The Wheatlands site would be purchased in two increments: a 160-acre plot, purchased for $9,925,000 and a 10-acre plot, purchased for $1,475,000. The price is one of the subjects of dispute between the School Board staff and opponents of the plan, each with different views on whether this is an appropriate price for the property in question.
Echoing his concerns regarding the proposed school site purchase in southern Loudoun at Lenah Run, Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) is quoted as saying that the price “cannot be justified in the current market.”
Burton generated a list of other possible sites for school construction in the west, but a memo from Lewis Rauch of the Office of Capital Construction, states that the list is “limited in comparable parcels of this size, geotechnical features, and transportation infrastructure availability.” Rauch also states his belief that given the acreage and development rights belonging to the seller, $64,000 per acre is reasonable.
Several of those opposed to the site have formed the Wheatland Alliance, largely composed of residents and farmers along Route 287, the connecting road between Purcellville and Lovettsville.
According to Catoctin’s representative on the school board, Jennifer Bergel, the primary issues at last week’s public hearing were price, location, water supply and size.
Size and location are certainly primary to many of those opposed to the project. Particularly those who believe that large multi-school or “eduplex” campuses are inappropriate for the area given the centralization of traffic and the impact to the scenic aspect of the area.
“Schools are meant to be near the students they serve, not on the easiest site found, far away from public utilities,” said Ellen Polishuk, owner of Potomac Vegetable Farms and one of the organizers of Wheatland Alliance. The close proximity of the three schools is a positive factor for the School Board as the co-location allows for efficiencies in transporting students and providing for utilities.
The projected opening date for the elementary school is 2016, 2017 for the middle school and 2018 for the high school pending a series of inspections for suitability and final approval by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.
Unlike Loudoun County’s long debate with the Town of Purcellville over a school within their town limits, the eduplex proposal does have the support of several elected representatives from Lovettsville. In a March 25 letter to School Board Chairman Robert DuPree (Dulles), Lovettsville Mayor Elaine Walker explained that the Town Council had voted unanimously to support the decision.
Opponents of the proposed school site met in front of the Loudoun Government Center on Monday, May 4 for a rally to demonstrate their opposition to the proposed plan. Opponents of the plan also presented the Board of Supervisors with a petition calling for the Board of Supervisors to stop the purchase.
This is a terriable contract for the purchase of a school site. The way it is constructed, the school board will close on the deal in July, way before all the studies are done and before any special exception hearing is ever held. Therefore, if the school is not allowed, the county will still own 170 acres of farmland that they paid over $67,000 an acre for. Not a chance in hell they will be able to unload it at that price. Does this sound like good planning to you?
This deal stinks and the BOS needs to stop it now before it is too late.