Decision to Build School Ends 2-Year Fight

Parents Express Relief, but Some Officials Remain Uneasy

The wait is finally over for Karen Sargent. Her children attend overcrowded schools in western Loudoun County. On Thursday night, she watched as county supervisors approved an agreement to bring a new high school to the Purcellville area, marking the end of a two-year legal battle.

Sargent said her son, a seventh-grader, has to maneuver jampacked hallways at Blue Ridge Middle School. He has told her that "you don't want to drop a book in the hall because you may not be able to pick it up," she said. Now her son and others who attend Blue Ridge, Loudoun Valley High and other crowded area schools will have more breathing room.

The agreement, approved by the Board of Supervisors on Thursday and the Purcellville Town Council on Tuesday, settles a bitter dispute between the town and county over plans to build Woodgrove High School on a 230-acre parcel just north of the town. The town had filed several lawsuits against the county to block construction, which Purcellville officials said would overwhelm roads and utilities. In September, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected the town's argument that the project required town approval, but other litigation was still pending.

Under the agreement, the county will pay Purcellville $5.78 million for transportation improvements to mitigate Woodgrove High's effects on traffic. The settlement also allows Purcellville to annex the site, so that the school can be hooked up to the town's water and sewer system.

Woodgrove is scheduled to open in fall 2010.

At Thursday's board meeting, Supervisor Kelly Burk (D-Leesburg), who teaches at Blue Ridge, described the school's congested hallways and lauded the efforts to reach an out-of-court settlement. "The kids are dealing with these situations," Burk said. "This couldn't have happened at a better time."

But Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) said he supported the settlement agreement with "great reluctance and a heavy heart."

Burton said Loudoun could not afford to provide $5.78 million to the town at a time of deep budget cuts, and he called the settlement's terms "extortionary demands."

The budget proposals being prepared by Loudoun school officials include one that recommends the closing of four elementary schools in western Loudoun if school funding has to be slashed by 10 percent or more, Burton said. He also noted that the county's library board has proposed closing the Middleburg and Sterling public libraries in a worst-case budget scenario.

"The money we will be giving to the town tonight is enough to keep all of these facilities open," said Burton, chairman of the board's finance committee. "Are the millions to settle one lawsuit and prevent further appeals worth it?"

Purcellville Mayor Bob Lazaro said the settlement was fair, noting that the town will need to make the transportation improvements.

Woodgrove and Loudoun Valley high schools together could hold up to 3,000 students, and "that's a considerable impact on a town that only consists of 6,500 folks," Lazaro said.

"Personally, I'm happy that we can put this issue behind us," he said. "It was important for the town to stick to its guns and ensure that the taxpayers of the town were treated fairly."

Parents who supported Woodgrove's construction said they were relieved that the school will finally be built. Woodgrove's opening will alleviate crowding at Loudoun Valley by the time Chris Bledsoe's daughter, now in middle school, enrolls at the high school, Bledsoe said. "She will see major improvement," he said.

But parents attending the board meeting said the settlement was a bittersweet moment. As county taxpayers, they said, they will eventually foot the bill for the millions of dollars going to Purcellville. The town went beyond what it should have asked for, said Meriweather Greene, a parent from the Purcellville area.

Hamilton resident Rob Lynch said that during the legal battle, Purcellville treated the school project as if it were a commercial development instead of a public service. "It's a school for our kids," said Lynch, whose son will probably attend 11th and 12th grades at Woodgrove. "It's not a Wal-Mart. How can you be against it?"

The board and the county Planning Commission also approved the necessary amendments to Loudoun's Comprehensive Plan and to the county's land-use agreement with Purcellville. The Purcellville Town Council approved the same change to the land-use agreement Tuesday.