Court and Zoning Documents

Each hearing added approximately $10k to the legal bill for local residents, all originating from Loudoun County Zoning’s 2021 Determination Letter that stated Newport’s proposed use was “congregate and not permitted” before also saying it could be allowed if the homes operated completely independently (implausible for the enclosed compound layout) and on their own state licenses (two homes currently share a conditional VDHBDS license).

• April 28, 2022 - A four-hour public Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) hearing where residents paid a $475 fee, followed Zoning’s instructions to appeal, and presented their evidence of the united parcels functioning as a campus. Three of four BZA members chose to back Zoning’s opinion that the "Letter of Determination" was "not appealable" despite it including instructions to appeal, and furthermore, that neighbors had no standing to appeal.

• September 26, 2022 - First Circuit Court hearing where the Judge quickly overturned the BZA opinion on standing and confirmed that residents should be heard. Newport’s lawyers addressed the Judge when he asked environmental and location questions, saying he must defer to VDHBDS and pause the hearing to allow that state agency to consider those very factors and decide whether to issue a license. After which, VDHBDS shared their license criteria via email, showing that they do not consider the location and environmental factors the Judge asked about. Soon after, Newport received its conditional license to operate.
  
• November 7, 2022 - Second Circuit Court hearing where Newport argued that they should be allowed to operate based on VDHBDS issuing a license. This time, County Attorney Nicholas Lawrence insisted on pausing the hearing to allow the County to issue Newport a permit to operate now that the VDHBDS license had been issued. The Judge again agreed to pause and Loudoun County issued Newport a permit for the first facility on November 16, 2022.
  
• December 12, 2022 - Third Circuit Court hearing where County Attorney Nicholas Lawrence stated that the hearing should remain paused and that residents must again attend and publicly present statements to the Board of Zoning Appeals panel since a zoning permit had been issued. The Judge allowed it so that the County could “fully exhaust their administrative process” but specified that the case and any BZA results would come back to him.
  
• January 26, 2023 - A second lengthy BZA hearing where residents again paid a $475 fee to formally appeal and presented documents showing inconsistencies. This included Newport’s own statements and advertisements where intent to operate the gated subdivision as a unified campus, not separate facilities as required by state law, was made clear. Still, three of five BZA members voted to again back zoning by upholding Newport’s permit to operate a "single group home", deeming any suggestion of multiple homes as speculation.
  
• February 21, 2023 - Fourth Circuit Court hearing. The Judge indicated he might be ready to make a decision but this time the neighbors' lawyer asked that the Judge include and consider details of the latest BZA hearing. He agreed and offered the dates of both April 11 and 12 which, according to the neighbors' lawyer, was to allow for a lengthier hearing and possible testimony.
  
  After receiving confirmation of intent to provide witnesses with an outline of topics, the County and Newport’s lawyers both strongly objected, accusing the neighbor’s legal team of trying to add witnesses out of turn.
  
• March 27, 2023 - An informal call with the Circuit Court Judge on whether or not adjacent neighbors/petitioners may be heard and whether the latest VDBHDS license would be reviewed. Legal teams have differing recollections of what the Judge said he would allow.
  
• April 7, 2023 - Short Circuit Court hearing to debate what evidence and testimony would be allowed on April 11. Per Newport and the County's request, the Judge did not allow any testimony from adjacent neighbors but admitted the updated license from VDBHDS.
  
• April 11, 2023 - The final hearing in Circuit Court where, after seven months, County Attorney Nicholas Lawrence stated that the Judge would cause "problems" for the County if he decided the Letter of Determination was indeed a Determination. In the last hour of the day, the retired Judge expressed surprise to learn that the Letter of Determination, and the case in general, applied to all three homes, not just one.. Soon after, the Judge asked County Attorney Lawrence what he wanted and to it replied, “And that’s the verdict. You draft that order for me”. The Judge's order simply upholds the BZA decision to deem the Letter of Determination not a Determination and did not weigh the merits of operating the subdivision of three adjacent homes "by-right". 

• September 6, 2023 - The third BZA hearing to appeal a second "separate group home" by-right permit was appealed. Residents again presented documented evidence of the homes sharing one VDBHDS license number (against permit regulations) and staff lists showing personnel assigned to multiple homes, amongst other information but three members still voted to back zoning while two emphatically disagreed. This too will likely go to Circuit or Appellate Court. 

• All transcripts available above.