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New site in Dulles South considered for schools
While members of the School Board are looking into a 99-acre property in Lenah Run for a new middle and high school, another piece of property in Dulles South has been suggested for school construction.
Supervisor Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) has been approached with an offer from landowner Bradford Kline to sell his 189-acre Lambert property, near Bull Run Post Office Road south of South Riding, for $14 million. Miller requested an analysis of the property this month, saying it is an attractive offer.
"I think it's just too good a site to ignore," he said. "It's less expensive, bigger, closer to the community the schools would serve, it would reduce transportation costs and environmental impact, and it's closer to utilities."
The School Board voted in July to authorize the purchase of the Lenah site for $20 million. But Miller has said the Lambert property could be better suited for the new schools and could house an elementary school as well.
Even if the site isn't considered an alternate to Lenah, Miller said, it's worth looking into. It will be presented among a list of suitable parcels for schools at the joint School Board and Board of Supervisors meeting Sept. 18.
Schools in Dulles South are already overcrowded and many parents there say a solution is needed soon. But some don't agree with the School Board's proposal in Lenah Run, saying the schools should be closer to where the student population lives in South Riding.
The School Board has contractual obligations to Greenvest, the developer that owns the Lenah property, to continue in the pursuit of that site.
The Loudoun County Public Schools' analysis of the Lambert site states that it "cannot be realistically viewed as a substitute for the Lenah property as a consequence of site development as well as environmental and access issues."
The analysis concluded that the permit and special exception process for the Lambert site would take at least one year, and construction delays could add another two years to the project and an extra $16 million.
Contact the reporter at ecoe@timespapers.com
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