Loudoun County Supervisors Review town project requests

By Katie Northcott

On Oct. 14, Loudoun County staff presented an overview of requests for project funding from towns within the county to the Finance/Government Operations and Economic Development Committee.

The county staff facilitates a formal project request process with the towns within the county every year. The general criteria for the project include capital improvements to facilities owned by the county or located within a town, but operated by the county and local pedestrian or transportation related improvements that benefit the county.

After collecting capital projects, staff makes recommendations to the county Board of Supervisors based on funding availability, project readiness, potential for state or federal funding, the necessity of county funding for development, and whether the funding request is required for project completion. These projects will be a part of the development of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027-FY 2032 proposed Capital Improvement Program.

The county asked for capital project requests in July with a submission deadline of Aug. 29. Staff presented 11 project requests to the committee on Oct. 14. The funding requested totaled $89,969,952.

Hillsboro requested $120,000 for a renovation of Old Stone School’s east wing and $275,000 for an outdoor visitor and pedestrian/bike comfort station for a total of $395,000. 

Leesburg requested $26 million for improvements to the South King Street/Route 15/Route 7 Bypass Interchange and $42 million for improvements to the Battlefield Parkway/Route 15 Interchange for a total of $68 million. 

Lovettsville requested $266,952 for a quarter branch watermain replacement, $1 million for the construction of a Lovettsville Wastewater Treatment Plant Equalization Basin, and $308,00 for the construction of a water tower for a total of $1,574,952. 

Middleburg requested $1,500,000 for South Madison Street safety and connectivity improvements. 

Purcellville requested $1 million for improvements to the Route 287/Eastgate Drive intersection and $14 million for the construction of the Short Hill Wells Ground Water Treatment Plant for a total of $15,000,000. 

Round Hill requested $1,500,000 for the construction of a new regional water plant to replace the Evening Star Water Treatment Plant.

Generally, the supervisors were receptive to the towns’ requests. However, Board of Supervisors Chairman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) commented that it was “a pretty big price tag for one year” and wanted to know what the county’s top priorities should be.

She said she wanted to focus on improving the county’s most dangerous intersections and emphasized the importance of the water system improvements.

“If we do not have $89 million, I’d like to be able to focus money on places where we see higher serious accidents or fatal accidents or danger points,” she said. “When it comes to the water, … it is so important that we get this right because people have to have safe drinking water.”

Randall wanted to know which of the towns would lose matching funds if they were unable to move forward with a project and if the towns had pursued other means of garnering funds for their road projects.

Supervisor Koran Saines (D-Sterling) initiated a discussion about the amount of requests for water treatment plant funding (three of the six cities asked for funding for water treatment plant projects). County Administrator Tim Hemstreet expressed that the uptick in water treatment plant projects could be due to rate increases.

“In order for the smaller municipal systems to be able to afford the level of improvement, pushes their water and sewer rates up there pretty high,” Hemstreet said. “The requests, in a lot of ways are being driven to lower that rate pressure.”

Hemstreet suggested a coordinated effort to improve the county’s water systems rather than adopting a whack-a-mole approach. However, he did not think county staff would have enough details to move forward with that kind of effort in the FY 2027 budget.

“If we’re looking at an investment of county taxpayer money into these enterprise systems, is there a better way for the county to utilize taxpayer funding which benefits the rate payers in these smaller municipal systems but at the same time, provides a little more stability for the water systems themselves?” Hemstreet said.

Supervisor Matthew Letourneau (D-Dulles) said he would evaluate the projects for funding based on which projects were addressing the most critical needs. He agreed about the importance of the water system. He also said the county’s most dangerous interchange was at the top of his priority list.

“Consistently, the most dangerous intersection in the county–number one or number two–year after year after year, is Loudoun County Parkway and Route 50,” Letourneau said. “I will not support a dime to any other interchange in the county until we address the one that has been on our books for over a decade.”

Supervisor Caleb Kershner (R-Catoctin) was unable to attend the meeting, but Supervisor Juli Briskman (D-Algonkian) shared a statement he made to in an email indicating that he supported most of the project proposals, but thought Purcellville’s “need a little bit of work.”