Western Loudoun Recreation Complex independent of the Town of Purcellville—for now

By Grace Bennett

On June 17, the Board of Supervisors consented to recommendations for the Western Loudoun Recreation Complex’s water and wastewater systems. The center will be operating entirely on its own private water so as to avoid pulling from the Town of Purcellville. 

A public connection would have required improvements to Town infrastructure and adjustments to the project’s budget, design, and schedule, potentially delaying completion by up to two years and adding between $20 and $30 million to costs. Contrarily, the current private water and wastewater system indicates no additional fiscal impact. Staff will be moving forward with the current utility design for maximum efficiency.

“The current direction by the County to proceed with onsite water and septic is a matter of practical timing and project momentum,” said Purcellville Town Manager Kwasi Fraser. “It reflects where infrastructure readiness stands today, not where it may stand tomorrow.”

The process of designing the recreation center has involved community input; the project team has facilitated three public information meetings, all of which accepted attendee comments for review. Public feedback has been factored into the center’s design.

The Western Loudoun Recreation Complex will occupy 96,000 square feet of space, composed of both a recreation facility and a park complex to the west of Purcellville. It will feature classrooms, a teen center, gymnasium, kitchen, fitness center, multi-purpose rooms, an indoor running track, an aquatics center with pools for both leisure and competition, a spa, a splash play area, and more. 

Other site amenities may include sport courts, a rock-climbing wall, outdoor fitness area, and a diving area. The park portion will contain up to ten athletic fields, scorekeeper and umpire areas, athletic field lighting and fencing, public restrooms, concession facilities, picnic pavilions, bleachers, and beyond.
Staff hopes to incorporate a future library on the same site.

When considering water and wastewater provisions for the recreation center, staff organized a slew of studies to ensure that all utilities would be optimal. The Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure (DTCI) completed a Water and Sewer Service Options Study in 2024 to compare the public (Town-connected), private (independent), and hybrid options for water management.

After evaluating infrastructure needs, layout impacts, permitting, life-cycle costs, and a Sanitary Sewer Model Evaluation Memorandum, staff determined that their best recommendation would lie in a private system. This being the case, roughly 40 acres of the property would be allocated to sanitation and will not be otherwise usable for additional facilities.

The site’s water demand was estimated at 25 gallons per minute, and an Assessment of Groundwater Supply evaluation confirmed that three wells on the property could provide to the site and meet that requirement. Additional testing will take place to ensure the potability of wells and the sufficiency of onsite soils as septic drain fields.

Although the water and septic systems will be built for private usage, Fraser stated there is a chance for that to change in years ahead. “The site is being designed intentionally to allow for a future connection to the Town’s utility systems, should our infrastructure be ready and able to support it,” he said.

The County, according to Fraser, has contributed funding and studies towards such a future connection. The hope is to use a public water and wastewater connection in order to ultimately preserve those 40 acres of property and make use of their potential for the recreation complex rather than allocating them to sanitation. So, while the systems are private at the moment, the Town of Purcellville has ambitions to lend a greater hand to the complex.

“We see this not as a closed door, but as an open invitation to progress,” Fraser added. “We continue to view the opportunity to serve the WLRC as a potential benefit, not just for the Town, but for the greater Western Loudoun community.”