A 101-acre tract off Waxpool Road in Ashburn earmarked for a school site could instead become the location of Loudoun's first county-owned technology park.
The site was purchased by the county last year and handed over to the School Board, which is considering three potential uses: a career and vocational center, an alternative education school and an elementary school.
None of those uses would come close to requiring all 101 acres of the site, said School Board member Robert DuPree. An elementary school would require 20 acres, while the other options need even less.
"It would not be a big acreage usage because they don't have athletic fields," DuPree said.
The county has a career and vocational center and an alternative education school in Leesburg. DuPree will investigate whether demand will sustain additional facilities at the Ashburn site.
"At this time, we can't be sure which, any or all of these uses we're looking at," he said. He added that even if the School Board decides to build all three facilities, it would probably only need half of the acreage.
SUPERVISOR LORI WATERS (R-Broad Run) brought up the possibility of using the remaining acreage at the site for a county-owned technology park at Monday's joint Land Use/Transportation and Economic Development committee meeting.
"It's not a decision we're definitely going to do," she said. "It's an exploration of, should we do it?"
Waters said, the county has lost businesses to Innovation@Prince William, a 1,600-acre technology park owned by Prince William County outside Manassas.
While attending supervisors approved investigating the possibility of using the remaining acreage for a technology park, Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) was disturbed that the School Board didn't already know if it needed the site for an elementary school.
"I get the impression that you really don't have a good handle on where we are in that area," Burton said.
Another Ashburn school site in the Morefield Station subdivision is under debate as the School Board considers whether it needs another elementary school on that site.
One thing is certain about the Waxpool site's future: the two baseball fields, which take up about eight acres, will be retained no matter the fate of the rest of the land.
"I view those eight acres as sacred," Waters said.
The Board of Supervisors will consider formally investigating the establishment of a technology park at the site at its April 19 business meeting.