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Purcellville council tables major zoning ordinance after hours of debate
Summary
After a multi-year review and a packed public comment period, Purcellville council delayed final adoption of a comprehensive zoning ordinance amid technical concerns about floodplain and curb-cut standards, limits on duplexes and historic‑property rules. Council voted to revisit the ordinance in two weeks.
Purcellville’s Town Council on March 25 delayed final action on a comprehensive zoning ordinance after more than an hour of presentations, public comment and disagreement among council members about technical changes and policy trade-offs.
Planning staffer Summer Wilkes, who led the presentation, summarized the multi‑year process behind the draft and said the ordinance is intended to bring local zoning into alignment with the town’s 2020 comprehensive plan. “When we get down to July 25, a public hearing was held to present the final zoning ordinance,” Wilkes told the council, outlining the timeline that culminated in the version before the council.
Residents and business owners offered sharply divided views. Former planning commission chair Nan Joseph Forbes told the council, “I support the new zoning ordinance,” saying the draft reflects the comprehensive plan and data the commission used. Other residents and council members raised detailed objections, including proposed floodplain and curb‑cut technical standards and a change that would remove duplexes from some commercial districts.
Council member Rayner listed a set of roughly 10 technical and policy items she wanted fixed before adoption, including floodplain language, curb‑cut standards and mixed-use allowances. Rayner urged staff and colleagues to review and incorporate staff engineering recommendations before finalizing the ordinance. “I just don't think that's great policy,” she said of adopting the draft without those changes.
Supporters of prompt adoption, including several council members, said the document reflects years of work by staff, the planning commission and consultants and can be amended later. The mayor emphasized that ordinances may be amended after adoption and noted the state‑law process that allows subsequent changes.
After extended debate about whether two technical changes could be made administratively or required ordinance revisions and additional public hearings, the council voted to table the zoning adoption for two weeks so staff can incorporate or present the suggested technical edits and provide clarifications. The motion to table passed and the item will return to the council’s agenda at a later meeting.
Next steps: Staff will prepare the ordinance revisions or a memo explaining which changes can be made administratively and which require formal ordinance language. The council will reconvene to consider those changes at the specified follow‑up meeting.
