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Purcellville planning commission preserves R‑3A, PDH and cluster rules with legacy and grandfathering language
Summary
The Planning Commission on July 31 adopted motions recommending that the Town Council preserve existing R‑3A and PDH zones in a legacy appendix and confer grandfathered status on existing cluster subdivisions so current property rights and setbacks remain enforceable under the new zoning ordinance.
The Purcellville Planning Commission voted July 31 to recommend the Town Council preserve several existing zoning arrangements by moving them into a written legacy framework and by expressly grandfathering existing cluster subdivisions.
Commissioners, responding to public comment and staff analysis, approved a motion to move R‑3A provisions into a legacy district appendix that will "freeze" those standards in place and list retained rights and setbacks. "The legacy zones would exist in a capsule," the planner Jordan Andrews said, describing the approach staff and commissioners favored as a way to memorialize existing rights while preventing expansion of those district types.
The commission adopted similar language for PDH (planned development) districts, directing staff to remove unused PDH references from the draft ordinance and to place current PDH standards in the appendix so they cannot be newly created or expanded. One commissioner argued the PDH tool should remain visible in the ordinance appendix so current owners retain clarity about their rights; another urged explicit wording that would bar creation of new PDH zones on future annexations.
On cluster subdivisions — a topic that drew the most sustained public attention — the town attorney, Gifford Hamster, recommended a legislative grandfathering approach rather than trying to shoehorn clustering into a legacy zoning district. Hamster told the commission that a legislative grandfathering provision would ensure "those properties need only conform with existing zoning standards under which those subdivisions were approved," allowing homeowners in affected plats to continue to make improvements that conform to how the subdivision was originally approved.
Engineering staff explained why removing cluster provisions could render many common lots nonconforming — curved streets, cul‑de‑sacs and pie‑shaped lots in the Villages of Purcellville were cited — and commissioners said the grandfathering text was intended to preserve property rights and prevent unanticipated nonconformities when the Town Council adopts the new ordinance.
All three measures were passed by voice vote and will be included in an addendum to the zoning ordinance package the commission will transmit to the Town Council. The commission asked staff to document the appendix language and the grandfathering/savings clauses clearly so affected property owners can see which setbacks and standards are preserved.
