Purcellville Continues Fight Over High School
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Rehearing Sought From High Court
Saturday, September 20, 2008
It might be months before bulldozers roll onto Fields Farm outside Purcellville to begin construction of Woodgrove High School.
The process moved an important step forward when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Sept. 12 that Loudoun County, not Purcellville, has ultimate control over the school's location.
Town leaders are continuing to mount legal challenges to the project, pursuing a lawsuit over plans to put a private sewer system on the site and voting Wednesday to ask the Supreme Court for a rehearing on its ruling.
It's not clear when the litigation might end.
"We'd have the dirt flying" if the legal challenges were resolved, said Sam C. Adamo, director of planning and legislative services for Loudoun's school system.
Adamo said building plans are in hand. He would need a month to request bids once the legal dispute ends, and then the project could begin, he said.
A majority of the Purcellville Town Council remains firm in its opposition to the location, arguing that the high school would strain the town's roads and utility system.
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"We had a very stark election," said Purcellville Mayor Robert W. Lazaro Jr., noting that four council candidates who supported the town's legal strategy won seats in May, defeating a slate of others who had promised to drop the litigation against the county.
The council voted, 4 to 3, Wednesday, after a closed session, to ask the Supreme Court for the rehearing. Proponents of the measure, which council member Gregory Wagner introduced, said there are contradictions in the court decision that need to be clarified, Lazaro said.
Lazaro voted against seeking the rehearing, as did council members Steve J. Varmecky and James O. Wiley.
"I didn't want to go there," Lazaro said. "I wanted to see what we could do to find a negotiated settlement."
Negotiations between county and town officials continue even as Purcellville prepares its legal arguments for the rehearing request. Some people in county government hope an agreement can be reached outside the courtroom.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to reach some kind of agreement," county Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge) said. "We've lost a full year in construction because of these lawsuits. If we can get it under contract pretty soon, we can have it ready by fall 2010."
Lazaro wants the county to pay for a greater share of what he says will be necessary infrastructure improvements to accommodate the increased traffic generated by the school. He said the county has not acknowledged the strain the high school will put on Purcellville's roads.
Traffic from school activity is apparent every afternoon as students, teachers and school buses clog roads near Loudoun Valley High School in the town.
So is student crowding. Trailers sit in neat lines in front of the school. Students complain that hallways can be as packed as the Capital Beltway at rush hour. And freshmen have been moved to Harmony Intermediate School.
The new school would relieve crowding and serve growing communities in the county's western half. A year ago, there were about 1,600 students at Loudoun Valley High.
In its Sept. 12 ruling, the Supreme Court rejected Purcellville's argument that the school could not proceed without the town's approval, adding that the school system needs approval from the Loudoun County Planning Commission. Adamo said he did not think that would be a problem.
After the Planning Commission gives its approval, the county has to lease the land to the school district so construction can begin, Adamo said. The county would be reluctant to offer the lease while the lawsuits were pending, he said.
Tagged: courts, LC Board of Supervisors, Purcellville, school board, schools
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For once Mayor Lazaro got it right. Purcellville is much more likely to gain concessions from the county if they negotiate rather than continue fighting in court. At this point Purcellville has already compromised their negotiation position by waiting for the Sept. 12th ruling. Make a deal before the county can ignore you completely. Build Woodgrove NOW!
Posted by fdsafdsa (anonymous) on September 20, 2008 at 11:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Just build the damn school already!
Posted by obviously (anonymous) on September 21, 2008 at 5:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Mayor will lose this legal battle, why on earth should Purcellville waste more taxpayer $$$ (the legal bill should be published)on a weak legal theory?
Go to the supes and beg for a better circulation element...our children, the future students of HS3 need and deserve a new school.
Posted by maggy1 (anonymous) on September 21, 2008 at 9:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
BUILD WOODGROVE NOW!!
If you are not sure that this is a CRISIS, ask the LVHS students and teachers!
Stop wasting money, stop wasting time,
AND STOP WASTING OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURES!
BUILD WOODGROVE NOW!!
Posted by LoudounPatriot (anonymous) on September 21, 2008 at 10:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What the commenters seem to be missing is that Loudoun County did not follow their own rules for this project and it took going to court to force them to do so. But I understand that in Loudoun County the rules are only for others, not for the county itself. If the county had obeyed their own land use regulations, a school may have been built by now. Purcellville has not delayed this project one day. What's more is that the county continues to flaunt their own regulations for building and development. The rule of law must be consistently applied for it to work for everyone.
Posted by vum1 (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 6:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Read the Supreme Court's decision if you want to know how the appropriate 3rd party with jurisdiction over the matter interprets the rule of law on the issue.
Further delaying tactics will not prevail and only serve certain political egos who should now act on behalf of those they serve.
Posted by maggy1 (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 6:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Vum1 makes very valid points. If the County only worked with the Town as it requested 8 years ago this would be over. Only if the County didn't vote to delay the construction of HS3 not once, but twice it could have been built by now. The we hate Purcellville crowd wears very thin on the folks who live in Town. Then again they are not paying the Town taxes, do not have to deal with the traffic on a daily basis nor will they have deal with the problems associated with 3,000 HS students in a small Town.
Posted by LoudounModerate (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If I was a resident of Purcellville (I live in Round Hill) I would be livid over the town's willingness to throw millions of dollars in legal fees at this fight.
Lazarro and bunch are doing nothing but hurting the kids of Western Loudoun. Meanwhile they're totally ignoring other problems, like the fact that the 7-11 on the eastern side of town is now Herndon West with all of the illegals. Nice job.
Posted by SavedByZero (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 10:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If the County had simply supported the original proposal of a ByPass interchange at Hillsboro Road, I doubt this conflict would ever have gone so far.
The County should be on the hook for contributing more to the Town because the distribution of students in western Loudoun, based on LCPS enrollment projections for 2011-2012 (the only data available to me by planning zone) are as follows: Round Hill 28%, Purcellville 21%, Lovettsville 15%, Hamilton 11%, Waterford 8%, Middleburg/Philomont 6%, Lincoln 6% and Hillsboro 5%. Therefore, County officials need to understand that when they decide to put all these children (that is 4906 children by 2011) that live across an expanse of over 80 square miles in the immediate vicinity of Purcellville (or even 4 miles from it), people like me will keep going into that Town (for goods and services) as we live our lives around our children. "
Posted by stinger (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 11:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Do not build this school. Bus them to sterling!
Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 12:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Saved,
If I was a resident of Roundhill I would also want Purcellville to get saddled with all of the negatives (traffic, water issues, etc)that we will be faced with because of the new school. Fortunatley, enough of us who actually live in Purcellville and will have to live with those problems voted to support "our" town council in their quest to get the county to help alleviate some of the problems we have been discussing for the past 8 years. Jim Burton and folks like yourself are hurting the kids of western loudoun by not demanding that the school board listen to community concerns when they arise. It is amazing that its the folks that live outside town are the ones screaming the loudest when they dont have a dog in this fight.
Posted by jjkbird (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 12:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Just build the damn school already !!!! Just not at Fields Farm !!!!!!!
Posted by jjkbird (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 12:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Build Woodgrove now and put it in Lovettsville where it belongs !!!!!!!!
Posted by jjkbird (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 12:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
jjkbird - what's done is done. Your Town Council has conditionally agreed to host so I hope you will re-consider. If the County would come to the plate with measures that will significantly mitigate the impacts - like build the roads, then hopefully the best of a bad situation can be realized. That is, these children will finally have a school and traffic flow in the commercial center of western Loudoun will see relief. The next schools (HS/MS-10) really do belong in Lovettsville. Unfortunately influential officials in the County and LCPS are joining the list of NIMBYs and are successfully eliminating viable Lovettsville area sites. What's more, LCPS have had their sights on land in Wheatland for years. I'll warn you, that area is closer to Purcellville than Lovettsville. So get ready for even more traffic coming your way if HS/MS-10 are sited in the Wheatland area because it's only ~4 miles north of Pville.
Posted by stinger (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 4:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have a question....who approved all of these houses that all of these children live in? Everytime I go into Purcellville I seem to run into new housing developments.
Posted by bstokes (anonymous) on September 22, 2008 at 8:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To jjkbird: Lovettsville's HS is not planned for several years because of the growth. I live in Lovettsville and welcome a HS there but it further down the road and the delay in "starting over" is another 4-5 years and the students in Western Loudoun don't have that time.
To Funnyguyva: Busing to Sterling is not an option - busing to the new Tuscarora HS in Leesburg is - and that is were P'ville town limit students will go if Woodgrove is not built. My kid already rides for over an hour so I think P'V kids should do so also!! Once P'V kids are at a greater stake maybe the town will get rid of the fat cats wasting $$ on this legal battle. (Town residents are paying both sides of this legal fight!)
To Maggie1 & stinger - You Rock!! Build it now! WoodgroveNow.com
Posted by DriversFriend (anonymous) on September 24, 2008 at 9:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Correction in earlier statement. The northwest tier (presumed HS-10 boundary area north of Rte 9) is over 80 sq mi. The current Loudoun Valley boundary area (the area from which estimated 4,906 mid/high school students will come) covers over 200 square miles! That is alot of traffic to funnel into an area being served with the current road network.
Posted by stinger (anonymous) on September 24, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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