New Sheriff's Station Under Review

By Sandhya Somashekhar (Contact)

Sunday, June 29, 2008

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is reconsidering a plan to build a sheriff’s substation on the western edge of Round Hill, after residents objected to the location and scope of the project.

County officials had planned to buy a 14-acre property on West Loudoun Street to build a substation to serve all of western Loudoun. But because of concerns voiced by residents and the Round Hill Town Council, the board will consider several other sites in town during a closed meeting this week, said Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge).

The sheriff’s substation is one of several that will be built in the county. One opened last summer in South Riding in a building that has a fire station. Another is under construction in Sterling, and one in Brambleton is in the planning stages.

The Loudoun Sheriff’s Office plans to offer services such as fingerprinting and background checks at the substations, which eventually will be open 24 hours, sheriff’s spokesman Kraig Troxell said. The hope is to make such services more convenient for residents and keep deputies in the communities they cover instead of at the agency’s Leesburg headquarters, he said.

“It benefits the community in several ways,” Troxell said. “It’s keeping the deputies within the community and increasing our presence overall.”

Opponents of the proposed location in Round Hill say they are not against opening a substation in their town. In a letter written to the Board of Supervisors on Friday, Town Council members said they are open to having more county facilities in their x community.

But they said they would prefer another location, one closer to the town’s more developed eastern side and the water and sewer hookups that the facility will need.

“We would really prefer to see it in an area that’s more adjacent to the community it would be serving,” Round Hill Mayor Frank Etro said Friday.

Kathleen Luckard, who lives near the West Loudoun Street property, said she objects to the location because she thinks the substation would ruin the ambiance of the neighborhood, which has several historic homes. Her house was built in 1889, she said.

Luckard said residents were upset that they learned of the plan only when it was nearly finalized.

“This whole thing was handled in a ham-handed manner,” she said. “It’s like we’re the last ones in the food chain to know about it. We’re here, just a little town of 500 people, trying to hold on to something.”

Burton said he still thinks the West Loudoun Street site is a good spot for the facility. But he said he is concerned about the $1.23 million price tag for the property, which the county had tentatively agreed to buy from Inova Health System. Burton said county staff members are trying to renegotiate the price.

Moreover, he said, he thinks the proposed 18,000-square-foot facility, which could have as many as 285 parking spots, is “excessive.”

“I think we can reduce the size of this station considerably,” he said.

Tagged: police, Round Hill, Sheriff's Office

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