Deal to buy land for schools rejected
By Jason Jacks
Concerned the asking price was too high, the Board of Supervisors July 1 rejected a request by Loudoun's school system to buy 174 acres of land south of Leesburg for three future schools.The parcel in question is called the Rouse property, named for the owner of the land. It sits on the southwest corner of the Evergreen Mills and Red Hill roads intersection.
The school system, which wants to build a high school, middle school and elementary school on the site, had brokered a deal with the landowner to buy the property for $11.5 million.
"The price is too much. We're not comfortable with it," said Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge).
According to a memo by Burton, the county assessor said the land is worth only $5.7 million, about $4 million less than what a appraiser hired by the school system valued the land at. A "premium fee" bumped the asking price up to $11.5 million, according to comments made during Tuesday's board meeting.
With their vote, supervisors said they want the school system to go back to the landowner and renegotiate.
"Two out of three schools we need to build in the county are in the Ashburn-Dulles area," School Board Chairman Robert DuPree said about the decision. "It's going to make our job more difficult to negotiate and acquire land if we aren't able to close the deal."
School Board Vice Chairman John Stevens said not reaching a new deal on the Rouse property could mean "a future of overcrowding" in Loudoun schools.
"We need schools now," he said. "We needed that property now."
Staff writer Elizabeth Coe contributed to this report