{ More housing at Rush River Commons? }

County resident Chuck Akre, who's behind the planned Rush River Commons in Washington and was in attendance at the meeting, said the development’s rst phase, expected to be the town’s rst mixed-use, could break ground as soon as March in a race to construct a new space for Rappahannock Food Pantry to move by the time its Sperryville lease ends in August.

He also said that if the development’s second phase is approved (it’s been caught up in controversy over his e orts to adjust Washington’s boundary to accommodate the expansion), there could be an additional nearly 20 housing units built on top of the 18 already planned for phase one. Many in attendance praised Akre as the most signi cant player in altering the town in recent decades.