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Progress may drive through Purcellville farm
Sam and Uta Brown soon may be in a position to answer the question, "Can a working farm survive inside town boundaries, with a major road running through it?"
The Browns insist the answer is "No."
Purcellville Town Manager Rob Lohr said the town has always worked and will continue to work with the Browns to preserve the farm. At the same time, Lohr said, one of this council's top goals is to get the Southern Collector Road finished. It has been on town planning maps for 25 years, and now runs from A Street at Route 690 along the southern edge of the town's boundaries, to the southern edge of the 16 acres in question.
Sam Brown and his brother Timothy, of Middleburg, own the 16 acres just outside town limits. They also own 40 acres within the town limits -- all protected by a conservation easement -- and 45 acres to the south. Sam Brown farms most of it as Crooked Run Orchard, a pick-your-own orchard and farm that attracts up to 20,000 visitors a year.
Purcellville Town Council will decide Dec. 16 whether to proceed with plans to annex 16 acres of the Browns' Crooked Run Orchard into town. If the property is brought into town, the town will be able to use its condemnation power to extend the last unbuilt 1,300-foot section of the Southern Collector Road along the edge of the farm to East Main Street (Route 7) at Route 287.
The Southern Collector Road, if completed, will do little to relieve traffic on Main Street, Sam Brown said, and it will split his farming activities in half. He will be forced to drive farm equipment out onto Main Street and up the Southern Collector Road to get to his land.
"The benefit [to the town] is so small compared to the damage to the farm," Uta Brown said.
Howell Brown moved into the just-built farmhouse where Sam and Uta live today when he was 3 months old, in 1908. He lived there until his death in 2003. The farm passed to his two sons. Timothy Brown is the majority owner of the 16-acre parcel that is being considered for annexation.
Lohr said Timothy Brown has worked with the town "on numerous occasions about options to make the property more valuable to him and the heirs, and to sustain agricultural opportunities down the road, to have it continue as a pick-your-own farm."
Timothy Brown was not available for comment.
Councilman C.J. Walker said his primary aim in pursuing annexation of some of the property surrounding the town is to protect the town's right to guide commercial development. He has received a letter from Timothy Brown, he said, asking that the parcel be annexed.
He hasn't decided how he will vote, Walker said, but that letter will have an influence as he decides what is best for the town.
Lohr said building a tunnel under the Southern Collector Road to join the two parts of the farm is not a good idea. One of the Browns' concerns has been travelers along the road deciding to stop and pick fruit and tomatoes for free. A tunnel would only exacerbate that, Lohr said.
A better solution, and one the town continues to offer, Lohr said, is to put in curb cuts and a marked, perhaps signaled, crosswalk to give Sam Brown access across the new road with his equipment. That could include gates to keep people out, and a pull-off for customer access.
The Purcellville Urban Growth Area Management Plan gives the town the authority to annex any property labeled Phase I in the urban growth area around the town.
Joseph LaFiandra, president of the neighboring Browns Farm Homeowners Association, said that plan was never meant "to take over existing homes, even one home, and run a road through it. It was meant to guide the extension of public utilities." The HOA has voted five years in a row to support the Browns.
Lohr said, "We are committed to working with Tim and Sam and the family. If we build that road, we will work with them to make sure they have access."
We should do whatever is necessary to preserve Loudoun's farms. It is unfortunate that local government and planning commissions haven't done their jobs properly in foreseeing how Loudoun's uncontrollable growth would require more infrastructure and more of Loudoun’s land to accommodate said growth. Loudoun was ONCE a great place to live; where you could enjoy the countryside away from Fairfax County and downtown DC.
Posted by dpunty
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The Southern Collecter Route will have a HUGE impact on Main Street Purcellville traffic! All travelers/residents coming from south of town would turn onto "A" street and avoid downtown Purcellville to go to Leesburg or 287 north. All the Hirst Farm development was supposed to be supported by the southern connector, as well as all the other subdivisions south of main street that were built over the past 10 years-- the town council needs to build the road and ease the congestion in town-- or they should never have allowed the Nichols farm to have been annexed and subdivided in the first place. How can you allow development and not support the infrastructure that is demanded by the growth?
Posted by 4truth
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