King George supervisors approve settlement to remand Walnut Hill rezoning; Collins objects

The King George County Board of Supervisors on Jan. 7 authorized county counsel to settle an appeal of the board’s December 2023 denial of a Walnut Hill rezoning application by seeking a circuit-court order that would remand the matter back to the board for reconsideration under amended proffers.

Special counsel Joshua Payne, who represented the board in negotiations, summarized the settlement terms on the record: Walnut Hill will amend its rezoning application to increase the school proffer from $240,000 to $440,000 and will accept a phasing schedule that limits development to 33 units per year. The agreement provides that, after the circuit court enters an order, the board would consider the amended application and — if it approves the application based on the amended proffers — no additional public hearing on those proffered items would be required. Payne told the board Walnut Hill has agreed to pay the county’s costs for negotiating the settlement.

The vote to authorize county attorney Charlie Clark to execute the settlement and proceed to the circuit court passed by roll call, with four supervisors voting aye and Supervisor T.C. Collins voting no. Collins objected on two grounds recorded in the meeting: (1) he protested that Lake Caledon had been discussed in the closed session he believed was called for Walnut Hill, and (2) he said aspects of the settlement had not been discussed in open session before being placed on the action calendar. County counsel and special counsel said aspects of Lake Caledon arose during privileged closed-session negotiations and that the settlement is legally structured as part of circuit-court proceedings; counsel declined to disclose privileged negotiation details on the public record.

After the vote, county counsel said he would proceed to the circuit court under the board’s direction and return to the board with next steps once the court action is complete.