F.C. Council OKs Fall Referendum to Fund Mt. Daniel School Expansion

By a pair of unanimous votes on successive nights this week, the Falls Church City Council and the Falls Church School Board stepped boldly into the campaign to win voter approval in a November referendum to fund construction of a major expansion and renovation of one of the Citys four schools, the Mt. Daniel Elementary.

Monday the City Council took little time to approve, 7-0, a final reading of a measure to place on the November ballot a public referendum to authorize $15.6 million toward the expansion of the school, which if approved by voters would by the end of October 2016 enjoy an expanded capacity from 275 currently (or 370 counting students currently being taught in temporary trailers) to 500.

According to School Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones, speaking to the City Council Monday night, the new project would relieve pressures on the rest of the system, allowing in particular for second grade students at the now-strapped Thomas Jefferson Elementary to locate at Mt. Daniel.

The $15.6 million price tag on the project will add up to slightly over $1 million a year in debt service, according to Richard LaCondre, the Citys chief financial officer, and $1 million of the funds would be expended in the current fiscal year, followed by $8 million in FY2015 and $6.6 million in FY2016.

While the Council took its move on Monday night, the SchoolBoard followed Tuesday night with a unanimous vote to approve the design plans of the Grunley Construction Company, as presented at a meeting last Thursday of the Architectural Selection Advisory Committee (ASAC) for the schools, preferring them to those submitted by the Hess Company.

As was explained at Tuesdays School Board meeting, the Grunley plan calls for a more complete new construction with access off of Oak Street, while the Hess plan called for keeping key components of the existing building and bringing access off of Highland Avenue.

Grunley was also praised for having a better plan for relocating of students during the construction process.

Superintendent Jones, School Board member John Lawrence and the schools facilities coordinator Steven Padilla attended a meeting with 25 members of the Mt. Daniel Homeowners Association on Monday night, and were happy to report that the reaction from the neighbors to the proposed new construction was very positive, even as concerns for issues such as storm water and parking remain to be resolved to everyones satisfaction.

But constructive discussions on mitigating parking pressures in the neighborhood both during and following construction were held. School Board member Kieran Sharpe hailed the cooperative tone of the meeting with the neighbors, as contrasted with previous experiences when expansion efforts at Mt. Daniel were undertaken.

Dr. Jones told the City Council Monday that the projections for continued robust enrollment growth in the Citys schools ranges out to a 20 year time frame, and that all the capital improvement projects on the drawing boards now, including for a new high school, are being conformed to what projections over that period will involve. It is estimated that the probable life of the newly constructed and reconstructed site will be 50 years.

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F.C. Council OKs Fall Referendum to Fund Mt. Daniel School Expansion