Leesburg planners review draft zoning map; propose consolidation of districts and new —Innovation Center— category

Planning staff presented the first draft zoning map for Leesburg s part of a zoning ordinance rewrite during the Feb. 6 Planning Commission meeting, laying out a framework that would consolidate many existing districts, create new district categories and align zoning with the Leesburg Legacy Town Plan and recent master plans.

Project manager Betsy Arnett and Zoning Administrator Mike Watkins walked commissioners through the approach: use the town plan—haracter areas as the basis for base zoning districts, consolidate similar districts, and add new districts where the town plan envisions distinct outcomes. Arnett said the draft consolidates roughly 24 existing zoning districts into a proposed 15 base districts and adds three new categories, including a new Innovation Center district intended to accommodate mixed-use, employment-focused campuses, research and corporate headquarters.

The draft maps convert residential estate and several single-family categories into a proposed Residential Suburban district, while creating a Residential Urban district intended to accommodate multifamily housing. Commercial and retail categories would be consolidated into Commercial Suburban or Neighborhood Commercial districts. Staff also proposed recognizing open space and parks as an explicit base district to avoid treating parks as residential by default. Schools and similar public uses would be assigned to a Government Center district.

A substantive policy change on the table: staff recommended retiring the planned-development districts (PEC, PRC, PRN) for future rezonings and treating existing planned districts as legacy zones. Arnett said removing future use of those planned districts would reduce opportunities to deviate from town-plan objectives because the new base districts would better reflect the plan—haracter areas; legacy planned districts would remain administratively for currently approved rezonings and proffers.

Commissioners expressed concerns and asked for refinements. Several members said the draft s mapped ppears to label large swaths of older neighborhoods and Loewenbach as downtown or downtown-related uses; one commissioner asked for clearer delineation to avoid unintentionally encouraging nonresidential conversion within long-established residential blocks. Commissioners recommended that the mapping and upcoming architectural survey be used to refine the downtown/historic-district overlay boundaries and that overlays and proffers be displayed as separate map layers so parcel-level constraints are visible to users.

Arnett and staff discussed implementation logistics: the draft zoning map does not negate existing proffers; staff intends to link proffer documents to parcels in the new online mapping platform so users can click a parcel and view applicable proffers. They also said overlays (historic district, floodplain, gateway zones and noise abatement areas) will be shown as separate layers in the online viewer even if not visible in the initial static draft map. The team plans to publish the full draft ordinance and interactive mapping on Feb. 20 for a 60-day public comment period and to bring a final ordinance to public hearing and possible adoption later this year.

Why it matters: the zoning rewrite will determine allowable uses, development intensity and design requirements across Leesburg. Commissioners and staff agreed that the draft is a first cut and that more work will be needed on district names, permitted-use lists and overlays before the document and maps are finalized.

Speakers quoted in this report appear in the official meeting record.