GMU Again Presses for Campus in Loudoun

County Panel Backs Feasibility Study

By Sandhya Somashekhar (Contact)

Friday, August 15, 2008

George Mason University is renewing its effort to open a full-service campus in Loudoun County, a plan that fizzled two years ago after the Board of Supervisors rejected a large development integral to the university's plans.

The university has been in discussions with "many different developers" over the past several months about potential locations, including a swath of land in the Brambleton community in Ashburn, said Jerry Coughter, head of GMU's satellite campus in Sterling.

On Thursday, a joint committee of the Board of Supervisors and the School Board endorsed a feasibility study, saying that both boards should participate in the effort to find a site. The boards will probably vote this fall on whether to chip in money for the study, which Coughter estimated would cost $100,000 to $150,000.

"There's a huge demand in this area just [from] what you would think of as the traditional college student," Coughter said. "Then there's also a very big demand for graduate and undergraduate studies for people who are coming back to school."

GMU has long planned to open a campus in Loudoun. Vienna developer Greenvest had offered in 2006 to give land to the university as part of a proposal to build thousands of homes south of Dulles International Airport. But the offer was revoked when the supervisors rejected the proposal, known as Dulles South, in November that year.

County officials have said that a full-service campus in Loudoun would be a boon to the county. Although GMU's plans are preliminary, the university officials envision a campus large enough to accommodate 5,000 to 10,000 students and offering a course of study that capitalizes on the county's resources — the airport, for example, or the prevalence of government contractors.

Several members of the joint committee said Thursday that it was in the county's and the school district's interest to participate in the feasibility study as part of a team that would include members of the business community, Northern Virginia Community College and the Town of Leesburg.

Others said they had reservations about funding a study. School Board member Tom Reed (At Large) said he thought it was inappropriate to spend school district money on such a study. Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge) also declined to endorse the study, citing the cost to taxpayers.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York (I), who did not attend the meeting, said in a letter to supervisors that it was premature to talk about funding "until we have a firm understanding and agreement to the scope of the study and its cost."

But Supervisor Susan Klimek Buckley (D-Sugarland Run) rejected that argument.

"Now is the time to show the commitment to this initiative by saying, 'Yes, these partners will help fund the initiative,' " she said during the meeting.

Buckley also urged caution on tying the proposal to a particular developer, saying, "We have been down that road before."

Kim Adams, marketing director for Brambleton, confirmed that officials with the developer had been in talks with George Mason.

A university campus would be a draw for Brambleton, she said, particularly for a senior citizens community of about 1,500 homes planned near the proposed site.

York said in his letter that officials with Brambleton's developer said they would not be asking for any increase in the number of residential units on its Ashburn property. The developer has permission to build 6,240 homes, and about 2,300 have been built and are occupied.

In other business at the meeting Thursday, Burton proposed overhauling the way the county buys land to build schools so that the Board of Supervisors would have more input.

School Board members did not reject the proposal but said the county board and its staff already have a great deal of input. Moreover, they said, the county should ensure that any procedural changes do not hold up the lengthy process of finding and buying land.

Committee members said they expect to revisit the issue this year.

Tagged: Brambleton, education, George Mason University

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