Loudoun County TLUC Meeting on Housing, Noise, and Pool Ordinance - Sept 17, 2025
Loudoun County Transportation and Land Use Committee Meeting - September 17, 2025
The Transportation and Land Use Committee (TLUC) met on September 17, 2025, to discuss three agenda items: an update on the Unmet Housing Needs Strategic Plan, progress on the Runway 30 Aviation Noise Mitigation Project, and a proposed rewrite of the county's swimming pool and water recreation facilities ordinance. The committee received informational presentations on the first two items and voted to recommend approval of the pool ordinance rewrite.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public signed up to speak or addressed the committee during the public input portion.
Discussion Items
Unmet Housing Needs Strategic Plan Update
- Staff from the Housing and Community Development Department (Eric Keeler, Brandy Collins, Christine Hillock) presented the 4th quarter and annual FY2025 update. Key highlights: 27 new attainable units and 71 access/preservation opportunities were achieved in Q4; FY2025 year-end results show 65% of the new-unit goal and surpassed the annual access/preservation goal; 1,030 attainable units currently in development; and of 133 key actions in the strategic plan, 39 are completed and 48 are in progress.
- Supervisor Chair Randall expressed concerns about tracking attainment by AMI levels (e.g., 30-50% AMI) and requested an assessment of the actual per-pupil education cost in LCPS, believing current numbers are outdated. She also asked for a concise paper on the county's housing efforts to push back against potential state legislation.
- Supervisor Kirshner questioned whether expectations for new vs. access units should be adjusted given the department's success on access units. Staff noted a pending evaluation of the strategic plan, which will include reviewing targets.
- Supervisor Glass asked about wait times for affordable housing: the ADU purchase program has a 3-5 year wait for priority one households; the ADU rental program has at least a one-year wait. Staff also mentioned the Public Employee Homeownership Grant Program available to teachers and county staff.
- Supervisor Umstattd requested exploration of market-rate attainable housing through smaller lots/units and focus on the most vulnerable (0-30% AMI). Staff indicated capacity-building and ongoing studies may address these.
- No action was taken; the item was informational.
Runway 30 Aviation Noise Mitigation Project
- Staff (Josh Peters, Dan Galindo) reported that a design group of 10 community representatives (covering about 30 communities) met five times over the summer and reached consensus on recommendations to forward to the FAA. The project team has initiated outreach to industry stakeholders (FAA air traffic control, air traffic controllers union, United Airlines) and received initial positive feedback (“we don’t hate it”).
- Next steps: present the design group recommendations to TLUC at the October meeting, seek TLUC endorsement, then forward to the Regional Project Group and FAA.
- Supervisor Kirshner asked about FAA engagement under the new administration; staff noted only peripheral involvement so far but optimism due to no expected operational impacts. Supervisor Umstattd asked about outreach to MWAA (airport authority) and whether additional HOAs could provide input; staff indicated feedback may be considered but the proposal content is set by the design group process.
- No action taken; the item was informational, with a return anticipated next month.
Proposed Rewrite of Chapter 838: Swimming Pool and Water Recreation Facilities
- Staff (George Khan, Dr. David Goodfriend) presented a rewrite to modernize the ordinance, align with national standards, and remove 41 pages of construction requirements (which now fall under building code). Key changes: focus health department review on safety and operations, update chemical/water quality standards to Model Aquatic Health Code, streamline testing, require pool operator photo ID cards, allow digital record-keeping, enable partial facility closures for non-compliance, establish standard permit duration, and introduce a schedule of civil penalties and updated fees. The ordinance excludes private residential pools.
- The committee discussed fee structure (proposed $400 per body of water, lower than neighboring jurisdictions) and the number of impacted bodies of water (470 total: 373 seasonal, 99 year-round).
- Supervisor TeKrony moved to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve the rewrite and advertise a public hearing on November 12, 2025. Supervisor Chair Randall seconded. The motion passed unanimously (4-0, with one member absent/abstention?).
Key Outcomes
- The committee voted 4-0 to recommend the Board of Supervisors approve the rewrite of Chapter 838 (swimming pool and water recreation facilities ordinance) and direct staff to advertise a public hearing on November 12, 2025.
- Staff will return to TLUC in October 2025 with the design group recommendations for the Runway 30 Aviation Noise Mitigation Project.
- Staff will continue strategic plan evaluation and report to TLUC on progress toward housing targets and potential adjustments.
Meeting Transcript
We're going to go. He's on the plane. All right. Good evening. I would like to call to order the September seventeenth, twenty twenty-five Transportation Land Use Committee. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, switch your hearing A's to telecoil mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. So today we do not have advanced speakers signed up for our public input portion of the meeting. If there is anyone in the board room that would like to address the committee and has not already signed up to speak, please see the clerk. Any speakers? All right. So this will be a quick meeting. You didn't sign up. Too late. Too late, yeah. All right. So this evening we have two information items. Uh reminder to staff when presenting or responding to questions from board members. Please turn on your microphone and speak directly into it. So we'll start with item one, which is the unmet housing needs strategic plan, fourth quarter, an annual FY 2025 update. So in person, we have Christine, Brandy, and Eric from the Housing and Community Development Department. Thank you so much. I think there's a presentation. Thank you. Well, thank you, uh, Chair Tacone and the members of the committee. Um, just this is my first time in front of you. Um, just to remind you, my name is Eric Keeler. I'm the director of the Department of Housing and Community Development here in Loudoun County, and it is our department's pleasure tonight to provide you and the community with the fourth quarter and annual FY 2025 update to the unmet housing needs strategic plan. As you just mentioned, I'm joined by Department Staff Brian Regan, Assistant Director, Brandy Collins Housing Policy Administrator, and Kristen Hillock Housing Initiatives Project Manager. So I will now ask Ms. Hillhock to provide the committee with our presentation. Thanks, Eric. Uh, good evening, Chair Tacroni, members of the committee. Tonight I will provide the fourth quarter and annual fiscal year 25 report on implementation of the county's Unmet Housing Needs Strategic Plan, which was approved by the board just about four years ago in September of 2021. Tonight's report contains six main sections. First, we have significant actions and attainable housing results for the fourth quarter, which covers the period of April 1st through June 30th, 2025. Next, we have attainable housing results and achievements for fiscal year 2025, including an at-a-glance summary with which is attachment three to tonight's item. Next, we have information about attainable housing in the pipeline. Then updates on housing policy studies and an attainable housing inventory, which is currently underway, and finally included as attachment one, a scorecard and updates on each of the 133 key actions in the implementation matrix of the unmet housing needs strategic plan. This slide provides an overview of Loudoun County's current attainable housing goals as approved by the board in the Unmet Housing Needs Strategic Plan. Per the plan, attainable housing is defined as the lack of housing options for households with incomes up to 100% of the area median income. 100% of AMI for a family of four in the Washington metro area effective April 1st, 2025 is 163,900. The unmet housing needs strategic plan set a goal that 20% of forecasted new homes based on land use policies in the 2019 comprehensive plan will be attainable housing. This equates to approximately 8200 attainable units by 2040. The plan also set a goal to provide access to and/or preserve 7800 units for a total of 16,000 attainable units created, accessed, or preserved. There were many significant plan-related board actions during the fourth quarter of fiscal year 25. For the sake of time, I'm going to highlight just a few tonight.
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