Strasburg Town Council discusses affordable housing proposal
Below is an article that appeared in the Northern Virginia Daily on February 2nd, 2021.
STRASBURG – The Strasburg Town Council on Monday discussed a special permit that would allow an affordable housing project to be built on the Mowery Family Properties.
The permit would allow the applicant, Jen Surber, of Pleasant View VA LLC, to build one 48 unit building on the site.
The application originally applied for two 48-unit buildings, but after several people voiced concerns primarily over traffic in the area, Surber agreed to build one, for now.
The Planning Commission last week approved the amended application, with Brian Otis being the lone dissenter after saying he wanted to see smaller buildings on the site.
The site is zoned as multi-family residential and the town is obligated to approve any plan that meets the requirements for it. Because the requirements for the site including only allowing buildings with 12 units, the special permit is being applied for.
“If something has to go there, having a structure that is controlled with the quality, I think we should just look into that a little bit more because the alternative is to have something that is not pleasant to look at at all ” Mayor Brandy Boise said about the proposal.
Surber, who attended the council's work session on Monday and the commission meeting last week, said she has no intention of developing smaller buildings, and that she has been approached by other developers who are interested in doing so. Those developers could build buildings that require less quality and accessibility controls than what she is proposing, she said.
“A 48-unit building? That’s not our style...that’s what you see in Frederick, Maryland,” Councilwoman Doreen Ricard said. “If we whittled it back down to the 12, maybe we won’t get as many new people coming into the area.
“And it’s not that I don’t want the town to grow," Ricard continued. I just think it’s the wrong spot to allow it to grow because of the traffic hazard that we have no way to fix.”
Town Manager Wyatt Pearson, after speaking with the town attorney, explained the town could downzone the property, which would reduce the density of it, but there are several requirements for doing so.
Those include documenting infringing on farmland or creating suburban sprawl, and Pearson said he thought the town wouldn’t meet those requirements. The town could potentially pay a developer the difference in taxes for the property between the higher-density zone classification and lower density classification if losing a legal challenge of the downzoning, Pearson said.
Resident Lucinda Erbach, who lives on Stonewall Street neighboring the development site, pressed the matter of traffic issues, saying, “To me, that is not an option,” on using Thompson Street to access Pleasant View Drive, which is the only egress with the development at the moment.
Ideas of using a connection from Abby Lane, Hupps Hill Court, Forest Glen Court, and a road parallel to Forest Glen Court are not feasible, Pearson explained. The town is aware of traffic issues in the area, he also said, and dealing with those issues would be expedited because of this project.
A public hearing for the project is scheduled for Tuesday, with the potential of a special meeting to vote on the project later in the month.
In other action Tuesday night, the council:
• Unanimously passed a resolution drafted by Councilman John Massoud stating they oppose Senate Bill 1157 that would move municipal elections to the same date as national elections. While it could improve voter turnout, the move could make the vote more partisan, Massoud said.
*Held a closed meeting to discuss a prospective business in the Northern Shenandoah Business Park. No action was taken after the closed meeting, Pearson said, who also declined to share details on the potential business for the park.
Contact Charles Paullin at cpaullin@nvdaily.com
