|
Action to Date: HS-3 |
| 5/10/06 |
The School Board voted 6-3 to name Fields Farm as their top
choice for the site of the next Western Loudoun County high school. It
also said that the Assaad property west of Hamilton would be its second
choice. Several board members indicated that the threat of legal delays
doomed Round Hill's Woodgrove Park proposal.
Leesburg Today article |
LCPS website article |
| 4/20/06 |
The School Board opted to delay making a decision on the
location of the next Western Loudoun high school until after the May 2
municipal elections. The decision is slated now to be made on May 9.
Leesburg Today article |
| 4/5/06 |
More than 100 residents attended a community input meeting held by Round Hill Mayor Frank Etro
to discuss using Woodgrove Park
as the high school site.
Meeting Notes |
Presentation |
| 4/2/06 |
A working
group of Round Hill citizens interested in a Round Hill high school
met to discuss the Woodgrove Park proposal. The group determined
that a larger community input session was in order. This meeting
will be held Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the gym of Round
Hill Elementary School. |
| 3/29/06 |
Mayor
Frank Etro attended a follow up the meeting on the Western Loudoun
county high school yesterday and again discussed the possibility of
locating the school on Woodgrove park and the fields on the two
50-acre conservancy lots behind it. Apparently not all the legal
questions have been answered sufficiently yet, so the proposal is
still in limbo. He did get feedback, however, that there would need
to be strong public support (especially in the Villages and
Devonshire, as the direct neighbors) should the proposal be pursued
further. |
| 3/22/06 |
The Board
of Supervisors, School Board and Western Loudoun town mayors met for
a "summit" meeting to discuss the high school location. At the
meeting, Round Hill Mayor Frank Etro presented the case for building
the school in Round Hill, on the site of the 30-acre Woodgrove Park
and two 50-acre conservancy lots directly behind the park. The
conservancy lots are covered by open space easements that preclude
development of the property; however, it is possible that athletic
fields may be allowed on the lots. Before allowing comment on the
Round Hill proposal, the county's attorney stated that there may be
significant legal obstacles to this plan; the Board of Supervisors
instructed him to meet with the School Board's legal advisor as well
as local land-use attorney Mark Nelis to determine the feasibility
of the plan. The rest of the three-hour meeting was a rehashing of
positions and issues surrounding the high school. The Board of
Supervisors and School Board and several town mayors, Mayor Etro
included, agreed to a small-group follow-up meeting tentatively
scheduled for next week.
Round Hill High School Presentation |
Leesburg Today article |
| 3/13/06 |
At its
regular meeting, the Hamilton Town Council reaffirmed its January
decision not to provide water and sewer to a high school on the
Assaad property. |
| 3/6/06 |
The
Hamilton Town Council held a public hearing to take comment on the
proposed Hamilton West Campus (Assaad property). Many Town of
Hamilton residents spoke against the proposal while other residents
of the area at large were opposed to having children bussed to
Lovettsville, though some Lovettsville residents supported having
the school in their town.
Leesburg Today article |
| 2/23/06 |
The School
Board met with representatives from the Hamilton Town Council and
Planning Commission to preview the concept plan for a "Hamilton West
Campus," comprising a high school, middle school (Harmony) and
elementary school on the west end of Hamilton.
School Board
presentation |
Leesburg Today article |
| 2/14/06 |
The
Purcellville Town Council passes a resolution calling for the high
school to be built in Lovettsville and asking that Fields Farm, the
Assaad property and the Nichols property all be removed from
consideration.
Leesburg Today article |
| 2/13/06 |
As the
Assaad property seems to increase in popularity among School Board
members The Hamilton Town Council has agreed to a joint work session
with the School Board and staff on Feb. 23 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss
the issues surrounding building the high school on the town's
periphery. The meeting will tentatively be held at the Hamilton
Safety Center. The Hamilton Town Council has also scheduled a public
input session on the issue on Mar. 6.
Leesburg Today article |
| 2/9/06 |
With
estimated costs to build the high school at Fields Farm rise,
members of the Board of Supervisors met with the School Board to
again examine the possible sites. The School Board has narrowed the
sites to Fields Farm, the Nichols property east of Hamilton, the
Assaad property west of Hamilton, and the Miller property near
Lovettsville. There was much talk of removing Fields Farm from
consideration and instead looking more seriously at building in
Lovettsville.
Leesburg Today article |
| 2/2/06 |
The Assaad
property west of Hamilton, adjacent to the Harmony Intermediate
School site, emerges as a strong contender for the high school site.
Leesburg Today article |
| 10/13/05 |
School
Board Chairman John Andrews states publicly that “busing to Briar
Woods in Ashburn and Freedom High School in South Riding” is the
School Board's "Plan B" should the next high school not be built in
time to ease overcrowding at Loudoun Valley.
Leesburg Today article |
| 9/05 |
The Town
of Purcellville and the School Board continue to spar over the
selection of Fields Farm as the site of the new high school. Water
and sewer issues, as well as escalating construction prices and the
necessity for major road improvements are increasing the estimated
cost of building this school. See list of Leesburg Today articles
below. |
| 7/8/05 |
County
Supervisors are told by staff that money could be available to fund
the interchange at Rt. 7 and Rt. 690 to serve a high school at
Fields Farm.
Leesburg Today article |
| 7/6/05 |
The School Board voted Tuesday to
build the high school at Fields Farm.
Loudoun Times Mirror article |
Leesburg Today article |
| 6/17/05 |
The
revised annexation application for Fields Farm has qualified for
additional study by the PUGAMP committee. Additionally, the Upper
Loudoun Youth Football League's application to build a football
stadium on a portion of the Fields Farm property has been approved
by the Board of Supervisors.
Leesburg Today article |
| 5/25/05 |
The
Purcellville PUGAMP committee has initially denied the County's
request for out-of-phase annexation of the Fields Farm property, but
has suggested that the County revise and resubmit its application.
Leesburg Today article |
| 4/22/05 |
After
hearing vocal public comment, the Hamilton Town Council unanimously
passed a resolution against construction of the high school on the
Nichols property. (Leesburg
Today article) |
| 3/12/05 |
Purcellville's Mayor Druhan hosted a sparsely attended third summit
meeting on the location of the next high school. Druhan and Round
Hill's Mayor Frank Etro were the only mayors present; Superintendent
Edgar Hatrick and two members of the school board participated
(Dupree and Guerin), and Supervisor Sally Kurtz sat in the audience.
Leesburg Today article |
| 3/2/05 |
The School
Board has scheduled a joint work/study session with the Hamilton
Town Council and Planning Commission to discuss issues related to
building the school on the Nichols property. The meeting will be
held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16th, in
rooms A-6 and A-10 of House A at Harmony Intermediate School. The
public is invited to attend, but no public comments will be taken. |
| 2/26/05 |
School
Board member Priscilla Godfrey stated in an email that the School
Board has not, in fact, made a choice between Fields Farm and the
Nichols property, writing, "We are still waiting as we were when we
met on the traffic reports for both Hamilton and Fields Farm, on the
water usage measurements at three hs for three months (April at
best) at which time we will meet again with the health dept, on
further studies of the ground at Fields for septic use, and on the
full engineering study of Hamilton site. It looks like early April
at the earliest before we will have these critical facts." |
| 2/22/05 |
The School
Board passed a resolution stating that it would expend no more
resources to study Franklin Park as a school site, opting instead to
focus attention on the remaining two choices, Fields Farm and the
Nichols property. The article stated that the School Board has
decided on the site but has declined to make the decision public.
Leesburg Today article |
| 2/3/05 |
The Round
Hill Town Council passed a second resolution in support of the
Franklin Park site, asking for a comprehensive, comparative analysis
of the three sites and asking for a meeting of members of the Board
of Supervisors, School Board, planners, architects, and
representatives from the affected communities to work through the
issues involved with finding a workable school site.
Resolution |
| 2/1/05 |
The Board
of Supervisors, at the request of the School Board, initiated a
process that would allow the Fields Farm property to be annexed into
the town of Purcellville.
Leesburg Today article |
| 1/19/05 |
Area
citizens concerned about the high school meet again to launch a
petition and publicity drive urging the School Board to build the
high school west of Purcellville, citing Franklin Park as the best
available site. The F.A.C.T.S. group publishes online at
www.loudounfacts.org; the petition is online at
www.petitiononline.com/hsfacts/petition.html. Hard copy
petitions are available at the Round Hill Town Office. The next
work session is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m. at
the Round Hill Town Office. |
| 1/13/05 |
Supervisor
Jim Burton released a report on Franklin Park as a school site. It
concludes that "while it is clearly feasible to physically locate
the school at Franklin Park, there is not enough usable acreage for
both the school and the park at the same site."
Burton's
Report |
Leesburg Today article |
| 1/11/05 |
The
Purcellville Town Council passed a resolution (4-2) in support of
Franklin Park but also added that the Council does not support
Fields Farm as the high school site.
Leesburg Today article |
| 1/10/05 |
The
Hamilton Town Council passed a resolution (4-2) asking the School
Board and Supervisors to “give serious consideration to the
utilization of an appropriate portion of Franklin Park for a
location of the next western Loudoun County high school.” |
| 1/6/05 |
The Round
Hill Town Council passed a resolution (4-0-0-2 absent) in support of
the high school at Franklin Park.
Resolution (PDF) |
| 1/5/05 |
A group of
area citizens met to organize support for the high school to be
built at Franklin Park. The group plans to develop a petition,
distribute informational fliers and organize a letter-writing
campaign. A follow-up work session has been scheduled for
Wednesday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 at the Round Hill Town Office. |
| 12/10/04 |
The mayors
of Round Hill, Purcellville and Hillsboro met with members of the
Board of Supervisors and School Board for a second "summit" meeting
on the high school. During the course of the meeting, the Brown and
Bell Road sites were removed as potential sites, and in their place,
Mayor Frank Etro suggested using part of Franklin Park as a school
site. Purcellville Mayor Bill Druhan noted that the Fields Farm site
north of town was not off the table yet either.
Meeting Notes |
Leesburg Today article |
| 12/1/04 |
Approximately 45 residents of the Round Hill area met with Mayor
Etro to discuss the possibility of a Round Hill high school.
Meeting Notes |
| 11/23/04 |
The School
Board released a list of seven sites it has considered for the
Western Loudoun High School, along with a map and their assessment
of the properties. Two of the seven sites are close to Round Hill. List
| Map |
| 11/18/04 |
During
their regular meeting, Town Council members engaged in a spirited
discussion about the Town's tactics in pursuing the next western
Loudoun high school. Two sites were discussed: one on Route 7
adjacent to Franklin Park, the other off of Bell Road north of
Woodgrove Park. While the Franklin Park site has many merits, it is
unclear whether the property owner would be willing to sell to the
school board, and several Council members expressed distaste at the
concept of condemnation. The Bell Road property, on the other hand,
is for sale, but has conservation easements on it which prevent
development on the land. The Council resolved to support Mayor
Etro's effort to encourage the School Board to explore the purchase
of one of these two sites for a high school for the purposes of
benefiting the Round Hill community. A
community meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 1, to
discuss this issue. The meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the
Round Hill Elementary School. |
| 11/13/04 |
The mayors
of the Western Loudoun towns, led by Purcellville's Bill Druhan,
held a "summit" meeting with school board members and the public to
discuss issues surrounding the new high school site. More than 100
citizens attended, and many spoke out against the location east of
Hamilton. Round Hill Mayor Frank Etro spoke in favor of locating the
high school in Round Hill on a site adjacent to Franklin Park. Meeting
Notes |
Leesburg Today article |
Loudoun Times Mirror article |
| 10/26/04 |
The School
Board voted to seize land east of Hamilton for the new school.
School planner Sam Adamo is quoted in The Washington Post as saying
the school system is still examining other options for the high
school, but that condemnation of this site was necessary to
determine its feasibility.
Leesburg Today article |
Washington Post article |
| 9/16/04 |
During a
community meeting in Round Hill, Loudoun County Supervisor Jim
Burton spoke about the next Western high school and the possibility
of it being built in Round Hill. While he seemed skeptical about the
ability to find an appropriate site in the Round Hill area, he did
say he would support the concept of a high school here if a site
could be found.
Meeting
Notes |
| 7/15/04 |
When asked
at the Town Council meeting about the results of his informal survey
on the possibility of a high school in Round Hill, Mayor Etro
reported that the majority of responses from his survey so far were
in favor of the high school. Frequent concerns were expressed,
however, regarding the location, traffic, and availability of water
and sewer for the site. He indicated a desire to query a larger
number of residents on the issue and suggested that a public input
session with the school board be held in the near future.
Mayor Etro also confirmed that he had heard rumors that the school
planning department was looking at two 50-acre lots north of Round
Hill at the intersection of Bell and Woodgrove Roads. According to
rumor, the planning department considers this location to be ideal
for a high school, but that there are some issues that would need to
be worked out. In addition, the County School Board still seems to
prefer locating the next Western Loudoun County high school on a
site east of Hamilton. |
| 6/22/04 |
Round Hill
Mayor Frank Etro began soliciting opinions from community residents
on the interest in locating a high school in the Round Hill area.
Email comments to
mayor@roundhillva.org. |
