Council urges Board of Supervisors to reject Greenfield Farm rezoning

Earlier this month, the Leesburg Town Council voted to approve a resolution that would urge the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors to deny a rezoning request for a 500-unit residential community to be built southwest of the Leesburg Executive Airport.

Orme Farm LLC is the applicant. The development would be built on the site of a former turkey farm that was once one of the largest in the United States - Greenfield Farms. Edgar and Nancy Orme bought Greenfield Farms in 1940, consisting of what is now 376 acres across nine parcels on Hogeland Mill Road. By 1960, the family had switched to pig farming.

The land is one of the few remaining agricultural properties in the County and is still owned by the Orme family. Mr. Orme passed away in 2005 and Mrs. Orme passed away in 2017. Their children inherited the land, which has sat largely unused since that time. The application is seeking to rezone 174 acres of property along Shreve Mill Road between Evergreen Mills Road and the Dulles Greenway.

The Greenfield Farms name would be retained for the new residential development, which would include 496 single-family detached homes, 22 multi-family attached residential units, and 44,000 square feet of non-residential uses including a convenience store with gas pumps, a restaurant with drive-throughs, and up to 5,370 square feet of retail uses, according to the application.

However, at a Council meeting Sept. 10, Richard Klusek, land use manager with the Community Development Department, said 95% of Leesburg Airports flight paths would fly directly over Greenfield Farms at low altitude causing a noise disturbance to future homeowners.

Town staff suggested the applicant give notice to future homeowners of the aircraft noise and provide an aviation easement, a legal agreement that grants the government the right to use the airspace above a property. However, the applicant resisted these requests, Klusek said.

The Virginia General Assembly passed a law in April that eliminates the need for disclosure of airport noise to home buyers. The aviation community opposed the bill saying it created non-transparency and that it's important to notify people buying a home that their house may sit in a flight path or close to a runway. However, the Virginia REALTORS, the largest trade association in Virginia, lobbied hard in support of the bill, which ultimately passed.

However, Klusek said the Town has a specific policy for protecting the Leesburg airport stating it will actively work to limit the development of noise-sensitive uses such as residences, hospitals, and convalescent homes in areas close to the airport and subject to typical flight patterns generated by the airport.

The Loudoun County application number is: LEGI-2023-0065.