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Residents say schools would be better off in South Riding
Some residents of Dulles South are opposed to the location under consideration for a new middle school and high school near Lenah Run, south of U.S. 50 off Lenah Road.
Steve Hines, a member of Families for Dulles South, says new schools should be located where most of the student population lives, in South Riding, not in an undeveloped "transition area," where pupils would need to be bused in.
"Normally you would say, 'Where do we need a school?' based on the students we have" Hines said. "The area being proposed does not have the population to support these schools."
Developer Greenvest L.C. has offered to sell 99 acres off Lenah Road to Loudoun County Public Schools for new school construction. As proposed, the 180,000-square-foot middle school would open fall 2010, and the 270,000-square-foot high school would have its opening planned for fall 2011, according to the county's Web site.
The schools are approved in the Loudoun County Public Schools Capital Improvement Plan, but locations have not been defined nor has land been purchased.
At a public meeting on the issue May 20, many of the nearly 200 parents and area residents who attended showed concern about the proposed location, Hines said.
"There is a clear need for [a middle school] and [high school]," said Laura TeKrony, a mother of two who lives in Aldie. "However, I think these schools should be incorporated into the neighborhoods that have the need. Neighborhood schools reduce traffic and fuel costs for school buses and encourage kids to walk to school."
With gas prices at almost $4 a gallon now, who knows where they will be in a few years from now when these schools are finally built, Hines said.
"Nobody has paid attention to the possibility of providing a site in South Riding," he said. "I am definitely not impressed by the way this has been conducted by Loudoun County Public Schools."
Sam Adamo, director of Planning and Legislative Services for Loudoun County Public Schools, said the two-story schools planned off Lenah Road would meet the needs of the growing population there.
"Schools are a mitigating factor," he said. "People move in and they have children. We have to provide schools."
There is a "very clear" need for new schools in the Dulles South area, Adamo said, and if nothing is built, Freedom High School in South Riding will have a student body of 2,300 by 2016.
Building the schools at the proposed site would be the fastest and most cost-effective way to deal with the schools shortage that will take place within the next few years, Adamo said.
"If you do find any vacant land in South Riding, it is zoned commercial/industrial," he said. "The county doesn't wish for public schools to rezone that kind of property. It is valuable to the county."
In addition, he said, acquiring any other land in South Riding would be far more expensive than the site off Lenah Road and could involve condemnation, slowing the process even further.
"Mercer [Middle School] already needs relief and we need to get these schools built," said School Board Chairman Robert DuPree Jr. (Dulles). "We need to get the land approved so we can build them to open on time. These schools are already overdue."
But parent Lisa Melton, the mother of one elementary and one middle school student, said it might be worth a little extra time to put the new schools in the best possible location.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense to put two large schools at the end of a paved road where you would need to put in utilities and start from scratch," she said. "In South Riding, the infrastructure is already there."
Melton said she is also worried that the school system is dealing with a situation where it is trading a lower short-term expenditure for long-term increased operating expenditures.
"I don't want my children to have overcrowding or go without a school," she said. "But if we're going to site the school, let's do it right the first time. I think my children deserve that."
Contact the reporter ecoe@timespapers.com
Need not forget the promise Greenvest made to Dulles South regarding land for George Mason University; only to pull the offer when they didn't get their zoning. There are strings attached to this offer too ladies and gentlemen. Ask what the plans are for land around the proposed location. You'll see strings.
Posted by blindman
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If you are talking about the big CPAMs then wasn't that an offer to give land to the University? This article says they will sell land to the schools. There are no more CPAMs so no land to anything that was supposed to happen there but if this is a sale then it isn't any kind of proffer. What strings?
Posted by observer
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Greenvest has a by-right subdivision application in to build 499 houses on 499 acres. I don't have a problem with that. However, they are clustering their houses and the 100 acres they are selling to the county is part of their "open space". So they in fact get to build 499 homes on 399 acres. Greenvest gets to build all their homes and sell their open space which is unbuildable for top dollar to Loudoun. During that May 20th meeting, Mr. Adamo stated that the acquisition fund for this property is $25 million. Pretty good money for Greenvest.
Posted by Bobcat
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This is clearly a case of scare tactics by a small group of ill-informed activists.
If you are successful in killing the school site then where do propose sending the kids? Are you prepared to have the children of Lenah and the transition zone being bussed to perhaps Sterling or beyond? Want to discuss traffic and gas prices then?? Sorry...it will be too late.
The CPAM's are done...they are not being revisited. The "evil developer" owns the land--apologies again. However, as a land owner they can sell their property to whomever they wish. This is now a by-right property as is Lenah Run and all the other developments coming around Lenah. Oh and guess what they owe the county nothing! That's right--no school sites, no road improvements, no amenities that you so enjoy. But wait, South Riding and Stone Ridge provide those for you! Four school sites in South Riding and one in Stone Ridge; three grocery stores, restaurants, banks, etc...What has Lenah provided?? Oh yeah! Nothing! The residents of Stone Ridge and South Riding have paid for the amenities that you all enjoy.
There are no available school sites in South Riding. Delaying or derailing(or attemting to derail) the Lenah school site by distict residents and appointed county officials is probably one of most irresponsible actions I have seen in quite awile.
The ramifications will result in far greater negative impacts for our kids than a group of folks who want their cake and eat it too.
Wake up. This is the only option and it is the most appropriate action.
Posted by jckpmom
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