In the Media
Rt. 7 Bridge Gets Go Ahead, Sound Wall Needs More Time
September 20, 2006 Leesburg2Day
Rather than face another delay, KSI, the developers of the planned interchange and bridge at Rt. 7 and River Creek Parkway, asked the Board of Architectural Review Monday night to withdraw its application to build a sound wall on the north side of Rt. 7 and approve its bridge design independently, to which the BAR agreed.
As part of its approved mixed-use Village at Leesburg project, KSI agreed to fund and build the Rt. 7 interchange with an aesthetically appealing bridge over Rt. 7 to help welcome people into Leesburg from the east. The BAR has design approval over the bridge's finished surfaces and worked with the applicant through several work sessions on an agreeable design.
On Monday, board members endorsed KSI's plan to finish the abutment walls and central pier with a poured concrete panel stamped in an ashlar stone pattern. The pattern mimics large bricks. The exposed east and west bridge decks will not be similarly treated.
Four acorn-type light fixtures will line each side of the bridge, interrupting an 8-foot high metal picket fence.
Board members reserved the bulk of their comments to the discussion on the sound wall, approving the fence without disagreement.
The sound wall, which is being constructed at the request of the Potomac Station Homeowners Association, was met with more controversy as the HOA endorsed an option that BAR members could not readily support.
Because the wall will be constructed on HOA property, the HOA must agree to the design and work; the BAR cannot endorse and thus allow construction of a proposal the HOA does not support, said Assistant Zoning Administrator Kevin Lawlor.
KSI submitted three options for the BAR to consider. Option A would introduce the most new trees and the smallest sections of noise wall. The trees would provide the sound mitigation. HOA members opposed this option, specifically because it would require all existing vegetation to be removed. The HOA supports Option B, which stretches a wall across the property's entire Rt. 7 frontage. All mature trees and shrubs would be retained, which the HOA's vice president said was paramount to the residents.
The third option meshes the previous two by shielding a continuous noise wall with "a modest amount of berming," according to the staff report. Sixty percent of the mature trees would be saved.
Preservation Planner Annie McDonald said the town arborist supported this option, because although trees would be lost, he argues that trees to be planted on the south side of the wall, to shield it from view of Rt. 7, would have a better chance at survival since they would be farther away from the noise wall and thus the heat it would emanate.
BAR Chairman Teresa Minchew said, the "board needs to apply the guidelines as we see fit to protect the corridor into the historic district," while accounting for the homeowners' concerns. The guidelines are paramount, she said.
Board member Tracy Coffing said while she was sensitive to the homeowners' concerns about losing trees, she was concerned with the arborists' thoughts that trees could potentially die from being exposed to the heat the wall would retain. Ken Reid, who is the council's representative to the BAR, said if the state was funding and building the bridge, the BAR wouldn't have oversight. But since a private developer was building it, he said, "we're going to nitpick" the details of the application. He wanted the BAR to endorse a design so the project could move forward.
Initially the BAR had opposed any noise wall, Minchew remind the applicant and homeowner.
"The board truthfully had great discomfort with any wall here," she said. The options are "far from ideal, but acceptable," she added.
Commission member Mary Ann Skyler said the fence was being built to protect 13 homes from interchange noise.
"We're altering the entrance to our town," for 13 homes, she said.
A work session will be scheduled to further discuss noise wall options, but a date had not been determined as of Monday's meeting.