Monday, Jan. 26, 2015 by Ben Hancock
Brambleton rezonings pass Loudoun board; new houses and $35M in improvements coming
A rendering of the proposed Brambleton Town Center. - Courtesy/Brambleton
Brambleton, a master-planned community in Ashburn, which currently houses roughly 16,000 people across 4,200 families, has major changes coming in the next few years. In separate near unanimous-decision votes on Jan. 21, with Supervisor Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn) absent for one of the votes, the Board of Supervisors approved a package of rezoning requests, which will likely mean a major face-lift of the current development. Last week’s vote was the culmination of what Supervisor Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge) said in her opening remarks was a two-year process which involved Brambleton, its residents, Loudoun County Public Schools and the Board of Supervisors. The rezoning will likely mean the addition of a total of 506 homes across all of the rezonings. As part of the rezoning process, Brambleton was required to proffer for $19 million in improvements as part of the package. Instead they proposed $35 million of improvements, which include: - An elementary school currently planned for a fall 2016 opening. - A middle school planned to open in 2017. - A high school which could be open as soon as 2020. - An additional swimming pool on the north side of Ryan Road, which when completed will make five for the community. - A public library, which will locate into the bottom two floors of a commercial office building within the Town Center, across from Papa Tony's and Blue Ridge Grill. According to documents on the Brambleton website, this library would be similar to the Gum Spring Library in Stone Ridge. - An acceleration of the construction of Creighton and Evergreen Mills roads. - A gas station - A renovated barn for public events Brambleton has agreed to not build a residential unit until all of the proffered road improvements are completed, Clarke said during discussion about the rezoning. According to documents submitted to planning, Brambleton also hopes to finish the following projects in the future: - The acceleration of construction on Loudoun County Parkway. - A business/community college campus on land on the southeastern edge of Brambleton Farm. - A re-planning of an active adult center on the eastern edge of Brambleton, which would add no new homes. - An addition of an office complex and homes. The office park will be created on the southern portion of Brambleton. In addition, homes will be constructed "in place of the unattractive and neighborly industrial uses currently permitted."