December 5, 2024: Loudoun County FSM PRC Meeting on Chapter 7 Amendments
December 5, 2024: Loudoun County Facility Standards Manual Public Review Committee Meeting
The Facility Standards Manual Public Review Committee (FSM PRC) met on December 5, 2024, to continue revising Chapter 7 of the Facility Standards Manual, focusing on forest management plans, reforestation standards, and remedial revegetation plans. The meeting included public comment from a local farmer and detailed staff-led review of proposed language edits.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Bill Hatch (Mill Road Farm and Zephaniah Vineyards, south of Leesburg) spoke about his desire to selectively harvest timber on approximately 150 acres of his 400-acre farm, which is mostly pastureland that has reforested over 50 years. He expressed concern that proposed forest management and mountainside ordinance requirements might hinder farmers' ability to harvest timber for income. He noted he had consulted with a forester and county staff and wanted assurance that selective harvesting would not be overly restricted. Committee members acknowledged his concerns and said they would keep farming perspectives in mind as language is developed.
Discussion Items
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Approval of Minutes (November 21, 2024): The minutes were approved unanimously by voice vote.
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Forest Management Plan Requirements (Section 7305): Staff presented minor edits to clarify that forest management plans (FMPs) can be standalone or part of a remedial/vegetation plan. The committee discussed that FMPs are used for silvicultural activities and are not typically required for standard development. No substantive changes were made to the requirements themselves.
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Reforestation Plan Standards (Section 7305): The committee debated language for the reforestation plan introduction, including whether to use “reforestation plan” or “planting plan,” and how to list triggering conditions (zoning ordinance, proffer, condition of approval, remediation). The group decided to restructure the sentence as a list. Discussion also covered the term “release” in maintenance standards; it was clarified that “tree release” is a forestry term (removing competing canopy), which is distinct from bond release. The committee agreed to use “tree release and maintenance” to avoid confusion.
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Planting Window Flexibility: Staff added “unless otherwise approved by the director or director’s designee” to allow planting outside the standard window when weather conditions permit.
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Remedial Revegetation Plan (Section 7307): A lengthy debate occurred over the phrase “maximum extent possible” versus “maximum extent practicable.” The zoning ordinance uses “possible,” but some committee members favored “practicable” for flexibility. Staff noted that the FSM interprets the zoning ordinance’s use of “maximum extent possible” and that changing it would require a zoning ordinance amendment. The committee ultimately retained “maximum extent possible” but clarified that the intent is not to require impossible restoration. The group revised the site restoration narrative to remove redundant purpose language and instead require a narrative addressing specific items.
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Revegetation Strategies: The committee discussed whether to define strategies (reforestation plan, forest management plan, wildlife habitat planting plan) as separate options or as a combined list. After back-and-forth, they agreed to keep a map requirement and list the three strategies as options. They also changed “current aerial imagery” to “most recent available aerial imagery” with the possibility of director approval for alternatives.
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Wildlife Habitat Planting Plan: No substantive changes were made. A minor clarification was made to refer to “Northern Virginia native plants” (not “Nova Natives”). The committee left maintenance frequency flexible, to be determined by the professional preparing the plan.
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Planting Options for Wildlife Habitat: The committee decided to delete the separate option for containerized nursery stock and instead require seeding at specified density, with plugs allowed as supplementation. This simplifies the table.
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Invasive Species Management and Supplemental Planting: Staff noted that reporting and monitoring requirements were simplified: a minimum of three monitoring events over three consecutive years (once per year) is required. The certification requirement for plan preparers was removed.
Key Outcomes
- The minutes from November 21, 2024 were unanimously approved.
- No final decisions were made on the Chapter 7 amendments; the discussion resulted in several edits and clarifications to be incorporated into a revised draft.
- The committee decided to cancel the December 19 meeting and the January 2 meeting, scheduling the next meeting for January 16, 2025.
- Staff will distribute the edited draft for review, with committee members asked to send further comments by email before the next meeting.
- The meeting adjourned without a formal motion, after the committee exhausted the detailed review.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call to order the December 5th, 2024 Facility Standards Manual Public Review Committee meeting. No members are participating remotely, and our committee members disclose that they are members of one or more affected groups and their respective declaration are kept on file in the minutes of the facility standards manual public review committee. Um heads up things. John Lovrove and Krishna Batouri are have resigned from the committee. So sorry to see them go, but easier for us to make a uh a forum as well. Just a heads up. So I'm sure there'll be postings for those openings coming up, and you know, people that are interested and want to get involved, uh let them know. See, we do have someone here today to speak if during a public comment time. Bill Hatch is sitting here from Mill Road Farm in Zephaniah Vineyards, just south of Leesburg here, and he had asked if he could uh speak for a few minutes about um uh impact and concerns he has about environmental forestry issues. So I'd like to just give him that time, Bill. I you know, maybe five to ten minutes if you're five statement, whatever you're comfortable with. Okay, well, we're in our 70-50-year farming and uh we're dairy farmers we got out of that. Now we're growing grass tangus, grass, finish tangus, and uh grapes, which we turn into wine. Um we're thinking of we've been thinking about foresting oh, probably about 150 acres of our farm. Almost half of our 400-acre farm is wooded, and we haven't harvested for now 35 years. I met with a forester this morning. I as a farmer I'm doing everything I can just hold on to the land, not sell land and forest as part of those products. I just don't I don't know what kind of implications. I ran through the forest management that is proposed. It's it's daunting, but I think it's reasonable. I just want to make sure that it's not getting the way of farmers harvesting timber. Uh, we've planned selective harvesting. We just talked to the forester this morning, and there is some timber of value. Right now, farmers need anything of value to stay in business. Uh, I can tell you right now that beef farming and grape farming is marginal. It's hard to believe that when you walk you into some of the places, but they are beautiful. So that's pretty much my comments. Uh, we are uh the area that we're harvesting was mostly pasture land in 1949 when we moved there, and because of fencing has become so bad, it has become now canopy with trees, some of which are harvestable. Uh so I just want to make sure that we can still harvest timber in a what's called mountainside ordinance, mountainside ordinance. It's not really that much steep slope. I've got some sketches of it last round if you're passing around by the feel first. And uh the area in question is this back of the this is our farmland that we are currently farming with with cattle and grapes, and what we want to do is just be able to continue to farm that and get some timber off of it and not get in trouble with the county for invading mountainside ordinance, which there's not a whole lot of steep slopes. There are some, and we certainly regard that highly, but we want to be able to continue to farm and continue to harvest timber. That's pretty much it. And you all might give me some context about where you are in that. I'm not really sure. I read some documents, but it was a little bit unclear because most of it was written in regard to the health. I think a little bit was written in regard to farming and harvesting. I understand what your goals are and understand what my goals are. Anybody has any questions for Bill? Maybe you're very concise in your presentation, so I appreciate that. Have you met with county staff at all about uh desire to uh selective? I did. I I met with the former forester forester now, Darrell here. Former forest he's in natural resources. Thank you. Yes, right here. That's right. My answer. Yeah.
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