What a difference a week makes. Last week’s editorial noted some troubling facets in regard to the failure of the Wheatlands contract. Since then, the deal was re-energized, criticized, de-funded, killed and then canceled.
In this conflict between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors, neither organization comes off very well. It has been reported by numerous sources that a majority of the Board of Supervisors were in favor of the Wheatlands contract before voting to oppose it, 8-1. This is troubling in conjunction with the discussions suggesting that the Board of Supervisors may now seek to take over the site acquisition process for new schools.
Over the past years, there have been numerous instances where construction projects (public and private) were voted down by the Supervisors almost solely on the basis of a public outcry. Defunct projects include the Lenah school site, Broadlands Regional Medical Center (BRMC), the western Loudoun Montessori School, the construction of an additional high-rise at Leisure World, and now the Wheatlands Eduplex. Each of these projects had intrinsic problems as well, but the debate surrounding them seemed to focus on how many residents each side could deliver to the government center boardroom.
In the case of BRMC, several supervisors were on record saying that the legal issue of whether a special exception should be granted or not was obfuscated by their confusion over whether the people who came to support or deny the application were really committed, or whether they had been delivered by one side or another. In regard to Wheatlands, one of the primary points put forward by some supervisors as a point of contention is that there had not been enough time for public input.
This is not to say that public opinion and input is a trivial matter when gauging the appropriate level of support for a project. Both boards consist of elected officials, and they should be responsive to the needs of the public. If anything, the School Board should now be chastened sufficiently for not taking into account the local response to the construction—and for not working to obtain the best financial deal from the outset. However, public opinion should be just one of a myriad of concerns that should be weighed when determining a policy perspective. There are occasions when the popular choice is not the best one—and that’s why we have a representative form of government instead of a fully democratic one. We want them to make the best decisions they can for us, even if those decisions hurt a little bit, such as the decision on the tax rate.
The county may indeed be better off without the Wheatlands contract. Suspicions regarding the price certainly raised eyebrows, and the hidden price of ensuring water for the neighboring properties might have raised the actual cost even more. Even so, the failure of the Wheatlands contract is not so troubling in itself, but what it says about the process.
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and don't forget the hidden price of the Wheatland sewage treatment system ... that and so many other details were kept secret. it's no surprise the Supv changed their minds when they got the 411
when other sites were identified, the seller dropped his price by over 20%. and who says public involvement drives up prices?
school siting decisions are major power plays that seem to bring out the worst in officials with their political power struggles. public involvement is the only way to keep those backroom deals in check.