Leesburg BAR authorizes letter on zoning ordinance rewrite, including town attorney review

The Leesburg Board of Architectural Review voted 6-0-1 on May 5, 2025, to authorize a letter from the BAR chair to the zoning ordinance project manager summarizing the BAR’s proposed amendments to the town’s zoning ordinance. The board instructed staff to add a recommendation that the proposed changes be reviewed by the town attorney’s office and agreed the letter should be sent to project manager James David in the community development department.

Lauren Murphy (staff member) summarized the subcommittee’s recommendations, which include: not exempting paint color from the Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) process, not exempting bollards from administrative review, clarifying timing of COA submissions when a site plan is required, adding flexibility to allow more than 75 days for review of larger projects, shortening implementation periods for cases subject to a notice of violation, and better defining demolition by neglect versus regular maintenance. The subcommittee also debated whether to attach a spreadsheet of minor corrections (typos and incorrect cross-references); the board agreed the attachment should be included and the bundle sent to staff for the project manager’s review.

Board member Julie Pastor moved to authorize the letter; Rick Brown seconded. The board had no further amendments and approved the motion unanimously among attending members (6-0-1). The motion directs the chair to transmit the letter and the subcommittee’s spreadsheet to the project manager for the zoning ordinance revision process.

The BAR discussed routing the document to staff rather than directly to the planning commission or town council, noting the project manager (James David) is the logical initial recipient at this stage of the process. Members asked staff to finalize the letter, obtain the chairman’s signature (digital or in-person), and circulate a clean copy to the board once complete.