Middleburg Preserve

The Army Corp of Engineers is accepting comments on the Mojax LLC proposal for a residential development north of Snake Hill Road and west of its intersection with McQuay Lane in Loudoun County, Virginia. This area is northwest of the Salamander Resort near Mt. Zion Baptist Church of St. Louis.

Mojax LLC proposes to build a clustered residential subdivision of 30 homes and associated infrastructure. The project is one part of a development called Middleburg Preserve I & II and will impact 1.71 acres of palustrine forested wetlands and 0.12 acre of palustrine emergent wetlands. The expected environmental impacts to the area are associated with 30 residential buildings, driveways, walkways, patios, utilities and a stormwater-management facility. The proposed homes will all be on sewer, but obtain their water from private wells.

The developer proposes that they will avoid and minimize impacts to the maximum extent practicable, and mitigation for all wetland impacts will be provided by credit purchase from approved wetland and stream banks or the Virginia Aquatic Restoration Trust Fund.

Changing the character of the rural area of Loudoun County to include cluster development houses  could impact future water availability to the existing residents and impact sustainability of groundwater and base flow to our rivers. The developer drilled a series of test wells; two drew 50 gallons per minute and others drew 40, 35, 20 and 15 gallons per minute, flow rate in this geology does not in any way show that the wells will be sustainable in the long run. Nor does it demonstrate that these new wells will not impact existing nearby wells. The increase in ground cover by the development would reduce recharge of the groundwater while the 30 additional households would increase demand for water.

The USGS and NASA tells us that the groundwater basin is under stress. In a study published in 2013 in Science, "Water in the Balance," researchers looked at the ten year trend in groundwater in the United States. The lead author was Jay Famiglietti, at the time he was a professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine, and Director of the UC Center for Hydrologic Modeling (UCCHM). The co-author was Matt Rodell, Chief of the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Using data from the NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites collected over a 10 year period they were able to track changing groundwater availability all over the United States and the world. The GRACE satellites were launched in 2002 and were replaced in 2018 with the second mission satellites. The data set was for 2003 through 2013. Their data found that the groundwater mass in the Virginia Piedmont region decreased over the ten years of the study.

The U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, maintains a group of groundwater monitoring wells in Virginia that measure groundwater conditions. Only three of the Virginia wells are within Loudoun County and none are in the area of concern. Loudoun County maintains 17 groundwater monitoring wells most that had 6 years of data at the last report and not enough to yet view a trend. There are more than 14,500 active water supply wells in Loudoun County. The median depth of wells drilled in Loudoun County has increased from 150 feet in the 1960’s to the current median of 410 feet. The increase has allowed wells to be drilled cheaper, quicker and deeper to provide increased water storage and wells less subject to drought, but trends in water recharge become harder to see.

Other adjacent areas in Fauquier and Prince William in fractured rock systems of the Culpeper groundwater basin have shown that water level is slowly falling after allowing for the seasonality of groundwater recharge. The decline observed has been modest in most rural areas, but will continue and get worse over time especially if demand for groundwater is increased and impervious surfaces continue to grow, reducing recharge. The USGS and VA DEQ are engaged in a multiyear study of groundwater resources in Fauquier County due to the problems they have been having with the availability and quality of their groundwater.

Middleburg Preserve is a by-right-use of the slightly over 19 acres, and does not need a special use permit. However, a portion of the property is wetlands so the Army Corp of Engineers permit is required. Work began on the site about two years ago, starting with clearing of land and more recently, the drilling of test wells. The land clearing caused Loudoun County to issue a stop work order because a permit had not been obtained.

The Corps of Engineers states that Preliminary review indicates:

(1) no Environmental Impact Statement will be required;
(2) after conducting an Endangered Species Act Review, though the northern long-eared bat may be affected, but no further action is required;
(3) known properties eligible for inclusion or included in the National Register of Historic Places are in or near the permit area and would likely be affected by the proposal.

If you have any comments on this project, you can make them in writing. They can be sent by email to ron.h.stouffer@usace.army.mil, or regular mail, addressed to: Norfolk District, Corps of Engineers, Northern Virginia Field Office, 18139 Triangle Plaza, Suite 213, Dumfries, Virginia 22026. All comments should be received by close of business June 13.