By Derek Kravitz
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Loudoun County supervisors could vote as early as this week on whether to kill a proposed deal for a three-school campus near Lovettsville, as pressure ramps up from a group of western Loudoun residents who say the schools would ruin the area's rural economy.
For weeks, supervisors and School Board members have been grappling with whether to sign off on the project, which calls for the construction of elementary, middle and high schools on 170 acres in the Wheatland Farm community along Route 287 and north of Route 9.
Last week, Leesburg developer Salvatore J. Cangiano agreed to reduce his price for 160 acres of the property from $9.9 million to $7.6 million, bowing to concerns from residents who said his original $62,000-per-acre asking price was too high. Cattle farmer Alvin Burgess, who has agreed to sell 10 acres to the county for about $1.5 million, also said he would reduce his asking price, by 10 percent.
Wayde B. Byard, a spokesman for the Loudoun school system, said Cangiano dropped his price because of his "interest in education." Cangiano also has filed applications with the county to subdivide the surrounding land for dozens of single-family houses on lots ranging from one to more than 20 acres.
Still, the lower sales price did little to assuage growing criticism from Lovettsville area farmers who say the three schools and their 4,000 students would bring traffic congestion, create water shortages and otherwise damage the area's scenic rural environment.
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"The School Board has maintained all along that they required absolute secrecy with this process to make these amazing, hard-nosed decisions," said Ellen Polishuk, a co-owner of the 180-acre Potomac Vegetable Farms and a member of the Wheatland Alliance, an advocacy group made up of area farmers. "They said they needed this powerful negotiating position, but instead they just look like fools."
The plan initially gained support from the School Board in February by an 8 to 1 vote, and county staff members and Lovettsville Mayor Elaine Walker have supported the deal.
Since then, heavy opposition to the plan has cropped up, and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott K. York (I) and Supervisors James Burton (I-Blue Ridge) and Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac) have signaled that they would fight the proposal until the October deadline to approve the contract.
At last week's Board of Supervisors meeting, York suggested that the board might vote on the project when it reconvenes Wednesday, depending on whether the School Board decides at its meeting Tuesday to proceed with the plan.
"While the project is needed, it is the wrong location," York said, acknowledging that he gave "a nod" earlier to pursue a deal to buy the Wheatland property. "I am just not ready to go there, and I hope, at some point, the School Board will kind of rethink that."
School Board member Jennifer K. Bergel (Catoctin), a longtime proponent of the plan, said she was "alarmed" by York's comments and the possibility that the supervisors might vote the plan down Wednesday.
"I think it is very unfortunate that despite our efforts to mitigate citizens' concerns, the message is still, 'Kill the contract,' " Bergel said. She has cited the potential for shorter school bus rides for students living north of Route 9 and the lack of other available land in western Loudoun for the rapidly growing school system.
Cangiano purchased 550 acres north of Route 9 in 2006 for roughly $20 million. He later offered to sell 160 acres of the property to the county for $15 million. School officials negotiated the price down.
Critics of the deal point to the $18.5 million assessed value of the 550-acre property, which puts the average price per acre at $33,600, far less than even the reduced asking price Cangiano gave last week. Loudoun County Assessor Todd Kaufman said that his assessment, which was done April 30 and includes $3.8 million in improvements, is a fair-market value in a declining market.
He added that Cangiano has been "forthright" with assessors evaluating the land and that interest in the property's assessment has heated up in recent weeks.
"Everyone and their cousin is calling about the property," Kaufman said.
If the project is approved, an 875-student elementary school would open on the site in 2016; a 1,350-student middle school would open in 2017; and an 1,800-student high school would open in 2018.
Burton suggested last week that Cangiano might have reduced his price after Jim McDonough, a former Lovettsville Town Council member and real estate agent, offered a 108-acre site on the edge of town for roughly $5.9 million two weeks ago.
The McDonough site will be reviewed by county staff, but the Cangiano property is still the desired location, school district spokesman Byard said.
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