Announcements

Fairfax County is exploring Mt. Vernon School Reutilization. Supervisor Jeff McKay and Heather Diez (Project Coordinator, Public Private Partnerships Branch, Building Design and Construction Division, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, Phone 703-324-5813) briefed fifteen attendees at this Lee District Association of Civic Organizations (LDACO) meeting on efforts to reposition the now closed Mount Vernon High School on Route 1.

The presentation (see details at the HCA web site) focused on current planning to reutilize the “old” Mount Vernon High School. The 42 acre “campus” with school and support related buildings first opened in 1939 and is located on US Route 1 directly across from the Mount Vernon District Governmental Center. When the school closed several decades ago, the property and facilities reverted to the County and has been managed by the County Board over the years. The primary occupant, a religious school, leased the school structure for $3 million a year but terminated that arrangement several years ago when the educators moved to Western Fairfax. Fairfax County Park Authority operates a recreation center on site and maintains various ball fields. There are several smaller tenants on the campus including a teen center, the Fairfax fire inspector’s office, several non-profit organizations, and some temporary County school and government functions.

Preliminary planning and outreach has identified various potential land and building uses to include overflow (auditorium) for the County Schools, a county visitor’s center, county government offices, college/university satellite classes, training kitchen/culinary school, high density and affordable senior housing, and small business incubators among others. Interim uses include:  Fire Marshal; Fairfax County Public Schools; additional Teen/Senior Center. Long term uses include PPEA Redevelopment of ~42 acres, including buildings. (PPEA means Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002.) This will be a long-range, phased development process.

The Board of Supervisors will use two contracted organizations to co-develop an overall reuse plan that will preserve the historical aspects of the property, provide space for needed county services, and generate adequate revenue to maintain the properties. The overall plan looks to close coordination with affected neighbors, the Park Authority, and public-private residential and commercial property developers. The efforts also involve integration with the EMBARK Route 1 corridor master redevelopment plan previously reported in the Hayfield Newsletter. Both planning efforts call for two new EMBARK transportation hubs- one on each side of Route 1 in the vicinity of the high school and government center.

On February 6, 2018 the County Board was expected to vote on the contracts with Elm Street Development and the Alexander Company and thereby officially set the revitalization effort in motion.