The following comes from a newsletter [December 2005] from Supervisor Burton to his constituents:

Developer-Initiated CPAM’s

Last month, the Board rearranged some of its land use priorities. While the Western zoning ordinances remain the Board’s first priority, the Dulles CPAM (a consolidation of the Dulles-area developer-initiated CPAM’s), which had been the Boards #2 priority, was superseded by the Route 50 Task Force, an initiative by Supervisor Snow for the eastern portion of the highway. In making this reprioritization the Board recognized that its decision would delay consideration of the Dulles CPAM by at least six months – a delay which did not bother me a bit.

However, I have since confirmed that almost all of the developers whose individual CPAM’s were consolidated into the Dulles CPAM have filed rezoning (ZMAP) applications during the last few months. These actions indicate to me that a change in strategy is taking place. I believe that there is good news and bad news inherent in this change.

The good news is two-fold. First, it demonstrates the power of public pressure. The Board and Planning Commission received hundreds of emails, letters, and phone calls from concerned citizens who opposed the Dulles CPAM. Over a hundred citizens attended the Planning Commission’s Public Hearing. Many of them staged a mini-demonstration when they were denied access to the Board room that night. I believe that the developers saw the public opposition to the CPAM as a public relations nightmare – a battle for public opinion which they were not winning.

Second, because the density requests of their ZMAP’s will not match the density for the parcels recommended in the current County Comprehensive Plan, the Board (if a majority so chooses) can legally deny the rezonings.

However, rezonings do have a legal time limit associated with them. This requirement may accelerate their timing. Further, each rezoning will move through the process separately rather than as a consolidated whole. Thus, citizens will need to be especially alert about tracking each rezoning through the public process and recognize that they may need to attend multiple public hearings over the next two years. During this time, citizens and the Board will also need to remember, that while one rezoning may not add significant density to an area, when all the rezonings are added up, the result will still likely be some 28,000 units in the Transition Area.