They intend to slow development of the Eagle property until 2010, when a new sewer plant is built.

The Eagle property consists of 113 acres on the east side of Woodstock between Hollingsworth, French’s Woods, Cemetery and Water streets. The farmland once belonged to the late Thomas and Geraldine Eagle.

The Eagle heirs sold it at auction last October to Sal Cangiano of Leesburg for $6.75 million. Cangiano sold it to the Gulick Group, a development company headquartered in Reston.

County citizens who live on or near the river downstream from the Woodstock sewer plant addressed a letter last week to Woodstock Mayor William Moyers.

The letter implores the town to delay rezoning of the Eagle property until the sewage plant meets current standards and demands.

The letter was copied to members of the town council and the planning commission.

According to Woodstock Town Manager Larry Bradford, the letter was delivered to the town office the afternoon of the last town council meeting. Bradford says the council has not discussed the letter. They will meet Sept. 6.

The letter, signed by 27 individuals, “[puts] the Town on legal notice.” The signers contend the proposed Eagle development at this time “would result in a measurable degradation of water quality during periods of heavy rainfall and have a direct impact on riparian landowners like us.”

Current plans to proceed with development of new homes, increasing the town population by 10 percent or more, is counter to the town’s comprehensive plan, the letter says.

The developer and the current owner of the majority of the property, the Gulick Group, is asking the town to rezone a portion of the Eagle land from low-density residential to high-density residential, R-3.

According to Michael Capretti of the Gulick Group, the Eagle property is currently being developed for sale to NVHomes, which plans to build 220 homes on the land. The houses will be priced from $300,000 to $450,000.

Capretti was aware of the citizens’ letter.

“I understand they’ve made some threats,” he said.

Are lawsuits normal in his business?

“I’m not going to comment on that,” he replied.

Twenty acres of the Eagle property, comprising 39 lots, has been purchased by NVHomes, and construction is scheduled to begin soon on the section nearest the Eagle Street cul-de-sac.

According to NVHomes sales representative Tracie Markham in Edinburg, a trailer for conducting sales has been moved onto the Woodstock site, and homes are expected to be ready for purchase in the spring. Plans are to open the sales office on Oct. 1.

The parent company of NVHomes, NVR Inc., which also owns Ryan Homes, Fox Ridge Homes and NVR Mortgage, has offices in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The company web site claims it is “one of the 10 largest homebuilders in the U.S.” having built over 250,000 homes with 2002 revenues of over $3 billion dollars. The company is also selling homes at Edinburg Square.

About 66 acres of the Eagle tract was in the county prior to being sold at auction. After a friendly boundary adjustment with Shenandoah County, the entire property is now within town limits.

This portion of the land, known as Parcel 3, was zoned A-1, allowing for a minimum lot size of 3.5 acres. Rezoning to R-3, which the developer is seeking, would allow for a minimum lot size of 0.23 acres.

Inadequate sewer plant

The town has been fined $4,200 by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for exceeding permitted flows from the town sewage facility and for failing to recognize the significance. The town is required to make corrective actions by Jan. 31, 2006. By Dec. 31, 2010, the town must complete a new facility which can treat two million gallons of sewage daily.

The current facility is approved for 800,000 gallons per day.

Bradford anticipates the town will be able to meet DEQ requirements by the deadlines. He states that the fine was the result of “two accidental discharges to the river,” one of which lasted only “an hour or two.”

The citizens’ letter states that “some of us have personally witnessed raw sewage floating in the river as a result of the plant’s current inadequacy.”

Bradford stated “the sewage plant has a capacity to have additional customers” and doesn’t think the currently proposed building projects in Woodstock, including that being developed on the Eagle land, will overtax the sewage system.

The county citizens’ letter says, “A decision to zone Parcel 3 to R-3 at a time when the available sewage facilities is inadequate to meet state standards and be in compliance with its permit would be arbitrary, capricious, and without any rational basis.

“If an irrational and unjustifiable zoning decision results in the trespass on our property of an increased flow of inadequately treated effluent from the Woodstock sewage plant, this decision may subject the town to substantial damages.”

Mary Gessner and Diane Gould of Rivermont Estates east of Woodstock signed the letter.

Gessner described the group as “just people who live downstream of the plant” and “a handful of folks who talked about it and got together.”

“A number of us initiated it,” Gould said. “We had very good help in writing it.” She said “a D.C. attorney” helped with the letter.

“We are seeking advice from other attorneys who are well versed in exactly what we’re doing,” Gould said.

Gould said the group is using tactics successfully employed against other municipalities to put the brakes on development until local infrastructure can catch up.

“It was interesting and encouraging to find out that anything can slow down the speed on these homes [being developed],” she said. “We’re afraid that people aren’t paying attention and just taking the word of the developers.”

“The [sewage] plant clearly cannot handle more until it is made bigger to handle more,” Gould said. “It’s at capacity when it rains.

“Every single point that was raised at the last town council meeting was valid, and not one was addressed,” she said. “I just keep getting patted on the head like a good little child, ‘Don’t you worry, we’ll take care of it.’

We just clearly want the process to slow so everyone knows what is happening and it’s done with the consent of everyone here.”

Does the group intend to stop the development of the Eagle property?

Gould replied, “No, we just want to be able to support it. We’re not anti-growth. We just need to make sure the town isn’t the worse for wear.

The services are not ready yet.

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