants it, I bought back first the one-pager on what NACO

[00:19:46] put out about H.R. 1. If you haven't received it, I'm happy to hand it to you right now. If you did not get the link with the entire breakdown of H.R. 1, I'm happy to send that to you as well. A couple of things we should know about H.R. 1.

[00:20:03] The two big places that really will impact county governments are in SNAP, which is the Supplemental Nutritional Food Program for Children, and Medicaid. There are no real changes in requirements for who will get SNAP.

[00:20:19] So for who needs to have SNAP, for the income level of parents, for children to get SNAP, there have been very few, if no changes, to SNAP requirements. What has changed is the formula. Up until now, the federal government and state and local governments had a 50-50 split with the administration administering SNAP.

[00:20:41] Federal government was 50%, localities and state 50%. R1 changes that to a 75-25 split, with local and state governments doing 75% of that, and federal government now doing only 25%, which would make it much more costly for localities and state to literally help children who may not have money for food to take care of that.

[00:21:08] So I will talk more about this and kind of, for lack of a better word, my opinions on it and we do our board comments, but right now I'm just trying to give some of the facts because this is the time where I just give the facts. So that is the biggest change in SNAP is the formula and how it's put out.

[00:21:24] Changes to Medicaid are going to be much tougher. Changes to Medicaid will change eligibility determinations, state funding restrictions. changes will have a huge impact on rural hospitals. It is expected as many as one quarter of the rural hospitals in this country, if not more, could close because rural locations are very dependent on Medicaid money, and there will be an increased cost for enrollees to enroll in Medicaid.

[00:21:59] The estimation for a number of Americans that are likely to lose their Medicaid is almost $12 million. And again, I'm not making comments on it, that's just what we put out, that was put out. The CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, which is a nonpartisan office, estimated that the deficit from H.R. 1 passing will not only not decrease, but it will increase at the minimum about $3.2 trillion over the next 10 years. The federal deficit will increase

[00:22:34] by that much. And so, again, I'll talk more later on about some of the thoughts I have about these things as it relates to our government, county government, but those are the facts and that's what H.R. 1 would do and the impacts, mostly negative impacts that it will have for county government. I will say, again, the one positive thing that did happen in H.R. 1, there had been an effort to say that no locality, let me see if I can say this right, I'm working from memory, no locality who had any facilities that had anything to

[00:23:10] do with, it didn't say anything to do with, I'm paraphrasing, with artificial intelligence could put any regulations on those facilities, which would mean data centers. No localities could put any regulations on data centers. That was stripped out the bill, and that was stripped out the bill with the help of -- with the huge help of the National Association of Counties, especially the EELU Committee on the National Association of -- which is Energy -- Environment, Energy and Land Use Committee on the National Association of Counties.

[00:23:43] So that language was stripped out of H.R. 1. So that's a really good thing, especially for Loudoun County. On data centers, that was stripped out and that happened, but also there was just a lot of discussions on data centers. Google actually presented on data centers at the Midsides County Caucus, of which now I am Vice Chair of the Midsides County Caucus. You know, you know, data centers are a double-edged sword, and so when a data center presents, even if

[00:24:16] they're a very good neighbor data center, it's mostly the good news. And so there was some talking to us in Loudoun County about what was the other side of data centers. And so we had a lot of those conversations.

[00:24:33] I am also really, really, really proud to say that I was chairing the Health Steering Committee and one resolution, one emergency resolution for NACO passed. And NACO has, there are 3,069 counties in America, 86% of those counties belong to NACO.

[00:24:53] So there are thousands of supervisors there and thousands of resolutions put forward and quite a few emergency resolutions. Only one emergency resolution passed unanimously with no issues from the committee or from the full body, and that was from Loudoun County and from my office.

[00:25:11] And I really want to call out three of my staffers, young staffers, Justin, Jalen, and Claire, age 25, 22, and 20, and the resolution was to require accurate information, evidence-based, scientific information as it concerns vaccinations be put out by Congress.

[00:25:38] Now, the resolution passed NACO. What happens now is we will find the patron on the House side and the Senate side, and then it goes to Congress. Now, we have no idea what's going to happen in Congress. And we have no idea, although I very seriously doubt they would ever get passed or signed.

[00:25:55] But the fact that it passed and that Loudon put it forward and that these three young people did it was pretty amazing. Nakel, this was the 90th anniversary. Mr. Hemstreet, I was able to grab two of these books, the 90th anniversary books. I'd like to keep one for myself.

[00:26:12] I will give you the other one. If we have a historian in Loudon County, great. Okay, I'd like to make sure we have that in the archives. somewhere. And finally, I will say that the big news, biggest, a big thing is NACO was made up of all the counties and the steering committees and the board of directors. If you think of NACO like Congress, the president of NACO, the new president of NACO is named J.D. Clark. He's from Texas.

[00:26:38] The steering committee acts very much as like the president's cabinet. And then the board acts very much like Congress. And so there are only 10 steering committees in NACO, and that's a really big deal to be a steering committee chair. Right now, one of the most important steering committees is the Environmental Energy and Land Use Committee. It is a huge committee to be chair of and a very big deal. And we are proud to say that our own vice chair, Mike Turner, is now the chair of NACO's EELU steering committee. So I'm going to allow

[00:27:13] this time for a clap for Mike Turner and you walked away without getting your NACO gift which they gave to me and I you know I I only hope I only give it to you because they're gonna ask me if I did give it to you so okay so I'm giving you the gift that you forgot to take when you when you walked away from NACO so there's your gift in addition I had in the TC I mean in the North Virginia Transportation Committee, NVTA, and other regional meetings.

[00:27:48] If you have any questions about those regional meetings, I've done, I think, I've done COG, I've done NVTA. Just send me emails, and I will give you all the information about that. I will make sure that I send to the press and to everybody else this information about HR1. I will give it to everybody in the dais.

[00:28:04] I'll give it to all the staff members who require it, and I'll send it to the press. And if you have any other questions about any of that, phyllis.randalloutland.gov. Send me an email. That is all I have. Mr. Hemstreet, do you have any questions? I mean, any comments this evening?

[00:28:20] Yes, Madam Chair. I actually have five comments for this evening. Five? Yes. I have one extra. The first is that the 2025 edition of the Loudoun County Apartment Guide is now available. The Guide and Companion online map provide information about both market rate and affordable rental options in Loudoun County.

[00:28:40] The online map has a searchable directory of the communities contained in the guide, including a search by school zone feature. Links to the guide and map can be found at loudon.gov slash apartment guide. Second, Loudoun County is hosting two upcoming job fairs.

[00:28:56] The Workforce Resource Center will hold a job fair at the Adams Center in Sterling this Saturday, July 19th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair will feature local government, including Loudoun County, as well as private sector employers with job opportunities. Details are available at loudon.gov job slash job fair.

[00:29:13] And on Thursday, July 24th, the Department of Economic Development will host a work in Loudon job fair at the Westfields Marriott in Chantilly from 1 to 4 p.m. It's part of the Loudon Resilience Initiative, which was created to assist workers affected by the reduction in the federal workforce.

[00:29:29] Details can be found at loudonpossible.com. Third Solarize Virginia has extended the deadline for Loudoun homeowners to sign up to learn more about solar power options Specific to their property this year's program will run for an extra month to August 15th The program offers free satellite solar assessments Streamlined installation and discounted pricing on solar systems from vetted installers more information is online at Solarize VA org Fourth the Department of Housing and Community Development is sponsoring a series of virtual monthly lunch and learn sessions about fair housing law the first one is scheduled for july 23rd and

[00:30:07] we'll focus on fair housing and mental health awareness more information is online at loudon.gov slash fair housing and then finally members of the finance government operations and economic development committee i had the opportunity to meet our new director of the department of transportation and capital infrastructure but i'd also like to take this opportunity to formally introduce shereen durazio to the full board ms durazio emerged as the top candidate for this critical position among a strong and competitive group of applicants she brings with her more than two decades of professional experience with the united states department of veterans affairs

[00:30:43] and the united states army please welcome ms durazio to loudon county and those are my comments welcome although she doesn't live in the county we're going to fix that though that's going to take care of that supervisors we have a very long agenda this evening so i'm going to try to go to motions as fast as possible and i'm going to ask you all to remember that we have a very long agenda this evening um it's also unlikely that we can get well we won't we have quite a few items

[00:31:19] where people want to come speak on the item so i cannot take those items before we public comment But I will try to move up some of the items where there are no speakers so that we can get through them faster. So I'm going to go on right now and do the health plan update, which is item 1I.

[00:31:41] After that, Mr. Kirshner is not here, so I can't do the road naming because it's in his district. I will go back and do item 14 because it's a BMI between Mr. Crony and I. And then, if we still have time, then I might do item 10, the Virginia Property Maintenance Code and Enhanced Proactive Zoning Enforcement, because there are no people who are here to speak on that item that I saw on our list.

[00:32:07] So I'll try to get through some of the items where we don't have speakers. The ones we do have speakers are going to take longer, and I apologize. And I will tell you right now, for people who are here, for Hittin' Wood, we probably will not even get to Hittin' Wood to at least, to possibly like seven o'clock.

[00:32:26] So I'm just letting you guys know that. So you're gonna be sitting here, if you wanna go grab some food, you're probably gonna do that and come back, but just let you know how long these times are gonna take today. So, but supervisors, let's just be really conscious of how much, of time. Hi, how are you?

[00:32:43] - I'm well. Good evening, Chair Randall and board members. We have three options this evening. We have a presentation that we can go over that we went over last week at finance. we can simply jump to the recommendation of which we had a more robust conversation about last week, or I can open it up for any questions.

[00:33:02] So, Madam Chair, that one. Yeah, non-finance members, would you like to see this item? Non-finance, you would. Okay, then we're going to do the presentation. Sounds great. Thank you. So, we're returning to you this evening to review the countywide health plan utilization, renewal, and recommendations for plan year 2026.

[00:33:22] We're coming to you in July. provides our HR department enough time to ensure all questions are flushed out, and our Department of Human Resources has adequate time to configure and test our open enrollment system. As a reminder, back in 2020, the Department of Human Resources conducted a robust RFP and ultimately selected vendors to administer our health plan.

[00:33:41] The county granted health plan awards to Cigna, Express Scripts, Delta Dental, and Davis Vision. Go ahead and next. Our contracts were awarded for a five-year initial term, which expires on December 31, 2025, and we have five one-year renewal options, of which 2026 will be the first.

[00:34:02] So I'll begin with our brief presentation here. Next. Each year, we look at three different populations of covered members. Our active employee base, our pre-65 retirees, and our post-65 retirees. As mentioned previously, we blend our active employees and our pre-65 retirees together in terms of reviewing plan utilization, plan design, recommendations, projections, and the renewal. Next. There are a number of factors that impact costs each year. Chronic conditions impact

[00:34:35] 44% of our population, resulting in 72% of the plan's total cost, with hypertension and obesity being most prevalent. Remember that fact as we talk about our recommendation later on this evening. These numbers are slightly lower than the Cigna norm, which is great. However, we have approximately 1,000 unique members who have comorbidities where they have chronic conditions that overlap one another. High-cost claimants, defined as those who have claims in excess of $100,000, continue to contribute to overall costs for the year, but we did see only about a 5.4% increase

[00:35:10] in that cost. We've seen claims of this nature much higher in the past. Prescription drugs continue to be a primary driver in our plan. We saw a 20% increase in costs in 2024. Our actuaries have now increase their current trend factor to 11% for 2026. This is a significant increase from prior years where they use a trend factor of 9%. Medical inflation is another factor. When Cigna renegotiates their contracts with providers, they have to evaluate the increases to determine whether or not they should continue to contract with them. Not renewing these contracts creates disruption for our employees, so in certain cases, they need to renew at a higher price point, and then we all

[00:35:50] feel that through our premium increases. Member enrollment can also impact the cost of the health plan. We've seen a gradual migration from our most expensive OAP high plan to our standard OAP plan, and I've also seen migration into our high deductible plans, which are paired with health savings accounts. As I mentioned last week, our standard OAP plan is still a very strong plan with very little out-of-pocket costs when compared to other plans within the market. We continue to roll out wellness initiatives and challenges to keep our employees engaged in their own health. I know last week there were some questions around physical wellness initiatives. Although we

[00:36:28] continue to offer programs to discourage sedentary lifestyles, over the years we have begun to place additional focus on other dimensions of wellness such as social, financial, environmental, and emotional. Stress can and does manifest in a variety of ways so we do try and focus on things such as sleep, personal growth, retirement planning, and retirement spending, personalized approaches to healthy eating, cooking healthy, and saving for education. All areas that cause stress in our lives that more times than not lead to unhealthy habits. We are also working with a more virtual workforce, so we're now engaging in after-hours activities such as building portable

[00:37:06] gardens virtually, running desk to 5K programs where we invite employees to a Leesburg park three times a week for eight weeks to train for a 5K with contracted trainers. We promote all of our activities on a monthly and quarterly basis to our employee base via our newsletters. We try engage staff in fun and competitive and health promoting activities. Lastly, we continue to promote clinical and disease management programs through Cigna. We deploy targeted communications and reminders to employees who have what we would call a gap in care. So for instance, if due to your age you've missed

[00:37:43] maybe a screening such as a mammogram or a colonoscopy, Cigna will reach out to you specifically to remind you of the benefits that are afforded to you. Next. When our consultants prepare our cost projections for the next plan year, we look at what the change will be with no changes to plan design.

[00:38:02] For plan year 2026, we have one recommendation that we are bringing to the table this evening. As a reminder, when we contemplate changes to plan design, we look at three different factors. We look at market prevalence, cost to the health plan, and employee sentiment. As I'm sure you're all aware, GLP-1 medications used for weight loss have been a major discussion item for both employers and employees in their homes.

[00:38:26] Currently, the county only covers GLP-1's medications for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. We have been keeping track of them over the past couple of years and have heard from countless employees regarding coverage. They are extremely expensive, often costing employees anywhere from a few hundred dollars per month upwards to $1,000 per month, if not more.

[00:38:47] The topic is a bit complicated as there's a delicate balance between what we want to offer for the good of the whole for our entire population compared to what's offered to just specific populations. There are studies across the board that address different aspects of this, such as clinical benefits, how many covered members start the meds but then struggle with the side effects, or the prevalence of weight gain once they go off medications.

[00:39:10] As indicated in the item, in Cigna's National Book of Business, 40% of their clients are now covering GLP-1s. And in a recent Siegel survey, and Siegel is our health plan consultant, 52% of their public sector clients are covering GLP-1s for weight management.

[00:39:26] The cost associated with including these medications is about 1.8% of planned costs, or about $1.7 million per year, and that's over the standard renewal. Although this price tag is significant, the results may serve to offset these costs down the road.

[00:39:44] Some studies suggest that these medications will help lower cholesterol, decrease the risk of heart and kidney disease, and lower blood pressure. There are many studies that don't affect at this point, but given we have over 2,600 covered members with hypertension and another 1,500 or so who are diagnosed as obese, it stands to reason that these risk factors would diminish through the use of these medications and thus possibly reducing significant clinical events such as heart attacks and strokes.

[00:40:11] Best practice suggests that if plans choose to offer GLP-1s for weight loss, they should pair this coverage with a weight management and nutritional-based coaching services and requirements program. Express Scripts, along with OMADA, have designed a program which includes required engagements that employees and dependents must accomplish in order to have their GLP-1 scripts covered.

[00:40:33] In last week's meeting, there seemed to be some concerns and questions surrounding the program, so I wanted to share a bit more about the mechanics. First of all, I want to be clear on the eligibility. You must be at least 18 years of age or older. Your BMI must be greater than 32 or greater than equal to 27 with documentation of comorbidities.

[00:40:55] I'm not going to go ahead and list the comorbidities in the item. I can't pronounce half of them, but they're on page 9. Those who are approved of the program will be granted approval for 7 to 8 months depending on the medication that's filled. After 7 to 8 months, 5% weight loss is the minimum loss to stay within the program, but losing less than 5% is extremely rare when on these medications.

[00:41:18] The prior authorization is then renewed for 12 months at a time. If denied, there are three levels of appeal with one of them being an independent review an independent review organization implementing a requirements-based program will help employees manage the side effects and also assist employees in building building out lifestyles to support their weight loss efforts these weekly engagements include weekly weigh-ins with a web-based scale that's monitored by a health coach virtual check-ins with nutritionists and to be particular and or checking in with a with an app on a variety of different options such as tracking your steps

[00:41:55] tracking your meals or simply reading health-based articles if they are not completed their glp1 script will be denied until such time they do complete that requirement we also fielded a few questions last evening or last week regarding the cost of glp1s if we did not implement the requirements-based program we went back to our actuaries and asked about what would it look like without the requirements and the response was they would essentially double to 3.6 percent or 3.4 million. This is due to additional patients who do not meet the qualifications alongside a significant amount of medication waste as patients are unable to manage

[00:42:33] the side effects and they would discontinue the medications. Lastly, the prospect of transition employees off weight loss medications long term becomes much more difficult. Next. In terms of premium rate recommendations, they are as follows. Employee and pre-65 retirees medical premiums will increase by 12.2 percent. This includes the 1.8 percent assuming the GLP-1 medications and the requirements program is approved. And keep in mind to Supervisor Letourneau's point last week

[00:43:08] this 12.2 percent is in fact applied to employees and the retirees as well as the county. So we all share in that. We don't shift costs around just to benefit one plan or another. Employee and pre-65 retiree dental premiums will increase by 3%, and our last population, our post-65 retiree medical premium increase will be 4.5%, with their dental premium increase at 2.2%. Next. Our three decision points we are bringing forth this evening is the plan design enhancement, the employee premium recommendations, and

[00:43:43] the exercising of the first-year renewal option of our four-year contracts, four-year vendor contracts, I'm sorry. And with that, I can open it up for questions. I got it. Thank you very much. Supervisors, especially members of the TELUC committee who were not here for a finance meeting. If you have questions, please turn your light on. Ms. Glass.

[00:44:05] Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the presentation. So when you were talking about the increased 12.2 percent, is that including family or single? Is that all the way across when we talking about that increase? Yes, so 12.2% is across the board, no matter what medical plan you're in, and no matter what coverage tier you have. Individual, employee plus one, employee plus family. Okay. Do we have information for folks who may want to look at that and see how much

[00:44:40] that is monthly, you know, for their budget to see what the increase will be for them? At the back of the item, attachments one and two have those new rates, and attachments three and have the previous rates so they can simply do a compare okay thank you yes thank you mr crony thank you chair randall so hi how are you so it's for all the plans right all the plans would be a 12.2 because some of them have you know less deductibles right some of it yes we typically apply the increases to all the plans uniformly except for I mean as I mentioned earlier we do blend

[00:45:18] our actives and our pre 65 five retirees because they have access to the same plans but the post 65 retirees they have a med sup plan it's very different it's a different animal so they have a 4.5 percent increase and the drugs aren't applied to that particular plan their drug plan is more of a government-based plan which which plan is that the hra for the post six for the post 65 retirees oh post 65 okay um okay so i i think you know it sounds like it's

[00:45:48] employee sentiment, wanting the GLP, yeah, the GLP-1 medications, and I do think over the long run, it could be preventative, right, as far as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, it could reduce our costs over the long run.

[00:46:10] Is that what other plans have experienced? Do you know? We talked about this a little bit last week. the data is still a little shallow at this point because they're still kind of new with, I mean, they're exploiting on TV all the time. But I think it stands to reason that you would see reduced costs in the future, but also we would need to make sure that we implement it in the proper way.

[00:46:36] Right. Okay. Which that's why we talk about the program to kind of help put guardrails on the side to make sure that employees understand what they're getting into and what the expectations are. So it's a requirements-based program, so you mentioned that that would be part of the program, right, the requirements, you know, the weighing in and the consultation.

[00:46:58] That's correct, and just to be clear, the four weigh-ins, it's one per week, and there's no requirement to check in with a nutritionist. That's an option. In lieu of that, you can simply track your steps, track your meals, read some articles, so it's really just the weigh-in is the real act that you have to engage in.

[00:47:14] Right. And I think health care has been increasing across the nation. So I think these plans are all, I mean, I don't think this is unusual with a 12.2% increase. Am I right about that? I just think health care keeps increasing every year, the cost of health care.

[00:47:33] Yeah, I don't have that data with me, but I did have a conversation with our consultants this morning, separate and apart from this, and I asked about what increases they are seeing, and they're seeing anywhere from 11 to 14 percent. Okay, so this isn't unusual. It's not unusual. Okay, thank you so much.

[00:47:48] I appreciate it. So I would, before I make the motion, I would just say since we talked about this in finance, I've had quite a few employees mostly text me, not email me, but text me about how helpful it has been for them to have access to some of the assistance for weight loss.

[00:48:10] I actually do like the, I think it's a good idea to do the check-ins and things like that because, one, you don't want to have a yo-yo effect, but you gain the weight and lose the weight and gain the weight because that's actually really hard in the body. It also gives you some, possibly would give a person some support around them, a support system just to do a little self-reveal.

[00:48:33] I never, ever had trouble with my weight until about 10 years ago when this thing, you know, this thing happens to women of a certain age. When I start doing like this, you'll know what that is.

[00:48:50] And when that happened, all of a sudden I couldn't get, I was like, what is happening? I couldn't, and it was very, very frustrating. And so all the ideas about if you just eat better, if you just work out less, I'll have to do it. I mean, I was like, oh, okay.

[00:49:07] It's just not quite as easy as one might think to get weight off. And so anything that helps with not only your physical body, but also your self-worth and self-esteem, these things shouldn't be attached to our self-worth, but they are.

[00:49:23] They are. They just are. And so I support this fully, but I do support having some, you know, I support having supports around the weight loss, because I think that's also really important. So I will make this motion, unless somebody else wants to.

[00:49:39] I'm happy to make the motion. I move the recommendation of the Finance, Government Operations, and Economic Development Committee to the Board of Supervisors to approve the plan design change recommended in the July 15, 2025 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Action Item, adopt the proposed premiums for plan year 2026, January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026, as outlined in Attachments 1 and 2 to the July 15, 2025 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Action Item, and authorize the purchasing agent to review the contracts with the county's group health plan vendors.

[00:50:15] I further move the recommendations of the Finance, Operations, and Economic Development Committee that the board's supervisors authorize the purchasing agent and the Department of Human Resources to take the necessary steps to implement the recommended plan change and propose premiums for the countywide group health plan.

[00:50:33] Motion is maintained by Supervisor Bricksman. I do not have an opening. Does anyone else have anything to say on this item? Seeing none, I'll be able to say aye. Any opposed? that motion will pass 801. Thank you very much. Supervisor Kirchner, is it okay with you if we go on and do the item on the street naming? Because I don't think there's, we have no one speaking on this, and we may be able to just roll through a couple of these items right now, which would be

[00:51:05] really good. So let's do item seven, the street naming. If you come to the dais, we can go back to the motion. We certainly can do that. I'm fine going to the motion. He's going to draft

[00:51:44] motion two. Do you have that? Okay, I see. Okay, good. Ready when you are, sir. I'm going to go directly to the motion. I'm going to do motion number two with a very minor tweak. I move the Board of Supervisors direct staff to generate other street names that are historic in nature. That's the addition, historic in nature, and in accordance with chapter 1020 the codified ordinance of loudon county and bring such street names to future board to a future board of business meaning for consideration and action i will second that thank you madam chair

[00:52:19] um just in terms of comments i want first of all i want to thank our staff kristen brown and everybody in my office who's been working on this um we have as a result of this when this originally came out i think it was last month we contacted all the residents and we discovered a number of of them had not voted because none of them really favored the names that were suggested.

[00:52:38] So as a result, this is kind of in some ways a somewhat insignificant issue, but it's kind of important if you're going to live on the street and what you name it. And I think we can probably ultimately come to a resolution where all the residents on the street could ultimately decide on if we give them a list of really good names with some historic backing on it, that they could come to a name, and ultimately we as a board could agree on that. So that's really the purpose of this. Pretty simple and straightforward.

[00:53:09] But obviously, I think, you know, if we could, if we could all choose the name of the street that we live on, we probably would, but not all of us can. So here's a rare opportunity for a community to do so. So I'm just asking for support to move this forward, and we will work on, we're going to ask staff to generate some names, and hopefully come back with those names and some consensus within that community. Thank you. And I would just say I'm happy to second the motion and I will trust staff to know that historic in nature that our history is complicated and of course interesting and so historic can mean a lot of things and I trust you all to use your good judgment on which you bring back. Thank you very much. Anything else

[00:53:48] Mr. Kirshner? No Madam Chair. All right all in favor please Mr. Kirshner make the motion I second the motion. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 802. And that's how you do an item and that's how you do an item i've heard that man let's go to item number 14 which is a bmi um but mr crony and myself mr crony we're going to go to this item i'm going to let you um open the item if you'd like to ma'am motion you can do you want to do quickly explaining what

[00:54:22] it is or you want to go straight to the motion i can i can explain okay okay so um this is a bmi Pull your microphone just a tiny bit closer. Thank you. A BMI titled Inclusion of Electrical Transmission Line and Substation Information on Boards Meeting Staff Reports for Certainly-In-Use Applications.

[00:54:51] So the purpose of this initiative is to provide transparency and clarity about the location of on-site and off-site high voltage transmission lines and electrical substations in relation to industrial or data center land use applications brought to the planning commission and board.

[00:55:07] This will help the board make more informed decisions about the adequacy of electrical infrastructure to serve the uses that would be permitted on the property if it would be classified to a different zoning district. Just like we look at transportation, the adequacy of transportation and the adequacy of water and soar.

[00:55:28] And also look at the impacts and the impacts to utilities and the infrastructure. So, the reason for this is it'll also help us avoid having to ask the applicant who may or may not provide accurate information or have the information.

[00:55:48] We have not had this in our staff reports in the past, and we've had to ask the applicant for this information, and I think it behooves us to have staff look at this and do mapping and do an analysis of where the high voltage transmission lines greater than 130 KV are on the subject property.

[00:56:12] And also if there are no high voltage transmission lines on the property to include a map showing where they are and where are the substations within one mile of the property and a summary of the research and consultation with the electric service provider of potential routes or the pathway for the new high voltage transmission lines that might be considered to serve the property.

[00:56:41] So that is the idea is to get more information about electrical infrastructure. - Would you like to go and make the motion, Mr. Crowley? - Yeah, I can make the motion. I move that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to incorporate narrative and mapping details regarding high voltage utility electrical infrastructure the staff reports submitted to the planning commission and board of supervisors for industrial and data center land use applications as summarized in the july 15 2025 board of supervisors business

[00:57:18] meeting action item second second opening are you good um i think i'm good okay um so i i want to be real clear i don't think i think i probably stopped my colleagues more than anything else on this day a single you can't you cannot we cannot consider power we cannot consider power but we can consider infrastructure and where things are located and mr corney just said something was mr glass why is your light on i look down the i look down the day as man you're lying mr crane just said something really really important she said we often have to ask the

[00:57:54] applicant about where something is and the applicant i you know i think our applicants are are are honest but i think that no it's behooves them to tell us everything right and so it I think when they tell us things, sometimes they tell us things in the best possible light.

[00:58:12] And so it's important for it to be included with our information up front. So we just know, because we are getting questions out, where is this transmission line going and where is this substation going? And no, we cannot consider power, but we can consider where infrastructure will be placed.

[00:58:31] And so I think that it's important for staff just to bring that forward. And just one more tool in our toolbox as we make some of these decisions. So I was happy to join Mr. Crony on this BMI.

[00:58:47] I'd like to have a closing. I want to kind of piggyback on what you said. So high-voltage transmission lines and substations are really critical infrastructure for data center applications and really to understand the impacts of this infrastructure and to propose potential mitigation measures.

[00:59:07] The board needs to understand where they are, the proximity of this infrastructure. So this will give us the information, I think, to make informed decisions about applications that require this infrastructure. All right.

[00:59:23] So it's a BMI from Mr. Crony and myself. All in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? that motion will pass 8 0 um 8 0 1 yeah with mr saying thank you mr rogers um supervisors we are we are doing we are rocking and rolling i'm so happy do i do not see anyone who signed up to speak on item 13 do you all see look at the sign up list before i say this because i don't want

[00:59:59] anyone to come up and say they did and then they did but i don't see anyone who signed up on item 13 so I think I don't think there is either oh that's true okay well might we well on on 13 we may need the other supervisor okay how about 11 yeah how about do we see anyone who signed up for item 11 let's look at the list really well because I want to be real sure which is 11 is the Department of Planning

[01:00:33] Zoning Work Plan okay how about we do are you all here are you ready you can go home if we do this right now oh they can't go home oh I'm sorry you can't go home all right so we're going to do item 11 with the department of planning and zoning work plan good evening madam chair we have about five other items in front of y'all I'm sorry I am sorry I'm trying I was trying

[01:01:05] oh wait so if you have not signed the resolutions please go sign the resolutions they're in the back If you do not sign them, please do that.

[01:01:25] Okay. Thank you. Good evening, Madam Chair. Good evening. This is our quarterly update on the work plan for the Department of Planning and Zoning.

[01:01:40] I was last before you on April 15th. In short, our overall summary will be a recommendation that the Board adopt the projects and the prioritization listed. I will highlight as part of the discussion tonight a new proposal to add a comprehensive plan amendment to incorporate elements of Loudoun's Trails and Waterway Network into the 2019 general plan.

[01:02:08] And the impetus for that is to try to avoid somewhat needless commission permits that the Parks and Rec staff and DTCI staff might otherwise have to pursue if we can incorporate some of those things into the plan ahead of time. I'll also be seeking your direction at the request of the Planning Commission regarding two topics that they have requested be added to the ongoing 2024 general plan review CPAM as well.

[01:02:33] I will note that overall, if anyone looked at the numerous footnotes in the item, for about half of our ongoing projects, the timeline slipped a little bit on estimated completion date for a number of different reasons.

[01:02:50] For the data center standards and locations phase two, I've switched that to be determined, but solely because we are taking the scope of that to TLUC and we have not been able to do so yet, so I didn't want to guess at a date based on a previous project plan that may not be anywhere close to where we end up.

[01:03:10] So once we talk to the Transportation Land Use Committee at the end of the month, we'll have a much better way to determine what the estimate for that should be when I bring this back to you the next quarter. The Western Loudoun project, as those of you on TELUC are aware, is moving right along. Still having regular meetings, still working through numerous detailed topics and thankfully partly because that deadline for completion is so far out. That's one of the few that has not moved. I complimented the team on that just the other day. For the zoning ordinance

[01:03:45] rewrite adjustments, that was taken back to ZOC one more time since I was in front of you in April and we are working with the county attorney's office to finalize the resolution of intent to amend to the ROYA that we will put in front of you to formalize the breadth of the things that we hope to adjust with that ZOAM hopefully in the near future after the August break. For the floodplain overlay district amendment that is also still proceeding according to our expected timeline it is currently with the zoning ordinance committee who are reviewing it and looking at the

[01:04:21] drafts that the Department of Building Development has prepared regarding the plans for how to update our floodplain regulations. For our community planning initiatives, I am happy to report that the St. Louis Village plan has been recommended by the Planning Commission. That was subject to some changes that staff is currently making to the document that were captured in their staff report to the Planning Commission, but we are anticipating bringing that to you at the September public hearing and moving forward with any additional changes that the board may desire

[01:04:55] and closing that project out soon. For the 2024 general plan review, I will come back to that in just a moment to touch on the two items that the commission would like to have considered. For the remainder of the planning initiatives, the runway 30 aviation noise mitigation project is ongoing.

[01:05:18] That timeline did slip slightly, we estimate, although that will partly depend on the actions that we hope to bring to the board following the August break to more than likely, assuming that the design group finishes their work on the schedule that we anticipate, bring their formal recommendation on adjustments to proposed flight paths for runway 30 to TLUC in September and then to the board hopefully in October.

[01:05:45] And that will be an opportunity for the board to essentially let us know whether we should move on to the regional group that will be the final decision-making body before that would get submitted to the FAA or whether the board would like us to cease work on that Depending on what that design groups recommendations are. So we'll be happy to discuss that further with you Once we get closer to those items. Otherwise, the only other significant change on here is for the countywide transportation plan for view

[01:06:15] We did previously have an estimated completion date, however, after meeting with, I believe, eight of the nine of you, if my count isn't incorrect, we discussed internally and decided that we needed some time to determine how long it's truly going to take to address the various items that individual board members brought up as their desires for what they want to see in this project.

[01:06:37] So at our next quarterly update, we will have a better estimation of when that project can be formally kicked off and completed as well. 10 is the new project that I highlighted earlier, and as I said before, the primary goal for that would be to better align what is in the general plan with the board's previously approved LPAT document, the linear parks and trails plan.

[01:07:05] You may recall or may not that that adoption occurred about six months or so after the general plan was adopted, so while there is a parks and trails map in the general plan, it does not fully coincide with what was adopted in the months after that with the LPAP plan.

[01:07:22] So we have been in discussions with both ATCI and Parks and Rec about how to facilitate trying to make those projects just run a little bit smoother and save a little time and money. I think ultimately we will probably propose -- there's really two alternatives. One is to adopt that document wholesale.

[01:07:39] The other is to just incorporate some of the most important components into the general plan. I expect that we will ultimately recommend the latter to you. that is still to be determined. Okay, going back to the 2024 general plan review. You may recall that this CPAM is largely consists of items that were either carried forward from the zoning ordinance rewrite discussions or topics that staff has been cataloging since

[01:08:14] the plan was adopted, that we've had issues with inconsistent language, varying interpretations, you know, just various things that have been at least slightly problematic as we've been working with the document for over five years now and put a number of those things together into this one package that's been moving forward it's been a great conversation we've had different levels of community input we've had developer meetings to get their perspective on things as well when we take when we took this rather large and kind of disjointed CPAM to the

[01:08:51] Commission they understandably had a number of questions we returned to them them in June to respond to those questions and at that time they expressed the desire to work on two additional things that staff determined to be outside the scope that the board previously approved. Since I happen to be at that meeting I suggested that if they would like to receive some quicker board feedback that they make a motion that night and I would bring it forward to you as part of the work plan which is what I'm doing now. The first topic that they included in their motion is to have the ability to look at the policy guidance for capital

[01:09:27] facilities contributions credit so that's a technical term we deal with in dealing with proffers for various applications. Right now if an applicant is proposing to receive credit for the construction of this largely comes up with roadways but it could be other things as well but currently with a roadway that's not programmed within the county CIP the capital improvement program. There's not policy support for the Commission to make a recommendation to you to allow that credit to occur. They could do so, there's just not direct support for that in the plan. So they would like to take a look at that and see if that's something

[01:10:05] that they could revise. While I do agree with their sentiment, I think that's something that's best looked at with the CTP/CPAM that we've been meeting with all of you on individually as something that we can incorporate into that larger effort that's really focused on transportation overall, so that is our staff recommendation on that.

[01:10:26] The other topic that the Commission brought up is a concern about active recreation within the major floodplain. And I will say that largely I think staff does not believe that there is really a problem here that strongly needs to be addressed, but what we're recommending to do is the Zoning Orange Committee has already brought this item up as part of their current discussions on the floodplain amendment and they already decided that they would take a deeper dive into that in September.

[01:11:01] So we would suggest no action at this time. Let that conversation with the ZOC occur and that the staff will bring back an item to the board in October going into this matter in more detail and letting us better detail the commentary that we've heard as well as any suggested changes that we might be proposing at that time.

[01:11:24] i'm not convinced that there needs to be any definite changes outside of that floodplain zoam but nonetheless that's what we would propose to do at this time my biggest concern is that with the number of projects that we have going on adding additional things to that project will trigger the need to take the for one to do additional work on topics that we have done no work on to this point and two is to take that back to planning commission public hearing and then for the commission to consider to take action and bring it to you it'll delay the project I think we can hopefully have this project move forward, get approved relatively quickly,

[01:12:01] and if we need to address one or both of those topics, we'll have active projects that they can be handled with here in the short term as well. So those are my recommendations. There are two sets of motions in your staff report today. One is for the overall work plan. The second is specific to the 2024 general plan review and as I mentioned essentially my recommendation is that we move forward with that project based on the project scope that the board has previously approved and you can give further guidance on those two topics within those motions as well.

[01:12:39] So with that I'm happy to answer any questions. You were asking for further guidance uh at this point? Yes ma'am. Okay. Supervisors are you okay if we go straight to a motion? by the way i just lost the item because my computer did the thing that it does oh my god uh you you have a motion that's in the package or you have an alternate motion well okay let me let me let me just let me let me get to the motion first okay uh and then i let me let it is it is it is normally my oh come on

[01:13:19] it is normally my what i what i normally do is is make the motion in the item first and then we'll go from there if we have to do discussion on the motion all right i'm this one i'm with the board The Board of Supervisors approve the current list of projects listed in Tables 1, 2, and 3 on the Department of Planning and Zoning Work Plan as identified in the July 15, 2025 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Action Item.

[01:13:43] Sorry. All right. Is that the one you're talking about, Dan? Yes, ma'am. That's the first. And then the second one would be the General Plan Review? Yes. So I move the Board of Supervisors direct staff in the Planning Commission to complete work on 2024 January Plan Review CPAM in accordance with the previously approved project scope.

[01:14:01] I further move the Board of Supervisors' direct staff to add consideration of policy guidance regarding capital facilities contributions, credit for roadways not within the capital improvement plan to the countywide transportation plan project scope. Second. Motion made seconded by Supervisor Turner.

[01:14:17] Discussion on the motion -- well, Mr. Crony, let me just do -- let me open, and then I'll go to you for whatever you got going on down there, and whatever -- and you're on this What? This purple piece of paper? Okay. My only question, Dan, first of all, I want to thank the planning commissioners and the staff for so much work on this item for the entirety of the term.

[01:14:46] I especially want to thank my planning commissioner, Dale Paulin-Meyers, and Mr. Crony's planning commissioner, Robin Eve Jasper, for the work they've done on St. Louis. And I know it's been stop and go and stop and go and a little frustrating at times, but I really do think that we had to pause to get things correct before we went on.

[01:15:06] I think we're in a much better place now with St. Louis. I think the people in St. Louis are much more aware and much more involved, which really was my goal to make sure they were more involved. We have more work to do, but we're certainly back on track to where we want to be on St. Louis. My only question is, on item 7, when we talk about the rest of the village plans, I thought we were further along in that discussion, and I thought we had talked about hiring a consultant for the remainder of the village plans.

[01:15:35] Am I wrong on that? And if not, where are we at? You are not. We currently have an RFQ out for a task order consultant for the department at large, but we would be anticipating using that contract to work on the bilge plans as one of our first projects. So that we've had, I don't know the number of firms that have expressed interest.

[01:15:55] I know that we had to answer 32 questions about that RFQ just in the past week. So roughly at the end of the month is when it will close and we will move forward with selecting a consultant at that point. So then the TBD on that is only because you don't know when you're going to select the consultant, not because it's pushed off to some later, later date.

[01:16:13] It will be one of the next projects up when we have the capacity. Okay, it's capacity and consultant is what we're looking at right now. Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you. Mr. Crony, would you talk to me? Okay, I have a separate motion.

[01:16:30] Oh, yeah, well, we have a motion on the table. Yeah, but can I speak within that motion? Yeah, you can speak within the motion on the table, but you can't add a new motion to the table right now. Yeah, but it's part of this package. All right, it's a further move, so it's just one motion, Mr. Turner. Okay, so the items that the Planning Commission wanted to add, where did that active recreation uses in the floodplain and risker come from?

[01:16:56] Like, I know you're coming back with it. You mentioned you don't think there is a problem, and I am not convinced there needs to be changes, but I'm just wondering where that came from. So the initial commentary came from Zoc concerned about indirect consequences of making some changes regarding that in the floodplain ZOAM that's ongoing.

[01:17:18] So that's where the crux of that really started. And then there has been discussion of it both at Zoc and the Planning Commission, I want to say at least twice in both cases since then. Okay, because I would be concerned about active rec in our major floodplain, you know, because it becomes more impervious.

[01:17:36] And then also impacting, like, our riparian buffers. So I would be concerned about the environmental impacts of having active recreation, you know, because there's parking that goes with that, lots of other more intense uses that go with that, you know, in our sensitive environmental areas.

[01:17:54] So I, this is the first time I'm seeing that. So it's not a concern of mine. I think they are, in my view, inappropriate. it's an inappropriate use in both those areas. So I just wanted to give that feedback that I think I don't think staff supports it is what I saw. Staff does not support adding this. Okay. And I want to thank you too about the St. Louis, getting that done, getting that across the finish line.

[01:18:23] Chair Randall and I are going to the community on August 25th to talk about kind of the progress and where we are and just to thank everybody. And then I look forward to doing the rest of the small area plans.

[01:18:39] Luckett's is next, correct? It's one of the top three priorities moving forward, yes. Okay, great. Thank you so much, Dan, for all your hard work and your staff. Supervisors, I need to do a point of order because I just made a Roberts-Rosa order mistake, which is very unusual for me, but I did.

[01:18:55] I just made literally two motions at one time. That second part should have been an I further move versus the same motion because you cannot have too much on the table at one time. So I apologize for that. I will amend the motion if the second is okay to say for the general plan review CPAM to be and I further move, not a new motion, if that's okay with the seconder.

[01:19:19] All right, cool. Okay, wonderful. Thank you. Mr. Letourneau. Yeah, I was just going to make one comment which I made when I had the meeting with staff on the transportation plan, CPAN, not, sorry, not that, the countywide transportation plan I was reading was in front of me there, which is that I know there's a lot of work and I know it's tough, but I really think for everybody's benefit, we would want to get that wrapped up as early into 2027 as possible.

[01:19:46] That is a sometimes loaded conversation with a lot of folks who have opinions, who provide inputs, and it is a very heavy workload. a lot of public input to it so I think if we can move relatively expeditiously you know we've been in this situation before with the comprehensive plan and with some of these other things and we kind of all know what that's like from a time management standpoint otherwise but I think it to sort of protect the integrity of the decision making process and our own sanity

[01:20:22] we should have some urgency to try to get through that as much as possible in 2026. and i'm i've been really eager on this because i think there is quite a few things that we need to address in it and i think we kind of got cheated out of it in 2019 because we did it as part of the comprehensive plan and we just didn't have time to really do the full deep dive into it that we would normally want to do on on this because it was all paired together and we were on the clock and there were so many things happening so this one i know there's a ton of staff work that goes into it um i have my own specific inputs i'm sure everybody else did uh as well um as things that i

[01:21:00] asked staff to look into but um just just a general comment that i wanted to share with um everybody as well that i had mentioned to staff so thank you yeah mr turner thank you madam chair um i think staff is being very diplomatic and i appreciate that that what they're saying in the nicest possible way is please don't add anything more to the dpz work plan because we're really up to capacity right now and i i really am sensitive to that um i think we're at a point now where we need to stop uh sacrificing the good for the perfect i think we have a good plan and i am i support not

[01:21:35] adding anything else to the plan which is what the motion is so that's it thanks thank you um so i'm gonna just ask a couple of questions because the word when i first got here i thought the word major floodplain sounds like something's always flooding. That's what it sounds like.

[01:21:58] And I had to learn that there is a major floodplain that's a definition through FEMA, and then there's a major floodplain that kind of the staff works with. And so I don't know if active rec is or is not appropriate in a major floodplain because, help me out if I get this wrong. Major floodplain and how the staff determines it, is that about the drainage system?

[01:22:25] It's about the area in which the watershed essentially that drains into a certain floodplain, yes. So if it's over, I'm going to get the number wrong. Obviously if it's larger it goes into a major floodplain, a lesser area goes into a minor. Right, exactly. So it doesn't mean there's flooding happening. And then FEMA's floodplain definition is more about if something is in a 50-year floodplain or 100-year floodplain. That's how FEMA determines a floodplain, correct?

[01:22:57] Yes. So those are two different definitions of a floodplain. Neither one of them means anything's flooding on a regular basis. And so I think we just need to be really careful how we use that word. It doesn't mean that active rec wouldn't be appropriate for it by no means, Except for, and I think Mr. Crony makes a point, except for if the active wreck is, say, a ball field that has fertilizer on it often and the fertilizer is doing a runoff into a creek or a stream, that wouldn't be appropriate.

[01:23:25] But to have activity in a major floodplain is actually not an issue. And so I think that the question becomes, what does active wreck mean when you talk about active wreck in a major floodplain? Would I want to have a baseball field there because of the runoff?

[01:23:41] I probably would not. Would I want to have anything that's recreational in that floodplain? Sure, because you can go for years and years, decades, without having a flood in a major floodplain. So what do you all mean when you say active rec?

[01:23:57] So active recreation is going to include ball fields, playground equipment, things of that nature versus passive, which will be more like trails and nature preserves and things where you might have a person walking through, but there's not additional impervious surface added.

[01:24:12] You're not taking down trees to put any facilities. So then to her point, you could have that runoff if it's active wreck. Yes, you would be more likely to. You'd be more likely to. Okay, that's fine. Now, let me just say I'm not going out in any of that. I'm not going out there at all. Definitely without passive. But it's good to know what a major floodplain is because when you hear the word floodplain, you think of all kinds of other things, and it's a very technical definition of what a floodplain is.

[01:24:38] So, okay. All right. So the motion and then the I further move motion was made by me, seconded by Mr. Turner, and then when we're in the second, we'll go to another motion from Mr. Crony. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstain.

[01:24:53] Do you want to abstain, Mr. Crony, since you just got here? You're good with an aye. Okay, that motion will pass 9-0. We have another motion on this item. It is Mr. Crony's. It is on the purple piece of paper. Mr. Crony, would you like to make this motion? Okay, thank you, Chair Randall.

[01:25:09] I move that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to add the preparation of National Register of Historic Places nomination for Howardsville and the First Baptist Church of Watson to the DPZ work plan within Table 3 community planning initiatives, work plan historic planning initiatives, utilizing funds from the Preservation Equity Initiative to support this work.

[01:25:37] I will second that, but I do want to have discussion. Okay, thank you. So Watson and Howardsville are both historically African-American communities and both are referenced in the 2019 general plan as rural historic communities that the county will support with small-scale targeted community-based initiatives such as historic preservation.

[01:26:03] My office has been speaking with staff and community members about supporting efforts to place Howardsville and the First Baptist Church of Watson on the National Register of Historic Places, and it's been in consultation with the Black History Committee.

[01:26:20] We're looking at exploring the use of Preservation Equity Initiative funds to put them on the National Register. And just so you know, the Preservation Equity Initiative Phase 2 is going to be part of this.

[01:26:40] This is where it's going to go. and phase two is anticipated to include work focusing on specific historic resources and communities that merit a deeper level of documentation and or preservation.

[01:26:56] Being on the national register is beneficial because it is way to mark the historic significance of a place and affords access to grants for restoration and rehabilitation projects and tax credits for owners. Thank you, Mr. Brixman.

[01:27:14] Thank you, Madam Chair. If I might, just a quick question, two questions for Mr. Galindo. How much do these cost normally? So it varies for the individual building. It could be between $5,000 and $10,000. For a community the size of Howardsville, I think we're probably looking more towards $25,000 to $30,000.

[01:27:35] Not that we priced that one directly, but something in that range. Okay, and do we have that in our preservation equity? fund we do there i think there's about 90 000 in there still okay great really happy to support thank you supervisor to crony so i would say that um oh i'm sorry i didn't see you mr mr turner how much time is this going to add to the dpz work plan so these would be largely um consultant led and they would do 80 90 of the work so this should not be a tremendous additional workload compared to what we already have on there okay thank you that's a good question

[01:28:11] Thank you. So I would say that the thing about history is history is often told by people who had the power to tell it at the time. And it does not mean that anything wrong happened or anything happened that was nefarious or bad. It just means not everyone had the power to tell their own history.

[01:28:30] And so what we're finding in Loudoun County, and there are places in Loudoun County, Howardsville, Willisville, St. Louis, Well, the history of these places haven't been incorporated enough in the history of Loudoun County. So it's important that we do that. And it's not pointing any fingers.

[01:28:46] It's not doing anything but saying, let's make sure we tell the full history of the county and every part of the county. And we have people who are very committed to doing this work. We will have a consultant, but we have the Black History Committee and others. And I've learned over the years so much about the history of this really, really marvelous county in so many ways.

[01:29:08] And so I'm absolutely in support of this, and I absolutely want the full history of our county to be told for everyone to have. So, Jack, a closing? Yeah, I just want to say that both were potentially eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[01:29:30] historic district community, and the church has been surveyed, and it has also been determined eligible for listing in the National Register, so they're already, some of that pre-work has been done, so we know that they're eligible, and I know that a grant was written for the First Baptist Church of Watson to get that on the National Register, so we are looking at grant opportunities opportunities to, even though we still have about 90,000 available for projects like this from the PEI initiative. So, thank you and I appreciate the board's support on this.

[01:30:09] Mr. Cody, make the motion and I support it. I am seconded the motion. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9 to 0. Okay, we're at 5:28 and so we can go on and get ready to do resolutions. I know I do not see all the people here who are going to join us for the 250th anniversary of the United States Army, are there lots of people out in the lobby?

[01:30:33] Because I'm looking in this room, I know who I'm looking for, and I don't see them. But the first resolution is the proclamation to recognize Americans with Disability Act Awareness Day. Ms. Glass, that's your resolution, right? Do you have it?

[01:30:48] Do you see the -- they're here, they're here? Okay. So why don't we do that one, and Justin, where are you? If you all would check and see if there's people out in the lobby who are here for the second resolution, I would appreciate that.

[01:31:05] And if Ms. Umstead and Vice Chair Turner can join me down front for the second resolution when it's time. When it's not. When it's time. Are they outside, Chair Justin?

[01:31:21] No?

[01:31:52] There she is. How's everybody doing? Good to see everyone. Ms. Glass, you have the resolution. Do you want to come over here? And do you have the resolution in the hand? Hello? Good evening. Thank you, Madam Chair. Chair, I'm gonna go ahead and read the proclamation.

[01:32:09] Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990, establishing a clear and comprehensive mandate to eliminate discrimination against individuals with disabilities, and whereas the ADA has expanded opportunities for Americans with disabilities by reducing barriers, changing perceptions, and increasing opportunities for full participation and inclusion in community life to help individuals with disabilities reach their full potential.

[01:32:39] And whereas July 26, 2025 marks the 35th anniversary of the ADA and provides an opportunity to acknowledge the progress made and the ongoing work required to ensure full accessibility and equity for people with disabilities at the local, state, and national levels.

[01:32:58] And whereas the county is committed to ADA compliance, inclusivity and ensuring that in interactions with the county government are accessible to all members of our community and began an ada self-evaluation and transition plan project in november 2023 to ex to us assess this as accessibility of its facilities programs and services and whereas loudon county encourages constituents to reaffirm the principles of diversity equity inclusion and accessibility laid out in the ADA and

[01:33:34] recommit our efforts to reach full ADA compliance so that every person in our county has the opportunity to succeed now therefore be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim July 26 2025 as Americans with Disabilities Act Awareness Day I know chair Randall you speak about the time when you hurt your leg or ankle so it's a little

[01:34:11] embarrassing but I I went to a loud and fair to give the award to the best cow and the cow stepped on my foot and then and so I was I was so I was on that scooter and and and truthfully you know you think you understand what it means to not have accessibility easily until you until you don't and I realize loud in County is was meeting the minimum requirements for ADA accessibility we were but then I realized but there's a minimum requirement and then there's a

[01:34:49] requirement so when miss glass talks about doing the evaluation was like how further can we go with things like bathroom doors that opened this way instead of going it was opened out instead of going in it met the minimum requirement but when you're on a scooter when you're in a wheelchair when you're A door opening in is a big deal.

[01:35:11] I realized that if somebody wanted to run for this office and they're on this dais and they couldn't see, they'd have a hard time being on this dais and especially being chair if you couldn't see. So we are meeting the minimum requirements, but that wasn't enough. And so Ms. Glass has been amazing about meeting, about being the liaison with the Disability Services Board.

[01:35:33] Sahar, you've been phenomenal on that. And we just got with the Disability Services Board and all of our non-profits and said, how can we do this better? Because we were doing it, but it was minimal. And we are still at the very beginning of doing all of these corrections, I would say, or doing even more.

[01:35:55] But I know that we're not for the board being helpful, being patient, telling us what to do, like telling us, like, this bathroom stall is not large enough. And we need to have Braille right here because we don't have Braille right there.

[01:36:12] You all really have helped us understand that we were meeting the minimum mark, which is not enough for this county. So thank you all so, so much. Who would like to speak? I just wrote it out.

[01:36:28] As a DSB board member, I'm excited and proud that Loudoun County is presenting this proclamation for the third year. The ADA is an important part of creating an inclusive community that is accessible for all. In Loudoun County, we have 30,000-plus constituents who benefit from ADA.

[01:36:49] These laws allow access across our communities, especially for those with disabilities. Well, then we're going to get everyone to have a copy, and then we're going to take pictures. Thank you all for coming. You know, let me do this.

[01:37:04] Let me have everybody introduce themselves real quick, if you don't mind doing that. My name is Katie Coe. I'm a DSB board member. Amanda Barali, DSB board member.

[01:37:20] Susan Mandel-Giblin, representing Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers on the DSB. Eileen Schaefer, DSB member and also the Director of the Advocacy Center at the Arc of Loudoun. Linda Ace, DSB board member.

[01:37:40] Herb Davis, DSB board member. I'm Laura Nelson. I'm visiting from Virginia Beach with the Mayor's Committee for Persons with Disabilities, where we do similar things. So I'm a visitor. I'm Sahar Beck. We refer to Accessibility Services Manager.

[01:38:35] Jason, where are you, sir? There you are. Very great. Wonderful. Could Vice Chair Turner and Ms. Umstead join me down front? And could we have everyone who's here for the 250th anniversary of the United States Army join me down front?

[01:39:12] How you doing?

[01:39:34] So I had Ms. Umstead and Mr. Turner join me. I should say Ms. Umstead was in the Navy. Mr. Vice Chair Turner was in the Air Force. So neither one was as good as the Army. We know that, right? my father was 26 years army two tours of duty in Vietnam I grew up on air fit on bases all everywhere I was born in Stuttgart Germany before we finally settled someplace else so being army is just through and through in my bones and so 250 years and celebrating the army is really a big big deal for all of us it's a big big deal for all of us so thank you all for being here and thank all of

[01:40:12] you for your service even if it was Air Force or Navy thank them for their service too, right? There's only one service. Did you hear that? Okay. Proclamation. Whereas on June 14th, 1775, the Continental Congress established a Continental Army, making the birth of the United States Army and laying the foundation for the United States military proud tradition of service and sacrifice in defense of our nation and its ideas. And whereas

[01:40:45] For 250 years, the United States Army has stood as a pillar of strength, valor, and resilience, answering the call to defend our freedom, uphold democracy, and safeguard our homeland, both at home and abroad.

[01:41:01] And whereas the brave men and women who serve and have served in the U.S. Army embody the highest values of duty, honor, and country, representing a legacy of courage and selflessness that continues to inspire generations.

[01:41:17] And whereas Loudoun County is home to numerous Army veterans, active duty service members, and military families whose commitment and contributions have strengthened our community and enriched our nation.

[01:41:35] And whereas Loudoun County proudly supports a wide network of dedicated military and veteran services organizations that honor the legacy and sacrifice of those who served, including Chariots of Honor, Veterans of Foreign War, VFW Post 1177, and its Auxiliary Loudoun County Marine Corps, Loudoun League Detachment 1205, American Legion Post 34, the Johnson Brent Leedsburg, American Legion Post 150, Breckenridge Peterswood, Sterling,

[01:42:07] American Legion Post 1836, Lovettsville, American Legion Post 2001, Leonard W. Wood, Ashburn, American Legion Post 293, Shelburne Parish, Percival, American Legion Post 295, Middleburg, USO, Dulles Airport, Honor Flight at Dulles, and Honor Flight Top of Virginia, whose unwavering efforts preserve military heritage, foster patriotism, and serve veterans and their families throughout our community.

[01:42:42] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby recognize June 14, 2025 as the 250th anniversary of the United States Army and calls upon all residents to commemorate this historic milestone by honoring the legacy, service, and enduring contributions of the men and women of the United States Army, past, present, and future.

[01:43:13] USO volunteer for the people who served since 1941 that's what their shirt says okay we're going to anyone else you'd like to speak thank you everybody for coming out my name is Herbert Valley I am the president of chariots of honor and we are here to celebrate the 250th anniversary although it was on June 14 for the U.S. Army I thank everybody for coming out and I thank

[01:43:50] all our non-profit organizations that support military veterans in the county for representing the veterans. Thank you. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? My husband was a veteran, and he was in the Navy, though.

[01:44:14] But we were proud of his service. I'm proud to be a volunteer of Honor Flight and a volunteer at USO. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Supervisor Umstad, Vice Chair, would you like to say anything? Supervisor Umstad, Would you like to say anything?

[01:44:36] Well, truthfully, everybody up here, thank you for your service. And thank you for your service if you're family. People do not always understand how much family serves with their service members. So thank you for your service. And thank you for volunteering right now because it's so, so important. We have lots of copies of this resolution.

[01:44:52] I'm going to give them to you so you can make sure everyone who's on the list receives one. But I'll give everyone here one right now, and we'll take a picture. And we will make sure all of you all receive a copy of the picture. Okay? Thank you.

[01:46:32] It's a little early to start public comment. What I thought I would do is this. There is

[01:47:35] one person who has signed up to speak on item number 13 at all. If we can have that one person come speak on that item right now, who is Emily Johnson, we might be able to take up item number 13 before we go into the rest of public comment. And so we can have her speak, do the item, and then go to the rest of public comment. That might be the way to get us to six o'clock. Okay, is everybody fine with that? Is it all right that the rest of my comment concerns other items as well? Sure, as long as some part of this item number 13,

[01:48:08] that's fine. Yeah, that's fine. Thank you, Ms. Johnson. All right. Okay, good evening. My name is Emily Johnson here on behalf of PEC to communicate our stance in opposition to the Crossmill Center application in concern over our Cola Grove's GIS substation and in support of the Energy Infrastructure BMI. As noted in our follow-up email on Crossmill, we continue to oppose the use this prime location for another data center, especially given staff's FGOEDC report on July 8th, calling for cuts in data center taxes in the next years to balance the budget, turning away public money from this industry even as the public bears impacts and the board continues to approve new

[01:48:46] locations. It would be more logical to us for the board to curtail the growth of this sector through development decisions. That is but one reason to deny. We also feel strongly that this site is not appropriate as it is at the cusp of a defining edge created through the Leesburg JLMA to separate distinct land use patterns whether existing or desired and create visual distinction there are unique contributions of this area bull and park the professional stadium and the two remaining lower sickle and historic structures within 250 feet of this site's property to the north is the actively maintained first baptist church of sicklin and within 40 feet to the south is the former post office and general store mothballed and in some disrepair but owned by the county and full of

[01:49:26] of restoration potential in alignment with nearby park uses. A 60-foot-tall data center right between would disconnect that visual history. We oppose the Arcola Grove rezoning for similar economic and compatibility reasons. This particular site is also beside recreational fields and homes not far from Hiddenwood Lane.

[01:49:45] That assemblage is before you tonight because of the impacts of approving data centers near residential uses. While we appreciate commitments for enclosed tier four generators, noise concerns are outstanding. Additionally, GIS substations are not a panacea. While smaller and less obtrusive, their use of sulfur hexafluoride, SF6, is concerning, especially with the substation being closest to homes.

[01:50:06] SF6 can decompose under electrical stress, forming toxic byproducts. The EPA also says that SF6 is the most potent greenhouse gas known to date, with a global warming potential 23,000 times higher than CO2. While equipment is designed to avoid emitting the gas, leaks can and do occur during various stages including installation and maintenance and when infrastructure ages. 67% of all SF6 emissions in the U.S. are attributed to the electrical transmission and distribution sector. The applicant would not be back before you if they could make their prior approval work. They need the substation and the board can influence what

[01:50:42] develops here as it is under no obligation to allow it or any other ones. Thank you. Thank you. Let me just ask, is there anyone else who would like to speak on item number 13 specifically before we take up this item? Okay. Would staff please come to the table? 13.

[01:51:05] Oh, the Arcola Grove item. I'm sorry, the Arcola Grove item. I apologize, the Arcola Grove item. Is there anybody? Okay, thank you. Does this bifurcate Dulles and Sterling, Mr. Letourneau?

[01:51:30] Mr. It's just it's just Dulles okay good evening good evening supervisors especially Mr. Letourneau presentation presentation supervisors no no okay I'm hearing no I'm asking I know updates I would do the updates I'm just asking do you want the present no okay can you give us the updates then please thank

[01:52:08] you yes one second please following the May Board public hearing the application

[01:52:24] Revised submission materials to include the building height, square feet of the proposal, architectural design commitments, open space, the substation screening, Azalea Lane Road corridor buffering, stormwater management, generator yard screening, generators, natural gas turbines, solar restoration, reforestation on-site and off-site, as well as fast-growing shrubs, pollinator plantings, future Dulles West Boulevard commitments, landscaping, water usage, transmission lines, as well as distribution and parking.

[01:53:01] Okay. Are you the applicant? Okay. So with respect, the applicant comes and sits at the table at public hearings, but not at business meetings. So we're not going to call on you all for the business meeting. Okay. Thank you. Anything else you'd like us to know? There are the outstanding issues related to building height, the substation use, landscape buffering, as well as the parking setbacks okay those are the outstanding issues still that's correct all right um mr latourne are you good to go to a motion or you want to have questions okay okay mr has a motion on the

[01:53:38] green sheet of paper green sheets i move the board of supervisors approve legy 2023 0071 arcola grove rezoning zmap 2023 0005 special exception 2023 0015 and zmab 2023 0031 subject to the proper statement dated july 11th 2025 and the conditions of approval dated july 11th 2025 provided as Attachments 1 and 2 to the July 15, 2025 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting Supplemental Action Item based on the following findings: 1. The applicants proposed resuming and development of industrial park uses on the subject properties generally consistent with the land use policies of Lavon County 2019 general plan for the suburban employment

[01:54:14] place type and 2. The applicants proffered enhanced buffers in landscaping, resource conservation, sustainability measures including green building design that are consistent with the suburban employment place type. Motion made by Supervisor Letourneau. Is there a second? Second by Supervisor Kirchner. Discussion on the motion. Supervisor Letourneau. Yeah, so to reset everybody on this one, there is an existing approval for a 614,000 square feet data center on this site. We did approve this prior to there being residential in the vicinity, and the closest residential has not

[01:54:48] and built yet which is to the north. The applicant came to us asking for a substation and for about additional 200,000 square feet of data center which would recoup their costs of making the substation a GIS substation which is an indoor building. I had concerns about making the data center bigger than what the previous approval was and ultimately that was taken out of the application which is now before us. There were, as you just heard from that updates, there were a lot of changes to this application since the public hearing every single one of them was were things that the board asked for and to the positive. Particularly important is the applicant has now

[01:55:28] proffered out natural gas turbines so that would not be part of the data center if we deny the substation that is not part of the proper package. The applicant has also proffered to do tier four generators something the board's been talking about again if we deny this application that is not part of the procker package on the original data center. The data center itself was modified with about 12 million dollars of visual and cosmetic improvements. Again that goes away without this application. So the the on the and then finally the applicant has proffered the land

[01:56:05] necessary for Dulles West Boulevard which you can see kind of goes in there to Arcola Boulevard. that road is the CTP road going further west connecting to North Star Boulevard. I anticipate we're going to have some difficulty acquiring that that road otherwise. On the substation front we could deny the application and there would be no substation here. We are then gambling that there wouldn't be any substation anywhere where we know that there are multiple other substation sites around. What I like about this is the indoor GIS substation which is a 50 million upgrade is setting a new standard for substations in Loudoun County. It's giving us a

[01:56:44] case where an applicant was willing to come forward and do this in a sensitive area, and it's allowing us to say, look, this is what we're looking for in these circumstances, because the GIS substation is significantly better to look at than what a traditional substation is. The other thing we get out of this is certainty and knowing where the power is coming from and not taking a risk of having this not have a substation and then dealing with generators and all those kinds of things which do not have to be tier four without this application. So I think the risk is much higher

[01:57:18] in denying this application and I think that overall the applicant has done everything that the board's asked them to do at the public hearing. They've done everything I've asked them to do. We've come a very long way since where this first started, and so it is overall better for the future and existing residents to have this application than it would be without it, and so that's why I made the motion to approve.

[01:57:43] Thank you, Ms. Letourneau. Discussion on the motion? Ms. Bricksman? Thank you, Madam Chair. If I might ask staff a couple questions in the motion. You mentioned there were two bullets, I believe, pertaining to distribution lines and transmission lines that were updates. What were those updates?

[01:58:01] Correct. So the applicant has detailed transmission lines that will connect to the substation from outside of the subject property. Additionally, the applicant is committed to bury distribution lines connecting from the data center and the proposed substation use. But aren't they on the same property?

[01:58:17] That's correct. They would be the electrical infrastructure connecting the two uses. Okay. And staff still cannot support because? the building height is incompatible with the adjacent residential uses the substation use as proposed adjacent to less intensive residential without a transitional use as well as landscape buffering is provided in a way that is not demonstrating conformance with the zoning ordinance as well as that they're not demonstrating conformance with the setback requirements along arcola boulevard okay thank you i really do appreciate all the work that the district

[01:58:55] supervisor did on this application and the applicant but i will not be supporting thank you mr crony uh thank you chair randall um i won't be supporting either i need to bring your microphone i won't be supporting this application either i didn't vote on the data center in 2021 and i do think the applicant's proposal to construct buildings up to 75 feet in height and the accompanying utility substation is incompatible with adjacent approved residential development

[01:59:29] additionally i do think there should be a transitional use located between the residential uses as is required or as is encouraged in the suburban employment place type i do want to note that there are, on the west side of Arcola Boulevard, this property is surrounded by three residential developments. Arcola Town Center Residential, Glasscock Field at Stone Ridge,

[02:00:02] and Old Arcola Residential. Arcola Town Center Residential is about 200 feet from the substation. Old Arcola Residential is less than 500 feet from the property, from the substation.

[02:00:19] So this will have an impact on residents' quality of life and on, frankly, their property values once these communities, once Arcola Town Center Residential is built. I do want to also make the point that approval of this application represents a continuing shift from the original concept of Arcola Center as a cohesive, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use community to industrial uses.

[02:00:50] Since data centers at Arcola Grove were approved in 2021, the fragmentation and conflict between land uses in the Arcola area will increase. There is a 2,350 or 2 million square feet Google data center in the middle of Arcola Center.

[02:01:10] 2 million square feet. It is the dominant land use feature within Arcola Center today. Approving this application adds to the industrial look and feel of this area And allowing a substation 200 feet or less from the Arcola's town center residential is not okay.

[02:01:33] And I did like what that speaker said. There could be noise impacts. There could be emission impacts. Again, these are impacts that we don't know about. There could be leaks. I am concerned about having this property so close to the residential.

[02:01:50] And I really care about Arcola and the area. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to clarify a couple of things. We're seeing a lot of these kinds of applications now that are very difficult choices for this board to make.

[02:02:13] If we vote no on this application, which is, again, for the substation, not for the underlying data center, it's for the substation. If we vote no, we lose tier four generators, and we'll get tier two generators, which are filthy and noisy. We lose, there was something else in there, the tier four generators, and we lose the GIS substation, which is an enclosed substation.

[02:02:33] And there was actually one other thing. The data center is a done deal. The question is a substation. Not depicted on here, my staff did some deep research. the two 230 kv lines will are planned to come in from the existing 230 or the planned kv extension into the the substation those lines will run right up our cola boulevard those two 230 kv lines and so that's not depicted and that goes to our earlier bmi that would really like to be able to see lines that will service areas when we approve applications the bottom line i'm trying to make

[02:03:12] here, is it's easy to drop into a very simplistic data center, not data center, good, bad, and discussion, but we are seeing a lot of these applications now that have a lot of issues on both sides, no matter how we vote.

[02:03:31] Again, this vote is not for or against a data center. It is for or against a substation. And if we vote down this substation, the data center will get a substation. We don't know where. We don't know what it'll look like. It will not be a GIS substation. But it will get a substation. So this is a very, very difficult and complex vote.

[02:03:48] Thank you. So I'm frustrated because for years and years I kept hearing if we say no to data centers, the data center community will leave Loudoun County. It won't be here anymore. It's going to pick up and leave. And nine years later, we have more data center applications than ever. It frustrates me when I feel like it almost feels like a little bit of blackmail, to be quite honest.

[02:04:10] If you don't do it like this right now, it's going to be so much worse for you. did the data center not know they were going to need a substation when they were built did they not know that was going to be something that was needed because i i mean i get it that we're both not a substation not a data center but truthfully all these proffers and all these things that are given right now they could do that anyway they could choose to do it so this kind of almost feels like threatening me if you don't do this is going to be much worse i i take each application each application. I do. I spend, I go out, I make visits. I spend a lot of time with this,

[02:04:48] with these applications, but I do not like feeling like you do this and we're going to make it so much worse. Any data center, any data center can put the higher standards in if they want it to. So whether I vote on that or not, don't threaten me because that's what it feels like. It feels like a threat. Do it this way or we're going to make it much worse for you.

[02:05:08] And that's not the way that, I don't know, I'm not talking about my college, that's not the way get me. I understand that the data center has already been approved, but doing this like this, that's just not okay with me. It's just not. So I have a couple of questions. One, did they know they were going to need a substation when they came for the application for the data center? Two, can a data center operate on turbines all by itself? Can it do that?

[02:05:36] And is that legal to do that, to have to operate just on gas turbines? Three, how close are these homes to this data center? Because Mr. Crony asked a really good question. I understand the homes weren't there before. I get that.

[02:05:51] But how close are they going to be there? And I think that might be all of them. So those are my questions. So the application in which the conditionally approved site plan was approved under envisioned PDOP uses, but did not specify a substation at that time.

[02:06:16] Additionally to your distances... So they didn't ask for a substation when they came in for the original use? There was a buildable land area for PDOP uses. Okay. In terms of distances to the existing subdivision to the south, Glasscock to the data center is approximately 750 feet.

[02:06:35] The data center to Old Arcola is approximately 810 feet. The data center, yes, the ADU building, which is the closest in Arcola Town Center to the data center, is approximately 468 feet.

[02:06:50] And regarding the gas turbines, it's actually something that we have been looking into just over these past few weeks. And the zoning administrator has determined that creating power on site through gas turbines is a separate primary use.

[02:07:08] So it is not something that would be allowed on the site as an accessory use. Okay, thank you. Mr. LaTurne, Dr. Close. Yeah, I mean, we're having an issue with, as you all know, with turbines in a different district. So the items that were part of the updates were things that we asked for, not just me, others on the board as well, in order to improve the existing data center application.

[02:07:38] The reality is, as Supervisor Turner said, 614,000 square feet of data center is going to get built here. So, and we made that decision prior to making the decision to putting all these homes here. So maybe we shouldn't have decided to put the homes here. We can have that debate, but we did.

[02:07:54] So now my objective is, what do I do to mitigate the impact of having a data center in proximity? Now the proximity is not as close as I think some may think it is, as we heard what those numbers are to the data centers. The substation could be a little bit closer on one of those, but it's important to note that most of those homes that were discussed are not there currently.

[02:08:14] haven't been built yet. So we made these series of decisions which led us into this position and now I think it is a significant gamble to walk away from it and I understand what Chair Randall is saying but the reality is the applicant is probably not going to do that and the data centers are going to get built and then I have to look those people who are moving in in the eye and say well this is what you're stuck with because the board didn't approve this.

[02:08:39] In addition, I think there's something to be said for the precedent on the GIS station. The one issue that staff raised on building height, the substation, is the same height as the data center building. So it's not higher than what the data center. For whatever reason, we allowed data center to be 70 feet.

[02:08:57] So now I think it's a little disingenuous to raise that issue on the substation because it's already, the whole complex is already that tall. If you recall from the public hearing, it was going to be 95 or 100 feet in height. So, again, you can make your own judgment.

[02:09:12] agree that this is not a great situation in a perfect world. I wouldn't want any of this here necessarily knowing how we ended up developing it, but we did. So the question is if we deny it, what are the implications versus if we are approving it where it's a GIS substation, it's a significant upgrade to what we normally would see, it's a better substation than we would get at otherwise anywhere else, and it mitigates the impact of the data centers much, much more significantly than if we just walked away from it and allow 600,000 square feet to be built

[02:09:48] in this area. So with all that in mind I wouldn't have supported this if it still had more data center square footage associated with it as the application originally did but I will now because of the improvements it makes to the overall situation. Okay thank you Mr. Letourneau. The motion made by Supervisor Letourneau and seconded by Supervisor Kirchner and it is in Mr. Letourneau's district that is true completely and completely um this is for the substation only all in people please say aye opposed nay well okay i don't know what that count was i'm an i'm a no with the nose

[02:10:25] raise your hand so i can make a count so that's a five four vote and that will approve it and it's mr crony miss rixman mr turner and chair brenda voted no on that item so it will pass okay we're going to go to public comments right now. All right. Okay. We will now get started in public comments. I'd like to take a moment to remind the public about the Board of Supervisors' conduct for public comments and business meetings, and please understand these are not my rules.

[02:11:04] This is the rules agreed to by the full Board of Supervisors. I request that all members in attendance adhere to these guidelines to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be heard and to assure an efficient process. If you don't mind, could you please silence your cell phones right now? The public input session will last no more than 90 minutes.

[02:11:24] You may sign up to speak during the night's public input session until the last speaker takes the podium, of which time no signups will be taken, and we have enough signups to go -- we have people actually on the waiting list, so probably no more signups right now. You may speak only once tonight. You may use your allotted time to speak on behalf of you you or other individuals or organizations.

[02:11:47] Please keep in mind that the board rules of order -- I've said this already -- speakers committee on matters on tonight's or future agenda will be called first. If you are in the government center lobby listening to this right now and you are signed up to speak, please come to the boardroom. When your name is called, please come to the podium closest to you and we'll state your name for the record.

[02:12:05] I will call a few names in advance so that you can be prepared to take the podium as As soon as it is your turn to speak, which will speed up the process. Pursuing to the board rules of order, each speaker will have two and a half minutes at time ready. Please keep in mind that the purpose of this meeting is for you to address the board, to address the chair and the board.

[02:12:27] So we, the board, will make sure we give all of you all our courtesy and our attention when you're speaking. And we ask that you address your comments to us and not to the audience. The board, we are here to listen. Therefore, we're not going to talk or respond.

[02:12:45] This is you all's time to talk to us. Everyone in this room, whether they're addressing the board or listening to the audience, is asked to maintain the quorum while speaking and listening to other people's public comments. And again, when your time is up, you must relinquish the data.

[02:13:02] The board was of order. It says no cheering or clapping, so no cheering or jeering. You can't boo, you can't cheer. You can do jazz hands if you want to, but you can't boo or cheer. I'm going to ask you to not be disruptive and to comply with the board's rules of order.

[02:13:18] And I'm going to ask everyone to follow these guidelines. One more thing. I'm going to call people in the order of which they signed up, if they signed up for an issue that is on the agenda. If while you were speaking on the issue that you were called for, you veer off into another topic, I will stop you and ask you to take a seat.

[02:13:37] I will not give a warning on that. This is the warning. If you veer off into a topic that you're not on the agenda to talk about, the land use item that you're in, so site planning and issues, the land use item that you're not on the agenda to talk about, I will stop you and I will ask you to take a seat and I will not invite you back up.

[02:13:58] And so if you are stopped, it's because you veered off the item that you signed up to speak about. I will go to people first who have signed up to speak on items that are on our agenda tonight. And then I will go from there to people who have not signed up to speak on, who are signed up to speak on items that are not on the agenda.

[02:14:19] I just missed a page. And I will call you in advance so you know that in advance you're coming, you're going to be coming up next. okay everybody good with all that give me one second please if you don't mind oh um andy is there are the can you other people can you hear me and are the people on the line to sign up to speak as well andy yes i can hear you everybody is here except for amarendar okay what number is that person do you know that person is number 30 number i'm sorry tell me one

[02:14:55] more time 30 30 okay so they may they may jump on then all right um the first the three people in this order are thomas david colleen david and francis corman you are the first three people up good evening sir good evening once upon a time a third grade teacher miss jones gathered her class together one morning to discuss how government works to make the lesson relevant she chose a topic that had been in the local news that is whether the town should allow more data centers to be built or should the local officials listen to the majority of the residents who clearly felt

[02:15:32] the town had enough data centers. Ms. Jones started the discussion by asking for any questions. She saw that Bobby had his hand up, so she called on him first. Ms. Jones said, Bobby, since we already have 200 data centers in town, but only 14 parks and 13 places of worship, why do we need more data centers? Well, said Ms. Jones, the data centers make lots of jobs where your mom and dad may work.

[02:15:56] Bobby then told Ms. Jones his dad helped build a data center, but after it was built, it only had six full-time workers, and most of them made less money than his friend's dad, who worked at 7-Eleven. Ms. Jones realized Bobby was on the ball. She then called on Mary, who had her hand up.

[02:16:13] Ms. Jones said, Mary, some of my friend's parents work at data centers, but I have to yell if I want to get their attentions. Ms. Jones told Mary, data centers can be very loud, but your friend's parents could maybe get hearing aids. Mary told Ms. Jones her friend's parents have hearing aids, but they don't always get recharged at night since the power in the house goes on an awful lot since the data centers use the power that used to go to their home.

[02:16:36] Ms. Jones realized her class was well-informed. She then told the kids that data centers pay a lot of taxes so that that's the number one reason they are favored by local officials. Without even raising his hands, Mark screamed out, If taxes are so important, then why is the town giving data centers tax breaks and now they're trying to lower their taxes instead of just voting no one more data centers?

[02:17:00] That just doesn't make any sense. After a long pause, Ms. Jones said, you're right, Mark. That doesn't make much sense. Class dismissed. In closing, I'd like to remind the board that each of you took an oath of office in which you swore to exercise your duties impartially, which, according to Webster's Dictionary, means treating all equally.

[02:17:22] Therefore, I ask you, do you represent the majority of the county residents who want no more data centers, or in turn, do you represent only those individuals and groups who will make millions of dollars on each data center you approve, or those who campaign, who, pardon me, provide large sums to your campaigns and have financial clout?

[02:17:41] I believe your vote tonight will answer that question. Next person is Colleen David, followed by Frances Corman, followed by Rula Hadidin.

[02:17:57] I think that's how you say that. Good evening, ma'am. Good evening. The other day I told my husband that we should start buying land in Lowne County, even if it's zoned residential or located in the TPA. He quickly said, why would we want to do that?

[02:18:12] I told him that we'd make tons of money by selling the land to data center developers because their projects almost never get rejected by the board. And I figured we could take the money and move out near Hamilton, where the voices and concerns of the residents resonate with the money and political clout of the data center proponents.

[02:18:29] Therefore, let me share with you the top five factors that led me to come to this revelation. Number one, data center developers have required more than 80% of the counties in Virginia to sign NDAs so that vital information about their projects will be kept from the public.

[02:18:45] Number two, with the next board election over three years away, businesses and individuals with ties to data centers have contributed far more money to targeted board members than any other group. Number three, the individual who effectively runs the Leesburg Airport is the son of the individual who owns the cross-mail property.

[02:19:02] Hence, I was not surprised to find out that last year the official representative of the airport commission, who advised this board of the commission's support for the cross-mail project, brokered a $60 million data center deal for the same owner of the cross-mill project. Number four, Loudoun County currently has 199 data centers on the ground.

[02:19:22] That's the same size as eight pentagons, all located in one county. Number five, last but not least, while data center proponents speak to the need for the extra tax revenue, last week the county's budget director stated that the Loudoun County financial management staff will make a strong push to roll back taxes on data centers next year.

[02:19:41] Unbelievable. In closing, I'd like to share two observations I've made over the past few months while attending several board meetings. Point one, in an effort to obtain support for the cross-mill project, Supervisor Letourneau said it was important for the board to follow the letter of the law.

[02:19:57] However, since Supervisor Letourneau has regularly voted to allow exemptions or exceptions to the existing zoning laws that are desired by data center developers, I'm wondering if he thinks the data center proponents should also follow the regulations as they are written or just the groups that oppose the data centers.

[02:20:15] Point two, at the May 6th board meeting, Supervisor Kirshner stated that there were no significant speakers who opposed the cross-mail data centers. I was puzzled by this observation as I had previously shared my opposition to this project.

[02:20:31] Hence, I once again present my insignificant opposition to the cross-mail data center. Thank you. I'm sorry, Frances Corman, followed by Rula Hadidin, followed by Matthew Noonan.

[02:20:47] Good evening. Good evening. I'm here to comment on the study of River Creek Parkway. My name is Frances Corman, and I have lived in River Creek for 24 years. At the age of 76, I am one of many seniors from 70 to 90-plus years old living in River Creek who are original owners and plan to remain there and age in place. Loudoun County Area Agency on Aging has been very supportive of seniors who wish to age in place, and we are grateful for that.

[02:21:26] River Creek seniors are very busy volunteering at Innova Hospital, senior centers, delivering meals, secondhand stores, the Red Cross, Loudoun volunteer caregivers, and the list goes on. I share this with you because even though we are a little older and a little slower, we are committed to volunteering in our community, so we need to be able to confidently exit our community.

[02:21:56] To help us live a safer, longer life, we are requesting a traffic light to be installed at Olympic Boulevard and River Creek Parkway at the entrance of River Creek as soon as possible. Installing a traffic light should be faster and less expensive than exploring and implementing a road diet. We are concerned and intimidated by the volume of traffic and speeding on River Creek Parkway. Turning left

[02:22:33] On River Creek Parkway, when exiting River Creek, a driver must be aware of five lanes of traffic immediately impacting their left-hand turn. The first lane is a turning lane into River Creek.

[02:22:51] This lane backs up quickly with homeowners and event traffic, blocking an exiting driver's view of the middle through lane. some of the middle lane drivers bear off to the left turning lane into red rock allowing the middle through lane to accelerate it is very important to know that there's a significant dip in the road ma'am in the middle lane i'm sorry your time is up if you'd like to you can leave your question you can leave your comments with the with the clerk okay thank you very much thank you very much

[02:23:31] Our next speaker is Rula Hadidine, followed by Matthew Noonan. Good evening, Chair Randall and members of the board. On May 14th, 2025, Haaretz published the words of an Israeli soldier recalling his time in Gaza.

[02:23:50] He said, it felt like a computer game. Ma'am, you were signed up to speak on CrossMail. Yes, it is. Do you mind listening to the end? I do mind, so get to the CrossMail item pretty soon. It will. I wrote it, and it will. It felt like a computer game. Only after two weeks did I realize these were buildings collapsing.

[02:24:10] If there were people inside, they were falling with them. He continued, every once in a while, a building comes down, and the feeling is, wow, how crazy, what fun. But this isn't a game. These are people. Real people, teachers, doctors, town council, and board members.

[02:24:26] Families like mine and families like yours. We may be miles away from Palestine, but the violence reaches here. Ma'am, your time is, no, I'm sorry, no, you're not speaking on cross mill. No, you're not. I am ruling that you're not.

[02:24:42] Please have a seat. I am ruling that you're not. Please have a seat. Please have a seat. You are not speaking on cross mill. The next speaker is Matthew Noonan, followed by Sarah Hussain-Bazaar. Good evening, Mr. Noonan.

[02:25:00] Good evening. Let's see. I signed up to talk about cross mills before the vote, so I'm going to continue to do that. I'm here to talk about cross mills and data centers as a whole and why they're bad for Loudoun.

[02:25:22] Data centers poison our air and create negative long-term health effects for surrounding communities. Each data center coughs up roughly 10 tons a year of particular matter into surrounding communities. As a point of reference, an average airport in China generates 30 tons.

[02:25:38] laden has 200 data centers at the moment with 100 more either planned or in development that's potentially 6 000 tons of polluted air that ladeners are inhaling every year they poison our water 95 of data centers use the same drinking water that residents use they surveil people they used to monitor their use to monitor migrants anyone deemed a political dissident and frankly everyone what is that information being used for we have no idea but but we have no say in the outcome of this information.

[02:26:10] They're used to target and murder people in the U.S. and in Palestine. Why is there an insistence on keeping board comments local when Loudoun County government is apparently very interested influencing global affairs? Okay, sir, your time. I'm personally not— No, no, Mr. Noonan, you got—no.

[02:26:27] Okay. Thank you very much, but you're no longer talking about data center. Sarah Hussain Bazaar, followed by Naya Smith. Good evening.

[02:26:50] Good evening board members, bad evening to the Zionists, and I'm here to talk about data centers. These technologies, facial recognition, biometric tracking, predictive policing, are used to monitor and control Palestinians, immigrants, marginalized communities, entire population. I am going there, I'm going there. Get there very quickly. Loudoun is the only county in Virginia caught using FLOC safety license plate data to aid ICE rates under the 287G. And where do you think you house these? In data

[02:27:29] centers. And I was really hoping tonight, Ms. Randall, that you were going to vote no. I was really hoping from last board meeting that you guys were going to vote no. Because there's so many bad and negative things these data centers bring to our county. And not only that it brings pollution, both air and land, but it's going to also increase our energy bills as well. And Dominion Energy has predicted that. By 2030, at least 46% increase in the energy bills. And not only

[02:28:05] are you housing, are these data centers housing other things, but also war crimes, that these technologies are being used by Israeli occupation forces.

[02:28:17] You're not speaking, Ms. Bazar, I'm sorry, your time is up, your time is up, have a seat, have a seat, have a seat, have a seat, Ms. Bazar, you know what, you are out of order, supervisors leave today, be clear about something, if I haven't, if I haven't, I apologize, if people want to speak on any issue, any issue, no matter what that might be, you can, put it on the agenda when they call that you're going to speak on that issue.

[02:37:34] I will call people first to speak on issues that are on the agenda, and after that, if you want to speak on anything else, that is fine. But what you can't do is put on the agenda that you're going to speak on one cross meal and then try to change that.

[02:37:49] So if you want to do something else, speak on another issue the next meeting, just say that. Just say it. And last time we did this, everybody, including everybody on the waiting list, actually spoke. No issue with that at all.

[02:38:05] I will call people for things on the agenda first, and then everybody else will speak after. Just say what you want to speak on, but don't put one thing on here and then do something else. That's what I'm objecting to right now. All right. It has always been my practice when we have an elected official in the room to allow them to speak, to allow them to speak.

[02:38:26] It's my understanding, although I don't see him, it's my understanding that Mr. Higgins came into the room. Hello, Mr. Higgins. How are you? Mr. Higgins, would you like to speak? You may come up right now, and following you would be Naya Smith, followed by James Russell, who have signed up to speak on CrossMill.

[02:38:45] Good evening, Mr. Higgins. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. I'd like to speak to you briefly about data centers. I know that you all have been struggling with data centers, and we have been struggling with them at the General Assembly.

[02:39:01] Lots of different suggestions and things going on. We've had to deal with noise reduction, water, electrical supply, setbacks, height, berms. I know that you all have dealt with some of those same things and, in fact, have tightened up some of the ordinances here in Loudoun County to deal with data centers.

[02:39:27] But I can tell you one thing in Richmond that nobody was talking about. And I read an article in the paper, and I kind of hope I'm wrong, but nobody was talking about lowering taxes on data centers. We're giving money back to the data center industry. In fact, we were trying to talk about extending the tax credit that they have to 2035, and that was put on hold pending information next year.

[02:39:54] So I read in this paper that you guys are looking at lowering the tax rate or lowering taxes to data centers. I used to be a salesman. You know how you balance your portfolio? You increase the other side. You don't lower the profitable side. And so I hope that you're not going to do that.

[02:40:11] You have an economic package here in Loudoun that is very attractive to the data center industry. And if you've got money to spare that you're going to give back, I suggest you give it back to the residential property tax owners. Because I can tell you, since I left this board, which is five years ago, I don't care about the rate.

[02:40:29] you can charge whatever rate you want. I only care about what the taxes are that I pay, and my taxes are up 50 percent. And so if you want to give some money back to taxpayers, give them back to the residential property taxpayers. And I hope this idea about giving tax back to the data center when they're already here because you have a great package isn't done and makes no sense to me. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Higgins. I'll call you later about this item. Naya Smith,

[02:40:59] followed by James Russell, followed by Abhi Shereen. Naya Smith. Good evening, Ms. Smith. Good evening, board members. Loudoun County is now home to over 200 data centers with more proposed like the Cross Mill Data Center. These are not neutral buildings. They are industrial machines reshaping our land, polluting our air, spiking our energy bills, empowering global systems of

[02:41:34] oppression. Let's be clear. These data centers consume more electricity per acre than any other land use in Virginia. The average center uses the same amount of energy as tens of thousands of homes, and we foot the bill. Dominion Energy has already warned that data center demand is driving up rates for residential customers across northern Virginia. While Amazon, Google, and Microsoft grow their profits, working families in Loudoun are paying more for basic utilities. While Amazon, Google and Microsoft grow their profits.

[02:42:08] 80 families are at risk of eviction. Then there's the environmental costs. Data centers run 24-7, creating constant low-frequency noise that's been shown to disrupt sleep, concentration, and mental health. They emit tons of carbon dioxide annually and rely on diesel generators contributing to air pollution near our neighborhoods, parks, and schools.

[02:42:31] And most importantly, what exactly are we powering? These data centers host cloud infrastructure for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Palantir, all of which provide surveillance and AI tools to ICE for immigrant raids, detentions, and deportations, the Israeli military for facial recognition and tracking system used on Palestinians living under apartheid, local Palestinian departments.

[02:42:56] Ma'am, thank you very much. You're off topic and you're finished now. Local police departments. Thank you very much. Please have a seat. I didn't forget about even to design it. Ma'am, please have a much. Please have a seat. Mr. Russell, followed by Avi Shireen. Thank you.

[02:43:15] I appreciate that. Mr. Russell, followed by Avi Shireen, followed by Matt Chalowski. Well, actually, it says Macy Chalowski. I think that was a mistake. I think it actually is supposed to be Matt Chalowski. So if there's a Macy Chalowski here, that's fine.

[02:43:31] Otherwise, I'm pretty sure it's Matt Chalowski. Thank you for writing, Mr. Russell. Good evening. Good evening. I have raised a lot of concerns in the 15 months that I've been coming here, sticking into my two and a half minute time frame, trying to abide by the rules in every way that I can.

[02:43:50] I've brought up a lot of pressing concerns, one of which that I've reiterated for almost a year now are data centers and their consistent expansion in Loudoun County, unquestionably. Now, I signed up to talk about Cross Mill, but the vote was about a power station.

[02:44:16] If I talk about the power station, is that within the purview of talking about cross-mill? If I talk about the environmental impact of more data centers, that's an environmental question. Is that within the purview of cross-mill?

[02:44:33] If I talk about the strain on the power grid, right? The more strain that these put on the power grid, the more susceptible the power grid is. If there's an extreme heat wave, which I don't know if you've been reading the papers, but that's going to keep happening.

[02:44:53] If that causes a blackout, that will prove fatal for your constituents. But is that within the purview of cross-mill data centers? I mean, I'm serious.

[02:45:09] I know it's a one-way chat here, but tell me, what are we allowed to speak about? You can't, oh, I can't, I won't, I'm going to talk about cross-mill data center, right? I'm going to talk about all, how about the companies that use these data centers?

[02:45:24] How about the fact that, oh, God, I can't say it, I can't say it. They contract with the government. They contract with militaries all over the world. They don't answer to us whatsoever. They just are a demand on our power grid and an eyesore. But don't, don't, whatever you do, don't make the mistake of thinking this is Loudoun County business.

[02:45:49] I have seen so many videos this week of people attempting chest compressions on infants. Sir, your time is up. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks for responding to fascism by silencing Arab women. Thank you. Thank you. I feel freer already. Thank you, Mr. Russell. Okay. Once again, let me just say this one more time. There are no cheers. There are no jeers. And there is no calling out or signing out. We are going to respect you all. And we're going to ask you all to respect us. And there's no snapping either.

[02:46:20] So I do not want to take us off this dais again, because when we come off the dais, we don't add time to the speaking time. It's the same amount of time. So less people are going to speak. So let's try to get through as many speakers as we can, unless I would much prefer to stay on this dais.

[02:46:38] Okay, Avi Shireen, if you are here, you'll be followed by either Macy or Matt Chalowski, followed by Meredith Ray. Avi Shireen's last name is spelled s-h-a-r-e-e-n first name is abhi a-v-i are you here speaking on cross mill no going once going twice okay matt chalowski are you here or marcy or macy chalowski is there either one of those people here andy is there a matt chalowski or a macy chalowski on the phone andy no madam chair

[02:47:15] okay then i will go to the next speaker um uh karen arnold followed by erica sauvet good evening ma'am. Good evening. Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate the ability to speak to you directly. My name is Karen Arnold. I live in Green Mill Preserve. We had the opportunity to meet Supervisor Tricroni a couple weeks ago. I learned about the cross mill expansion through originally looking at the Spring Valley Data Center application. I am very concerned in Loudoun

[02:47:54] County driving down Wax Pool. You don't recognize where to turn anymore onto Loudoun County Parkway. There are so many data centers. I would like to urge the board to continue to protect the TPA. I think that the western, rural Loudoun County divide to the more developed eastern county.

[02:48:21] You know, one of the reasons we live in Loudoun County is the agribusiness, the beautiful green spaces. And I would just like to encourage the board to support the TPA, to vote no on additional data center applications, and also to reject the cross mill expansion.

[02:48:40] Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. We're not, we don't, the board's rules of order, not my rules, the board's rules of order does not do cheering or cheering. If you can respect that, I'd really appreciate it.

[02:48:57] Thank you so much. the next speaker is um scott bell i'm sorry erica solvay followed by scott bell erica's not here thank you scott bell are you here good evening sir you'll be followed by patricia cave so good evening chair rando and members of the board my name is scott bell and i live in hiddenwood lane and i want to thank you for continuing to work with us on our application

[02:49:38] Tonight, I don't just ask that you hear me, I ask that you see me. I ask that you see me and you see us, this Hittinwood community, not just as applicants. I ask that you see the people who are seated behind me.

[02:49:56] See us not as applicants, but as proud contributing residents of Loudoun County. We could be your neighbors, your coworkers, your relatives, or fellow members of your faith community. We have approached this process with patience, respect, and a willingness to address every concern raised.

[02:50:17] We have made many revisions to account for comments. Most significantly, we have removed the data center use from the application. We are now proposing an application that will appropriately transition from the data center use that is approved in our front yards to the community to the north.

[02:50:33] We are proud of the way we have conducted ourselves and the lives we lead here in this county. But at times, we have felt unseen. At times, we have felt as that we don't matter. That's why I stand before you again, not just advocating for a project, but to represent a community of people who simply want the dignity of peace and stability.

[02:50:58] Each of us contribute to this county in our own way. I'll just share a few of mine. I volunteer at the Wingler House to feed and entertain our seniors. sit with stroke victims, stroke patients who are recovering at the Potomac Falls Rehab Center.

[02:51:19] On Mondays, you can find me at Bridge Feeds, donating and distributing food to some of our less fortunate residents in the county. I've worked with local county sheriffs to develop an active shooter protocol for faith-based organizations. I've supported formerly incarcerated individuals, some who have spent decades behind bars as they work to rebuild their lives.

[02:51:45] Galatians 6-9 reminds us that, let us not grow weary of doing good. That's how I was raised to do what is right, no matter what the circumstance is. While managing this process, my siblings, thank you. I'm sorry, yes, thank you, thank you. Scott Bell, and you will be followed by Patricia Cave. Good evening. Oh, wait a minute. That was Scott. That was Scott. I'm sorry. Patricia Cave. I'm sorry, Ms. Cave. You will be followed by Roy Tramiel Sr. Good evening. Good evening.

[02:52:22] Good evening, Chair Randall and members of the board. My name is Patricia Cave. I live on Hidden Wood Lane with my husband, Jonathan, who's right there in the green shirt, and our two sons, Arthur and Paul. The Hidden Wood Lane application has continually revised during its two-year existence. With the removal of the data center use, the proposed buildings are now just 39 feet tall, a height lower than what was permitted in the CR1 zoning district when our homes and the homes in Briarfield were built. There are no proposed zoning modifications and the application fully conforms to the zoning ordinance requirements. We submitted a letter to

[02:52:59] you yesterday outlining additional background information about our application. Without Without going into too much detail, I would just like to say that our proposal, while it may not be perfect, it's a reasonable solution that corrects numerous wrongs to Hidden Wood and that mitigates impacts to Briarfield without causing the same wrongs.

[02:53:21] It also is a solution that doesn't require Loudoun taxpayers to foot the bill. Without speculation to the contrary, we're not receiving a windfall from the sale of our homes. We will receive just enough money to move in Loudoun County. We've done what has been requested of us from an application perspective, and I now ask you to consider the human element of this application.

[02:53:44] It's unlike any other application in Loudoun County. We've lost so much of our lives to this process over the last several years that it's difficult to put into words the anguish that we've experienced and continue to experience. With your support, we can finally put this terrible period of uncertainty behind us, and we can move on with our lives.

[02:54:04] We sincerely appreciate your consideration and hope you can support our application. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Roy Trammell Sr., followed by Scott Grossman. Good evening, Reverend Trammell. How are you? Good evening to the chair and the members of the board.

[02:54:26] My name is Roy Trammell Sr. I'm the pastor of First Baptist Church Sickland, which is where the data center will be located across the street. Myself and my congregation is in favor of the data center.

[02:54:50] Thank you. Thank you, sir. Scott Grossman. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Scott Cosman, followed by Chase Stewart. Madam Chair, Mr. Cosman removed himself from the list.

[02:55:08] Okay. All right. Chase Stewart, followed by Paul McCullough. Good evening. Good evening. I am speaking in support of the Hiddenwood application.

[02:55:29] I'm a commercial real estate broker who specialized in industrial properties here in Loudoun County for the past eight years. Over that time, I've worked closely with local businesses, regional users, and national companies, and I can confidently say that we're facing a serious shortage of quality industrial space in this market.

[02:55:49] Vacancy rates are at historic lows, and we are seeing companies struggle to find suitable space to operate, expand, or relocate their business within Loudoun. the demand is real and it's only growing without more modern industrial product we risk losing these businesses to neighboring counties this proposed development is exactly the kind of project that can support local business attract investment and create long-term tax revenue and job opportunities for the county i strongly support this industrial project and urge you to consider what it brings to loudon county's economic future thank you thank you thank you ma'am

[02:56:26] paul mccullough followed by saravon dugab raja i think and i i apologize and please correct your name when you come up good evening sir good evening chair randall members of the board my name is paul mccullough i've lived and worked in loudon county as a technology professional for over 30 years and i am in support of cross mill application i think for any data center application we have to look at each one on its merits application one is no different than 201 i am in favor of cross mill for a couple of reasons one utility infrastructure

[02:57:06] cross mill is located between two major transmission lines and there's a great deal of existing and planned electrical development in that area so i think it's a good fit from a location perspective the development fits well with the office and business development along sickle and road in addition to other existing uses that are already in that area for example the adult detention facility fire training center bus garage and the town's water tower a proposed data center in this particular application in this particular site i think is a

[02:57:43] complementary use and i would ask you to approve the application because it's really the right use in the right place thank you thank you sir um uh sirvon uh i'm sure i'm saying that name wrong um the last name is spelled d-u-g-g-a-r-a-g-u are you here he's on the web okay um okay we're

[02:58:17] ready for him good evening members of the board of supervisors i'm here this evening to respectfully urge the board to strongly oppose Dominion's proposed power lines Route 3 and 3A. The Loudoun County School of Board has already rejected earlier proposals due to significant concerns about the impact on our schools. Like Madam Randall, like you said earlier, if you are

[02:58:51] feeling threatened by data centers dominion is using the same tactics even school board has rejected uh you know power lines around the school they still went ahead and proposed the lines anyway in their sec application so as an electric elected official if you are feeling threatened just think about us how we are feeling and unfortunately newly proposed route 3a is even more detrimental it poses serious threats to the environment local communities and historical sites

[02:59:31] our children would still be forced to walk directly under high voltage power lines every day most critically the proposed 3a route passes through parcel 8 which is protected by a permanent open space easement under virginia open space land act this easement was executed by loudon board already allowing transmission lines on this parcel 8 would violate the easement and expose the county to potential legal challenges. We consistently hear that county is exploring

[03:00:11] underground options. Has there been any real progress? We did not hear anything so far. And if we cannot do underground, why can't we use existing, you know, right-of-way? Thank you, and thanks for your help, and please protect the community. Thank you, sir. Also, the next person's also on the phone. It's Raj Khatapali, and he will be followed by Mohammed Smith, who is in the boardroom.

[03:00:45] Good evening, Chair Randall and members of the board. I'm here to share my concerns on the Golden Mass Transition Project, which is currently awaiting a decision from the ACF. First, I want to thank the board for supporting the underground option, and I appreciate your continued efforts. Like many others in the community, I hope the underground solution will be approved that said if underground doesn't move forward i respectfully ask the board to reject route 3 and 3a these routes would cause serious and lasting damage to the broader stream valley cutting down trees and building through the through this corridor could increase pollution

[03:01:21] and raise long-term safety concerns both routes also pass through the land that is meant to be protected by the county's open space conservation easements and these bases are intended to support clean water, forest growth, and low-impact development, not high-voltage power.

[03:01:37] Broadrun is also the home to wildlife and helps maintain our local ecosystem, running high-voltage transmission lines through the wood, break up the forest and hurt import habitat. I also strongly urge the board to not allow any new write-off waves. Due to the existing one, we already have very limited green space in our area due to all these data centers, and what's left should be preserved.

[03:02:01] Even the county's own comprehensive plan highlights that places like Crowdrun should be enhanced for trails, parks, and community use, not yet for power lines. I remain hopeful for an underground solution, but if that's not possible, I ask the board to reject Route 3 and 3A and continue to protect the environment and our safety.

[03:02:26] Thank you. Thank you, sir. In the room is Mohammed Smith, followed by Shaitan Doma, who's on the phone, and Jennifer Judd, who is on the phone as well. Good evening, sir.

[03:02:42] You say you care about public safety, human rights, and justice, but you've just proven that you don't because you've approved another data center, the Cross Mill Data Center.

[03:02:57] I'm only 20 years old. By the time I'm your age, which is far from now, my next-door neighbor will literally be a data center. What sort of future are you building for me and the rest of my generation? I don't even know what the health risk will be, and I won't even be able to afford that due to the big, ugly bill.

[03:03:17] Data centers houses the cloud that continues to be complicit in injustices around the world. Stop building the digital backbone of apartheid and oppression. oh and i forgot my manners good evening board members and bad evening to the dionist free palestine okay chiton chiton doma followed by jennifer judd hello yes yes ma'am we can hear you all right good good evening board of supervisors on behalf of a number of people i want to address

[03:03:55] routes 3 and 3a as absolutely unacceptable the power lines on these routes run right next to the Broad Run Stream Valley, which is home to a lot of wildlife. Animals will be heavily impacted by these powerful lines. The construction alone of these power lines are harmful to the environment as they produce pollutants that will impact the health of those around it. The transmission towers are being built in a place where we are trying to promote reforestation. In contrast, Dominion may have to cut down more trees for the towers to be built in the first place. The environment is only one of the many reasons why power lines shouldn't be built here. No matter where in the

[03:04:34] area these towers are built, students will be affected everywhere. Students such as myself will have to walk under these transmission towers every single day. This in itself is a major concern. We shouldn't have students freely walking in such a hazardous area. Dominion is trying to throw everyone off by switching the names of the routes and their location. Dominion is claiming to change the routes just for them to be moved 20 meters more than originally intended.

[03:05:03] Board, you must push to reject Routes 3 and 3A for the tremendous amount of harm it could cost to the broadband, watersheds, and the environment. The pollutants emitted from these lines directly or indirectly from the construction can destroy the water quality nearby. Least impacted and most impacted zones really don't exist.

[03:05:22] We are requesting you to push for the right-of-way lines already approved. If built on the right of way lines, there will be minimal environmental damage compared to routes 3 and 3A, which would be a great pro in itself.

[03:05:39] Schools would no longer be affected by the towers, and students can safely and happily walk to school knowing that they are safe. Another possible reason why Dominion wouldn't want to construct it on the right of way routes are there much longer. I hope you take this into consideration. Please stand with us and reject routes 3 and 3A.

[03:05:57] you for your time thank you thank you very much um i think i'm at that i think i'm at jennifer judd correct jennifer dead followed by ram uh rupert ready and i think both of those people are on the phone oh you're here i'm sorry yes miss judd hi good evening chair members of the board and fellow community members my name is jennifer judd and i have lived in loudon county my entire life i graduated from loudon county high school i'm a flower farmer and a beekeeper here i plan to live here forever i love our county i'm also a proud mother of four children and the oldest of

[03:06:37] nine siblings who all live in loco and i'm here tonight to speak in support of the cross mill data centers application let me be clear from the start i don't believe data centers are appropriate everywhere in our county like many in our community i care deeply about our heritage the long-term character farmlands open space and livability of loudon county but i also believe that when a data center is proposed in the right location we should take a thoughtful open-minded look at what it can do for our community and in my view cross mill is that kind of project this application proposes development in a location that makes sense it's away from schools neighborhoods

[03:07:14] historic areas and near-existing infrastructure designed to support this kind of use it strikes a balance between responsible economic development and community values as a mom i've experienced firsthand how the benefits of loudon's commercial tax base shows up in our daily lives my kids play on beautiful playgrounds incredible ball fields parks and fields built and maintained in a large part to the revenue generated by data centers we enjoy a growing park and trail system and our public amenities continue to improve at the same time our residential tax burdens have stayed manageable even as home values have continued to rise that's not something every

[03:07:53] family and nova can say approving thoughtful projects like the cross mill helps make these things possible and ensures we're planning wisely for the future funding the things that make this county great for families and protecting the quality of life we all cherish thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight and for considering the long-term needs of both current and future laden families thank you miss jed thank you um ram i'm sorry it might be ram rupareddy

[03:08:21] who's on the phone followed by um amirinder atikam good good evening board before i begin i want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all our veterans and current members of the armed forces on this 250th commemoration anniversary your service and sacrifice are deeply appreciated i'm here to oppose dominion's route 3 and route 3a because they pose serious risk to our environment schools and families. These routes threaten the broader stream valley, a year-round stream vital to our

[03:08:59] ecosystem. Construction here risks permanent damage, increased pollutants, and long-term health impacts to the community. Dominion appears determined to push Route 3, even after the school board rejected it for being too close to schools. In response, they proposed Route 3A, which simply shifts the threat a few feet closer to our neighborhoods. Let's be honest, this wouldn't happen without the board support. I asked the board, why are you so excited on Route 3? Why are you not supporting the existing right-of-way, which avoids harming schools, streams, and homes?

[03:09:34] There are already several data centers built on Loudoun County Parkway. It feels like you are targeting residents who paid premium for peace of mind, not for power lines. Route 3 has still cut through conservation easements, fragments of wildlife habitat, and endangered children walking nearby. Please protect loaders which are to the better path thank you thank you sir um the next person on the phone also um amarendar atikam and then you'll be followed by katherine bond amarendar has not

[03:10:11] called in okay thank you katherine bond will be followed by um marvin navarro is bond are you here yes katherine bond are you here no no okay marvin navarro followed by roger smith did i miss

[03:10:43] somebody did i miss somebody i did not i did not i did not i'm good i'm good guys i know i got it i'm good marvin navarro are you here mr navarro going once he is here okay are we doing an

[03:11:12] interpreter are we doing five minutes no yes no good evening i am haiti navarro speaking on behalf of my father, Marvin Navarro. The reason I'm here with you is because my family and our community, Leesburg Mobile Park, is in a terrifying and, dare I say, inhumane situation. An assault on the right to decent housing. We are humble families, low-income workers, and senior citizens.

[03:11:44] We have nowhere to go, and we are being threatened with mass eviction. I am the head of a household, and I can't find a place for my five children and my wife. I promised my family a safe and stable place, and now we can't even sleep in peace thinking about the situation. We are good neighbors. My daughters attend local schools, and we go to church. We are God-fearing. The notice given to us by the landowner is forcing us to sign a document that we don't understand. By simply signing, we agree to be evicted and abandon our homes. The trailers cannot be moved. If they move to the corner, they will fall to pieces. Most of these trailer homes are a bit old, but we have

[03:12:22] them very beautiful. When we bought this house, we did so with excitement. I wasn't aware of the problem that was happening. No one notified me, neither from the seller of the house nor the park management. I never imagined that one day I would be evicted from the house that I had bought for my family with so much effort and excitement. We bought the trailer home at $35,000 and I invested $20,000 in remodulation costs. So my home was a total of $55,000. And now we are here before you, our leaders, to help us relocate. The relocation expenses are beyond the family's

[03:12:57] budgets and we need your support and the opportunity to speak to the owner to reach an agreement that will give us more time while you help us settle. Thank you for the opportunity. I hope in God that you will help us. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Roger Smith followed by Jose Monroy. Good evening Mr. Smith. Good evening Supervisors Chair Randall. I'm a resident of Waterford. I really appreciate what you're doing here today to bring relevance to these public

[03:13:33] hearings. I plan to spend, of my two and a half minutes, 30 seconds on data centers and two minutes on Waterford wastewater system. I find that I'm not quite sure whether you're going to chuck me out after I've talked about data centers or not, but I'll keep going and I'm sure you'll let me I will probably chuck you out after you talk about data centers.

[03:14:00] Okay, then let me be very brief on data centers. I'm against Cross Mill and Hidden Wood. We don't need more data centers. They breed transmission lines. Nobody likes transmission lines. Everyone's unhappy with that. Item 14 on the agenda today is just terrific, and we need to do a lot more of that.

[03:14:20] That's what I'm going to say on data centers. I'm now going to talk about water for the wastewater system. Actually, it's not in the agenda, so we're not going to do that today. It's on a future, it would be an unpassed agenda, and it's going to be on a future agenda. I know, far in the future, but we're not going to do that today, Mr. Smith.

[03:14:37] Okay. Thank you very much. Jose Monroy, followed by Michael Sullivan.

[03:14:53] Wait, wait, wait, hold on. Let's reset his time. Just give me a sec. Okay, we're good. Thank you. Good evening, Mrs. Randall and the members of the board. My name is Jose Monroy. Thank you for the opportunity to speak about my community, Lisbon Mobile Home Park.

[03:15:11] As a member for this community for over 26 years, we are here to advocate for your help as our community is in the process of mass eviction and displacement. We are being intimidated and pressured to sign a two-weeks agreement that begins on July 7 and ends on July 21.

[03:15:34] First, if we don't sign this agreement according to the notice sent by the owner, we will be left without any benefits and will be evicted. We are seniors. We don't know where to go.

[03:15:54] We cannot find affordable housing that we can afford based on our income. We don't want it to be displayed to another place where we are not from. are where we don't belong we belong to london county we are advocating before you our authorities we want to be relocated the 85 families that make up the mobile home park our community is a

[03:16:28] community of hard-working people dedicated to our families mr great mr gregory he wants us to vacate his property by January 31st of 2026 which is six months from now and it's not enough time for us. We'd like to ask you to speak with him and reach an agreement regarding our relocation.

[03:16:57] When he purchased this land he promised us to provide land for us to be relocated. We must we must sit all sit down at the table to find a permanent solution to the housing needed for the families in this one more home park thank you for your time thank you thank you um michael sullivan um michael sullivan you will be next sure you'll be felt just me one second i'm

[03:17:36] sorry just give me one second you're going to be followed by brandon work holder and then we're going to go back to some of the people i went past so you're ready i'm ready for you sir all right again i'm mike sullivan i'm a resident of broad run farms i've been there for 15 years with my beautiful wife and my two kids and i'm here today to speak in opposition of the enhanced proactive zoning enforcement that will single out broad run among a few other neighborhoods without an hoa in the county you know we're like a lot of other neighborhoods except we don't have an hoa we have

[03:18:16] a few repeat offenders. We also have a few folks that are just always complaining, you know, that that happens in neighborhoods. But in this action item that I read through for this proposal for six full-time inspectors to do proactive enforcement throughout the county and focus on neighborhoods like Broad Run, I read here, based on prior experience in this area, staff is aware and or speculate that there are unaddressed outstanding violations in some cases so it's where's the data

[03:18:51] where's the number of complaints where is the business case to hire these inspectors to proactively enforce zoning in our neighborhood i've been there for 15 years i don't have any complaints about my neighborhood i'm there every day i see it i had a neighbor pull some of the records on the complaints formal complaints in the county we've had 11 in the last 24 months that seems like that should easily be doable within the current complaint system and we should continue with that i think the current complaint system is more than adequate i also think you

[03:19:29] know being neighborly as well works and i don't i don't see any reason why we need inspectors in our neighborhood on a routine basis where their you know performance evaluations are judged on creating findings and closing findings in our neighborhood i think it'll be a detrimental to our quality of life and only 300 houses so in summary just i think it's a poor idea i think it's a new way to waste money and uh you know we only had 11 complaints in two years so i i don't

[03:20:04] really see what the point is that's all i have thank you thank you sir um brandon um work holder and then after you what i'm going to now do is go back to some of the people who had signed up to speak but they were not signed up on items that they did not say they were signed up for i'm speak that were on the agenda send up for other items and i'm going to let them speak because we have time because because that was that's always the plan as long as you say what you're going to speak about so we'll go back to some of those after this good evening sir good evening good evening

[03:20:42] board i'll be brief i am a new resident at broad run farms i've been there for less than five years i moved my family from sterling park my wife and young kids we moved there specifically for the community and we love what's there we appreciate the community that is neighborly and the current proposal to proactively identify and enforce zoning violations is not what we are it's not what we voted on it's not what we're looking for um like mike i agree that uh it's clear from the

[03:21:19] email and all the communications and the 11 complaints in the last 24 months that the current system of neighbors reporting on neighbors and volunteering information is working just fine And identifying and keeping up with some repeat offenders, there are a small number of them, is just fine.

[03:21:44] Paying for new employees, full-time new employees, is beyond what we need for a small number in Broad Run Farms, which was specifically called out in this proposal. Sterling Park was compared as a model for proactive zoning reinforcement, But there's no evidence provided that Sterling Park has benefited while Broder on Farms has been hurt as a result of not enforcing it.

[03:22:14] Thank you. Thank you. All right, we're going to go back and pick up some people who signed up to speak on items that were not on the agenda. And so we'll go back and go and catch Meredith Ray, followed by Zaina Hutchison, followed by Leticia Micaldo.

[03:22:38] I think that's how you say the last name. So, Ms. Ray, are you here? Ms. Ray, are you here? Going once, going twice. Okay. Ms. Hutchinson, are you here? She's on the WebEx.

[03:22:54] I'm sorry? She's on the WebEx. I'm sorry. Ms. Hutchinson, can we? Oh, I thought you were. Okay. Yes. Apologies. And then Leticia Mercado, if you would be after that. Good evening.

[03:23:19] Good evening. If there was more transparency on data centers, specifically on the cross-mill data center, maybe then I would have been able to say specifically about each data center that I wanted to speak about. But there's no transparency, there's no accountability, and we don't know what's coming into Loudoun County. And that's what we're digging into. I oppose the cross-mill data center and all of them, to be honest. It is truly outrageous that Loudoun County is choosing to approve more data centers instead of investing more in affordable housing, special needs facilities,

[03:23:56] and other critical community needs, both financially and in land use. Even more disturbing is that this decision makes Loudoun County residents and taxpayers complicit, often unknowingly, in the dangerous environmental impact, in the dangers for immigrants and the immigrant community, as well as the genocide and apartheid being conducted by Israel in Palestine.

[03:24:23] By allowing Israeli companies to operate here and by supporting Israel's oppressive tactics through local investments, we are all complicit. Additionally, the way the data centers are set up and the fact that this board has allowed them to continue expanding at our expense makes us, Loudoun County taxpayers, financially dependent on an intrusive and locally and internationally oppressive industry. An industry that is essentially above local or even state control,

[03:24:56] once created, from Dominion Energy to weapon manufacturers to cyber security. Almost all of them have no oversight or means for real regulation. They have overloaded the power grid, negatively impacted the environment, and become an integral part of the military-industrial complex. Thus, complicity is local. Palestine is local. So let's stop normalizing and minimizing the damage and the impact of these data centers. And in my 20 seconds, in this room today, we have

[03:25:36] a lot bigger problems than data centers. The suppression of speech and the disrespect for the speakers that have abided by all the rules day in and day out is absolutely unacceptable. It is disrespectful to the issues. It is disrespectful to us as residents. Free Palestine.

[03:25:54] The next speaker will be, no, no, no. The next speaker will be Leticia Mercado, Followed by Jeremy Jones, followed by Ria Narayan, if again, if I say your name incorrectly, I apologize.

[03:26:12] Is Ms. Mercado on the line, on the WebEx? Yes? Yes, she is. We are ready when she is. I oppose the CrossMill Data Center and the expansion of data centers in our community. Experts project energy and water costs to increase due to the data center's usage, And it is the public, you know, your constituents, who will ultimately pay the price with their pockets and their health.

[03:26:40] We can no longer treat these environmental concerns as a future issue. Water scarcity and massive electricity outage are already happening. To keep prioritizing revenue from data centers over our environment and public health, it is adventuring Loudoun residents.

[03:26:59] Environmental experts are calling what is happening in Gaza an ecocide, too. Water resources were already scarce before October 7th, but the genocide has made 90% of all drinking water in Gaza unfit for human consumption. Many disastrous environmental conditions, such as greenhouse gas emissions and contaminated water systems, will not be reversed after this.

[03:27:22] The World Health Organization warned back in 2023 that infectious diseases associated with water scarcity and contamination may eventually kill more people than military violence. And yet, there is more military spending by this country every year than investing in green options.

[03:27:42] Palantir, a tech and data giant that is complicit in the killing and surveillance of Palestinians through their collaboration with the Israeli military of occupation, has now signed a multimillion-dollar contract to collaborate with ICE for the surveillance and terrorizing of immigrants here.

[03:28:01] You can keep denying the connection between the data centers, the military and environmental violence caused by war profiteers, tech and surveillance developers, and the genocide in Gaza by suppressing our speech right now, but know that you are only serving the corporations and the oligarchy connected to the defense industry who are getting rich out of this genocide and the unchecked expansion of data centers everywhere.

[03:28:26] In words of Francesca Albanese, to seek justice and reparations for the Palestinians and immigrants terrorized by this profit-driven violence, we must also begin to dismantle the economic system upon which it stands.

[03:28:41] let's start here in loudon stop the expansion of data centers in the county free palestine and abolish eyes thank you jeremy jones you'll be followed by i think it's ria um narajan i think that's the way i'm saying that if not i apologize and you will be followed by just give me one

[03:29:07] second please shane crow good evening hi all right so there's been many times we've come up here trying to explain the fact that support for Israel is not intrinsically tied to Judaism.

[03:29:28] For anyone confused about this, I'll provide the United States as an analogy. For the longest time, Americans have prided themselves on the idea that we live in a melting pot, yet we have the words in God we trust on our dollars, in God in our national anthem, which school children are made to recite at the start of every day. When you see headlines about racially motivated attacks on religious institutions, or even a post someone makes online talking about how the U.S. is or should be a Christian nation. Do you think that's appropriate? Cuba, 1933. Guatemala, 1954. The

[03:30:06] Congo, 1960. Brazil, 1964. Chile, 1973. Afghanistan, 2001. Iraq, 2003. Iran, 1953. These are all examples of governments the U.S. has destabilized, many of which had U.S.-backed dictators put in place soon after, killing tens of thousands every single time. The scapegoat given for these actions included preserving Christianity. Would you accept that narrative? Every president that spearheaded

[03:30:41] these attacks swore in on a Bible. Still, these actions are not representative of Christianity. Because of the founding or colonization of this country, America is tangentially seen as a Christian nation, but still, I do not associate these nationalistic actions with Christianity.

[03:30:59] America, the nation state, and its leaders are the ones responsible for what's taken place. I can separate the injustices that I and millions of others have faced, things we were told are on behalf of a religion, from the religion itself. Do you have any idea how difficult that is?

[03:31:20] to endure unquantifiable damage and dehumanization to the point where you're asking for an ounce of recognition is viewed as a threat and still be able to look at the reasoning given for these actions in the face and say, no, I know the difference. This isn't about two equal sides being unable to see each other's humanity. It's about a people fighting for their right to come back home and those who believe it's their right to make sure that never happens. Thank you. Thank

[03:31:54] Thank you. Rhea Narayan, N-A-R-A-Y-A-N. If I mispronounce that, I apologize. And I believe if I'm in the right place, you'll be followed by, I'm pretty sure it's Mr. Crow, Shane Crow.

[03:32:12] Are you here? Oh, you are here? Hi, how are you? Is her mic on? Yes. We're ready. When you are, young lady. Okay, you know what? Just give her a second so that the room quiet down just a bit, okay? Just give her, just hold on a second, okay? I'll let you know

[03:32:37] win i know bet you ready okay now i'm eight do you know that is my summer vacation it is but do you know why i'm here i'm here because there's something that matters to me more hello everyone

[03:33:12] my name is rianna ryan and i'm here to ask you should i be worried should i be worried about breathing clean air or will it be polluted that make kids like me get more allergies and breathing problems? Should I be worried about always having safe and enough drinking water? Should I be worried that hundreds of animals and plants will die, suffer, or lose their homes as a result? Should I be worried if I can't do my schoolwork because we constantly lose power and electricity due to data centers instead of our homes and schools? Should I be worried our area will become a bigger

[03:33:50] a target for terrorism? Should I be worried then if I and my friends will be safe at school and in our neighborhoods? Should I be worried I'll hear the sounds of humming machines instead of chirping birds and buzzing bees? Should I be worried I'll only see the bright lights from the data centers instead of seeing the stars glow? Should I be worried I can't safely ride my bike because of traffic or that in a year or two I might not even be able to climb the same trees i climbed today should i be worried if i will still feel proud to call this my beautiful happy

[03:34:25] hometown or tell my friends now i live in an industrial jungle should i be worried grown-ups will make big decisions today they'll hurt kids like me later should i be worried my generation will have to fix problems that could have been stopped today do you remember how old i am i'm eight so should i be worried if my voice mattered today i hope not thank you no matter how amazing the little kids are who speak in our room we still don't clap but good job little

[03:35:02] young lady uh the next speaker and i know it's hard to follow that isn't it mr crow but next speaker is shane crow and give me one second mr i just want to make sure i haven't missed anybody else so give me one second if you don't mind mr crow i believe after you mr crow will be jose to seals i'm i think that's right i think that's right mr crow we're ready

[03:35:33] Good evening, Board. As always, my name is Shane Crow. I'm here speaking on behalf of UpVote Virginia, a nonpartisan, non-profit democracy reform organization here in Virginia. And for my time tonight, I'd like to take us back about a month to the statewide Democratic primary, put it into perspective, highlight some of the shortfallings of our current election system, and show what ranked choice voting would have done to make it better.

[03:35:58] So before I began, I'd like to say that about a week before Election Day, I had made a prediction. Now, to be fair, I didn't tell you all, so you'll just have to take my word on it. But I predicted that the eventual winner would receive between 20 to 35 percent of the vote. And lo and behold, Senator Hashmi, the winner, received 27 and a half percent.

[03:36:20] 27.50 exactly. I was smack dab in the middle of my prediction. Now, to break down how the vote went across the state, it was a bit of a scramble. For instance, Hampton Roads was Senator Rouse's house. Northern Virginia was a horse race between the top three, with the main exception of Prince William, which crowned Babur Lateef as the prince.

[03:36:42] And then the other areas had one preference for another between either a former Richmond mayor, LeVar Stoney, or Senator Hashmi, by larger margins but with fewer votes. So overall, in one sense, because of how tight the margin was, everyone's vote counted. But in another sense, nobody's vote counted outside of Richmond, which gave an anomalous result by giving Senator Hashmi a nearly 11,000-vote lead over their former mayor, Levar Estoni, which is more than twice the size of Senator Hashmi's margin statewide.

[03:37:16] And what we can gather from this is that it's very difficult to discern, like, how voters really felt among the top two, between Senator Hashmi and former Mayor LeVar Stoney. Like, could it have been that fewer candidates have run, maybe former Mayor Stoney would have pulled ahead?

[03:37:34] Or perhaps maybe Senator Rouse would have pulled ahead? Or maybe Senator Hashmi would have maintained their lead? My point is, is that we don't know, because our current voting system limits what voters can, like, mark and prefer, and what politicians and pundits can infer from the results.

[03:37:55] Whereas, with ranked choice voting, if voters were able to mark the preferences for more candidates, they would be able to more truly mark their voice, and people would be able to have a clearer picture. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Crowe. Before I call up Jose to see else I think it is mr. Smith are you still here mr. Smith you actually did sign up and for what you wanted to speak on you actually did say the water water for water system you actually signed up for that as well and so I I am mistaken I should have let you speak I apologize and I'm going to invite you back up to be our last speaker okay thank you sir

[03:38:35] um jose turcios followed by vicky who followed by yamara rivas i am good afternoon um respected authorities our family is grieving as are all the families in our leesburg mobile park community the reason is the mass eviction of 75 to 80 working class families my family has lived happily and safely in this community for 14 years but today we are before you asking for your

[03:39:14] support you are our authorities and we need funds for the relocation of our community we know that it is in your hands to make this a reality we need to meet up with you thank you for your time and thank you for listening thank you thank you young lady vicky it's h-u i'm not sure how to pronounce that so I apologize in advance if you let me know and then you'll be followed by Yamara Rivas and then we'll go back to Mr. Smith. Good evening ma'am. Good evening my name is Vicky Hu and I have

[03:39:48] worked and lived in Loudoun County for the last 25 years. For the last 14 years I have seen data center popping out everywhere in Loudoun County and heard a construction noise in my backyard. I'm not complete against the data centers but they are a problem when Dominion is trying to build a high-voltage power line through our communities and behind our houses.

[03:40:14] It's invasive to the point one of Pyong, their Dominion, proposed. It's building in the middle of my property. For what purpose? So they can bring more power to the data center, not to the communities being damaged by their construction.

[03:40:33] 20 years ago, when I purchased my house in Loudoun Valley Estate, Ashburn, It was because I fell in love with this beautiful, peaceful land and its wildlife. Most of all, the power line keeping in the light on our house and they are all underground.

[03:40:52] So we don't have to worry about the power outage and the power line fell onto the ground. But everything has changed since the data center started coming in. We have lost thousands of trees and driven away the wildlife for their cold, ugly concrete building and a giant high-voltage power line supporting them.

[03:41:16] What happened to the Loudoun's slow-growth policy that's helping us to stay beautiful and resilient? Data centers are steadily destroying our way of life. Before the board approve any more data center applications, please ask yourself, Are we ready for more data centers?

[03:41:38] Can our electrical infrastructure support more data centers without endanger residents' health and destroy our environment? Do you want to see the power line in any of your house? I urge you to say no to the new data center and to support the board member initiative for inclusion of electric transmission line and substation information on board meeting staff report for certain land use applications our life and community matter please put people

[03:42:14] first and the support smart balance growth we cannot have any more data center thank you very much okay thank you thank you um um yamara revis are you here no no okay then we will go to back to roger smith and we'll have time to do a couple of other people maybe one other person kevin cochran if you are here good evening again mr smith and i apologize no problem uh last night this can be one second mr smith we might as well let the room quiet down before you so you have

[03:42:53] all the quiet it's not you this is a very popular subject the wastewater of waterford okay mr smith thank you okay so last night loudon water presented to the historic district review Committee, their plans for Waterford to comply with state law regarding wastewater treatment.

[03:43:23] They plan to replace obsolete and unhealthy ponds with a fully enclosed system and a new building. You may not be surprised to hear that 40 residents of Waterford showed up to hear and comment on the plan, its proposed size, shape, color, screening, and many other aspects. It was a very successful and productive meaning. By the way, another important subject came up. The proposed new infrastructure is designed to meet the wastewater demand from only the residents of Waterford

[03:44:03] Village. However, there's another project being proposed that would more than double the demand for wastewater treatment in Waterford. Sewage would be pumped under this plan 2.5 miles from peonian springs into Waterford every day. That increased volume is not included in the plans that were shared with us last night. Loudon Water explained, there is not enough time to redesign the Waterford system to include peonian springs before the state mandate must be met. So they

[03:44:40] plan to continue with their replacement plan rather than the expanded plan. I believe my neighbors are just fine with that. Replacing unhealthy ponds is a good thing, but expanding the project to interconnect Waterford and Peonian Springs, both water and wastewater, needs to be completely re-evaluated. I just would like to bring all of this to your attention because it will no doubt come up again in the near future. Thank you very much for your attention.

[03:45:19] Thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you. Our last speaker today will be Kevin Cochran, which means we got through all the speakers who were signed up who didn't walk in tonight, and even a couple people who signed up as they walked in tonight. Good evening, Mr. Cochran. Good evening. I'm Kevin Cochran. I was also the last speaker last time, too. You guys remember?

[03:45:40] I do remember. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Turner, for the email as well. Very quick response from him. I'll just get started. Hi, everyone. My name is Kevin, and I wanted to speak out against the data centers. My first concern of the data centers is power, specifically how bad power demand is for these large centers.

[03:45:58] More data centers give Dominion Energy every excuse to expand more lines and raise our prices. Ask yourselves, have you seen your power bill go down? I haven't. Meanwhile, these data centers are making record profits, more than double compared to recent years.

[03:46:13] And they're asking for a tax break. They are making more than double of what they're making compared to the last years. Even this committee itself saw this as an issue a couple of months ago, correctly revised the buy-write cause. The power issue isn't a what if. It is already happening. I live in Ashburn and I've experienced blackouts already this year. We live in the richest country in the whole entire human history, but we are getting blackouts in the richest county.

[03:46:45] It is ridiculous. It is absolutely ridiculous. I have no idea why we continue letting these massive data centers consume without consequences. I sat in the last meeting and I heard how the data centers don't even know how much power they need. They will be back, asking for more time, more energy, more money. Then what? We're expected to give it to them because they already set up shop?

[03:47:04] That sounds completely ridiculous, and as a member spoke out, it sounds like blackmail. My last argument is an argument of morality, and I'm talking specifically about the complicity of data centers, giants, and their place of genocide. I know what you're thinking. Kevin, please stop talking about this.

[03:47:21] This has nothing to do with us, but I believe we have a choice who we do business with. But a lot of us would be outraged if a Russian-backed data center was helping fuel the war in Ukraine in our backyards. Why should we do business with another country with that profits over killing?

[03:47:40] Speaking of genocide, I brought a dictionary from the Loudoun County Library to explain what genocide is, because there was someone confused about it last time. What is it? the systematic destruction of a national or ethnic group specific by means of execution or murder.

[03:47:59] That is what a genocide is. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Those were all of our speakers. We did the full hour and a half through 90 minutes. Supervisors, we could right now go on and do our board comments before we go to eat because I think there's some things that people might want to respond to.

[03:48:20] normally we have two closed sessions and what often happens if we come out of closed sessions and people that spoke are already gone so do you wonder your board comments now before you go to closed session let's do let's let's do them now let's do them now if you don't want to do them you don't have to say anything how's that sound um okay board comments uh ms glass thank you madam

[03:48:48] chair okay uh disclosures on wednesday july 2nd i met with representatives for the hidden wood rezoning application july 7th i met with representatives for the tuscarora crossing substation application on tuesday july 8th my staff met with representatives from the luckstone cochran mill data center application um and i just want to talk a little bit about

[03:49:27] this past weekend i'm heading up to philadelphia for the national association of counties where we had really good discussions on really good but really hard discussions i'm part of the human services and education committee and there are a lot of concerns from different jurisdictions regarding the huge the drastic cuts with snap and how there are going to be they're going to have a lot of kids a lot of families that are going to

[03:50:07] be in huge trouble and this discussion on how the counties are going to support their constituents with with these needs and the discussion was also about what about federal requirements that they should be flexible and coordinated with their local partners so we can provide range of services

[03:50:38] When we talk about services, we're talking about, as I said before, SNAP, working with our veterans, working with our folks who are getting out of being in foster care.

[03:50:57] and you know when they turn 18 that they they're out on their own and there are a lot of a large population of homeless kids that become SNAP I mean I'm sorry that that come from the foster you know from foster homes a lot of really good discussions and like I said a lot of good information I have received, so I'm looking to see what we can do to support our different

[03:51:33] communities. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. In terms of disclosure, on July 14th, my staff and I met with Randy Minshew and Mike Romeo about the Crossmill Center Hidden Wood Assemblage applications, and earlier this week got a phone call, brief phone call with an applicant of Crossmill. In terms of comments, I just have a couple things going on in the catocton district we have a number of community events coming up around catocton on this friday is hillsborough next music in the gap featuring blues and rock music from the band the known agitators plus locally sourced food and drinks and artisan crafts

[03:52:13] please come out enjoy that this saturday is the perseville wine and food festival with some it is madam chair says she's going to be there so she's very excited with some great fair from local wineries and eateries, paired with live music and art demonstrations.

[03:52:33] The Luckett's Open Air Market is a new market that is started this June. It's a mix of farmer's markets, vintage and craft bazaar, and food festival, and is held at the Luckett's community center every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through the end of the year. And finally, the Loud Museum is hosting their newest exhibit about the Marquis de Lafayette, which is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the rest of the year.

[03:53:01] And I toss this back to you, Madam Chair. That is the news from Good Docton. Thank you, sir. Mr. Letourneau. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just disclosures on July 13th and July 14th, I spoke with Ron Meyer Consulting on Arcola Grove, and I do want to thank both the South Riding and Stone Ridge communities for their July 4th celebrations that I participated in.

[03:53:29] In particular, we presented the resolution that the board approved for the 30th anniversary of South Riding at their Star-Spangled South Riding event. They have a huge community event. It's open to everybody, not just their HOA, which is really nice. So I enjoyed attending those events.

[03:53:45] You know, just a brief comment on the speakers tonight, because one of the speakers, some of the speakers have talked about transparency and it kind of occurred to me that the data center applications that come before the board are in fact transparent. The applications are in the packets. The materials are all here. As Madam Chair has repeatedly said, nobody on this board has ever signed an NDA on a data center. So all the information that anybody has is right here in our packets. It's online. It's on the web. You can read it right now. Staff may even have a hard copy over there, lots of pages. What is not transparent are the data centers that don't get

[03:54:23] built because they never come here. And the reason they don't come here is because an applicant or a group of property owners or what have you bring them to members of the board of supervisors and many times we say, no, this is not something I would report, I would support. Now, some applicants choose to move forward regardless of whether the district supervisor supports an application or not, but there have been many more data centers, I think, at least in my southern Loudoun that never saw an application because I didn't support it, than the other

[03:54:59] way around. I know Supervisor Dr. Cronin and I, you're certainly familiar with the Dulles Cloud South proposal, which many, many millions of square feet, not here, not an application. So if anything that isn't transparent, and that isn't unique to data centers, it happens with other applications too but the public doesn't always see that side of the process.

[03:55:20] Now I do try to communicate that in my newsletters and my town halls and things like that when there are potential projects like that and things that I've done to sort of react to them but I think perhaps it presents a little bit of its sort of view of what actually happens because for an application to make it all the way to the Board of Supervisors it has to go through so many reviews so many approvals has to have some level of support to begin with and many many many applications don't ever get to that point for a whole variety of reasons that's part of our land use process and so i just i just wonder if offering those comments i'm probably not going to change anybody's mind or make anybody feel any better but it is the reality

[03:55:59] of of what we do i think most of us up here in our jobs particularly those of us who are district supervisors who are having these kind of conversations with landowners in our districts all the time thank you thank you miss umstop thank you madam chair uh on disclosures on july 2nd i met with david ramadan uh we very briefly discussed the keolis contract um but probably for less than a minute and the rest of the conversation was completely unrelated to board

[03:56:36] business. On July 3rd, I spoke with Michael Capretti on the Tuscarora Crossing substation application. On July 14th, I met with two residents of Tuscarora Crossing who are concerned about

[03:57:03] that substation um and nothing else to disclose uh tomorrow at 10 a.m um there will be uh an unveiling of uh a marker near wendy's to um mourn an individual uh who was lost to a lynching um so i i hope to be able to make that um some of the statements made tonight and i first i want

[03:57:43] to compliment the chair because i thought she handled herself very well in a tough position um on managing tonight's uh public comment but some of the comments um that we hear almost every meeting are anti-semitic, one being bad evening to the Zionists. Zionism is the belief that Israel has a right to exist. The term free Palestine, as I've said before, I did not

[03:58:15] consider that to be anti-semitic until it became used by individuals who were killing Jews because they are jews and yelling that phrase while they did it um the accusation that israel is an apartheid state which it clearly is not so uh sadly as long as folks are going to make anti-semitic remarks

[03:58:46] i'm going to feel compelled to address them on the dais thank you miss uh the crony uh thank you chair randall um disclosures are on hold on just a second i don't i'm not sure if her chopper's time i'm not sure if it's a microphone or she's just not pulling it close i just i you want me to scream i do no i it might be her if later maybe later on people can check her mic because something's going on because you don't it doesn't feel to me like i can i can hear you as much as i hear all

[03:59:21] other people up here okay start again you stop all right so my disclosures are on july 8th i met with aaron swisshelm cory martin anthony vinafro and anna reader regarding the lexton cochran mill application all right so i want to thank the speakers tonight and um i'd like to take a moment to address the fiscal guidance for the FY 2027 budget. I don't sit on finance, so I didn't get

[03:59:59] an opportunity to make my comments known. At the July 8th Finance Committee meeting, staff recommended lowering the general personal property tax rate in tax year 27 as a way to manage budget growth and reduce the reliance on data center revenue. I want to make it clear that I do not support lowering the lowering of the property tax rate for data center computers. With the county's FY2026 adopted budget, the board was able to reduce the vehicle tax rate to 309 for

[04:00:34] tax year 26, and I would like to see this rate further reduced in tax year 2027. The board established a revenue stabilization fund to help control the unpredictability of data center revenue. This fund will be fully funded this year. Data centers place a unique strains on the county's power grid, land use, and viewshed while offering relatively few benefits to citizens other than their tax revenue. The current rate of 415 reflects a balance. It supports our ability

[04:01:09] to invest in schools, parks, transportation, public safety, and environmental mitigation while still offering a competitive environment for the data center industry. Prince William County, who may soon surpass us in data center square footage, just raised their data center computer tax rate to 415.

[04:01:30] They match our rate. I believe the county should pursue a thoughtful and strategic fiscal policy that includes reserving a portion of data center revenue for one-time capital expenses. I believe we should continue to lower the vehicle property tax and lower our debt in the CIP.

[04:01:51] So these are all ideas. I do think we can get strategic and creative rather than giving the money back to the data centers. I want to address some of the speakers from the Leesburg Mobile Home Park. I am very concerned about the mass displacement of the 75 to 80 working families who have lived there for 14 years and are good neighbors.

[04:02:13] And I would like to see if there's any possible resolution. I'm very concerned about that community. The Aldi Fire Station is going to be open this Saturday, and I will be there if people want to join. I think it's at 9 o'clock. So we'll be cutting the ribbon on the Aldi Fire Station on Saturday.

[04:02:34] Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to address one more time. We are at the very beginning of FY27 budget deliberations.

[04:02:51] This is FY27, folks. We won't be voting on the tax rates or the full budget until final vote, April probably, of 2026. This is very preliminary. We all are going to go into this with open minds.

[04:03:08] Staff has recommended in the past for our fiscal health that we do this, but again the decision will be made at a later date with after many many discussions and scenarios have been presented to the board by way of disclosures on july 7th i had a meeting with michael capretti about tuscarora mill on july 3rd i had a meeting with aaron swisshelm and the luckstone cochran mill applicants i was also at naco in philadelphia from thursday till kind of

[04:03:45] late last night and um there were two really really big issues sort of dominating the conversations um the big ugly bill and also immigration issues and the crackdowns by ice and the department of justice um i got a lot of good information about what counties are actually required to do in the ICE scenarios that I plan to review and perhaps bring to the board at some point. As the chair was saying, about 12 million people are going to be kicked off of their

[04:04:23] health care by 2034. We have been getting reports to finance at least every other month about what the impacts could be for Loudoun County. The data shows that 14,200 of our residents receive SNAP benefits at a cost of $2.4 million a month. We've got 50,000 residents enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP. We have, as of 2023, 86,000 Loudouners receive Medicare coverage at the tune of $1.8 billion that we process, right? We process these federal benefits. And also, 35,000 households

[04:05:03] receive Social Security income. And they're actually not done. The rescission bill calls for another $9 billion in cuts in foreign aid and public broadcasting. If you want to talk about suppression of free speech, cut public broadcasting. It's very disconcerting what's happening and we will be commenting more on it by the way of gun violence data 2025 there have been 7980 total gun deaths in our country 231 mass shootings two over the weekend the deaths include 125 children under the

[04:05:41] age of 12 and 551 ages 12 to 17 thank you madam chair thank you mr. Sains Thank you, Madam Chair. Disclosures on July 8th, I spoke to Michael Capretti about the Luckstone Cochran Mill application. Today, July 15th, talked to Ron Meyer, who is a consultant for the Arcola Grove application. As always, I'd like to say thank you to the residents that came out to speak today. You could have been anywhere and you chose to be with us today to say your piece on whatever issues that you cared so deeply about. So I appreciate you coming and sharing.

[04:06:20] We have, I'll just speak in regards to, I know one resident spoke regarding non-disclosures and campaign donations and whatnot. I recall this is the second time that you brought this up.

[04:06:36] I don't know if you're speaking in general terms or are you actually saying the County Board of Supervisors has signed NDAs. I can't speak for all my colleagues, but I'm assuming it's probably the same scenario as for me. I've never signed an NDA with any data center company. So if you are saying that is true for Loudon, then I challenge you to bring that information forward.

[04:06:58] If not, cut it out. So moving into issues in Sterling or needs in Sterling. Sterling District Office is gearing up for my annual back-to-school drive.

[04:07:14] We are looking to collect supplies for our teachers, families, and students in our community. We are looking for businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations to help us start the school year strong for our families. um how you can help is be a public drop-off site host a donation box at your business or non-profit or do an internal donation drive at your your your place of business or um and if you are interested please reach out to my office we can get you more more information about that and then also we have the sterling foundation which is looking for um sponsors for the annual

[04:07:50] mowing and cleaning of the sterling boulevard and streams so if you're interested in being a sponsor please reach out to the sterling foundation and they'll be glad to speak with you about um how you can help them they are a non-profit 501c3 um and that is all oh no actually we do have a job fair uh coming up on july 19th um at the adam center in sterling so that website is loudon.gov slash job fair so as you know if you know someone who's looking for a new opportunity or in-between opportunities, are you looking for a transition, this will be a

[04:08:30] great opportunity for you to come out on July 19th from 11 o'clock a.m. to 2 o'clock p.m. at the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society Adams Center, 46903 Sugarland Road in Sterling, Virginia. There will be a lot of companies from the county government, Fairfax County, and our local departments as well. So thank you. Thank you. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. Wednesday, July 9th, my staff and I spoke with Aaron Swisholm with Walsh-Kalushi to discuss the application for Luckstone-Cochran Mill. On Wednesday, July 9th, 2025, my staff and I spoke with Michael Capretti with Capretti Land, Inc. to discuss the application for Tuscarora

[04:09:09] Land Bay. On Friday, July 11th, 2025, my staff and I spoke with Michael Romeo with Walsh-Kalushi to discuss the application for Belmont Cove rezoning and hidden wooden assemblage. On Tuesday, July 15th, 2025, my staff and I spoke with Doug Fleet with American Real Estate Partners to discuss the application for our cola grove rezoning and on tuesday july 15th today my staff and i spoke with taylor chess and adam cook with the peterson group to discuss the application for cochran tech the naco conference this year was very very interesting really good speakers national associates of counties is a is a senior the senior policy body at the county

[04:09:47] level in the united states they represent the 3069 counties in the united states and They're quite influential, so Chair Randall has encouraged us since we got elected to start getting very involved in NACO.

[04:10:03] Loudoun has a big presence there. People at NACO know Loudoun, thanks in large measure to her efforts and, frankly, to all of our efforts since we've been going for quite some time. This meeting, I was very honored to be appointed to the chair of the Economic, Energy, and Land Use Committee.

[04:10:22] Thanks in large measure. I put it in my application that I would like to chair that committee. It was a shot in the dark. I'd been on the committee. I was the energy subcommittee chair, not this last two years, but the two years prior to that. And I think there are some emerging, not even emerging, some really urgent issues related to data centers, to energy consumption, to the stability of the power grid nationally, and all the various options we have to try and figure out how we're going to do this without completely backing up on our climate change mitigation efforts that have been going on for the last 10 years.

[04:10:59] And if you look at the numbers, and I will do that, we are actually backing up at an alarming pace and undoing a lot of what we've done in climate change. I did put it on my application. I know that Chair Randall and Matt Chase, the CEO, I think he's the CEO, right, of NACO?

[04:11:17] Yeah, CEO of NACO. And then Archie Chasson, who is the current chair, was the current chair of the committee, put in some good words for me behind the scene with the new president. and they were instrumental, I think, in doing that. I honestly didn't expect it, and I'm very gratified and very humbled and very excited about what we're going to do over the next two years.

[04:11:37] My goal is to make that committee on NACO the experts in data center growth, energy consumption, and options for on-site power and distributed energy and demand response systems in this country so they can go back to their communities as experts and serve as experts in their communities.

[04:11:57] I had a couple of dozen people come up to me and ask if I could send them the paper I wrote. So it's very gratifying to have a lot of people interested in this subject. Thank you. Thank you. On July 8th and July 9th, I met with Aaron Swisholm on Luxstone, and I met with Michael Capretti regarding Tuscarora landing over the past two weeks.

[04:12:18] A couple of things. I completely agree that the data center issue in power is an issue. Unfortunately, it is not an issue that we can legally vote on. We just can't. We cannot use power as an issue to deny a data center without being taken to court.

[04:12:36] It's not legal. I have, when we have our legislative items this year, one of the items I put in is to allow county elected supervisors, localities, to use power as an issue, to consider power when we're having data center discussions.

[04:12:54] I actually have a couple of meetings coming up with some legislators to ask them to patron that, and so that it will pass in the General Assembly. But when you come to us and say, please use power as a reason to deny data centers, you're literally asking us to break the law.

[04:13:10] I can't do that. I won't do that, but I will ask, and I will push very hard for the law to be changed so that we can use power. We don't pay data centers. We don't even do incentives for data centers. They pay us.

[04:13:27] We don't pay. So this idea that we can use this money for different things, I don't know where that comes from. We don't give data centers money, not even incentives. We get money from data centers. So there's nothing, that's not even a true statement. If anyone ever wondered where local paper is still very powerful, they got to look at my email right now.

[04:13:51] The number of people who have emailed me about data center taxes not being lowered is amazing. And Loudon now wrote a correct story. The story actually said that the staff recommended. Staff's supposed to recommend all options to us.

[04:14:07] That's their job as staff, and we have some of the best staff in the country. Recommendations is not decisions. It's a recommendation. So everyone who's saying and whose hair is on fire, the staff made a recommendation. That's all that happened. And they're supposed to make a recommendation.

[04:14:23] And louder now, you did a great job writing that story. And please believe me, people reach it. Well, I guess they don't really read it, but they know that it's there because I got a lot of, they read a headline and then there you go. But there's no decisions that have been made on that at all.

[04:14:40] I have never signed a nondisclosure agreement. I have never been asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement. I do not know where that is coming from. And as far as I know, no one has taken enough money ever to run thousands and thousands of dollars from data centers for campaigns to run campaigns and to have campaigns, hundreds of thousands, I think a word I heard.

[04:15:03] None of that is true. You may not like the answers we give you, and I get that and respect that. That does not mean we're sitting up here being immoral or unethical because you don't like the answers we give you. So thank you, everybody, for coming to speak. We're going to do our two closed sessions, Cross Mill and Hidden Woods.

[04:15:24] You will be first and second when we come back. I will not make you sit through anything else. You'll be first and second. So staff, Cross Mill and Hidden Woods will be first and second when we come back. Thank you for sitting so long. I knew it was going to take a while, but I'll try to get you out of here as fast as possible.

[04:15:39] In that order, Cross Mill, which shouldn't take very long, and then Hidden Woods, and then everything else after those two things. Okay? we're going to do closed sessions one and three while we while we eat our dinner so we're going to have a working dinner we're going to go back at the end of the meeting and do two we'll do one and three right now if you would please read us mr turner into closed sessions well if if you would please read us in the closed sessions one and two i would appreciate that i move the board of supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to sections

[04:16:15] two point two thirty seven eleven eight three I'm sorry one and three or one and two one and three I'm sorry it's one and it's one and three code of Virginia to consider the acquisition of parcels of property for public use in the Ashburn Little River election districts I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to section two point two thirty seven eleven eight five of the code of Virginia to discuss an expansion of an existing business or industry where no previous announcement has been made in the Dulles and Sterling election district Motion's been made, so second on the motion by Supervisor Bricksman.

[04:16:50] Discussion on that motion? No discussion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? We're in closed session.

[04:16:57] We are back.

[04:58:57] I will say we have not taken a break yet, and we're not going to, because we went to closed session, and closed session's not actually a break, but we're not going anywhere until we get past the next two items, and the first one should be really fast. So we are here to get past the next two items.

[04:59:14] But Mr. Turner, would you please read us out of closed session? Please forget that. I move the closed session be adjourned, that the Board of Supervisors reconvenes this public meeting, that the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed session, and further move that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting.

[04:59:39] Motion to be in second with Supervisor Bricksman, I believe that was you. Discussion on that motion. All the people who say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Everybody please affirm. Ms. Glass? Affirm.

[04:59:55] And I affirm as well. I think we have one motion out of closed session. I think, Mr. Crony, you have that motion. I do. Thank you, Chair Randall. I move that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to prepare a resolution to initiate condemnation and quick-take proceedings as required pursuant to Virginia Code Section 15.2.

[05:00:19] 0.2-1903B for the purpose of approving the proposed public use and acquisition of properties located in the Ashburn and Little River Election District, for the construction of Evergreen Mills Road alignment and intersection improvements at Reservoir and Watson Road.

[05:00:37] I further move that staff advertise the resolution for the September 10, 2025 Board of Supervisors public hearing. Mr. Turner, you want to second that? That's your district also? I'll second. Mr. Turner, second. discussion on the motion mr crone yeah this is um for uh a dangerous intersection at evergreen and um watson road there have been some major accidents at this intersection so um this uh will help implement the recommendations outlined in the evergreen mills road and watson road

[05:01:10] Road safety audit completed in 2019. So here we are in 2025. So this will help us get this project moving to improve the lines of sight and safety along Evergreen Mills Road. We've been trying to work with these property owners and some have had positive proceedings but others we need to do this uh quick takes so we can get moving and um not delay the project any further thank you thank you

[05:01:45] um mr turner uh i think supervisor currently said it all this has been a very dangerous intersection and i think we really need to move forward with with some uh alacrity to fix the problem thank you i would say that overall i am loath to do um a quick take or taking a property ever and i have one exception to that and that one exception is safety that's my that is my one exception and knowing the accidents that have happened on this road um the fatality rate and how

[05:02:20] just terrible these accidents have been i think this actually is um does warrant what we are voting for today so thank you would you like to close no closing all right all in field say aye aye any opposed that motion will pass um nine to zero all right um let's do cross mail which

[05:02:42] i can make a motion um i'm stuck yes ma'am yeah we're going to set to a motion i move that the

[05:03:18] board of supervisors approve leji 2023-0064 cross mill centers emap 2023-0002 and specs 2023-0007 subject to the proffer statement dated may 6 2025 and the conditions of approval dated may 6 2025 and based on the findings for approval provided as attachments one two and four to the july 15 2025 board of supervisors business meeting action item mr spain is there a second second was just made

[05:03:55] and second the discussion on the motion with some stuff thank you ma'am we've heard we've heard some opposition but we've heard a lot of strong support from the public for this application this location is in a an industrial area with infrastructure already in place the applicant has done a good job at upping the standards for

[05:04:32] the aesthetics of the proposed facilities and I think this is a good application in the right location thank you so I think that this application came down to my vote and I was I I do believe that every application should be taken individually on its merits and I think we do that and I had a very hard time with this application for quite a few reasons, and I have been 51, 49, back and forth

[05:05:11] and back and forth. And so I am sorry that I had to wait another week, another two weeks, but the truth is I don't want to be wrong again. I've been wrong before. I don't think you can sit here for -- I'm in my 10th year, and in 10 years you take thousands of votes.

[05:05:26] You're not going to get them all right. You're just not. And so I'd rather take more time and get it right to the best of my ability than get then go fast. I have gone out to this site numerous times. I know with its own, but this is not a residential site. It's just not. It's just not a residential site. That would make no sense to put homes here. As I said before, I put legislation in to ask the General Assembly, can we consider power? But right now, we can't consider power. And I have talked to staff, I have talked to the applicant, but I've talked to staff a lot, and I've gone

[05:06:05] out, I've talked to my colleagues who oppose this, I've talked to my colleagues who approve this, and in the end, every question that I had was answered to my satisfaction.

[05:06:21] I won't say that I'm thrilled about saying yes, but I was trying too hard to get to a And if you're trying too hard to get that hard to get to a no, maybe the answer's not no. Maybe it's just not.

[05:06:38] And so I believe it's in the appropriate location. I believe all the things I needed to have, I needed to hear that would be mitigated, would be mitigated. There's a letter that came in today from Mr. Kuhn for two more things that I asked for about the architectural study.

[05:06:55] I'm sorry, the archaeological study. And where's the other one? Geological study and, I'm sorry, not having turbines on the site. So those things came through the day. So I've given a lot of thought to this one, and I'm going to vote yes on this.

[05:07:17] So that's where I'm at. Would you like to close, Ms. Umstead? No, ma'am. Thanks. All right. Ms. Umstead made the motion, and Mr. Kirsten seconded the vote. Motion. All in people say aye. Aye. Opposed? Would the no's please raise your hand?

[05:07:34] then those of Ms. Glass, Ms. DeCrony, Ms. Bricksman, and Mr. Turner, the motion will pass. All right, Hittinwood, Hittinwood, would staff please come to the table? I do want to clear up one thing.

[05:08:02] A couple of people tonight when they spoke, spoke of Hittinwood being a data center. Is that correct? I know that. The reason is it's for TV land.

[05:08:18] four people. So it has to be, that was hilarious. Actually, I'm asking for the purpose of putting it on the record. So staff's going to do that from the microphone. So let's do that again. People that spoke tonight spoke of Hintonwood being a data center. Is that correct?

[05:08:37] That is not correct. That is not correct. Okay. Supervisors, does anyone need the presentation? No? Does anyone have any questions before you go to Mr. Letourneau for a motion. No, Mr. Letourneau, this is your

[05:08:58] district and out of tradition and respect, I go to the district supervisor for a motion. Mr. Letourneau, would you like to make a motion? Yes, Madam Chair, thank you. I move the Board of Supervisors deny legy 2023 0070 hidden wood assemblage ZMAP 2023 0004 based on the findings for denial provided as attachment 3 to the July 15th, 2025 Board of Supervisors business meeting action item.

[05:09:22] Second. Motion is maintained by Vice President LeCrony. Discussion on the motion, Mr. Letourneau. Thank you, Madam Chair. I did make the packet motion, which is the staff recommendation. I take no pleasure whatsoever in making that motion, and it's an unfortunate series of events and circumstances that have led us to this.

[05:09:43] But in making the motion, I am attempting to not further the unfortunate events and circumstances. uh they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result i taught you that and i do believe that if we were to approve this application we are setting ourselves up for the same situation that we're in now with this neighborhood only with another neighborhood and ultimately i am seeking a solution which puts an end to the expansion of industrial development

[05:10:22] in an area of the county that our comprehensive plan calls for residential development and that despite the fact that there is residential and industrial development essentially co-mingled does in fact have a significant amount of residential development including new communities that we've only recently approved nearby at Arcola Center and at the Capretti Project, the Glasgow Field. It was said that the application meets the zoning requirements but only if you're looking at it as an IP zoning district, which it is not. It's the old commercial residential

[05:10:59] district. It is not currently IP zoned, and in fact this is the rezoning to take it to IP, the CR district. The application covers the entire length of the property. Yes, it is less intense potentially in terms of height than the data centers were, but it is more intense in terms of the coverage and the impact of the property next door that it's going to be it is not a use that anybody would want to live next to this particular use is warehouse i have been told what the user is i won't say that here but it is certainly an industrial user and this is an

[05:11:38] industrial property and so the question for the board is really do we continue to do this and make industrial properties here what do we say to the next community that comes and wants to do the same thing and wants to go industrial so the best thing about this application is truly the residents that live at headwind land they are they are salt of the earth great people they were put in a situation they didn't want to be in and i don't want them to be in so should my motion be approved i will continue to make the commitment to do everything in my power including financially to put them in a better situation and that is true and i believe that many on the board share that commitment

[05:12:18] unfortunately i can't support an application that i think is not good for the county as a whole is not good for the other residents that live in this area and that will only continue the perpetuation that we've been dealing with thank you miss umstop thank you madam chair um i will be voting against the motion i look at everything that the hiddenwood community has gone through over the last few years and it has just been pretty awful honestly they have

[05:12:54] they have tried very hard to come up with more palatable uses and I think with appropriate design facing the Briarwood community it could be an an attractive site but I understand Supervisor Laterno's concerns and to that I will say you will have my support certainly and probably the support of

[05:13:25] many on the board if if we can get a proposal on the table to help these folks in Hiddenwood thank you Mr. Crony thank you chair Randall so I will be supporting the motion I really can't support converting countryside residential to industrial I'm concerned about the president this sets for other existing residential communities that are in a similar situation surrounded by

[05:13:58] industrial I think this sets a precedent and it is a slippery slope it once one community turns industrial, it impacts another community. The property is in the suburban neighborhood place type, which supports primarily residential, and it conflicts with the adjacent residential units, residential uses. Briarfield is only 160 feet away from the proposed warehouses.

[05:14:30] The environmental, I am concerned about the environmental, this proposal proposes locating the third building on top of a stream channel, and staff anticipates feasibility challenge later in the development process with the current design layout and impact to waterways.

[05:14:51] So, this is very close to the broad run and there will be an impact to our water quality. The broad run is compromised already. The transportation impact study has not been updated to reflect the proposed warehousing development.

[05:15:08] It was done for the data center development. And lastly, the noise, the app, the proposal eliminates commitments related to noise study and mitigation, and I am concerned about that with this proposed warehousing just 160 feet from Briarfield Estates. I do care about the Hiddenwood community, and I want to do the right thing and make Hiddenwood residents feel heard and seen. I know you've worked years on your application, but I do believe there is a better solution, and I look forward to working with the

[05:15:45] community on other solutions and i know supervisor letourneau has that commitment as well thank you thank you miss brixman thank you madam chair um so i have enormous empathy and respect for the residents of hiddenwood i've been out there more than once to see the juxtaposition of the properties, the view lines, all of those things. I've had concerns about the Hiddenwood

[05:16:19] community for years, actually. I believe we could have seen this coming down the pike a million miles away. And that's one of the reasons I voted against JK1, JK2, and JK3. I fear, though, that if we were to approve this it would continue the domino effect that has been happening and I would echo what Mr. Crony said about converting neighborhoods wanting to convert because they are

[05:16:53] too close to a substation or a data center so it is not out of disrespect or lack of empathy for the situation that I will be supporting the motion from Supervisor Letourneau this evening.

[05:17:11] Also, the Planning Commission and staff don't support this application, so that really puts us in a tough position. As much as we feel for what's happening, it's really hard for me if staff and the Planning Commission are recommending denial of an application for me to support an application. I hope and I trust, actually I know and I trust that Supervisor letourneau is going to keep working with the community should should this should his motion to deny pass he will continue working with the community we are committed to continuing to work

[05:17:46] with the community to figure out a solution i apologize it might take a little bit longer but we're committed to working with you but i will be supporting supervisor letourneau's motion thank you supervisor vice-chair Turner thank you madam chair I echo all of those sentiments I am resolved that we're gonna figure out a way to ease your pain I don't know a better way to say it this is extraordinarily complex and it falls under the heading of when you've dug yourself down on the deep hole stop

[05:18:26] digging step one and stop digging and sometimes we find ourselves in this job job in a position where we have constituents that are going to get harmed in either way we go. And as painful as this is, I am absolutely convinced that Supervisor Letourneau and the rest of us can figure out a way to make right by this community after having made mistakes, and we have. I apologize. I know this is very upsetting. I really do. But I am absolutely committed, along with my colleagues, to figure this out in a way that takes care

[05:19:03] of the community thank you so obviously it goes without saying that i would i would do whatever we need to do for the community but i also i also first of all i i don't see the two communities as being the same i think one community bought their homes many many years ago before they could have possibly known it was going to be there and i won't even say we made mistakes because mistake is you turn right when you meant to do you mean to turn left we made decisions and decisions were bad. And I understand what everyone said about stop digging and all that stuff, but I think

[05:19:39] that when you make a bad decision, you try to correct it. And I don't see these neighborhoods as having the same thing happen to them. I think something happened to Hiddenwood that didn't happen to Briarfield Estates. And I'm not saying I want things to happen to Briarfield the states. I would also say Hittinwood has worked really, really hard not to put Brierfield states in the same situation. They have been very cognizant of what they're facing. They don't want their neighbors in Brierfield states to experience. And so I do not believe it's

[05:20:15] the same thing at all. Yes, we can figure out other ways, and I hope we do. And I hope everyone who's saying that is willing to hear the backlash when taxpayers, when constituents are telling us that we're using taxpayer money to bail out um not bail out but to buy out homes in because that's what's going to happen it's going those questions are going to come to us fast and furious and we're going to get a lot of people who are asking us well why aren't you buying my home and why aren't you buying that park and why aren't you buying that mobile home that's all going to

[05:20:48] happen it's going to happen immediately lastly i will say you know i have gone out there i've gone out there three times, one with my planning commissioner, one with Mr. Laterno, and one by myself. I have spent, I'm sure I don't know this area nearly as well as Mr. Laterno for obvious reasons, but I spent lots of times walking around this neighborhood, and it is not true that the other community is in the same proximity as Hiddenwood by no sense of the imagination. If you go out there and look around, you know that's just not true. And as I've said before, you know, we talk about these being houses. These are not houses. These are their homes. And they planned

[05:21:28] on being in these homes for the rest of their lives. And we made decisions either individually or as a collective body that have made people's homes impossible to live within. And we should correct that. My only other question, Mr. Galindo, is what are the buy right uses on this piece of property so if we say no to this can somebody come back and do something different can industrial be built can the data center be built what can happen by right on this piece of property if we say no to

[05:22:03] this the property is currently zoned cr1 or countryside residential one let me find i should have asked you guys i should have told you i was going to ask you this in advance i apologize would you like me to read them out to you you're yes sorry guys i'll do a sampling okay do a Sampling.

[05:22:30] Single family detached dwelling as a special exception, congregate housing, continuing care facility, bed and breakfast, country inn, short-term rental, rural resort, pet grooming, animal hospital, adult day center, child care center, banquet event facility.

[05:23:00] Banquet event and facility. Okay, guys. That's by right. There you go. Ms. Latonya, would you like a closing? Yeah, just briefly. I agree with many of the sentiments expressed on both sides. The Hiddenwood residents didn't ask for this.

[05:23:16] The Briarfield residents next door didn't either. It is worth noting that when they bought their homes, there were no data centers. There was no discussion. It was prior to all that as well. So from that standpoint, they're in a similar situation as well as the fact that the distance between property is very similar between JK2 and Hiddenwood and between the closest home in Briarfield and what this property would be.

[05:23:39] As part of this application, most of the protections, many of the protections that were built into the previous application were taken out. The architectural design, the noise studies and mitigation, even the trailhead and trail connection was taken out. So in doing this, it really didn't get better.

[05:23:56] In fact, the applicant themselves said it was an objectively worse application during the public hearing. So it's difficult for me to then turn around and say to another community that's the case. In no way am I asking or requesting the Hiddenwood residents to disclose anything, But I will continue to point out that we haven't been able to get to the point of getting to the other solution on the table because of the way the contract was structured and because of the fact that my conversations could only be with the contract purchaser and their representatives, who I think you're all familiar with, and not the residents themselves.

[05:24:28] So hopefully that will change. I think this is perhaps the only way for this to change, and we can get into a more productive discussion of what's going to work for everybody. So with that, I will end my closing. Okay, thank you.

[05:24:44] And I'm going to have you say the motion again, because one of these motions is kind of in reverse, you know, because of how the motion is structured. So this is a motion to deny. So if you vote yes, you're voting to deny, right? And if you vote no, then you're voting to approve.

[05:25:02] So it's opposite of how it normally is, just to make sure everyone understands that. right so all those in favor please say aye aye opposed nay so i think that's a i think i'm hearing six three if you're if you're a nay please raise your hand julie if you're a nay please raise your hand so that's a five four vote um two four four four four yes five four you're you're right right so miss glass chair randall and yes if you're going to help me help me

[05:25:43] you're going to help me help me um so the motion will the motion to deny will pass okay supervisors do we need i need a break i haven't had a break i need a break let's take

[05:25:54] let's take a 10 minute break okay we are back and let's go on and do our appointments and

[05:37:48] nominations because we've not done those yet hello let's do our appointments and nominations because we've not done those yet. If you have any appointments or nominations, please put your light on at this time. Do I not see any lights on? I do not see any lights on. Okay. Well, then we're going to go to board item number eight, or I'm sorry, action item number eight, which was on consent, but which was taken off by Ms. Umstadt. That is actually in Supervisor

[05:38:24] Turner's and Ms. Umstadt's district combined. I do believe, Supervisor Turner, you have a kind of a revised motion that you believe will, would, would, would address the concern. So how about I will go straight to a motion with you if you don't mind.

[05:38:41] That sounds great. Okay, let's do that, sir. Thank you. I move that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to conduct a multimodal and operational safety study along River Creek Parkway between Riverside Parkway and Edwards Ferry Road in the Ashburn and Leesburg election districts and authorize the amendment of the fiscal year 2026 capital improvement program by directing staff to execute a budget adjustment in the amount of 250 382 dollars from the project management consulting services account to a newly established capital account in the capital projects fund for the river creek parkway multimodal and operational safety study i further move that the board direct staff to eliminate the language in the parentheses

[05:39:21] in task item number four in the proposed study draft motion made so a second i'll second that do you want to have a discussion on that motion yes very briefly um so the original 10 here the the section of river creek parkway from riverside parkway to um is it edwards ferry i think or fort evans i always get him confused edwards ferry i think um it's gotten pretty dangerous it's a four lane the countywide transportation plan I believe downgraded it from a major to a minor arterial or a major or minor collector I can't remember but the speed

[05:39:56] limit dropped from 45 to 35 it's now a four-lane highway numerous sheriff's office violations are reported we have cars passing school buses that are offloading and unloading kids and so the request was made is can we can we make this a safer section of road or at least examine the road to see if it needs to what we can do the language in there specified that at least one of the options has to be a road diet i don't agree with that i want the that biases the study and i want to try and keep this as as economical as possible so my intent with that further move it just eliminates the road diet language and it just

[05:40:35] says do the operational safety study give us your recommendation of what the best safety improvements are for that stretch of road and we're happy with that so i think it simplifies it maybe saves us a little bit of money and speeds it up just a bit that's the intent behind the motion i'm stuck thank you ma'am i really appreciate supervisor turner's removing the road diet language from task number four supervisor turner was kind enough to attend one of the larger community meetings that

[05:41:08] was held uh in this case at river creek there was strong opposition to the idea of a road diet there was strong opposition to a road diet when i held a subsequent meeting here in the boardroom and thank you to staff for staffing both of those meetings and then there was strong opposition when and I held a meeting with the Potomac Station HOA board and also the Lakes at Red Rock HOA board.

[05:41:46] So I know that Supervisor Turner has worked hard and has been very impressed with the impact of a road diet in Ashburn, but I'm looking at communities with thousands of residents in the Leesburg District, And so far, all I'm hearing from those residents is, for God's sakes, please do not put in place a road diet.

[05:42:12] Look at other safety measures. For example, as we heard tonight from one of the River Creek residents, possibly a traffic signal at Olympic Boulevard and River Creek Parkway, something to improve enforcement, Speeding enforcement on River Creek Parkway.

[05:42:33] Something to ensure bus unloading and loading safety for the Cooks Crossing folks. Pedestrian crosswalks potentially with flashing lights so drivers know to slow down.

[05:42:54] So I hope that we will look at all those possibilities And I just can't thank Supervisor Turner enough for being willing to listen to the Leesburg District residents on the proposed road diet.

[05:43:12] So with that removed, I can support this. Thank you. Supervisor Sings? Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I normally wouldn't speak on something super local in a district, but I just have to say that, you know, I've done a few similar things in my district over the years.

[05:43:31] And actually, when we had staff do the study, road diet was the actually best option for reducing traffic to a similar point to the resident that spoke earlier about how they can't see through four or five or six lanes.

[05:43:47] So with the road diet, you actually are reducing the lanes from, say, six or five to three, four or two or whatever the traffic study says to a point where you can't see through all the lanes. You actually will be able to see through the lanes with the road diet. But I'll follow the district supervisor, but I just wanted to point that out, that actually road diet has worked in a few different areas in my district and slowed down traffic, got rid of accidents.

[05:44:11] We're able to have people bike on these roads with the road diet, walk on these roads with the road diets, and be safe and no issues ever since. So I just wanted to point that out. But, again, I will follow the district since it's a super district issue. But I just wanted to point that out that road diets actually do work after the study is done and recommended.

[05:44:30] And folks that actually at first were hella against it, once we actually did it and showed them the plans, they're like, oh, actually, I like this. So I just wanted to point that out. I like it eighth in. Ms. Brooksman? Thank you, Madam Chair. If I might ask staff a quick question, because I'm a little confused about the I further move part.

[05:44:51] So this is not taking a road diet option off of the table. This just is saying you can still consider a road diet as the best solution. I think the intent, as I understand, is to look at all possible options and make the technical recommendation.

[05:45:11] Yes. Okay. Well, that is what I would recommend. I honestly, I don't really understand the resistance to road diets, because what we get complaints about is speed, mostly, and pedestrian safety.

[05:45:27] And often, as Supervisor Sainz said, the road diet is the best option. Road diets slow traffic. Stoplights don't always slow traffic in a way that the community would want the traffic to be slowed. And so it also has the great impact of adding recreation and multimodal forms of transportation for our community and better community connectedness.

[05:45:54] And so I think as supervisors, if we agree that this option is what creates the most safety and this option aligns with our vision of more multimodal options of transportation, then it's our job as supervisors to make the community understand that.

[05:46:14] I'm going to follow, I'm going to support the motion as Supervisor Turner proposed the motion, but I really do hope that, you know, I would imagine staff would not have put Road Diet in there if staff didn't think that that was going to be a possible option to be this, to create the most safety for the residents who came to us, their supervisors, asking to make their roads safer.

[05:46:40] So thank you very much. I'll support the motion. I never think it's our job to make the community understand us. I never think that. I think it's our job to listen to the community and, oh, okay, the options, okay. I do think one thing, though, I'm going to support the motion.

[05:47:00] The district supervisors are both fine with it, and so I'm fine with it. One person to come up there here and say, though, we should put a stoplight in. I do want the community to understand that a stoplight may not be the decision of the county. It may be a decision of VDOT, and that's after doing a study, correct?

[05:47:19] Yes, that's correct. Okay, so I just want people to understand that, that some of these options may not be options that we can impact or affect, that VDOT would do, what is it called? Warrant. A warrant study to find out if a light is warranted, or a traffic circle, or a road die, or something else.

[05:47:38] So I don't want people to think that we can just do a like, because we might not be able to. That's why I would say that. Mr. Moserak, I don't think I met the young lady sitting to your right. Yes, I failed to introduce our senior traffic engineer, Swathi Kandati.

[05:47:57] She's been with us since December. So this is her first time in front of the board. Nice to meet you, senior traffic engineer. Good evening, Madam Chair. Good evening. Boy, you guys are doing some great hiring. here lately. You know, I'm going to ask you, right? Where you live. I live in Aldi. Okay, yay, yay.

[05:48:20] Listen to the response you get, jazz hands, where you live in our county. Welcome to the county, the government ma'am. Let me know what I can do for you. Come by my office. Let's talk. But welcome to the table. Seriously, it's great to have you here. Thank you. Supervisors, the motion was made by Supervisors. Chair Randall, I need to ask a clarifying question.

[05:48:39] mostly because of the specificity of the motion and then the dialogue that ensued afterwards. I understood the motion to eliminate task four. No, no. The motion was to eliminate the language between the parentheses in task four.

[05:48:56] Okay. So task four, as revised then, would read developing improvement concepts, traffic analysis of corridor improvements to address safety and multimodal issues and estimating costs. That's correct. So I just want to make sure it's clear concepts could include road diets, as Supervisor Brisman brought up, but there won't be a specific requirement to include at least one.

[05:49:20] That's the only thing that's been removed? That's correct. Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. All in favor. I'm sorry, you want to close? Sure. I've got two examples in Ashburn District of a road diet, and they are extremely successful.

[05:49:35] I will be very surprised if the study does not come back recommending a road diet for this piece of road. But my intent was never to bias the answer to the discussion before we had the discussion. So I think I'm wide open.

[05:49:54] I'm sure Supervisor Umstead feels the same way. Just come up with the best recommendation for the road, and then the board will decide what it's going to do. I would like just one comment on the traffic light at Olympic Boulevard. um what's the current rate on traffic lights right now about a half a million dollars that might be on the low end but yes that's in the ballpark yeah so they're they're a lot more expensive and like you said it's a vdot initiative and it's got to be warranted before they're going to do it that's correct yeah yeah that's all i have thank you very much okay um all mr

[05:50:31] turner made the motion and mr ms umstead second the motion all the people say aye any opposed that motion will pass pass nine zero are we actually at our last item at 949 what except for closed session except for one more closed session but still but still still item number 10 um the virginia property maintenance code and enhanced protective zoning enforcement and i i have to admit that i'm not as kind of familiar with this item to be honest

[05:51:21] hi how are you good evening chair random good evening i am not as familiar with this item and is there is there a presentation there is not a presentation presentation okay but i'll give you a quick summary okay thank you two years five months ago six months ago we came to you as a result of uh some field visits yourself and supervisor um stud went on and i think supervisor briscomb was there too you went to some apartments in leesburg you went to a place in cascades and you saw some pretty deplorable things that folks were going through having said that we were coming

[05:52:01] off of covid and after talking with management people in the in the field that were managing those communities they had several issues that were compounding things they couldn't keep help Folks weren't paying their rent, so they couldn't go outside and get contracted resources to come in and repair a thing.

[05:52:22] So hopefully if you did that visit today, you would see an improvement. I can't guarantee that because we don't get that many complaints in those type of situations except for residential overcrowding at this time. If it was still there, I would still be getting complaints. Yep. And, you know, there's cultural differences too, folks, you know, all that kind of stuff.

[05:52:43] But the reason we're back tonight is to get your direction on whether or not you're interested in directing us to amend the codified ordinances of the county and adopt further sections of the maintenance code.

[05:52:59] There is a second part of this item that we'll discuss later that Supervisor Briskman has an alternative motion for. But right now, you know, we're seeking direction on if you want us to adopt the other provisions.

[05:53:14] Currently, we only do Chapter 3 exterior issues and Chapter 4 for our residential occupancy limitations. We started Chapter 4 in 2004, and then we adopted the other provisions for the exterior issues in 2009.

[05:53:35] And that was basically based on the financial downturn of places in some of our communities, especially Sterling Park, where people were losing their houses because of the decline in stock market or the real estate market and the mortgages they'd gotten themselves into before the real estate collapse.

[05:53:56] fortunately we're over that too so i was kind of surprised to hear a speaker earlier indicate that they had not seen any significant progress in sterling i think if you talk to supervisor sayings he will probably hopefully agree that the proactive enforcement there has been beneficial and keeping that community which is not served majority of it is not served by an hoa a little better for all the residents in that area so back to the maintenance code it is an elective provision

[05:54:32] of the building code a jurisdiction does not have to adopt the requirements it's not like our building code even though it's part three of the uniform statewide building code it is totally optional so the board has the discretion to whether or not they want to move into the other areas and on page two of the staff report it breaks down what each of these chapters cover and just a couple quick examples it would be the sanitary conditions inside the unit peeling paint

[05:55:07] it goes as far as lead paint provisions for older places which fortunately we you're not going to see a lot of that in eastern part of the county you might see it out in the western part and some the older structures but that stuff has been eradicated over the years especially with construction methods and techniques and this is for apartment buildings too right and most of our apartment buildings you know honestly were built early 70s and beyond so there wasn't much of that still being used at that time fortunately plumbing requirements mechanical which is your heating ac

[05:55:44] stuff like that fire safety and there's some other reference standards that the code administers one thing that i i'm kind of proud of i haven't really come to you over the years saying we need help if you go back to 2016 our county administrator said hey we're making some changes general services and the health department aren't really enforcement agencies so at that time we took over tall grass component that the health department had we took over solid waste enforcement

[05:56:19] of managing the facilities and also the litter control ordinance and basic trash violations and over the years we've most recently are now enforcing our new bamboo ordinance which has turned into our first test case is really something that we're learning a lot from and going to meet with the county administration in a couple weeks to go over some of the finer points of that but we have not really kept up to where we need staff wise so i heard a comment earlier

[05:56:57] that and i think we discussed this with supervisor briskman during a briefing last week yes we're saying we need six positions but those six positions are not just for a proactive enforcement initiative they are also to supplement if the board does want to adopt the maintenance code and honestly amanda sums it up the best we're kind of at a point to where our folks are screaming as you know we've we're fortunate to keep people but as we keep people they get more leave they

[05:57:34] get more benefits the county has a very generously package folks take advantage of those rightfully so but it seems like we're penalizing folks because if an inspector's been here four or five years they're juggling a caseload of 50 to 60 cases which is no longer manageable i give amanda a lot of credit in addition to juggling 90 cases which a lot are going through the judification process where they're either going on to collections for fines

[05:58:07] or going on to court action she's also supervising five people so we're just at the point to where the calls we get for mr sayings at eight o'clock at night while he's sitting here at the diocese pointing us to go out and do a noise measurement at a data center it's harder and harder to get voluntary compliance from our own folks to want to do those kind of things because they know it's another case and hey they have lives too yeah so to sum up where i'm going i think

[05:58:41] also it's my understanding that there's going to be some pretty heavy discussions about maybe also doing more proactive enforcement in the rural district because of some of the concerns that have been brought forth with the new zoning ordinance amendments that are being looked at for the rural districts so we're more than willing to to do those things but what I'm saying is I need people to do we need people to do it listen that was an incredibly helpful presentation and update and thank you so much thank you so much so but just to give you a just a little bit of background I don't

[05:59:19] remember what year it was but I got three phone calls from three different apartment buildings one in sterling one the broad run district and one in leedsburg about conditions in their buildings and um and they were they were fairly severe and there was fairly severe safety issues in one home there was a water leak from the apartment above that was coming through where their fire um no not fire extinguisher fire sprinkler head for fire sprinkler head was um was was coming through there i guess no i guess it would be a

[05:59:56] I think you're right, a fire alarm, like where it would, yeah, water was coming through there. There was, almost in that entire building, there was loose rails when they, you know, step out in their balcony, all the rails were loose. And because we weren't doing this kind of enforcement, I actually used to be chair of Virginia's Fair Housing Board.

[06:00:15] I made a phone call down there. And two of them, two of the apartment buildings sold to someone else versus getting things back up to code. And one of them, one of them, I guess, got things back up to code. but we shouldn't have to make a phone call. That shouldn't have to happen.

[06:00:33] And so I'm really glad you're bringing this. So thank you very much. How about I go to a motion, and then we can... Madam Chair? Yeah? Did we have questions? We can do it in a motion. We can't do questions in a motion. Okay.

[06:00:50] I move the board to supervise a direct staff to pursue further adoption of the remaining chapters of the Virginia Property Maintenance Code. This is just one part. Okay, you're just doing the Property Maintenance Code. I'm not doing your part yet. Okay, okay, great. But he said that.

[06:01:06] He actually said it for you. Did you hear him say it? Yeah. When we turn to the Board of Supervisors, public hearing to amend chapters 1410-101, the Confident Ordinance of Loudoun County to include any newly adopted Virginia property maintenance co-provision with an effective date of July 1st, 2026 and a subsequent implementation date of January 1st, 2027.

[06:01:30] Seconded by Ms. Bricksman. There's two further moves in here. That's good. That's all. Yeah, that's good. So, you know, I thank you for bringing this. I will say it again. You are right that not everyone who has an issue feels comfortable calling.

[06:01:49] Some of it's cultural. Some of it's fear that if they complain, then something worse could happen to their families right now. And so it's all kind of issues. but if we're going to be a county that prides itself on how we treat people then we should be a county that's checking on if they are living in a safe structure and that's what you're actually talking about to some degree and so i really really really appreciate you bringing this supervisors mr sayings thank you madam chair yes i appreciate um staff bringing this to us

[06:02:24] um our zone enforcement team does a outstanding job they don't get the credit they deserve a lot times they're as just demonstrated they're understaffed and do a lot of a lot of work a lot of good work especially my district but throughout the the county as well so I'll be supporting this and whatever else we can do to help their team and just to give you an example of how dedicated Keith Fairfax and Miss Amanda Johnson are to their work and you could just hear the passion when Mr. Fairfax was talking describing everything but Miss Johnson here sent a very detailed

[06:03:01] information report email and report to us regarding an issue in sterling she sent this email not at three o'clock in the afternoon not at 10 o'clock in the morning not 11 o'clock in the morning or mid noon or five or six p.m. she sent this email at 4 45 a.m. so that shows you how dedicated she is to her work and to the point of how overworked her caseload is with individual for the calls that she's doing and being a supervisor and managing a team.

[06:03:38] Also, I'll just say that we need to reward these folks because a lot of people come into this position, do a great job, but just like anybody, naturally, you want to progress in your career and don't want to stay in one position for many, many years.

[06:03:55] So we need the extra hands, and so then people can be elevated, move to supervisor positions and leads and so on and continue in their careers and hopefully stay with the county for the rest of their career. So I'll be supporting. Thank you.

[06:04:10] And thank you, Ms. Brixman, also for the work that you're doing on the other item coming. Mr. Letourneau. Yeah, just asking. So when it comes to affordable housing, is that a county or is that a state responsibility on the maintenance code there?

[06:04:34] You're talking affordable housing or ADU program? No, like the actual structures that fall under that program. I'm sorry. Probably a county. If you're asking if the maintenance of the structure.

[06:04:50] The property maintenance code provisions. Right. I'm not following you, sir. Okay. Who's responsible for investigating those? It would be the county that adopts the locality. It could be a town or a city or the county, in our case, that adopts the ordinance.

[06:05:07] and responsible for enforcement sorry about that yeah that's what i thought i just wanted to i wanted to make sure um no i'm supportive of this of this effort uh i would echo what supervisor sane said um we are we are doing some of the proactive enforcement in a section of the dulles districts i think we're just kind of getting underway with it now but i think it is something that we need to continue to look at in certain areas of the county i think we had some residents from one particular community here that seemed to think that the entire entirety of this would be only on them and i'm sure that's not the case you know that's just an example sometimes of a place

[06:05:46] but um we've had nothing but excellent experiences with you and your staff and uh you're a real credit to to what we're trying to do and keeping this this place a great place to live so i'll certainly support the uh the motion wonderful miss brixman thank you madam chair and thank you for the item appreciate it um so as i understand it staff is recommending that we um adopt all of the rest of the chapters of the property maintenance code yes and no i i i want it to be a board decision um i have my own opinion amanda has her opinion well does that mean you're going to be

[06:06:22] bringing it back yes if the board's going to go to a public hearing yes okay now the difference is this ordinance since it's a codified ordinance would not go to the planning commission it would go straight back to you. I think you said that in the briefing. Right. Okay. But it's going to take a different type of inspector than we have now because we're getting into a lot of technical issues when it comes to the maintenance code that we're not used to doing. Okay. And fortunately, I have a commitment from our Department of Building and Development who have actual trades

[06:06:58] people doing these type of inspections on a daily basis to not only assist us training, but to get us through this to get it kicked off while we're recruiting okay so and that's probably part of the reason why this wouldn't go into effect until january of 27th yes ma'am because we need we need some time um and then the the resource requests um the six uh resource requests that it was could have been misinterpreted that you were wanting six additional staff just for the proactive enforcement in algonkian and potentially broad run i think we're going to

[06:07:32] take broadband out of there but um can you confirm that the six are that's a that that that motion stopped i know i'm asking all right the six are for county-wide county-wide because we're adopting new chapters because you need new expertise and we're supervisor letourneau at a great point yes we've been doing his initiative on pleasant valley road and and way drive since last october but we're there's a lot more to do out there yeah we've got like 30 27 open cases yeah we we've got yeah we want to get your case 70 cases we want to get your case loads down okay thank you i'm happy to support

[06:08:10] thank you miss umstop uh thank you madam chair so as i understand it you're already overworked and understaffed and so my concern is you need a number of additional positions just to handle your current workload but now we're looking at dumping even more of a workload on you do we have an s well we may not be at that point but i would be interested in in trying to figure out what the

[06:08:44] full estimate would be if we adopt more and more of these provisions or chapters no and i've checked with colleagues and other jurisdictions there's looking for a benchmark to say what is a normal caseload for a code enforcement inspector there's nothing out there even at the national level but I will tell you from my own experience doing this job for almost 26 years now once you get over 40 cases everything runs together and you miss things you're not accurate you're just

[06:09:19] continuously trying to catch up, and it's not a good feeling. As of Monday morning when I ran the numbers, we had 557 open cases. I'll go into this a little more detail when we talk about the proactive. Fortunately, only 36 were in Algonquian and eight were in Broad Run, so Supervisor Glass gets an award for having very zoning compliant folks in her district, so we'll talk about that in a few minutes but uh yeah i wish there was a benchmark but i can only tell you when people say uncle it's time to to get some help but i do think one other thing we should highlight though

[06:09:56] is that you are fully staffed now for the first time in over a year year and a half at least right so i still have people that are using leave understood right but some of the carryover is is the people that have been here longer have piled up caseloads that they've kept until keith can get the staff trained up. Right. Okay. I'm reluctant to dump more work on you, to be honest. I do think you need more people just to handle your current caseload. I could probably support this tonight,

[06:10:33] but I'm going to have to look at the financial impacts on this. My understanding is that you would not be doing enforcement inside any of the towns or could you if we had a memorandum of understanding with the towns currently we do with the town of leesburg to do the chapter three exterior and the chapter four uh for occupancy limitations talking with mr hemstreet i'm going to strongly suggest that we don't enter into those agreements reason being this is an elective code

[06:11:13] If a locality, such as the town of Leesburg or Percival or Middleburg, once it enforced, they can adopt it and appoint their own code official and do it themselves with their own staff. As you can imagine, dealing with that many different folks and their aides, it really makes things difficult when you're trying to resolve issues.

[06:11:35] Okay, thank you.

[06:11:44] What is that? I'm going to get you. I can't sit by him anymore. I've had it. I'm going to actually change seats tonight before we all leave the dais.

[06:12:04] Yes, Mr. Kirshen, would you like to speak? Oh, thank you, Madam Chair, for recognizing me. Just a couple of questions. Most of my questions have been answered, but I had kind of the same thought process that Supervisor Umstead did. And first of all, you're overworked now.

[06:12:20] You need an additional resource request just for the current enforcement that you're undertaking. And then you're coming and you're saying, A, you might want to also adopt some additional provisions of the Virginia Property Maintenance Code. And those are not enforceable as they currently exist. We have to adopt those.

[06:12:35] Is that correct? Correct. Okay. So, and we really don't know how much, what the implications are of that in terms of the additional staff that you would need. These six are just to cover what you currently have, correct? Right. Okay. We won't know until we see it. Fair enough. I mean, do you feel like there is a need to adopt that, or do you feel like there's some, it sounds like there's some difference internally within the staff as well, that may or may not.

[06:13:00] Okay. Not only, we don't get all the complaints from tenant aspects. Sure. What I see going to the health department and also to our building code folks are a lot of issues that are usually landlord-tenant disputes. Yeah, fair enough.

[06:13:15] And mold. The building code doesn't address mold. Sure. Now, I think we all know that if you have mold, it's because you have a water leak somewhere. Could there be a bigger issue with a pipe or busted or something like that? But there's going to be certain issues that we're not going to be able to help.

[06:13:32] And I think if the board remembers three years ago, there was a push by the legislator to push the landlord tenant back to the localities, but that bill died for lack of signature by the governor. So I don't know.

[06:13:47] of a wait and see whether we really want to adopt that as a board i'm not sure what the second part of the motion is here that will come here's my last question and this actually pertains directly to western loud and i know you and i met a number of years ago concerning the noise ordinance um complaints and one of the issue ongoing issues and and listen i meet with my venues on a regular basis to say you guys need to self-police and i think they've done a much better job overall i think we're gonna have some of this discussion tomorrow night during our so am um meeting on western loud in the rural uses my question is this and this has always been my position that

[06:14:22] your department doesn't usually work a whole lot on weekends i'm assuming correct so as part of this discussion and adding six additional is is there is there some way that there could be some soldiers so to speak on call for weekends because i think a few enforcements over a week because it's just hard to enforce when the violations occur over the weekend and no no one's there does i mean they're always calling the sheriff's department and that's a completely different criminal standard right it's a it's a totally audible my question is can we get to the point where we actually could potentially have some folks or a person that could be on call on weekends when there is a complaint

[06:15:00] to go out and check on these things i don't know if that's possible but that is my request and i certainly want to support your resource um yeah because these positions are usually fsla exempt so there's the on-call pay and all that kind of stuff sure if we advertise that as part of the the position when we hire, I think it would be something that Mr. Volando would probably be open to.

[06:15:25] I think that is the answer to that. I think it would fix any of the remaining problems that we have. And I'm going to keep talking because the chair is not paying attention to my time. I'm not sure what to say because I had time for two and a half minutes, but.

[06:15:40] Sorry about that. Here, just here, here, here, just here, just take. Oh, look at that. I'm scared now. Julie Brissman just had a heart attack. I'm sorry.

[06:16:04] Okay, this is the last meeting before we go on break. This is the last issue for the last meeting before the last item. I'm going to, I don't need to have a closing. I'm going to make that the second part of, well, the third, I further move on the page.

[06:16:25] And then Ms. Bricksman will go back and make a motion. We haven't done that yet. That's what I'm saying. There's two more motions to be made is what I'm saying. Okay. Is everybody good? Because I don't have a closing. Everybody good? all right this is just the first motion from the I move to the 2027 that's all we're doing right now all in favor please say aye any opposed that motion passed 9-0 okay before Ms. Bricksman's I'm going to say I move the board supervisor direct staff to prepare resource requests to provide to provide appropriate staff to the zoning enforcement division during the FY fiscal year

[06:17:00] 2027 budget process okay so I think that this answers Ms. Umstead's concerns I think you know I think you know I think it's a reasonable concern say do you want to have more things to do if you have not enough staff but you had already said that what you needed and why and what they would do when Mr. Sains had already talked to the fact that he's getting emails at 4:45 in the morning I have a feeling you probably have insomnia like me which is why you're up at 4:45 in the morning. From now on, call me. Usually, I'm up watching Downton Abbey at 4:45 in the morning.

[06:17:35] That's just when I start the e-mail. That's when I'm doing other work. So it makes sense that we're going to -- and it's also good to know this far in advance that we may need to have a -- that a budget item's going to come. That's unusual for us to know this far in advance and to have this discussion. So at that time, we know it's happening already. So thanks for doing that. I appreciate it. And then we'll take care of the concern of my colleague. Anybody else? I make the motion. Supervisor Bricksman second that motion on fifth. Please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion passed 9-0. I will let Supervisor Bricksman make this last motion. Thank you very much. I move that the Board

[06:18:15] of Supervisors defer the discussion to direct staff to conduct additional proactive enforcement beginning January 1, 2027 within the designated areas of the Algonquian and Broad Run Election districts not governed by homeowner association covenants to the september 16 2025 business meeting thank you okay so second by supervisor saints discussion on the motion yes thank you madam chair um so staff brought this in addition to the chapters um we have had a number of zoning

[06:18:50] complaints in the broad run farms area and um we are thinking that staff is thinking that proactive enforcement might be a good way to solve the problem we were briefed on it last week and then sent an email to the broad run farm civic association to get some feedback and we got a good amount of feedback and i'm asking to pause this vote until september so i can have the opportunity to meet with the community association i'm sorry with the broad run farms community

[06:19:25] they don't have a community association the broad run farms community and with staff possibly to make sure that we get all of the questions answered that the community has brought forth and then hopefully we can come to a decision in september thank you motions really it's just to defer the the motion defer the vote defer the vote yeah well yes defer was that was defer the motion actually but yes okay to the september to the second meeting september yes ma'am okay Okay, Ms. Glass.

[06:19:58] Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to, I believe, strike out Broad Run in the motion because I think it was referring to the Broad Run Farms, the neighborhood, and not the Broad Run District.

[06:20:17] Supervisor Glass, thank you for clarifying that. That's a question I had to ask, but if you review the action summary from that January 23 meeting, it specifically said you're... district so that's why i had to include it in the item but i thought the same thing i think there was some confusion when you nodded when we were talking about broad run farm specifically it got mistranslated to mean your district also yes thank you i i can accept that as a friendly madam chair to strike broad run and who made the who second mr sands are you second were you fine

[06:20:49] with that okay so um okay mr turner thank you madam chair when i first read this i was confused and i'm not any more sanguine based on this conversation so i'm really hoping that one or more people in the next five minutes is going to say no you're completely dead wrong i'm okay with that i'm hoping that's the outcome i'm really scratching my head to figure out especially since the two chapters are for appearance and occupancy limits why we're focused on algonkian

[06:21:27] and Broad Run, because to a layman who doesn't understand, I would say we are targeting specific demographic groups. I could live with this easily if it said Loudoun area is not governed by an HOA, but to single out two districts, that tells me somebody has said, oh, well, okay, that population lives in Algonquian Broad Run, and they're always guilty of these violations. Please tell me I'm wrong. Actually, at this point, it's just Algonquian. It's not Algonquian and Broad Run.

[06:21:54] okay tell me i'm wrong algonkian but it's the overall enforcement it not only includes the property maintenance code it would include zoning regulations which include floodplain standards use aspects of the property illegal businesses residential overcrowding tall grass solid waste violations so it's everything we enforce when we do a proactive initiative just like we do in the sterling district and have started to do an adult it's just not the virginia property maintenance code it is all the elements of every code we enforce so why are we singling out one

[06:22:31] district for proactive enforcement that's what i'm missing that was the request how staff received the request when we appeared at the january 2023 meeting we were asked to bring that back for those two districts which so we know is only the one district now if i can take some pressure off of mr fairfax the the nature of proactive enforcement just traditionally with the board has been a district by district issue and so when we first started doing proactive enforcement it was at the request of a district supervisor and so that is how that issue has come to the board and how the

[06:23:11] The board has traditionally wanted us to bring discussions of proactive enforcement to you is on a district-by-district basis. So that's why the last one that was added was at the request of the Dulles district supervisor for a specific area in that district.

[06:23:29] That was the vehicles down in a certain area of Dulles. I accept that answer. I have serious concerns that this would pass any reasonable equity test. I really do. So it's up to the whim and the vagaries of each district to say, I want active enforcement in my district, but they don't want active district enforcement in their district.

[06:23:45] Well, I'm going to push back on that because it is a decision of the board, right? But staff has not been asked to come and provide recommendations to the board on where we would recommend proactive enforcement to occur if we would. it has been a the direction from the board for over 20 years maybe 26 years now as long as mr fairfax has been here is that we do we enforce the zoning ordinance and the provisions of the property maintenance code that we're charged with on a complaint basis with the exception of when a district supervisor comes to their colleagues and asks for proactive enforcement to address specific

[06:24:25] issues in their district. So the board has to approve it. So if the board wants something broader, that would be up to you to make that decision. But traditionally, that's been the direction of the staff, and that's how we've reacted to it. So I would be a little calmer with how I align myself with what Mr. Turner just said. But it would seem to me that if we're talking about things, talking about issues not governed by the Homeowners Association covenants, I understand what you're saying, and it does make sense that that's how we've done it.

[06:25:01] But it's not required to do it like that. It's just traditionally that's how it's done. And these are one of these things where you go, just because it's been done like that doesn't mean it has to be done like that. I can definitely think of some, as Mr. Fairfax just said, some places, especially in western Loudoun County, where some of these issues obviously exist.

[06:25:19] It's almost, in some ways, I almost like to have like an opt-out kind of thing, like if you don't want a new district, tell us. But it also, what I'm hearing is that Supervisor Bricksman has said she wants it and she wasn't going to assume that anybody else was going to want it.

[06:25:35] And so it says Algonquian because she was not going to make the assumption, which is very realistic, because otherwise people would be like, get out of my district. Why are you talking about my district? Leave me alone. So she wasn't going to make the assumption that any other district wanted it, so it's Algonquian.

[06:25:52] I think the better way to do this is if you want your district at it, just say that, and maybe we can do it like that for areas that are not governed by homeowners' covenants. I will also say, though, that most of Ashburn do have homeowners' associations.

[06:26:11] Most of Dulles does, but even with Dulles, Mr. Letourneau found the issue that he wanted to have discussed with the cars. I would think, I think Ashburn is probably the homeowners association haven of Loudoun County, to be quite honest, in many ways, huh?

[06:26:29] Am I incorrect? Okay, well, if you want to add the Ashburn district, I think you make that as a friendly. I don't think that we want to say that every district has to have it. I think if you want this to be your district, too, I think you maybe just ask for the friendly, and then we go forward.

[06:26:49] Otherwise, I'm going to go to Ms. Bixman for a closing. Three, two, one. You want to do a closing, Ms. Bixman? Yes. So traditionally, something like this would have come up as a BMI because a supervisor was getting a good amount of complaints about zoning violations in their district.

[06:27:13] This did not come up that way. this came from staff because there have been a number of zoning violation complaints in this particular area. I did not ask for it specifically. I think that staff pulled up something from a meeting in 2023 where I wanted it looked at, but I have no interest in targeting broad-run farms.

[06:27:43] I have no interest in over-regulating broad-run farms. You've got an order right now. I have no interest in over-regulating broad-run farms.

[06:28:01] I do have an interest in the health and safety of my constituents who live in broad-run farms. And if this does pass, I would like to make certain that staff is looking at health and safety issues, not just are you mowing your grass type of issues, which is what an HOA would look at.

[06:28:26] I take offense that someone would think that I would be targeting or discriminating against any particular community or neighborhood in my district or the county ever. I have asked to move this to a September business meeting so that I can have a meeting with the community and discuss it.

[06:28:54] I'm not asking us to pass this right now. I'm interested in going to talk to the community about it because staff brought it with this item. Thank you. Chair Randall.

[06:29:09] Yes. If I may also clarify, I think the board should also understand what Mr. Fairfax said around what we enforce, which is the zoning ordinance. So a lot of the complaints that we get are around commercial properties.

[06:29:27] The last area that we went to proactive enforcement in is a commercial area. So I think to make the assumption that we're talking solely about residential areas is making a jump in logic that just isn't there.

[06:29:44] I think a lot of the issues that DPZ addresses specifically in the Algonquin District is primarily around commercial issues having to do with signs. signs is the biggest one one of the larger offenders is dealing with commercial flag signs that are out there on route seven in those areas so those are not residential issues so i just want to make it clear that when we talk about proactive enforcement it's going to be dealing equally with commercial issues that are out there that in addition to any residential issues that that deal

[06:30:19] with tall grass and those kinds of things sign ordinance being a big one so i just have one point a clarification, and this may be for Ms. Jamstreet or Mr. Fairfax. Ms. McSpin's been very clear that she wants to go talk to her constituents a little bit more about what this would mean for them and how it works. When we bring this back, really are we doing this delaying this right now? So when we bring this back, if anyone else has had those discussions with their constituents and they want to add their district or part of their district, they can

[06:30:57] do it at that time because all she's doing right now is asking for time to go talk to her constituents, correct? So they could do it at that time if they wanted to because you all are not going to do anything between now and September. You're not doing anything. You're just waiting for her to go talk to her constituents, correct? Okay. All right. Thank you. Ms. Bricksman, you had a closing.

[06:31:17] Okay, you had a closing. All right. Ms. Bricksman made the motion. Who seconded it? Mr. Sanders, you're taking this motion? All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. Is that it besides closed session? Holy smokes. Jazz hands. Would you like to read us into the last closed session, which is closed session number two, Mr. Turner? I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to section 2.2371187 of the Code of Virginia to consult with legal counsel pertaining to actual or probable litigation

[06:31:56] regarding a code enforcement matter in the Catoctin Election District requiring legal advice by counsel. Mr. Kirschner? I'll second that. What is with everyone tonight?

[06:32:12] Everybody wake up. No, we're getting close. Yeah, but this is your, wow, you've got to leave Julie alone tonight. She's not here. All right, she's actually not here. It's been made and seconded on people who say aye any opposed that motion passed 801 hold on just a second Because now ms. Brickson didn't reason to go into closed session with us because She left to dance before we voted so everyone just have a seat until she comes back because otherwise it's going to be a big old deal with Huh, but just give her a second. Just give her a second until she can come back Otherwise, she didn't read to go to closed session and we got to make it a big deal when she comes out of closed session

[06:33:00] She got an aye. Okay. We are that's nine zero nine zero

[06:33:06] I'm ready. There we go. Supervisors, we are back

[06:54:29] Mr. Mr. Turner is going to read it. Vice Chair Turner is going to read this out of closed session I should say Ms. Bricksman did vote to go in the closed session But she never joined us for closed session. She needed to go home So she she never joined us for closed session at all. So she could not affirm or not affirmed because you never came into the room so just put that in the record mr. Turner would you please read us out of closed session I move the closed session be adjourned that the Board of Supervisors reconvenes this public meeting that the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed session and the further move that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflect in the minutes of

[06:55:06] this public meeting motion made second by Supervisor Letourneau discussion on the motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 8-0-1. Would everyone please affirm? Affirm. I need you guys to affirm on the mic, actually. We need to be able to hear that. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. Oh, my God. What is happening this evening? I'm firm on my affirm. Ms. Umstad? I do. Okay. All right. Everyone affirmed, and I affirmed as well.

[06:55:43] I think that it's everything. There are two more meetings this year. They're both TLUC meetings, but, I mean, this month. Wow. This month, they're both, God, they're both TLUC meetings, but I think that's all we have are two TLUC meetings for the rest of the month.

[06:56:06] So to the Finance Committee people, I will see you all in September. To TLUC, I will see you all tomorrow night. We are adjourned.

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