It was a busy night for the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. By the end of Tuesday’s session, they held seven public hearings, multiple closed sessions and spent a good portion of the evening focused on school construction, transportation and funding.
In a surprise final move, the board went into a second closed session to discuss removing Aquia Supervisor Monica Gary from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library board of trustees. Before the closed session, Gary stated that she was aware that the discussion regarding a board member was about her.
“I have not done or said anything inappropriate in my public comments. And I will not be volunteering to be lectured about how I exercise my right to free speech simply because some of my colleagues disagree with what I say,” she said. “Closed session, in my opinion, is being misused as I’ve seen it done in the past to others. Unfortunately, I’ve been part of that previously and I apologize for that.”
Earlier in the evening, the focus was once again on schools.
The Stafford County Public School Board requested an additional $16 million from the county for land acquisition, design and contingency for the construction of a replacement for Drew Middle School. The funding is not in the current capital improvement plan and includes $2.5 million for the school division to purchase land for the school; that site has not been disclosed publicly.
The total project cost that had been previously approved was $96.5 million.
Jason Towery, SCPS chief facilities officer, said the increase is a result of not swapping sites with Rising Star while the HeadStart facility was being replaced. The remainder of the requested funds were for contingencies and an advancement of funds for some of the design that was planned for 2025-26.
Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen questioned why the school system went through the engineering and designing process before changing the site.
“If you weren’t dead set on the Melcher and Drew site-swapping, why even go through the design phase?” Allen asked
Towery explained that preliminary designs were necessary to get numbers for the CIP, and the design was “very basic programmatic layouts.”
“Ultimately, when it came through the capital improvement plan process between the two boards, the Melchers complex, the Rising Star program there, was not approved to be reopened and built until I think ‘30 or ‘31,” he said. “It became apparent at that point that we couldn’t operate the two schools on the same site at that point.”
Drew Middle is in dire need of replacement, with outdated systems and costly repairs anticipated in the near future.
“It was a renovation project up until about two years ago. In 2023 it became a rebuild,” Towery said.
Rock Hill District supervisor Crystal Vanuch questioned whether the site selection should be reconsidered and suggested the Clift Farm Road property owned by SCPS. “What has the school (district) done to ensure our board that you have done everything possible and that’s the only location int he county that this school can go, in order to drive up that cost?”
Towery explained that the school board had looked at several different potential locations for a new Drew Middle School, paying attention to the current attendance zone and the needs in the southern half of the county. He mentioned that “large land acquisition groups…aka data centers” were heavily interested in a few of the same sites.
“The timing was such that for us to be able to get to opening day 2028 we did not feel we had the time to go through lengthy legal battles to challenge them,” he said.
Hartwood Supervisor Darrell English pushed the board to defer a vote to the December meeting. In the end, the board approved the resolution for $3,59,2000 and removing the contingency and the land acquisition from the request. The vote passed 6-1 with English voting against.
Also up before the board was a conditional use permit to construct a public parking lot with 103 spaces to serve Germanna Community College’s Stafford campus. An existing stormwater management pond on the parcel will be converted to an underground stormwater vault. The resolution passed 7-0.
A pair of resolutions concerning septage passed unanimously. The first will allow public facilities to use on-site disposal systems when an alternative is needed, such as at the Rock Hill Fire Station which will be outside the urban services area and cannot use a septic tank. The second resolution stops the practice of allowing out-of-county septage from being treated at county facilities.
A vote on a resolution that would have instituted one-time sign-on bonuses meant to boost recruitment and retention, a stipend of $2,000 to public-facing bilingual employees, and an employee referral bonus was deferred to the second January meeting.
A group of resolutions came before the board addressing the county’s comprehensive plan in regards to transportation and transportation impact fees. Transportation Planning and Funding Manager Matt Lehane outlined three phases of priority projects ranging from $215 million to over $1 billion that would be included in the master plan.
Impact fees are assessed on new developments to pay for roadway improvements that benefit them. Staff recommended an implementation date of July 1, 2025. According to Lehane, the impact fees could generate $15 to $20 million in new revenue.
The measures stirred opposition from local developers, some of whom served on the transportation impact fee advisory committee. The speakers claimed that the county is the only one in the state that strictly enforces the code and that the impact fees will deter future businesses from coming to the area.
Ultimately, all the related resolutions passed.
