County planners reluctantly OK 172-home Arrington subdivision

BY DON DEL ROSSO

Times-Democrat Staff Writer
With some reluctance, Fauquier County’s planning commission Monday night approved the 172-home Arrington subdivision plan.

The plan “is the best one we can get, given the zoning that is in place,” Planner Bob Lee (Marshall District) said moments before the commission vote at the Warrenton Middle School auditorium.

“This is a by-right [proposal] and it’s the best we can get,” agreed Planner Adrienne Garreau (Scott District).

The by-right (existing) zoning for the 490-acre Alwington Farm, which fronts U.S. 29 and adjoins The Home Depot, would have allowed more than the requested homes.

Lee, whose district includes the site, thanked Alwington Farm Developers LLC and neighbors for their work on the proposal, which came to the commission in June.

Alwington Farm Developers named the project the Arrington subdivision in honor of Arabelle Arrington, Alwingotn Farm’s late owner.

“It’s been a long process that’s involved many compromises” but one that produced a “very improved proposal” compared to the previous five versions, Lee told the auditorium audience.

For example, he noted the developer’s decision, under considerable pressure from neighbors, to eliminate a planned road to the site through an existing community off Lees Ridge Road.

In its place, the approved plan shows a Lovers Lane access to the site. But Lovers Lane residents object to that access, contending their road would be unable to safely handle the additional traffic the Arrington subdivision would generate.

The Arrington plan, which would cluster homes to preserve open space, also calls for closing the U.S. 29 median opposite Lovers Lane. Lee believes eliminating that crossover will make the heavily traveled highway safer.

But Lovers Lane residents contend the median closure would make it inconvenient and unsafe for them and others who wish to head north on U.S. 29.

To travel north, neighbors point out that drivers would have to head south to make a U-turn at the nearest median break.

Lee believes the planned U.S. 29 access to the Arrington site, not Lovers Lane, would handle most of the project’s traffic.

The planning commission held three public hearings Monday night on the developer’s request for special-exception permits for a 90-foot high municipal water tower, a subdivision road over a floodplain and an open space variation for off-site recreation uses.

Four neighbors spoke during the 10-minute hearing, voicing safety concerns about the proposed road accesses to the Arrington site, the median closure plan and whether existing groundwater supplies could adequately serve the project and area homes on private wells.

County Planner Holly Meade told the commission that the developer must produce a study that shows enough groundwater exists to support the project and not compromise homeowner wells before Fauquier would approve final construction plans.

The commission unanimously approved the Arrington subdivision plat, which the board of supervisors can review and change if it wishes.

The commission recommended approval of the three special-exception permit requests, which will go to the supervisors for public hearing and a final vote.

In recent months, Jo Tartt Jr. of Lovers Lane helped organize community meetings to discuss the Arrington project.

“It’s not everything we had hoped for, but I feel the group had a positive impact on this process,” Tartt said of the commission’s decisions. “Because of the group’s efforts, it will be better for all of us, if there’s enough water.”

Arrington developer Andrew Vinisky has declined to comment on the project.