Loudoun County plans to build a 57-space parking lot next to Leesburg condominium neighborhood

First article in a multi-part series on Westpark development projects

By Audrey Carpenter

Sparks have been flying ever since it was discovered that J2 Engineering, the contractor for Loudoun County designing the Westpark passive park on the former golf course, failed to properly notify last summer more than 200 condominium owners of plans to build a 57-space parking lot, pavilion and restroom in close proximity to their homes.

A 57-space parking lot is similar to the size of the Food Lion parking lot in Leesburg.

In Loudoun County, adjacent property owners must be notified by certified mail regarding construction plans that may impact them as part of public notice requirements for land development applications. This ensures that affected parties are informed and can participate in the review process.

In June 2025, Leesburg Country Club single family homeowners who have adjoining property to Westpark were notified by J2 Engineering via certified letter of the design plans for the passive park.

Likewise, Tuscarora Creek Apartment’s property manager was also notified on behalf of the apartment complex.

However, Country Club Green Condominiums, a well-established condominium neighborhood with more than 200 owners which has existed since the late 1970’s, was overlooked altogether.

It wasn’t until this reporter discovered the error while doing general research on Westpark that the issue came to light, much like discovering and reporting a year earlier that developer Chuck Kuhn had submitted a plan to build a data center at Westpark that the public was unaware of.

Initially, Kuhn told attendees at a public meeting in 2023 that his intention was to build a flex industrial park; he never mentioned he was considering a data center. Yet three months after submitting an application to the Town for his flex industrial building, he submitted a second application for a data center.

The data center application died after Kuhn’s plans came to light, receiving immediate, vocal public criticism. Read that article here.

Kuhn then moved forward with his original application, “Westpark Tech”, an 86,400-square-foot warehouse currently under construction with an announced completion date of August 2026.

Charles Barton, a 30-year condominium owner, stated the idea of putting a 57-space parking lot next to the condominium neighborhood was “deplorable”.

Karen Janicki, a new condominium owner, agreed and said the idea was “ridiculous” and is angry that condo owners were not given the required notice of the intention to build the parking lot.

Critical public input deadline missed

The original certified letter mailed out by J2 Engineering was dated June 9, 2025. The deadline for public comment was June 13. The public had only four days to review and respond.

Because the owners of Country Club Green Condominiums were not sent the certified letter at all, they missed the critical deadline to review exhibits and provide public feedback by the June 13 deadline set by the County, which can be viewed here.

The website says, “[Public] feedback on the exhibits will assist the design team to advance the design plans to 95% completion, which is the next project milestone.”

Although the public can submit comments at any time to the County on capital projects, timelines and deadlines guide planners in their design work and can influence re-evaluation of plans before the Board of Supervisors reviews the final version and votes to approve or deny a construction project.

When contacted by phone in August, Gregg Brush, a principal at J2 Engineering who signed the certified letter, was asked why no letters were mailed to the Country Club Green Condominium community.

“I don’t know. I will have to check with the County and get back to you,” he said. And then he never did.

Lauren Nunley, J2’s Director of Business Development and Marketing, was also contacted and asked for a formal comment on behalf of J2 and did not respond.

Despite repeated emails sent to J2 Engineering requesting they correct the error over a two month period, they did not. William Ackman, the Director of Plan Review for the Town of Leesburg, personally requested twice that Gregg Brush correct the error as soon as possible. J2 Engineering still did not.

Ackman, whose department is responsible for reviewing park plans and signing off within the scope of the overall project, added a stipulation that J2’s second round of plan submissions to the Town must include evidence of proper notice given to Country Club Green Condominium owners.

But it wasn’t until this reporter contacted Loudoun County Administrator Tim Hemstreet in October about the matter indicating an intention to write an article, that J2 Engineering finally mailed the certified letters.

No apology came with the letter to Country Club Green Condominium owners - just the letter.

The letter additionally failed to mention the 57-space parking lot, which is the construction that will most impact the condominium neighborhood. The letter mentioned pavilions, a disc golf course, restrooms, etc., but did not mention the 57-space parking lot.

At a public meeting in 2023, Westpark planners said an 8-10 space parking lot was being considered. That somehow turned into TWO parking lots - one with 57 spaces and the other with 21 spaces.

See letter here.

Many condominium owners have questioned whether the lack of proper notice was intentional, rather than an administrative error, in order to avoid complaints from condominium owners who would demand the huge parking lot be moved elsewhere, which means design work would have to be altered and deadlines potentially missed, altering the project’s timeline.

Buildings A-S at Country Club Green Condominiums sit approximately 100 feet from Westpark, and several condominium owners bought their units specifically for the view of the old golf course. These buildings would be most impacted by noise from pavilion use.

More importantly, all residents of Tuscarora Creek Apartments and Country Club Green Condominiums will be affected by increased traffic related to the 57-space parking lot and the Westpark Tech warehouse. The zoning related to the warehouse project allows for light manufacturing, which would draw a consistent amount of heavy commercial trucks onto Clubhouse Drive SW.

The neighborhood already has a problem with commercial trucks, boats, RV’s, campers and unattended trailers being stored long-term on Clubhouse Drive SW, against Town code. The Country Club Green resident group has been attempting to work with the Town to permanently solve that problem and has requested the Town erect additional signage along the road to negate this behavior.

Heavy commercial trucks going in and out of Westpark Tech, along with employees commuting to the property, in addition to an abundance of people coming to access the passive park will add to the congestion of the road.

County fails to conduct traffic study for passive park

Despite this, the County’s contractor, Gorove Slade, a transportation planning and engineering company with offices in Northern Virginia and throughout the DMV, did not conduct a traffic impact study for the passive park project, despite the fact that two large parking lots will draw drivers to Westpark.

Rather, they provided the Town of Leesburg with a “traffic statement”.

Incredibly, despite telling Town of Leesburg Transportation Engineer Niraja Chandrapu in an email in January 2024 that peak traffic will occur at night and on weekends, Gorove Slade Principal Erin Steel instead used projections for weekday commuter hours as the basis for her conclusion that there will be minimal traffic impact.

"The proposed park is expected to generate minimal trips during commuter peak hours. Most of those trips will be during weekends and off-peak hours. Due to the lower expected trip generation and the unavailability of a specific code in the ITE’s Trip Generation Manual for this land use, trip estimations were formulated using engineering judgment for the commuter peak hours on a typical weekday," the report says.

She writes further: “The proposed development of the park is not anticipated to adversely impact the surrounding roadway network since it is estimated to generate minimal trips” and estimates the park will generate only five trips during the AM commuter peak hour, 10 trips during the PM commuter peak hours and approximately 90 daily trips on a typical weekday.

No study was ever conducted when real traffic to Westpark will actually occur - which is on the weekends and evenings. Chandrapu and the Town of Leesburg review team accepted this data as adequate and gave their stamp of approval so the project could move forward.

A better location to build a parking lot

A request was made to have someone directly involved with the passive park planning process come out to the Country Club Green Condominiums neighborhood to explain why the parking lot, pavilion and restrooms could not be built much farther away from the condominium community near the intersection of Clubhouse Drive SW and S. King Street where a pedestrian access point is already planned. That area offers instant access from S. King Street and the Rt. 7 exit ramp into the park, and has an old, nostalgic stone sign from the former golf course there. The land is flat, large, and undisturbed.

It would keep noise from pavilion use and traffic associated with a parking lot much further away from the condominium neighborhood, which would solve the condominium owners' concerns.

Loudoun County Public Information Officer Glen Barbour said that area is unable to be built on because it’s in a flood plain.

Country Club Green condominium owners contend if the County cannot move the 57-space parking lot and pavilion further from their neighborhood due to flood plain infringement, then it should be scrapped altogether.

Though the request for the on-site meeting did not materialize, a request to meet with the County by a homeowner who lives in the Leesburg Country Club single family home neighborhood was held virtually on Oct. 17, with several County employees and department directors in attendance to answer the homeowner’s questions.

That meeting commenced after the homeowner contacted Leesburg Mayor Kelly Burk for assistance because she was having trouble getting questions answered about the project. The mayor sent a letter to the County requesting the County engage with the homeowner.

However, neither Mayor Burk, nor anyone from the Leesburg Town Council, have advocated for or solicited opinions from Country Club Green Condominium owners, nor offered to come out and meet with condo owners to look at and discuss the proposed features together, despite a Sept. 8 presentation by Westpark planners that made the Council aware of the 57-space parking lot, pavilion and restroom to be built extremely close to the condominium community.

Mayor Burk’s only known recent public visit to Clubhouse Drive SW was for a photo opportunity related to a ground breaking ceremony with Chuck Kuhn on Oct. 9. She was joined by Councilman Neil Steinberg who actually voted AGAINST the Westpark Tech project, but then showed up to shake hands and pose for a photograph with Kuhn.

When asked why he voted against the project but then supported the ground breaking event, Steinberg didn’t explain why he voted against the project, but instead asked: “Why do you feel my participation in the groundbreaking ceremony sends a conflicting message? What do you assume the role of a Leesburg Council member to be?”

Moreover, during the Sept. 8 Town Council presentation by Westpark planners, Steinberg said he felt plans for parking lots in the passive park were “not imposing.”

At 17 minutes into the meeting he states:

“... I also know that this land has undergone several applications and so on, and at one point there was a consideration for a considerable number of homes in that very area, and while the parking lot is unexpected - I’ll put it that way - it doesn’t strike me as being overbearing,” Steinberg said. “Twenty spaces is not very imposing.”

Residents have expressed that a 57-space parking lot and 21-space parking lot with pavilions and restrooms are actually very imposing.

Council member Kari Nacy, who owns a home in the Leesburg Country Club single family home subdivision which is in close proximity to a second 21-space parking lot planned for Clubhouse Drive and the disc golf course, was contacted twice with a request for comment about her thoughts about the passive park plans, but did not respond.

During the Sept. 8 Town Council presentation, Nacy made this comment: “I don’t know what the viability of eliminating it [the 21-space parking lot and pavilion near her home] altogether is, but that would be the Christmas wish of the neighborhood, I think, from that perspective… Everything else is perfect the way it is.”

“Everything else is perfect? Did the Council not hear about the 57-space parking lot and pavilion to be built next to our condos? It’s like they completely glossed over one half of the entire plans for the park,” said a condo owner, “so they didn’t have to deal with the inconvenient fact that this will have massive impact on us.”

Kristin Umstattd, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors representative for Leesburg, was also contacted with a request for comment. Her response was:

“Generally I try not to make up my mind until the public has had a chance to weigh in. Since I represent the residents along Clubhouse Drive, I am interested in hearing their opinions before making a final decision as to which potential design to support. In a recent newsletter, I let folks know they could still comment on this issue. Please encourage neighbors to either reach out to me directly by email or use the link I included in my newsletter.”

Umstattd did, however, come and meet with Noel and Jessica Green in the Leesburg Country Club neighborhood to hear their concerns. A second parking lot, with 21 spaces, will be built 30 yards from their house on Clubhouse Drive.

A picture of how close the second parking lot and pavilion will be to the Green’s home can be seen here:

The Greens expressed the same concerns the condominium owners did - the additional traffic, noise, strangers within close proximity to their children who play outside and on the former golf course, people not leaving at dusk and the parking lot and pavilion being unmanned.

“The County is depending on the police to monitor the park, increasing their workload,” Mr. Green said. Because the Loudoun County Department of Parks and Recreation will not be on site other than for basic maintenance, it will fall to police to respond to people not leaving the grounds at dusk, noise complaints and other disturbances.

“The police have already been on the golf course with their lights at night for disturbances on the grounds after dark,” Mrs. Green said. Her neighbors mentioned a second problem has been loud street bikes being ridden on the golf course by teens. No motorized bikes or four wheelers are allowed on park grounds.

The Greens also worry about their neighbors whose properties adjoin the golf disc course being hit with golf discs. This was a frequently expressed concern by neighbor after neighbor whom this reporter spoke to. When the Greens bought their home, it came with a patched hole on the back of their house where a stray golf ball went straight through the siding:

While doing landscaping projects in the back yard, tilling the ground produced dozens of golf balls, they said.

Why build so close to residences?

Barbour stated the planners are seeking to use the existing entrance and portion of the parking lot of the former golf course as the footprint for the 57-space parking lot. The parking lot is currently loose gravel.

Clubhouse Drive SW has existed as a two-lane road since the late 70s and was built to carry light commuter traffic in and out of the apartment and condominium complexes. It was not built with the foresight to be turned into a commercial thoroughfare to support a flex industrial warehouse and park traffic.

The noise that will be generated at the pavilions, the potential use of alcohol and recreational drugs, people not leaving the park at dusk and a myriad of other problems that typically come with “free” public amenities make the Westpark passive park plans incompatible with residential neighborhoods as it’s currently designed.

Due to these concerns, more than 20 owners of Country Club Green Condominiums signed a letter that was sent to the Westpark planning team in August questioning the location of the 57-space parking lot and pavilion and the need for a disc golf course once it became aware they were not given proper notice by certified letter. They asked why a large fenced, off-leash dog park, similar to the one at Hal and Bernie Hanson Park, and other more practical, low-impact features could not be built instead such as several bird watch stations and educational nature signage.

“It’s no longer a ‘passive park’ when you start building parking lots,” said a mom of several young children whose property sits adjacent to the park.

Construction on the passive park is set to begin in Summer 2026. The cost of the project is projected to be $18.9 million. Here is the anticipated timeline of the project:

• Winter 2023 - Fall 2026: Project Design
• Winter 2026 - Spring 2026: Procurement of Construction Contractor
• Summer 2026: Award Contract – Construction
• Summer 2026: Notice to Proceed – Construction
• Summer 2026 - Fall 2027: Construction
• Fall 2027: Substantial Completion

The park’s master plan exhibit can be viewed here.

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on this project in January 2026, but the particular date in January has not yet been set. The entire Board of Supervisors can be reached simultaneously by emailing: BOS@loudoun.gov

Logan Baird, a civil engineer, is the Westpark Improvement Project Manager with the County’s Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure. He can be reached at: Logan.Baird@loudoun.gov

Baird reports to Sherene Dorazio, the Director of the Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure, who began her role with the County in July 2025. Her email address is: Sherene.Dorazio@loudoun.gov

A designated email for this project is: dtci@loudoun.gov

The second part in this series will focus on the County’s perceived need for an 18-hole disc golf course at Westpark and the safety concerns that brings to those who live along the proposed course. That article should publish within the next week.