Leesburg council approves updated Crescent District master plan after heated debate

Leesburg9Town Council on Jan. 14 approved an updated Crescent District Master Plan that adds new language on density incentives and infrastructure planning and sets height limits for different place types.

The plan, presented by planning staff, includes provisions for density bonuses tied to public benefits such as affordable housing and green-building techniques, new specificity about streetscape and infrastructure planning, and guidance on open-space types for a more compact, urban form. The policy document sets a maximum height of five stories in activity centers and a four-story maximum for mixed-residential and commercial-corridor place types, with a prevailing height of one to three stories in the mixed-residential areas.

Planning staff said the update began after council initiated a rewrite in October 2022, and that the planning commission recommended approval in October 2024. The revised draft adds redlined language that would allow incentives-based routes to achieve taller buildings in some areas without a rezoning if projects meet stated community benefits.

Supporters on the council said the policy is intended as a long-range, 20- to 30-year framework that recognizes the Crescent District is largely composed of many small, separately owned parcels and that achieving a coherent transportation network, public open space and active public realm will require consolidation and public investment. One councilmember argued the plan will be "a forward looking plan" that will enable the town to pursue infrastructure and streetscape improvements that private owners alone are unlikely to assemble.

Opponents said the draft moves development pressure onto a limited number of sites and will not produce the incremental, parcel-by-parcel redevelopment envisioned in earlier versions of the plan. Councilmember Cummings said he opposed the document and told colleagues, "I won't be voting tonight for this." He argued the plan may favor larger, rapid redevelopment in activity centers while downzoning other parts of the district, potentially preventing small-scale, incremental change.

Council discussion covered questions about maximum story heights, the role of incentives versus mandates for green building, and how the plan will inform the zoning-ordinance rewrite and any subsequent form-based code for the activity centers. Planning staff said the master plan is intended to inform the zoning rewrite and that specific development standards would be written in the subsequent ordinance work: "No. 5 is the maximum height," staff told Vice Mayor Dr. Simona Johnson when asked about seven-story proposals.

After deliberation, Councilmember Steinberg moved to approve the resolution dated Jan. 14, 2025; Councilmember Krakowski seconded. The council voted to approve the resolution and the plan will now guide work on the zoning ordinance rewrite and future site- and streetscape-level planning.

The council also discussed next steps for implementing infrastructure and possible financing approaches and emphasized that zoning text and development standards will be prepared later to match the plan's policy framework.

Members of the public did not speak during the petitioner section before the vote. The plan will now be used by staff as the policy basis for drafting zoning changes, streetscape work and capital planning for the Crescent District.