Toll Brothers Inc.’s decision to withdraw three zoning applications will result in a missing link for Claiborne Parkway near Route 7, cutting off access there.
“It’s just unfortunate,” said Planning Commissioner David Whitmore (Broad Run), who, along with Supervisor Charles Harris (D-Broad Run), worked with Toll Brothers to alter the timing for the Claiborne and Gloucester parkway proffer agreements. The developer of Belmont Country Club is proffered to complete the construction of Gloucester Parkway from Route 659 east to Ashburn Road before constructing Claiborne Parkway from Route 7 south to the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in the Ashburn Farms development.
“There’s a few other connections, but this would be a critical connection from Route 7 to the [Dulles] Greenway,” Whitmore said. “This alleviates traffic in Old Ashburn. There’s a significant amount of traffic that comes through Old Ashburn through Hay Road and Ashburn Village.”
The county asked Toll Brothers to voluntarily construct Claiborne Parkway in 2004, instead of constructing Gloucester Parkway first as originally planned. The reversal of the two projects will allow Claiborne Parkway, a four-lane divided roadway, to connect with the Route 7 intersection scheduled for completion in spring 2004, as proffered by Lansdowne.
“The motivation was to try to bring on board a systematic approach to the traffic flow in that area, and as a result of that interchange being completed in 2004, we wanted to alleviate the traffic in Old Ashburn and Hay Road,” Harris said, adding that with access from Claiborne Parkway, Ashburn Road could be dead-ended just before the Route 7 interchange. “It is more efficient to be able to travel from the interchange on Route 7 to Ashburn Farm on Claiborne Parkway.”
AT THE COUNTY’S request, Toll Brothers submitted two zoning applications to place construction of Claiborne Parkway before Gloucester Parkway and to complete a missing link from Route 7 to the development’s entrance at Russell Branch Parkway, which has not been proffered by any developers. The developer applied to transfer several multi-family housing units located near the W&OD property up north near the interchange and to remove construction of a section of roadway where Claiborne and Gloucester run parallel. However, in mid-February, Toll Brothers withdrew the applications.
“The reason I think Toll Brothers withdrew is the residents of their own development didn’t like certain aspects of these changes,” Harris said. “It started to become a public relations nightmare for them. They had their own customers complaining [who] didn’t want to see density transferred up by the interchange.”
Jim Smith, vice-president of Toll Brothers and project contact, did not return calls for comment.
“They didn’t have to proceed,” Harris said. “They make the same amount of money whether or not the road’s screwed up because of the way the proffers are set up. It’s not their responsibility to make the road network functional.”
The state proffer system requires developers to install improvements based on number of units or commercial space sold, not based on calendar year. “The problem with the proffer system is you get piecemeal improvement not tied together in terms of funding and reasonable timing,” Harris said, adding that Toll Brothers officials told him they plan to construct the southern portion of Claiborne Parkway sooner than required in their proffers.
“We are optimistic that other options can be created for funding the construction of the northern portion of Claiborne,” Harris said in his March Broad Run report about the county’s plans to identify $2 million in funding and unused proffer monies to pave the missing link, which is several hundred feet in length. “I still believe had we been able to see those applications through the completion, the area road network would have functioned better and there would have been some other plusses, such as green space along the W&OD.”