Catlett Farm, LLC has yet again submitted changes to their application. The revised application is for 225 single family homes and 85,000 square feet of mixed use-including up to 45 multiple family residential units . The application continues to ignore the adopted County Comprehensive Plan, the adopted Catlett, Calverton, and Midland Service District Plan, as well as concerns about soil limitations on the site, abusive use of the county's power of eminent domain, negative fiscal impacts, and risks to Catlett's water supply. Until these deficiencies are corrected the board should not even consider supporting this application.

The County's adopted Comprehensive Plan states that it is the goal of the County to "encourage sustainable service districts, which offer a mix of residential, commercial and industrial uses, a complement of essential public services and facilities, and amenities which support a high quality of life through design standards that are sensitive to existing development scale, culture and natural environments". This application does nothing to advance that County goal.

The substantially revised application for Catlett Farms, LLC is filled with inaccuracies, incomplete analysis, unrealistic assumptions, unenforceable promises, and hidden cost to residents and the county. On September 8th the Board of Supervisors voted to defer action for up to 90 days. It will be on the Board's agenda on December 8th.

Speculative Development at its Worst

On August 15, 2011 Catlett Farm, LLC again submitted changes to their application followed by proffer changes submitted September 8th, 2011. The application being considered would allow 225 new single family homes and up to a maximum of 45 multi-family units on land currently zoned for less than 100 residents. The development proposal hinges on a flawed economic analysis that promises increased tax revenue to the county and proffers for sewer in Catlett that will cost an estimated $18,000 for each household to access and use. Here is more information about just a few of the problems with the proposal:

County Costs

The County requires that a fiscal impact analysis be submitted as part of any proposed amendment to the Comprehensive Plan. While one was submitted as part of the original Comprehensive Plan amendment, the Applicant has not updated nor revised this analysis to reflect the substantially revised proposal. However the County's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provided its own fiscal analysis of the current proposal. In summary, the OMB studied the "interim build-out," which provides an estimate of the annual operating impact to the County for 200 residential units and 8,500 square feet of commercial development. The OMB also studied the "final build-out," which provides the net impact for 225 residential units and 85,000 commercial square feet. The net negative fiscal impact to the County of the proposal at interim build-out is estimated to total $1.1 million, while the net negative impact to the County of final build-out is estimated to total $0.7 million, annually.

There is little guarantee of any commercial development in this proposal. The application only guarantees 8,500 square feet of commercial development will be built prior to the certificate of occupancy for the 200th home. This limited amount of commercial development does not provide the jobs, retail shopping, and services that would be expected in a smart growth development that this is being touted as.

Pursuant to adopted County Proffer Policy (revised through November 13, 2008) the County anticipates that for capital facilities costs of $28,613 per single family detached unit and $13,158 for each multiple family unit to cover the cost of infrastructure for schools, libraries, parks, etc.. Catlett Farms, LLC previously only proffered $4,000 per single family detached household but has now removed that proffer altogether. The County would need to cover the entire $28,613 for each single family detached home and $13, 158 for each multi-family unit resulting in a total cost of $6,985,035 to the county.

The original fiscal impact analysis also overstated the benefits and understated the costs to the County. The applicant assumes the houses will sell for $350,000 to $450,000, approximately the value of homes at the peak of the irrational housing bubble. These additional homes, in a market already bloated with unoccupied homes, risk dragging down the value of Fauquier homes further. The applicant also values a small portion of land that it intends to donate to the County at $6,798,000 when the assessment value is only $4,158,000, greatly exaggerating their contribution.

Additional Lands and So-Called Road Improvements

As of the September 8th 2011 proffer statement, the applicant has removed the language regarding the use of eminent domain to acquire land they need to construct some of the public transportation improvements they have proffered. Instead, they stated that they will make "commercially reasonable efforts" to obtain the additional land needed from the neighboring land owner. Without this necessary right-of-way, the Applicant is relieved from providing many of their proffered transportation improvements.

Water and Sewer Hidden Costs

Section 5 of the Catlett, Calverton, and Midland Service District Plan states, "Catlett, Calverton and Midland should be distinguished by a well defined "hard edge" of closely spaced buildings in contrast with the open space character of the surrounding countryside". In contrast the applicant is requesting an expansion of the Catlett service area by 191 acres for the construction of an alternative on-site septic drain field.

County Soil Scientist Jim Sawyer states: "In my professional opinion, the potential risks of the system presented in this proposal outweigh its benefits and I recommend denial of the special exception application." Virginia Tech also expressed major concerns about the adequacy of the soils in the 191 acre area. And finally, the Fauquier County Health Department stated that they while they are forced by law to approve the Applicant's proposal, they listed numerous concerns that should be addressed. To date, these concerns listed by the Health Department are not addressed in the proffers.

While it is true that current County regulations do not require an analysis of the adequacy of or availability of groundwater until much later in the development review process, it would seem prudent for a project of this magnitude that the County should urge the Applicant in the stronger language possible to prepare a preliminary groundwater assessment to ensure the availability of ground water to serve the proposed 225 single family and up to a maximum of 45 multi-family homes and 85,000 square feet of mixed use development and to determine that the proposed new community well not cause the existing private wells in the area to go dry.

Catlett Farms, LLC proffers sewer to the Catlett community but this improvement does not come free. To connect to the system homeowners will need to pay on average $12,000 for access to the system plus the additional construction costs of laying the pipe. The county would need to maintain the system which may prove more difficult than most systems due to the poor soils of the drain field. Virginia Tech, the County Health Department, and Fauquier County's soil scientist have all expressed concerns about the soils and risk of system failure.

Lack of Zoning Compliance

Furthermore, the proposal does not meet the zoning requirements specified for rezoning to the PRD (Planned Residential Development) District. Specifically, the proposal does not provide a true mix of housing types, heights, massing or lot types as required by the Zoning Ordinance. There is no binding requirement nor enforceable language in the Proffer Statement dated September 8th, 2011 that any of the 85,000 square feet of retail use will actually be constructed. Thus the retail area of the proposal could remain vacant except for the 45 multiple family residential units.

Additionally, a large portion of the site north of the Cedar Run neighborhood is proposed to be rezoned from RA (Rural Agriculture) to PRD which is in direct conflict with the currently adopted Comprehensive Plan. Without a clear indication as to what will occur in this area, whether it will remain as open space or be developed with residential uses, it cannot and should not be rezoned to PRD and must remain zoned to the RA District. In the future, should it be planned for development, a separate rezoning request, review, and approval should therefore be required at the time this parcel is proposed for development.

Historic Resources

Chapter 2 of the Comprehensive Plan calls for protecting and enhancing sites of historical significance. Much of the historic, railroad community of Catlett (including areas served by Prospect Avenue, Gaskins Lane, Tenerife, Elk Run, Old Catlett, Old Dumfries, and Catlett School Roads) was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 2008 for the fact that the community has remained intact and represents the period of time from 1855-1958. Also those areas of the site identified as within the Rappahannock Station I Core Battlefield and Auburn II Study Area Battlefield were recognized by the National Parks Service as potentially eligible for listing on the National Register. Additionally, portions of the property fronting Old Dumfries Road were included within the Auburn Battlefield National Register District nominated to the National Register on June 9, 2011. The Applicant's proposal does little to protect or enhance these significant historical sites.

The Bottom Line

This application does nothing to advance the County goal to "encourage sustainable service districts, which offer a mix of residential, commercial and industrial uses, a complement of essential public services and facilities, and amenities which support a high quality of life through design standards that are sensitive to existing development scale, culture and natural environments". It does however suffer from wildly misleading economic analysis, unenforceable water and sewer proffers, lack of capital facilities need off-sets, and other significant short-comings. In short it is a bad project and it should simply be denied.

Read the application yourself on the Fauquier County website.

For more information, please contact Diana Norris at dnorris@pecva.org or 540-347-2334 x. 15