In a decision that once again resulted in a split board, the Board of Supervisors approved the Gatherings at Cascades with a 5-4 vote.
The 21-acre community for active adults, located between Potomac View Road and Bartholomew Fair Drive, will include 480 multifamily dwelling units at a density of 24.3 dwelling units per acre and a 6,600-square-foot clubhouse with outdoor swimming pool and tennis court.
"Here is an example of how a project works with the community and builds the support it needs to get approved," Supervisor Mick Staton (R-Sugarland Run) said. "The room was filled at our public hearing with support for this project. This project will provide a positive impact on the community."
In 2004, Potomac View LLC was part of a group of landowners whose Comprehensive Plan amendment applications were consolidated so the county could consider adding retirement communities to the comprehensive plan. At this time the county's Revised General Plan designates the area for keynote employment, which is meant to serve as a corporate headquarters or large research-and-development complex with lush landscaping and a campus-like feel.
THOSE SUPERVISORS who supported the project said senior housing is needed in the county and that the senior population brings many benefits to Loudoun.
"Last year, the volunteers in seniors alone was over 800,000," Supervisor Stephen Snow (R-Dulles) said. "Our seniors are one of the things that are our strengths."
Supervisor Jim Clem (R-Leesburg) said it was important not only to have places available so Loudoun seniors could stay in the county, but also to provide places for seniors to move to be closer to their families.
"This project is in Sterling, it’s what Sterling wants," he said.
OTHER MEMBERS OF the board, however, were concerned with the conversion of part of the Route 28 tax district.
"This would be a project that would be wonderful to welcome," Supervisor Sally Kurtz (D-Catoctin) said. "[But] the application itself does not provide enough in terms of dollars to mitigate the increased and ongoing use of these public sites. These are all market-rate units. Not one single affordable housing unit, not one workforce housing unit. What I am seeing is the camel’s nose under the tent."
Chairman Scott K. York (I-At large) called the project the "wrong use in the wrong place," saying, he too, could not support conversion of the Route 28 tax district.
"It is a rare case that I would be in agreement with such," she said.
It was the lack of support of his constituents that caused Supervisor Bruce E. Tulloch (R-Potomac) to register a vote against the project.
"That area, not only during the holidays but during the high shopping season, is a nightmare," he said. "There are already so many numerous traffic issues in the area where this is going to built that I can’t list them here today. I really think this is being approved at the detriment of the people of the Sterling and the Potomac district. Aging in place is important, but not in the area proposed in this application."