Whoever thinks suburbs are boring hasn’t been to Loudoun County, until recently the fastest-growing jurisdiction in the United States. Loudoun has more than its share of real world craziness. This is the county that once tried to outlaw Christmas lights.
A more current example comes courtesy of Loudoun Supervisor Stevens Miller, D-Dulles, who moved out of his home in Ashburn and rented a town house in the only section of Sterling that allows him to keep his current job while running for the General Assembly against Del. Tom Rust, R-Herndon.
The schools in Miller’s magisterial district are bursting at the seams. So in July 2008, the Loudoun School Board signed a $20 million contract to purchase 99 acres on Lenah Road near several hundred existing homes (later negotiating the price down to $18 million) for two new voter-approved schools. The developer promised to provide roads and utilities. All that was needed to start building was approval by the County Board.
But even before the county staff could finish its report on the Lenah property, Miller declared the process “broken” and initiated his own unprecedented school-site search. Three months later, Miller and Realtor Kathy Worek, daughter of Del. Chuck Caputo, D-Fairfax, came up with a plan for Loudoun to buy the undeveloped 190-acre Lambert property on Bull Run Post Office Road for the low, low price of $14 million. The county could then sell a 30-acre parcel to Worek’s client for $2 million for a privately built sports complex and Olympic swimming facility.
Alas, the “deal” was too good to be true.
Reality check No. 1: School officials said that using the sparsely settled Lambert site would add at least two years to the already late construction process and cost taxpayers another $16 million, thus making it more expensive than Lenah in the long run.
Reality check No. 2: Lenah was already in compliance with the county’s Comprehensive Plan. Lambert contains wetlands and is not zoned for recreational use.
Reality check No. 3: At a Sept. 10, 2008, public hearing, Worek told planning commissioners that she and Miller negotiated a purchase price for the Lambert property. However, neither is empowered to negotiate for school sites. That’s a school board prerogative.
Reality check No. 4: The low-density Lambert property can’t accommodate two schools, much less three schools, a soccerplex, and a swimming facility.
Nevertheless, on Oct. 21, 2008, on a motion by Miller, Loudoun supervisors killed the purchase of the Lenah property, delaying construction of an already two-year-delayed middle school one more year and setting the high school back a year as well.
This year, the Democratic Party of Virginia is sending out campaign fliers authorized by Worek’s dad with a picture of a little girl boarding a big yellow school bus (“Now her trip to school takes two hours”) accusing Jim LeMunyon, Caputo’s Republican challenger, of wanting “to send our kids to schools all over Northern Virginia.”
“Do they think it’s wise to send this mailing to precincts where kids are on buses already because Caputo’s kid helped Miller screw us out of two schools?” one South Riding parent asked in disbelief?
Miller also wants to take his suburban brand of cronyism and back-room deal making, seasoned with contempt for the intelligence of the public, to Richmond. In a state that’s been forced to lay off employees, close rest stops, and halt road construction, Miller recently wrote to Gov. Tim Kaine, urging him to buy 4,100 acres in Dulles South for a new state park.
No, really, he did.
Barbara F. Hollingworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor.
