Transportation and Land Use Committee - Jan 22, 2026

meeting

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors 5h 38m 2 speakers 8 agenda items transcribed 2 months ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

How did public input shape concerns about the Paris Mountain resort and MOD permitted uses?

Chair Ciccone (Madam Chair / Meeting Chair) 6:37

Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call to order the January 22nd, 2026 Transportation and Land Use Committee meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing aids to telecoil mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well. Please see the clerk to request one. So we'll start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, so we're going to start with a public input session and we have three speakers. So we have three advanced speakers for our public input portion of the meeting. If there is anybody in the boardroom that would like to address the committee and has not already signed up to speak, please see the clerk. Members of the public who wish to speak will be allotted two minutes, and we changed that in the new year, so it's two minutes, not two and a half.

Chair Ciccone (Madam Chair / Meeting Chair) 7:56

When your name is called, please state your name for the public record. When your time has expired, please yield the floor to the next speaker. And we limit public input, just so everybody knows, to 15 minutes, so we can get on with our agenda. Okay, so the first speaker is Mr. Peter Weeks.

Chair Ciccone (Madam Chair / Meeting Chair) 8:24

Good evening, Chair Ciccone and TLOC board members. Since our last TLOC meeting, the entire MOD landscape has changed with the Paris Mountain Resort Complex. Now we are witness to the consequences of the decision to postpone what type of uses were permitted in the MOD. Investors purchased 147 acres along the ridge line of the Blue Ridge adjacent to Sky Meadows State Park and the Appalachian Trail along Route 50. Their proposal is to build a resort complex which would include a restaurant, spa, event center, and two hotel structures. A country restaurant is currently a permitted use, and they are initially arguing that they can build their resort by right. On the water issue alone, Western Loudoun is already experiencing a severe drought and dry wells.

Chair Ciccone (Madam Chair / Meeting Chair) 9:15

The developer has estimated their water use conservatively at 9,000 gallons daily. That's 3,285 gallons a year. The 147 acres encroach on three counties, Clark, Fauquier, and Loudoun. The developers intentionally cited all construction in Loudoun because Loudoun has the most permissive ordinances. Planning and zoning in Clark and Fauquier have already weighed in. They would not permit this development and have sent letters to the BOS to that effect. So this development, is going to set a very bad precedent. And this is precisely the reason that Friends of the Blue Ridge Mountains is involved with this. And we've stated from the beginning that permitted uses in the MOD must be sharply restricted. Tree houses, zip lines, wedding centers seem innocuous at first glance, but they create the slippery slope that leads to the monetization of our mountains.

Chair Ciccone (Madam Chair / Meeting Chair) 10:16

We have before us potential threats to change our rural landscape forever. Recommendations you propose regarding the MOD will impact generations that follow. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Mr. Weeks. Next we have Tia Earman. Is she here? I don't think she is. I don't see her. Okay. Next we have Todd Henkel.

Chief Kiger (Deputy/Fire Marshal - Fire Department) 10:51

Good evening. My name is Todd Henkel, and my wife Amy and I have owned and operated Lost Creek Winery since 2012. I've spoken to this forum before regarding my concerns about the MMOD, and tonight I'd like to offer some additional comments on the draft motions related to encroachments and grading, specifically 3, 4A, and 5A addressing minor encroachments. As I've said previously, the MOD contains some of the most pristine, highest quality vineyard land in our region. Because of that, there will naturally be continued interest in developing these properties into working farms and sustainable agricultural businesses.

Mr. Hobby (or County staff – enforcement/technical speaker; likely staff enforcement/inspector) 11:27

My concern is that these draft motions as currently written will unfairly and unnecessarily restrict the kinds of projects that can responsibly succeed in the MOD. One of the proposals would restrict land disturbance in the MOD to less than 600 square feet, and I respectfully submit that this threshold is far too low to be considered agricultural business friendly.