GMU, NVCC Consider Expansions

Officials from George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College told Loudoun County supervisors Monday that they are interested in expanding their presence in the county, but they cautioned that it could be several years before any plans come to fruition.

The colleges are halfway through a four-month joint study on the feasibility of opening full-service campuses in the county, and the Board of Supervisors received a status report at its regular meeting.

Larry Czarda, who oversees regional campuses for GMU, said that the state of the economy would force the university to be "even more deliberate" than usual in its planning.

He noted that GMU's Prince William County campus took six years to open from the time it was first considered and said that an expansion in Loudoun might be faster or slower, depending on the project's scale.

GMU officials considered opening a campus in Dulles South two years ago as part of a development that would have included thousands of new homes. The proposal to increase residential density in that area was rejected by county supervisors.

At Monday's session, supervisors were enthusiastic about the possibility of having more college campuses in the county.

"I see this as being a huge boon to Loudoun," said Supervisor Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg). "I think it's extremely important for Loudoun County . . . to have that presence."

Other supervisors said that a GMU or NVCC campus would present opportunities for county high school students.

But several supervisors warned that there would probably be no county funding available for such projects, at least for the time being.

"I believe at some point there will be the opportunity" to fund university expansion, board Chairman Scott K. York (I) said. "The reality right now is we can't afford it. It's not a political question."

Supervisor Lori L. Waters (R-Broad Run) echoed that sentiment. Waters, one of several Loudoun supervisors who visited GMU's Prince William campus last week in preparation for Monday's discussion, said that although she found the trip interesting, "money, money, money" is the biggest challenge to building such a campus in Loudoun.

Other supervisors wanted to guide the location of the two proposed campuses, which is one of the issues under consideration in the feasibility study.

A provisional map presented by school representatives showed the area under consideration, which includes Leesburg and a swath of territory bounded by routes 15, 28, 7 and 50.

But York cautioned against such maps, saying that there were areas outside of those boundaries that might be well suited to university development, and, within those boundaries, rural areas where development proposals might prompt an uproar.

The design of the campuses was another issue. Jerald P. Coughter, one of the George Mason officials leading the study, said that three models of density -- rural, suburban or urban -- could be pursued, depending on the site chosen.