10 Prince William schools to get trailers for overflow students

The Prince William County Planning Commission approved the county school system’s requests for 35 trailers at 10 schools Wednesday night.

But not before several commissioners made it a point to speak to the importance of having a public hearing on the matter and admonishing the school system for not having one.

“I think the schools would do itself a favor to solicit and encourage as much public input as possible, so those decisions are made with the highest level and highest degree of public information,” said chairman Gary Friedman, who was the lone dissenter on the 10-trailer request for Glenkirk Elementary School.

“Citizen input is an invaluable part of this process,” said Brentsville District commissioner Ronald K. Burgess. “I have seen this commission turn on a dime as a result of citizen input.”

In the past, many requests for trailers, or modular units, were recommended for approval by the planning office and then approved by the planning commission through its consent agenda. Each time, the planning office and commission looks at whether these trailers are consistent with the comprehensive plan before giving them the thumbs up.

The process is called public facility review and is required by Virginia law.

But in spring 2007, the commission ruled against the placement of trailers at Brentsville High School despite a recommendation for approval by planning staff. The commission’s decision was overruled by the county board of supervisors later that spring but eventually led to a school board-issued lawsuit.

In the yet-to-be concluded legal matter, school officials claimed that these requests for approval are essentially unnecessary and have only delayed their ability, in some cases, to properly prepare for upcoming school years.

Schools Supervisor of Land Acquisition and Capital Improvement Plan Maureen Hannon said that parents and interested parties have plenty of opportunities to speak about the trailer issue through the CIP budget hearings [which are approved at the same time as the annual operating budget] and during citizen’s time at regularly scheduled school board meetings.

“The CIP does address those projections so we know which schools are going to be overcrowded next year, and the relief is trailers,” Hannon said. “And that’s all public.”

Friedman also questioned the timing of this year’s request, which came to the planning office June 30. Requests typically come earlier in the year, said Friedman, who called the special meeting in August so that the public could speak on the issue before classes begin Sept. 8.

Hannon said this request wasn’t necessarily later than others and there are a number of issues that need to be resolved before a typical request is submitted to the planning office. Those can include finding out where the utilities are located on the school property and then the appropriate place to place the trailers in relation to those utilities.

“Some years it’s earlier, some years it’s later, it’s just a matter of the time it takes them to go through the process ...,” said Schools Associate Superintendent for Finance & Support Services David Cline.

Former county planning director Roger Snyder was the only member of the public that spoke at the sparsely attended hearing. He called the meeting silly and a waste of time and taxpayer money, and said this issue should typically be resolved in the spring when the CIP is approved.

“It’s [this public hearing] driven more by politics and second guessing of the school board and the board of supervisors than a real need for a public hearing,” Snyder told the commission.
Snyder went on to say that the commission shouldn’t feel compelled to do the job of the school board.

Part of the planning office’s presentation Wednesday included the life expectancy of the trailers. Various classroom addition/improvements already approved by the school system as well as the 2011 opening of the new Kettle Run High School in the west end of the county will eliminate the need for these trailers, according to Hannon.

Aside from Glenkirk, Battlefield and Potomac high schools requested eight and four trailers, respectively. The rest of the requests were Westridge Elementary (3), Brentsville High School (3), Cedar Point Elementary (2), Springwoods Elementary School (2), Bristow Run Elementary (1), Benton Middle School (1) and King Elementary School (1).

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-878-8062.