A Bypass for a Funding Roadblock

Voters to Decide on Bond Issue To Get Some Projects Moving

In addition to bond questions about funding school, library and public-safety projects, Tuesday's ballot will ask Loudoun County voters for the first time whether county taxpayers should foot the bill for some local traffic relief.

Two of the nine questions on the bond referendum involve proposed road improvements. The Board of Supervisors decided in July to add the two questions to the ballot after state lawmakers failed during their regular session to agree on new funding sources for transportation. A special state legislative session on transportation in September also ended in failure.

Supervisor James G. Burton (I-Blue Ridge) called the board's move an "act of desperation" and acknowledged that it is a gamble because Loudoun voters will be weighing transportation spending against other growing public needs.

"The General Assembly was unable to execute their responsibilities and left the local jurisdictions in limbo," Burton said. "So we as a board decided to ask the public if they would be willing to start down that road of using local tax dollars to pay for transportation infrastructure. I don't know what the answer will be."

Loudoun's experiment has been well tested in years past by neighboring Prince William and Fairfax counties. Fairfax has raised more than $700 million for road projects since 1981 through bond issues approved by referendum, said Kathy Ichter, director of transportation for Fairfax County. About half of the Fairfax County Parkway was paid for with local taxes and fees, she said.

One of the two transportation questions on the Loudoun ballot asks whether the county should issue $38 million in bonds for design and construction of an interchange at Route 7 and the Loudoun County Parkway and a segment of the Russell Branch Parkway.

The other question asks voters whether the county should spend $13.3 million to design several other projects across the county, including interchanges at Routes 50 and 606, at Routes 7 and 659, and at Routes 7 and 690; the widening of Route 50 between Poland Road and the Fairfax County line; the expansion of Route 659 to four lanes near the Dulles Greenway; and an overpass on Sycolin Road at the Route 7/Route 15 bypass near Leesburg.

The thinking is that projects already designed could be higher on the priority list for state funding if state money becomes available, said Dale R. Castellow, director of the Loudoun Office of Transportation Services.

Most of the transportation projects are in eastern Loudoun along congested commuter corridors, but some are in central and western Loudoun.

The majority of the funding in the bond referendums would go toward building and renovating schools for a system that expects to grow from 50,000 students to nearly 70,000 in the next six years.

The county is asking voters to approve construction of elementary schools in Dulles South and Ashburn at a cost of $19.75 million each, as well as the construction of a Leesburg area high school for $74.8 million. It is also asking for $12.4 million to continue renovations at four middle schools: Blue Ridge, Seneca Ridge, Simpson and Sterling.

Looking ahead, the county is asking for $43.3 million to buy land for two middle schools and one elementary school in the rapidly growing Dulles area. Those schools would be likely to open in three or four years.

In the past, Loudoun has typically relied on school sites donated by developers in exchange for permission to build higher-density housing. But over the past few years, the school system has had to resort more often to buying land, said Sam C. Adamo, the schools' director of planning.

With the slowdown of the housing market, Adamo is hopeful that the school system can buy sites at lower prices. At the same time, he said, construction costs have increased with rising prices for fuel and concrete.

Additional requests on the bond referendum are $9.3 million for the renovation of the former school administration building in Leesburg, known as the North Street building, which would house library and senior citizen services; and $3.45 million to buy land for the Aldie Fire and Rescue station, the Neersville Fire and Rescue station and a western Loudoun sheriff substation.

School officials are accustomed to having their projects share the ballot with jails and recreation centers, and they have not had a request voted down since the late 1980s, Adamo said. This year, with the inclusion of the transportation measures, he's not sure what will happen.

"We already know that [voters] have a finite number of resources," he said. "If they are willing to pay for roads, they may not be willing to pay for schools."