LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 1, No. 31 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[ June 9 – 15, 2016 ]
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Courtesy of Laurie Webb Hailey
A rare view of the AT&T property on Short Hill Moutain in western Loudoun, as viewed from the air on Tuesday, June 7.
Deadline Looms for Short Hill Project BY RENSS GREENE
I
f Loudoun supervisors can’t find a legally sound basis for overturning the Planning Commission’s decision to allow a two-story, 160,000-square-foot telecommunications center on top of Short Hill Mountain by June 23, the western Loudoun viewshed may be changed forever.
Once the Planning Commission makes its decision on a commission permit, such as the one submitted for the AT&T facility on Short Hill, the Board of Supervisors has 60 days to act. If it doesn’t overturn the permit, the permit stands automatically. If it does, it has to be ready to defend its decision in court. “When this application became a commission permit, that basically put it on a trajectory to be approved,” said Catoctin
District Supervisor Geary M. Higgins (R) at a recent community meeting in the barn at Georges Mill near Lovettsville. He promised an increasingly agitated gathering that “there’s no stone that’s been unturned” as he and County Attorney Leo Rogers try to find a legal basis for overturning the permit—and in the meantime, Higgins says he is pressing AT&T to commit to more mitigation to make the building less visible.
“The issue we’re dealing with right now is two tracks: Either get them to mitigate it or find legitimate reasons within the comprehensive plan to say that these are the reasons we deny it,” Higgins said. The community has taken to that task with alacrity. The commission permit process requires that the application fit the county’s comprehensive plan—which explicitly SHORT HILL PROJECT >> 38
ABC Shoots Down B Chord In Farm Brewery Battle BY RENSS GREENE The Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has decided against licensing B Chord Brewing Company, stopping owner Marty Dougherty’s plans for a farm brewery on Foggy Bottom Road near Bluemont.
Neighbors of the would-be brewery have been vehemently opposed to the project since last August, arguing that the operation would bring heavy traffic to their rural roads and disrupt their neighborhood. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board agreed with B Chord’s critics that
“the operation of a licensed limited brewery at that location would substantially interfere with the usual quietude and tranquility of a residence or residential area,” overturning a hearing officer’s earlier recommendation to grant the license. “In the present case, the Board can-
not ignore the will of the citizens and residents of the community where the applicant is located,” wrote the board in a decision signed by Chairman Jeffrey L. Painter. B Chord Brewing Company has B CHORD >> 37
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