What a bunch of imbeciles. My-tax-dollar-wasting imbeciles.
Leesburg Today reports that the School Board voted to purchase 100 acres of land in the Rt. 50 corridor for two schools for $10.5 million. This is ONE HALF the price they agreed to pay now basically bankrupt Greenvest for the same amount of land last year. Said land which promptly was sold at auction (when Greenvest defaulted) for a fraction of the per acre price the incompetent and/or corrupt School Board agreed to pay.
How in the world does a public body agree to pay TWICE what a piece of land is worth??? Just like they agreed to pay way more than current value for the bogus Wheatland deal. John Stevens was the lone dissenting vote and at least he understands (I think) that the school’s site acquisition process is irretrievably broken.
Supervisors what in the hell are you waiting for in taking this responsibility from these imbeciles? There’s talk of having a study performed to evaluate combining county and school land acquisition processes. That would only be a waste of time and money when we can afford neither. EVERYONE knows this process is broken. Get it done. Now.
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Oct 28th by Loudoun Insider
LI, until the process is statutorily removed from the school board and transferred to the BoS, all Stevens appears to be doing is refusing to do his state-mandated job.
(What IS it with that name Stevens? lol)
This is actually a good site, and fulfills what was said when the BoS turned down a Comp Plan compliant Lenah: middle school near South Riding, High School near Stone Ridge.
It has zero to do with Greenvest, and from what I’ve heard, the contract price is below the assessed value of the land.
The only two problems may be that A) the Dulles commissioner will stop at nothing to derail the CTP, removing in the process any improvements to eastern Route 50, killing what she can of 659 relocated, etc, and B) the little group is still trying to push Lambert, which also tries to get the TriCounty Parkway process reopened (at vast waste of tax dollars–reopening will only plow the same ground again, no doubt resulting in the same selection by the CTB. Wetlands on alignment F preclude any state or federal funding for the road.)
Moving all schools to TR1 or TR3 on outdated alignment F may sound very nice to about 5 people, but the Goshen assemblage is a good one, and Miller and Chaloux should make good on their grandstanding during Lenah and fasttrack this site for the high school.
I think the site has promise and indeed has nothing to do with Greenvest. My main point here is that it proves how inflated the contract price for Lenah was in the current market. Thank God Lenah was squashed by the BOS – they ended up with a better site for half the price!
Does it have central utilities? Is there pedestrian potential? Has LCPS been talking with constituents in that area to pave the way for support or will there be a protest? Is this the best place for the next high school considering current overcrowding at Broad Run and Stone Bridge – e.g., is Tuscarora further from Briar Woods than Broad Run?
Sidebar – So what element of Hatrick’s contract do you suppose SB is conferring in their Special Meeting tonight at 6pm, see Announcements at http://cmsweb1.loudoun.k12.va.us/loudoun/site/default.asp
I have no details, and the article is lacking.
Who knows about Hatrick’s contract, they’re probably trying to figure out how to give him more money and more trips abroad. Since Hatrick really runs the show, I’m sure he called the meeting.
Hornet, to answer your questions as a Stone Ridge resident:
The Goshen site, I believe, is between the old and new Arcola elementary school sites – lightly populated but close to Stone Ridge, Kirkpatrick Farms, and all the other Gum Spring Road developments – and yes, near Lenah but not in Lenah (and close to Braddock Road but not on Braddock Road – just off of 50). Close to where the new Corpus Christi church is planned, I think…
Don’t know about utilities, but being close to Stone Ridge it shouldn’t be an issue. Probably the best place in Dulles South in terms of overcrowding at Freedom, but certainly a lengthy drive from Broad Run and Stone Bridge. Unlikely that any students would be walking to the site from existing developments, however…
Isn’t part of the assemblage in Stone Ridge? I may be wrong, but I believe part of it is some of the land Van Metre was offering during Lenah.
Yes it has utilities, and I think does have ped potential–certainly more than MS5! lol
As for residents in the area, anyone care to bet some Stone Ridge residents would go ballistic if, after being told during Lenah that a site nearer them was better even if it meant delay of schools, any of the usual protest group in Dulles south were to decide this didn’t suit them.
If you pull out a map and go west past new Arcola, and get out to 659 relocated (basically just past the powerlines, that’s pretty much where it is.
Ms Munsey, looking at an aerial map, powerlines run east of new Arcola ES so am confused on where this site is. Leesburg2day’s new video map is absolutely worthless. Goshen Road looks to be <1.5 miles west of Freedom HS. May be a great site for a high school at some point in the future, but it would seem that overcrowding at Broad Run and Stone Bridge is FAR more pressing than that of Freedom or Briar Woods. Dulles South needs to wait its turn after Ashburn. Of course Ashburn is represented on the School Board by a logical renegade not the powerful Chairman, who makes an interesting observation about the site as quoted in the Leesburg2day article, "DuPree said that the property is an ideal location as it sits within an existing community and close to approved development where home
construction has yet to begin." "within an existing community"? – LOL sure not obvious from aerial map! Why is it that his proposals often end up being taxpayer funded amenities for players in the development industry? If an approved development is about to begin, where is their proffered site? Of all places in the County, new development in Dulles South should be able to pay for itself with proferred school sites. Period.
DOn’t look now LI but this is essentially a post praising Supervisor Stevens R. Miller, the illustrious representative of the Dulles District and soon to be state Delegate from the 86th state House District. Supervisor Miller led the charge against the Greenvest schools. He saved the county money.
Suck on that Barbara Munsey.
hornet, if you go due west of new Arcola and due south of old Arcola, the lines will pretty much meet at the assemblage.
Part of the assemblage comes from existing approved Stone Ridge, which not only has hundreds of occupied homes, but is approved for hundreds more, some of which will come off the books if this site does turn into schools.
Schools are actually taxpayer-funded services for the people who live in developments, who also pay taxes.
HS7, the second Dulles south high school, has already received voter approval to both buy land and bond the construction of the facility, so those are sunk costs in the budget.
The joint school board/BoS committee has determined that the fourth Ashburn high school should open in 2014 (HS7 is already one year late at current projected opening of 2012 if this site is approved) and should be located north of the Greenway to serve northern Ashburn and the Route 7 corridor.
That fourth high school does not yet have a site, nor has it yet gone to referendum to fund construction.
Dulles south saw over 2000 by right units during the 99 BoS’ tenure, none of which brought profferred anything, but nevertheless have kids who need school seats too.
I would suggest checking the minutes of the joint committee to see where the north Ashburn high school proposal stands in the planning process.
Praise Stevens (and what a strangely formal religious-sounding name), you mean when he took action against public services in his own district in order to push a less dense site with no roads or utilities that Del. Caputo’s relative was interested in for a non-permitted commercial development use?
Lots of people have been sucking on that ever since.
You have a nice day now.
Ms Munsey – four Ashburn high schools? What are you referring to? The only ones I know of are Stone Bridge and Broad Run. Just because Dupree succeeded for Dulles constituents the placement of HS-7 on the CIP/bond referendums before HS-6 (sometime AFTER the HS-6/-7 numerical designations were given), doesn’t mean HS-7 is more critical than HS-6. I do see your point, sufficent land wasn’t proferred, so shame shame on the Myers/Towe Board. Well, actually sufficient land probably was proferred, it’s just that the school district now believes they need enormous parcels now – larger than most if not all other jurisdictions in the nation. Who could ever had predicted that insanity! Fine, buy the $10M Goshen Rd site (still gagging at $100k/acre price tag though), what’s more, buy all the land needed for the next 10 years now because values are coming back up. But, expedite opening HS-6 in the north Ashburn/Rte 7 corridor. As is appropriate based on the que.
hornet, you’re forgetting Briar Woods.
HS6/8 designation is something you’ll find in those joint committee minutes. What is currently designated HS6 is the one that was attempted to be advanced last year, which would have moved everyone in Dulles, both north and south, while seats sat empty in Tuscarora.
The current thinking is to NOT build in Loudoun Valley Estates beofre a high school in northern Ashburn, which still comes after HS7.
Which already has voter approval to buy land, and to fund construction.
As for the queue, that can change any given year in the CIP. It is a 6 year projection document, of which only one year is set in stone each year at budget time. The out years can and do change each year as part of the annual review.
MS5, one of the schools shot down (for the thrid time) at Lenah, which now has a site near South Riding approved, will be the county’s first two story middle school. The land requirements for schools have a lot to do with county policy of colocation of rec facilities, and in addition the Comp Plan is full of setbacks and restrictions on environmental features. It does tend to affect the size of the parcel required for any building activity, either public, commercial, or residential, because of the amount of unbuildable land contained in any given parcel in the county.
I’m no fan of Miller but he has been a pain in the ass to the School Board, who is way worse than he is. The supervisors saved us at least 10 mil on this site. Poor Robert DuPree just couldn’t get it done for his pals at Greenvest. And wasn’t he Beerman’s planning commissioner in that 99 board? Great planning again from DuPree.
Yes Yick, Dupree can be “thanked” (or spanked) for many reasons. Does the guy ever disagree with the King? Still wondering what decree from the King the SB passed at their closed meeting.
Ms. Munsey, if co-locating parks and schools is requiring us to pay $100k/acre for land because we need hard-to-find 100-200 acre sites, then perhaps the cart is driving the horse. Better to spread out traffic impacts (and $$ needed to upgrade) and have a small contingent of athletic students ride a bus for practice a few blocks (like Broad Run does), than have an entire student body ride a fleet of busses to a site too far for any student to walk.
When I refer to the cue, I refer to the schools that are the most crowded need relief first. Dupree’s agenda to build amenities to sell new homes in Dulles has got to be terminated. Building in Loudoun Valley estates to relieve crowding further north makes no sense. Trade-in that or other land and put the facility where it will provide maximum pedestrian access and shortest bus rides to save operating budgets for decades. That is the problem w/ this SB, they are only looking a couple of years out and don’t give a hoot about saving money in future operating budgets.
If Tuscarora is going to be so empty, why did they add all those extra seats? Why not build small and add-on later when expense could be justified without displacing kids from all over the County? Distances to Tuscarora from Freedom and Broad Run appear equidistant on a map. So send future overflow at Freedom to Tuscarora, otherwise send all those soon-to-be available temporary classrooms to Freedom and Briar Woods. Freedom and Briar Woods area families have had extra seats for years so they just have to wait like everyone else. Years ago it was Sterling that had to wait, then the west, and now it’s north Ashburn. It’s called fair.
Hornet, the only queue in the county is the annual review of the CIP.
Numeric designations are assigned to specific projects, the timing of which can change.
Freedom was HS2, but briefly Briar Woods, HS4, was advanced in front of it. They ended up opening in the same year. HS3, Woodgrove, is in Purcellville and isn’t open yet although it is years overdue.
HS7 to relieve Freedom has for several years been deemed needed before HS6, relief for Briar Woods. The north Ashburn HS is HS8.
At the most recent joint committee meeting, Waters, Miller, Ohneiser and DuPree ALL supported the following motion:
“I move that the Joint Subcommittee on Capital Facility Needs:
a) finds that there is a clear need to locate the next Ashburn area middle school and the next Ashburn area high school in the general area between the Dulles Greenway and the Potomac River, and between Goose Creek and Broad Run in order to best serve the current and future residents of that area;
b) recommends that the Joint Committee of the Board of Supervisors and School Board forward such finding to each board with an accompanying recommendation that the Capital Improvements Program and the Capital Needs Assessment be amended to include such general locations and future facilities in each document as the next middle school and high school in the Ashburn area; and
c) recommends that the two boards direct their staffs to work together with the chair and the vice chair of each board or their designee to analyze and develop recommendations for locating such schools and present their recommendations to each board as quickly as possible.”
That is current policy.
The seats at Tuscarora may or may not be empty depending on how HS boundaries are set. That issue was punted last year, when every community in Dulles went ballistic over the proposal to leave those seats empty, and make everyone in Dulles move over so Loudoun Valley estates could be accelerated.
Loudoun Valley Estates wasn’t proposed to BE accelerated by Ms. Waters until after Miller led the charge against overdue schools in Dulles. You certainly can’t blame her for being savvy enough to WANT public services when Miller so publicly threw them away.
Your remarks read almost as if you are not so much supporting a northern Ashburn HS as opposing schools in Dulles south, particularly when you focus on speculative future growth and seem to ignore that the Dulles south schools have been reaffirmed as needed now for the growth in Dulles south that is already here.
Schools don’t build houses, they need to be built to serve houses, and we do have a boatload of them here and they are lived in by families with a boatload of kids, hundreds of whom are currently on buses to Stone Hill in Briar Woods cluster because MS5 is opening three years late, two years from now.
I couldn’t disagree more – new schools most definitely help sell new houses and taxpayers can’t even afford the schools that are being built now (as evidenced by Finance Committee reviewing budget savings of delaying the opening of Tuscarora and Woodgrove). So seems we surely can’t afford to build schools for houses that haven’t yet been built. My point is the CIP is political and has favored Dulles for far too long and yes I’m damn sick of it.
hornet, two things you seem to be missing:
one) HS7 is to serve kids who are already here, and rising through middle school grades that have already been outsourced to Ashburn
two) for the density planning for any planning zone in the county to change, a comprehensive plan amendment would have to be initiated by a majority vote of the Board of Supervisors.
The “schools will bring new growth” argument is specious.
I