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Middleburg Town Council Report

No Room at the Inn

· By Jay Hubbard
Residents speak during public comment on the proposed inn, May 11, 2023. (Town of Middleburg meeting video)
Residents speak during public comment on the proposed inn, May 11, 2023. (Town of Middleburg meeting video)

The neighbors came, and they won. In May, Council killed a change to its zoning that would have allowed inns in the C-1 district between downtown and the homes on the east end, two weeks after a room full of residents asked it to. The month also brought a new budget, a new police chief and two promotions, a farewell to the town's photographer, a new home for the Town Attorney, and a question nobody could answer: what happened to the Town's newsletter?

Council met May 11, with Councilmember Philip Miller attending remotely and leaving early and Councilmember Darlene Kirk joining remotely, and May 25 without Kirk. Mayor Bridge Littleton votes only to break a tie.

No Room at the Inn

The text amendment would have added inns of four to 20 rooms, with or without a restaurant, as a special use in the C-1 district ▶ video. Deputy Town Manager Will Moore urged Council to judge it apart from the application behind it, Mount Defiance Cidery's 20-room inn at 204 East Washington Street. Each inn would still need its own special use permit, he said, and the Planning Commission had recommended the change for exactly that reason.

The public saw it differently ▶ video. Donna Strama, one of the town's volunteer "litter ladies," said "the parking is horrible" on her side of town. Trowbridge Littleton, the Mayor's father, who served 34 years on Council, warned that zoning changes bring costs nobody plans for: "I think the zoning is at the wrong time, it's at the wrong location." Margaret Littleton, a member of the Historic District Review Committee, said "it will set a precedent." John Pittman, Meredith Whiting and Megan Gallagher asked Council to protect the district as a buffer between shops and homes.

Council agreed with them. Littleton noted that the application "maps exactly to the maximum intensity that this definition is seeking. So they are linked." Councilmember Chris Bernard said the change had been "looked at through the lens of, Why not as opposed to why," and that someone "would have to really convince me." Councilmember Cindy Pearson put it plainest: "if we want to keep this a small town, at some point, we have to say no."

By May 25 the inn applications had been withdrawn ▶ video. The public hearing still had to be held, and two members rose to defend the Planning Commission's work. Vice Mayor Peter Leonard-Morgan said the commissioners had made "thoroughly thought through recommendations" and that the Economic Development Advisory Committee saw "an unmet need for additional lodging options in Middleburg." Councilmember Bud Jacobs said Council had "muddied the issue a bit" by hearing the applications alongside the amendment.

The majority held. The question "was thrust in front of them with a clock on it," Bernard said. Littleton sensed an "underlying drive to want to accommodate" one applicant on a change that would affect a whole district, and pointed out that the R-2 rewrite took the Commission two years. Miller noted the public "was very clear, very clear that they do not want this," and that the advisory committee's lodging claim came without a study. Council voted 4-2 to disapprove the amendment, Leonard-Morgan and Jacobs opposed. Donna Strama had the last word: rezoning the lot would have been "the first step in the death of Middleburg's beloved historic charm."

Nobody ruled out lodging in C-1 for good. Littleton and others recalled the old eight-room Middleburg Country Inn on East Washington Street as an asset, and said the Planning Commission could take the question up again, carefully and without a contract deadline driving it (Loudoun Now, May 26).

The Budget Passes

Council adopted the FY '24 budget 6-0 on May 25, about $6.5 million, after no one spoke at the May 11 hearing ▶ video (Loudoun Now, June 1). Resident Mike Morency sent the Mayor an email praising the budget document as easy to follow.

The 3 percent water and sewer increase passed 5-1, Miller opposed ▶ video. Town Manager Danny Davis noted that Round Hill was facing a 24 percent increase and Purcellville a long series of them. Littleton credited the late Councilmember Mark Snyder's rate model, which pulled the utility fund out of the "really bad state" it was in 20 years ago, and put the price of safe drinking water at about $1.30 a day.

Small Houses, Next Steps

Council formally started the R-2 rewrite, 6-0, sending lot-coverage, setback, height and floor-area rules to the Planning Commission along with a plan for a public input session and a joint meeting ▶ video. Pam Curran asked again for an architectural control district instead. Staff is still studying that option, though Moore warned it would be hard to find qualified volunteers to run one.

Council also started a second amendment, 6-0, at Moore's suggestion: real estate offices, now allowed by right on the ground floor downtown, would need a special use permit there, like other professional offices ▶ video. Moore said they had reached "critical mass" on the main streets. Bernard warned that retail space is limited, and Littleton asked what downtown would look like if half its space went to real estate offices.

The Police Department's New Ranks

Shaun Jones took the oath as Police Chief on May 3 before a standing-room-only crowd at the American Legion (Loudoun Now, May 8). On May 25 he promoted from within ▶ video: Jason Davis to corporal and Mark Putnam to lieutenant, each with a spouse pinning on the new badge. Davis, who started at the Middleburg Safeway, said "Middleburg has always been home." Putnam called the department his second work family.

Earlier in the month Jones commended Officer Davis for helping a lost, elderly driver who was nearly out of gas: he filled her tank and followed her out of town to make sure she was headed the right way.

Jim Poston, Remembered

Council adopted a resolution in memory of Jim Poston, 6-0, and presented it to his wife, Cathy Bernache ▶ video. Littleton called him "an absolute dear soul and dear friend to everybody in this community" and "a cornerstone of every event," usually behind a camera.

Also This Month

  • The Town Attorney moves: Martin Crim's firm, Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian, is leaving municipal law. Council voted 6-0 to follow him to Sands Anderson ▶ video.
  • Chargers: XCharge now says the Town can keep all of the fast charger's revenue. Blink has a new, more responsive contact, and Council left it to Davis whether to end that contract ▶ video.
  • Where's the newsletter? Miller noted that the Town's eNewsletter had not gone out since December 21, and residents had noticed: "things like the Farmers Market are not being advertised." Davis promised to restart it.
  • The Fourth of July moves to the Charter School lot this year. The Village Green's new sod is too young for "800 people [to] trample over it," as Littleton put it.
  • The Farmers Market opened May 20 at the Charter School with a good first-day crowd. Littleton said it felt like an experience this year, not just a place to shop.
  • The water tower repaint starts with blasting June 12. The temporary cell tower goes up June 5, and Council pressed for a safe walking route for children.
  • Town Hall: the chiller and air handler are going in by crane, the Village Green is mostly sodded, and the cupola arrives at the end of June. Policies for using the building and grounds are coming.
  • The Middleburg Charitable Foundation expects to start taking grant applications next fiscal year, and will give to organizations, not individuals. Littleton asked whether a group like Windy Hill could apply on behalf of neighbors behind on their utility bills.
  • Candidates at the lectern: State Senate hopeful Juan Pablo Segura pitched a statewide marketplace for development rights (Loudoun Now, May 26), and House candidate Gary Higgins backed it. Littleton's own TDR idea won a warm reception from the County's land use committee.
  • Housekeeping: a $44,620.42 maintenance truck from Ted Britt Ford, bought early because of supply problems. Eight members were reappointed to the Economic Development Advisory Committee. The Woolley Fox held its ribbon cutting.

Public Comment

May 11 ▶ video

  • Donna Strama opposed the inn: parking and traffic are already bad, a delivery truck would fill most of Marshall Street, there are no sidewalks from the cidery barn where staff would park, and trees would come down.
  • Megan Gallagher, East Marshall Street, said her neighbors feared an inn the size of the Red Fox on their doorstep, and asked Council to vote no and decide before summer.
  • Trowbridge Littleton, West Washington Street, the Mayor's father and a Council member for 34 years, said zoning changes bring costs nobody plans for, and the inn was the wrong time and the wrong place.
  • Margaret Littleton, West Washington Street, a member of the Historic District Review Committee, asked that the commercial district stay its current size.
  • John Pittman, Piedmont Drive, warned of a precedent for every C-1 property and asked Council to listen to residents over non-resident business owners.
  • Meredith Whiting, Orange Drive, called the change a huge mistake, said C-1 is meant to buffer homes from commerce, and handed Council a written statement.
  • Pam Curran, Blue Ridge Avenue, asked again for an architectural control district in R-2.
  • Public hearings on the FY '24 budget ▶ video and on water and sewer rates ▶ video: no one spoke.

May 25 ▶ video

  • Juan Pablo Segura, a candidate for state Senate, asked Council to sign his "contract for conservation" and proposed a statewide marketplace for development rights.
  • Councilmember Kevin Daly, from the lectern, asked people to remember over Memorial Day weekend those who made it possible, and offered a prayer for those who defend the country.
  • Gary Higgins, a candidate for the House of Delegates, backed the conservation contract.
  • Public hearing on inns in C-1 ▶ video: Megan Gallagher asked Council to disapprove the amendment and, if it ever returns, to drop the restaurant and cut the rooms. Donna Strama, Orange Drive, called the rezoning "the first step in the death of Middleburg's beloved historic charm." John Pittman called it the worst thing that could happen to the east end. John Ross, Orange Drive, said preserving the town's rural and historic character is crucial.

Tips & Wags (opinion)

Tip of the Hat to the residents of the east end, who read a zoning text amendment, came to two meetings, and said what they thought in three minutes apiece. That is how it is supposed to work.

Tip of the Hat to Officer, now Corporal, Jason Davis, for the tank of gas and the escort out of town.

Wag of the Finger to the Town's silence. Five months without a newsletter, while Council debated an inn, a budget and a rate increase, is no way to keep residents informed. They noticed.

Devil's Advocate (opinion): The Vice Mayor had a point. The amendment would have allowed nothing by right; every inn would have faced its own hearings and could have been cut to eight rooms or none. The Town's own economic development advisers say Middleburg needs more places to stay, and the much-missed Middleburg Country Inn sat in exactly this kind of district. Voting down the rule because of one oversized application may leave the Town with no way to say yes to the next good one. If Council means what it said about revisiting lodging in C-1, someone should put it on the calendar.

Coming Up

  • June 5: temporary cell tower goes up on Marshall Street. June 12: water tower blasting begins.
  • June 20: filing deadline for November's Town election.
  • July 1: the FY '24 budget and the new water and sewer rates take effect.
  • July 4: the Town's Fourth of July celebration, at the Charter School.
  • Coming to Council: the XCharge agreement, the Blink decision, R-2 public input, Dominion's fiber franchise, and the Town Manager's performance review.

Sources: the meeting videos (May 11, May 25), the Town's minutes (pending approval) and the transcripts attached to them. Quotes come from the Town contractor's transcripts; each ▶ link opens the video at the start of that agenda item.

Other sources cited: