Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Public Hearing, Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Date: Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 26m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/8041
Meeting page (Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/8041

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 2026-10-10. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

[00:05:13] Well, good evening, supervisors, good evening, staff, and good evening, Loudon. I'd like to call to order the October 15th, 2025 Loudon County Public Hearing. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please switch your hearing aid to the telecom mode. If you need hearing assist, if you need a headset, we have those available as well.

[00:05:32] Please see the clerk to request one. As a reminder, all members of the public addressing the board this evening, you may only register to speak on matters that have been advertised for the public hearing. Due to the broadcast delay, any member of the public who are not in the boardroom wishing to address the board on items one and two, which are on the consolidated hearing, please call the number scrolling across your screen at this time.

[00:05:58] If you registered to speak, you will be allotted two and a half minutes. If you are in the boardroom, we ask that your name is called. Come to the podium and state your name for the record. timer on the podium will indicate your remaining time. When your time has expired, please yield the floor to the next speaker. If you are providing your comments via phone, please use your stopwatch to track your time because I don't want to stop people who are on the phone when they get close to the time being up because it interrupts your flow, but I will stop you when your time is up. So if you can time yourself, that would be great.

[00:06:37] And when taking input for items, I would first ask if there's anyone in the room, and then I would call people who are on the phone. Please note that there was a slight delay between the broadcast and the boardroom. As a reminder, Item 3, LEGY 2024-0002, Concord Industrial Park, ZMAP 2024-0001, SPX 2024-0009, and SPX Special Section 2024-0040 was advertised as deferred, and it will be on a future public hearing.

[00:07:13] Would everyone please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[00:07:34] Right now, that for all part really is important. Okay. Pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3708.3 and the Board of Supervisors Rules of Order, Supervisor Brixman requested to participate in this meeting by electronic communication.

[00:07:55] A physical quorum of the Board of Supervisors is present in the boardroom, and the Board has made arrangements for Supervisor Brixman's voice to be heard by all persons in the boardroom. She made this request within the required time frame, and the county attorney determined that the request meets the qualifications to participate remotely.

[00:08:13] The board will record in its minutes that Supervisor Brickspin participated remotely from her home in Loudoun County for personal reasons. All right. So we have two items, both on consolidated. We will have a speaker at least on one of the consolidated items.

[00:08:32] It does not have to come off a consolidated agenda for the speaker to speak, but we do have one person. If there is anyone else who'd like to speak on either items on the consolidated agenda, please let us know that now.

[00:08:48] Staff has recommended approval of the consolidated agenda because the applicant has waived its time, although we do have one public speaker signed up in advance for the Oak Hill Farm item.

[00:09:04] Item one is the resolution approving public use and necessity of acquiring certain real interests and authorizing the acquisition of eminent domain, Algonquian Parkway, Hardwood 4th Drive, and Noble Terrence traffic signalization and intersection improvement that is in the algonkian district supervisor bricksman can you hear me suppose a bricksman you hear miss bricksman

[00:09:38] okay so i'm going to go to that item seconds because it is in her district and sorry madam chair i'm here well good actually i have trouble unmeeting i'm still going to hold you to second because i know mr we the speaker on the oak hill item actually wants to get out the room So I'm going to actually we're going to go to your item second okay board members I want you to refer to your documents we entitled consolidated hearing motion seat it was placed at your dais we're going

[00:10:12] to go to item two which is 2025-0007 request for withdrawal of land belonging to Oak Hill from North llc oak hill farm south llc and gail and gail de lashman from the new oak hill agriculture and forestal districts that's in the liver little river district so i know there is somebody in the room that wants to speak on this um to the moderator is the moderator andy tonight who's our moderator tonight who's a moderator tonight who's our moderator tonight amanda is anybody who

[00:10:51] wants to speak on this other person wants to speak on this item i have no speakers on the line you you have no speakers on the line. Okay, this is in the Little River District. And so I'm going to ask Ms. DeCrony to go to our number two and make a motion, please. I'm sorry, I'm not going to ask you to do that. Did you want to, did you want to give a, you're just here for questions. Just here for answer questions. So since we have a speaker before we make the motion, what I will ask staff is to just quickly describe what we're doing with this issue tonight, okay?

[00:11:30] Anybody want to do that? Thank you. Thank you, Rachel. Appreciate it. And then we'll have the speaker, and then we will go to a motion. Good evening. Good evening, Chair and Supervisors.

[00:11:46] This is a request for Oak Hill Farm to withdraw approximately 1,200 acres from the new Oak Hill Agricultural and Forestal District, located on the west side of Route 15 and south of Tail Race Road.

[00:12:02] It's part of the New Oak Hill Agricultural and Forestal District, which is why they're requesting withdrawal. And the purpose is -- and Mr. Light can, of course, speak for the applicant. He's representing them, but it's for, you know, gifting and tax purposes.

[00:12:22] The district will expire on April 14, 2026. So all this does is speed up the process for withdrawal, approximately six months. Okay. I'm going to have Mr. Higgins speak. I'm going to have a motion, and then if supervisors have questions, they can ask questions within the motion.

[00:12:38] Mr. Gary Higgins, you'd like to come speak on Oak Hill. I should say, I'm sorry, I should say Delegate Gary Higgins, you'd like to come speak on Oak Hill. Hello, Delegate Higgins, how are you? Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board, for the opportunity to speak briefly at Unionite about Oak Hill's withdrawal from the Oak Hill Agricultural and Forestal District.

[00:13:02] This is a critical step to make the park a reality because it will facilitate the transfer of almost 1,240 acres from their last family to the Conservation Fund who will hold it until the lands transferred to the Commonwealth for a state park. This is the same process we followed with the Sweet Run State Park in Nearsville.

[00:13:22] And we are incredibly close at this point to making the state park a reality. Really two things I want to come and tell you tonight. One of those is I want to thank all of you for your commitment to this project and for helping to fund this project. And I think it's really for not just for the Commonwealth of Virginia and Loudoun County.

[00:13:40] It's something that's great for the United States of America. And the second thing I want to mention tonight is I have some good news. I can tell you tonight that I have met with Governor Youngkin, and he's announced that he will include Oak Hill State Park Plan in his final budget proposal to the General Assembly for the 2026 session in December.

[00:14:01] This project in the budget, which it never was before in the last year's session, will minimize procedural and parliamentary games that were played in the last session. So I'm not giving up on James Monroe's Oak Hill Home and Farm, and I know that this board has not given up on it either.

[00:14:21] Now we just need the General Assembly to get in line and support Oak Hill and help bring this incredible piece of history to life for future generations. I want to thank you all again for your commitment to this project and for your efforts, and we will work hard to make this happen in the future.

[00:14:38] And I appreciate the governor's involvement as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Delegate Higgins. Mr. Crony, would you like to make a motion? Yes, thank you, Chair Randall. I move that the Board of Supervisors approve motion 2B for the approval of the request for withdrawal as provided in the October 15th, 2025, public hearing item number two, staff report.

[00:15:03] I'd like to have that if you don't. I'm in a sharing mood, so I'll give that to you. You're in a sharing mood. Okay, you know what? I was going to say, but now I'm just going to say I'm taking it. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, would you like to open the item, Mr. Crony?

[00:15:24] Yeah, thank you, Chair Anil. So I want to thank the DeLashman family for their dedication to preserving James Monroe's 1,200-acre Oak Hill estate. The family has cared for this property since 1948, always with an eye towards protecting it for future generations.

[00:15:42] I also appreciate the Agricultural District Advisory Committee and the Planning Commission for their thoughtful work and recommendations to approve the early withdrawal from the new Oak Hill AFD. This step moves us closer to the sale of the estate, to the conservation fund, and ensuring Oak Hill is permanently protected as a state park.

[00:16:04] And I do believe Delegate Higgins is correct. This is a critical step to make the state park a reality. And I want to thank everybody for their commitment and for their passion in making this a reality, and it's an incredible project.

[00:16:22] Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Brixman, do you have anything on this? no I'm good thanks very happy to support okay Mr. Kirsner thank you madam chair I'm glad you called on me um this is probably the most uh the most exciting removal we've ever had of a forestall district for sure and I'm appreciative of the board to obviously supporting this um and we all know that loudon's history loudon's history is we're chock full of history quite frankly we've got a lot of it and obviously everything from the revolutionary civil world war one world war two and

[00:16:54] And this obviously is our fifth president's farm and home, and I think that's really critical that we do everything we can in our power on this board to ensure its survival and continuance as a state park. And I'm excited to kind of help move that process along.

[00:17:12] I hope that it will help make this a reality come the December session and that and I'm appreciative to delegate Higgins for his work on it and for Governor Youngkins and anyone else that has had a role in this and for this board for each of my fellow colleagues on here.

[00:17:30] I think it's just as any of our state parks or preservation of land, since we know it's a rare commodity these days, but especially one with this kind of history, I think it's very, very critical that we take these steps. And so thank you, Supervisor DeCrony, for making the motion, and thank you for everyone.

[00:17:48] Don't, don't, don't, don't. I do have one question, if I can ask it within the motion. Is that okay? You can definitely do that. Thank you. And I don't know if it's for the applicant or for staff. By doing this, does this help set it up if indeed the General Assembly wants to adopt this as a state park in the December budget? Will this ultimately help pave that way by doing it now? Is it kind of a necessary step?

[00:18:18] Benjamin Lay for the applicant. I think this is neutral to the General Assembly. I think that the General Assembly is a mystery unto itself. And so we know this is really just an ag district removal to try to move us closer.

[00:18:41] I'm working with the deputy county attorney. We're weeks away from getting this. We're this close. So this is really just a mechanical part, but I would say the news that Delegate Higgins brought today is it's my birthday, so I'll take this as a layup.

[00:19:00] All great people are born in October. Thank you. So I do want to be, and I wish we had somebody here from our Ledge team, because I do want to be really clear. So the governor will introduce this, the current governor will introduce this in his budget when he introduces his budget in December. But the General Assembly does not sit until January, and so we keep saying the session in December.

[00:19:25] I do not believe that this would be, first of all, we certainly hope that this remains in the budget, but I don't believe this would be voted on to a new General Assembly sits in January, which would be five days before a new governor is sworn in. Is that correct?

[00:19:42] I believe so, yes, ma'am. Okay, so we want to be sure that we're not saying that this will be voted for in December. This will be put in the current governor's budget and then voted for, we hope, under a new governor, whomever she may be. Well, I mean, they're both women, so whoever she may be.

[00:20:03] Listen, there's been so much really great work done on this from all sides, from staff. The Lashman family has been phenomenal. know, if you've ever gone out to that site, it is chock full of history all by itself. Everything from things from the Jurassic Age all the way forward, it is really, really a phenomenal piece of property.

[00:20:25] And so we are thrilled. And we're thrilled that the history will be told correctly because when you have parcels like this, it's important to tell the full history and not take anything out, not glamorize anything, but history is told in its fullest.

[00:20:40] And so we believe that will be done, too, and so we're excited about that. And we will certainly do all that we can to call our elected colleagues and the General Assembly at the next session and ask them to vote for this. I do want to maybe clear up one thing and a question.

[00:20:57] I do know the answer, but because it's been asked, I just want to put something on the record. This taking it out of this district, if the General Assembly said no, and we certainly hope that doesn't happen, Does that mean all protections for Oak Hill have now been removed, and are we worried about that at all?

[00:21:18] What being in an agricultural and forestal district does is, the primary thing for landowners is, it makes it eligible if it qualifies for land use assessment. And because the use, unless the actual use of the property changes, whether it's in this district or not, it will still retain land use assessment.

[00:21:43] However, the other part that what the Agricultural and Forestall Districts Act does is it provides some extra protection for the property that any, you know, the governing body, the Planning Commission should take into account for development proposals near this property that it is in an agricultural and forestall district.

[00:22:09] And also, there's a special procedure in case there are any requests for takings by any level of government, except, of course, the State Corporation Commission for Transmission Lines. That doesn't apply. So it just adds a few extra weeks, a few extra months to the process for that extra consideration and public hearing if necessary.

[00:22:34] Sue, as the viewer indulge me for 10 more seconds, Rachel, with respect, I don't know that I heard the answer. I mean, you didn't say the answer, but I'm not sure I heard the answer. Because my question is, obviously, we are all going to work really hard for the General Assembly to vote for this that's going to be placed in the governor's budget.

[00:22:51] If they don't vote for this, are all protections now off of that piece of property? Not from an agricultural and forestal district. It just has some added consideration. But other than that, it would be treated as any other property. Yeah, that's okay.

[00:23:07] So extra protections are off. Okay. Yeah. All right. So all the more reason for us to vote for this then, right? Yeah, for them to vote for this, for the general assembly to vote for this. Okay. I just got a question based on what you asked. I'm sorry. Nope. Nope, sorry.

[00:23:25] Mr. Crone, would you like to have a closing? Yeah, just a quick closing. I do know the Delashman family, they're big conservationists and preservationists, so I know they have no intention of developing the property. They really want to preserve it for future generations to enjoy.

[00:23:42] and you know whether it whether the state accepts it or it it ends up in a different form i'm hoping it'll be a state park i believe it'll be conserved forever in perpetuity so i know that there that is the intention it'll go to the conservation fund for holding and then hopefully it'll become our newest state park in 2026 so thank you very much mr crony made the motion and i second the the motion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? I don't know what you're

[00:24:19] doing down there, Ms. Brooks, but I have no idea what's happening with you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Okay, seven. All right, so that motion will pass 702 with Mr. Letourneau and Mr. Sains being off the dais. Thank you very much. Okay, and the next item is in the Algonquian district. It is the resolution of proving the public use and necessity of acquiring certain road, property, interests, and authorizing acquisition of eminent domain, Algonquian Parkway, Harper 4th Drive, and Noble Terrace, Traffic Stiglization, and Intersection Improvement Project.

[00:24:53] Is there anyone here who would like to speak on this item? Seeing none, Ms. Briggs, would you like to make a motion? Yes, I would, Madam Chair. Thank you. I move that the Board of Supervisors approve Motion 2B for the approval of the resolution as provided in the October 15th, 2025 public hearing item number one staff report.

[00:25:15] Motion's made second by Supervisor Glass. Discussion on the motion, Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam Chair. This was an intersection improvement project that was started by my colleague, Supervisor Sainz, when the southern, the land south of Algolian Park was still in the Sterling District.

[00:25:35] So we're picking up sort of midstream here. And what this does, this is a rank five intersection. And so what we're doing is, in cooperation with the HOA, we are acquiring, in a quick take, about 4,100 square feet in three little chunks so that we can build the traffic light there.

[00:26:00] And it's costing about $25,000. So I appreciate my colleagues' support on this so we can improve the safety on Algonquian Parkway. Wonderful. Anybody else would like to speak on this issue? Okay, all and I miss briggs made the motion miss glass second the motion on people say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[00:26:21] That motion will pass 702 as well with Mr. Letourneau and Mr. Sains being off of the dais. I think that is it for this evening with no other business. I'm gonna call this public hearing too close. Okay.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Coraggio Consulting · aguyonx.com