Several mayors of the Western Loudoun towns met with members of the board of supervisors and school board in Purcellville on Friday, Dec. 10, to "roll up their sleeves" and get to work on finding a solution to the problem of finding a suitable location for the next Western Loudoun County high school.

In attendance were the mayors of Purcellville, Round Hill and Hillsboro, supervisors Jim Burton and Sally Kurtz, school board members John Andrews, Priscilla Godfrey and Tom Reed, superintendent Ed Hatrick, school planner Sam Adamo, and several town council members from Purcellville and Round Hill, as well as a number of interested citizens.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss in detail the sites that the school board has looked at thus far, and to start to look seriously at the pros and cons of each to come to a workable solution. (List | Map)

Round Hill Mayor Frank Etro began the discussion of specific sites by saying that he had just received a letter from Mrs. Brown, the owner of the parcel on Rt. 7 business between Round Hill and Purcellville, adjacent to Franklin Park, which he had been advocating strongly since the first meeting. In her letter, Mrs. Brown stated that the house on the property is her family home and that she and her husband intend to spend more time there, not less, in the coming years. Her letter implied that she had no interest in selling the property. Given that the school board is loathe to condemn property that is being lived on, it was agreed that this property was now "off the table."

Likewise, the permanent conservation easements on the Lonas property -- north of town on Bell Road -- were called "show stoppers," as neither the school board members or supervisors seemed likely to try to wage a legal battle to have the easements removed.

Considering the show of support he has received in the last few weeks, however, Etro reiterated his belief that residents of the Round Hill community are strongly in favor of building the high school in the Round Hill area and noted that the school board would be facing quite a fight from the western part of western Loudoun County were the school built east of Hamilton.

Consequently, Etro asked the School Board and Board of Supervisors to examine the possibility of a third Round Hill site -- Franklin Park itself. Using some of Franklin Park's 200 acres as a school site would still have all the advantages of the Brown property (shared school/public facilities, transportation access, geographical proximity to the area's growth), plus the County already owns it. Furthermore, any fields lost at Franklin Park could then be replaced by developing athletic fields at Fields Farm north of Purcellville.

This suggestion was met with questions about the amount of money the County has already spent developing Franklin Park as a recreational facility and remarks about the buildability of the land (hilly/floodplain). Supervisor Burton agreed, however, to conduct a quick feasibility study of the property.

Purcellville's Mayor Bill Druhan then reviewed the sites in the Purcellville area that the school board has studied. He remarked that Fields Farm north of Purcellville has problems but is "not off the table." James Farm has utility and traffic issues, and the owner is not interested in selling, but that this site cannot be totally ruled out. The Roncaglione property has insufficient access, but since it is within Purcellville's JLMA and utilities could be provided, it is still a possibility.

School Board Chairman John Andrews then added his assessments of the properties mentioned, seconding comments that both the Brown and Lonas properties were no longer options. He added that the review of the list had been "a good exercise." He seemed encouraged that Purcellville still considered Fields Farm a possibility.

Andrews added details on the Hamilton sites. He stated that the Harmony Intermediate School property is too small, and adjacent property owners are unwilling sellers; consequently, this site was ruled out. The Nichols property is still being evaluated, though no one from the County has been allowed physical access to the site yet. A traffic study for the area is due to be released sometime in January.

Much of the remainder of the meeting was spent discussing the possibility of building on the Fields Farm site. Druhan stated that once Purcellville's current revisions of the town's PUGAMP (Purcellville Urban Growth Area Management Plan) are completed and adopted (sometime in early 2005), he would have a better feel for whether the town could extend sewer utilities to the Fields Farm site. Hatrick said that an interchange off of Rt. 7 is not an absolute necessity for using the site, and it was also noted that if a high school were built there then VDOT would be more likely to approve and fund the interchange, which is now in both Purcellville's and the County's 6-year plans. (For additional discussion of the Fields Farm site, see the Leesburg Today article "Fields Farm Could Work" dated 12/13/04.)

At the conclusion of the meeting, Druhan listed Fields Farm, James Farm, the Roncaglione property, the Nichols property, and Franklin Park as the remaining possibilities and suggested a follow-up meeting in mid to late January, once the traffic studies are completed.

To contact the superintendent of schools and members of the school board, write schools@loudoun.k12.va.us. Priscilla Godfrey's email is qbeeme@aol.com; Thomas Reed's is tomreedatlarge@aol.com, and Chairman John Andrews' address is andcominv@aol.com. The schools planning department can be reached at lcpsplan@loudoun.k12.va.us. The entire Board of Supervisors can be emailed at bos@loudoun.gov. Supervisor Burton can be reached via email at jburton@loudoun.gov. Mayor Etro's address is mayor@roundhillva.org. 

Notes compiled by Kim Ramsey for Round Hill on the Record