By Michael Alison Chandler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 22, 2006

The small western Loudoun County town of Purcellville is taking on the county and one of its biggest developers -- the school system -- with the hope of managing growth in the once-rural area.

But the 50,000-student school system is a formidable opponent, given its mission of building more than 20 schools in the next six years to educate a population expected to grow by 40 percent in the same period of time.

Officials in the town of 6,500 are seeking to block construction of a proposed high school on county-owned land just north of the town. They argue that construction requires town approval, which is the same argument that was used to challenge an elementary school outside of Hamilton that was scheduled to open next year.

So far, their efforts appear to be working. The elementary school has been delayed by a year and the high school's 2008 opening date is in jeopardy.

The town and county will go to Loudoun Circuit Court tomorrow for the first in what probably will be several hearings to decide how much sway the town can have over badly needed public facilities. It's a critical question for Purcellville, which itself has grown by about 80 percent in the past six years, and where brick townhouses now peek out among Victorian farmhouses and its historic Main Street crawls with traffic.

"If the schools are allowed to do whatever they want, they have to realize that every major property owner is going to say, 'Well, we can do whatever we want to do too,' " said Purcellville Mayor Robert W. Lazaro Jr., who was elected in the spring on a platform to stop construction of the school. "That sets a dangerous precedent."

The town's argument comes from an agreement with the county, called the Purcellville Urban Growth Area Management Plan. The plan covers nearly five square miles that surround the town and roughly spells out where public facilities should go. It was adopted by the Board of Supervisors and town council in 1995. If a proposed public facility deviates from the plan, the town contends that it has to approve the change. School and county officials have argued that the plan is just a guide.

The town hosts three county schools, including Loudoun Valley High School, the only high school west of Leesburg. The more than 40-year-old facility has 1,500 students and not enough room for all four grade levels. Ninth-graders have been moved to a nearby middle school.

In public meetings about the proposed high school, town residents have lined up on both sides. Some have argued against the school and the added congestion it would bring. Others have urged its construction and a quicker solution to crowded schools.

One resident who supports the new school organized a petition to recall the mayor.

"It's like the serfs telling the kings that they are taking his land," said Ben Belrose, a retired engineer, who gathered more than 150 signatures before abandoning the recall effort last week. "It's ridiculous. They are trying everything they can -- even underhanded things -- to roadblock the county from building the school."

And the town's fight is taking a toll on the schools.

Kenneth W. Culbert Elementary School was planned to open on 80 acres outside Hamilton next year. But when the town decided to challenge it in court, the school system decided to move it about 800 feet northeast so it would be outside the boundary of Purcellville's urban growth plan.

Although the move means the school will not be subject to a court challenge, it will still take extra time to apply for permits and the district will need to have the property rezoned. That led Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III to announce this month that the school's opening would be delayed by a year.

The 236-acre site north of Purcellville known as Fields Farm was the School Board's choice for the second western Loudoun high school when voters approved a $65 million bond to build it in 2005, said board Chairman Robert F. DuPree Jr. (Dulles).

But recognizing the town's opposition, he said, the board worked hard to find an alternative site. "We looked under every rock and explored every hill and dale in western Loudoun," he said.

Last winter, School Board members held a meeting with the Board of Supervisors to show 20 alternative sites. School planners eventually identified significant problems with each one. Hoping to be able to open the school by 2008, the School Board voted in May for the Fields Farm site once again. The Board of Supervisors approved the site a month later.

Loudoun County Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who represents Purcellville and the rural areas around it, has been a firm supporter of the Fields Farm location.

Despite the town's legal challenge, he said, plans for the school are well underway. The school system is preparing its application for a special exception permit and could be on track to break ground in the winter, he said.

"There hasn't been a halt," he said. "Things have been proceeding. The only thing that will stop that is an adverse decision by the courts."