BOS vote to purchase land for the Western Loudoun Recreational Center

In the last remaining minutes of the six and a half hour Feb. 7 Board of Supervisors Business Meeting, the Supervisors came out of executive session and Supervisor Tony Buffington (R-Blue Ridge) made a motion to authorize the County Administrator to execute a purchase agreement to purchase 142.71 acres for a Western Loudoun Recreational Center. 

The County voted to buy the property, comprised of Purcellville West LLC at 58 acres and Harry Byrd Hwy, LLC totaling 142. 71 acres from Chuck Kuhn for $6,859,902. It is contingent on a feasibility analysis for the intended use of the property. 

Said Buffington, “I am extremely happy to announce that if this deal goes through successfully, we will have successfully identified the site for the Western Loudoun Recreational Center. This is a huge deal for western Loudoun County.

“I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked about the site.” He said it is centrally located and not far from Franklin Park. 

In an email after the meeting Supervisor Caleb Kershner (R-Catoctin) wrote, “Should I be elected to represent the newly drawn Catoctin District, I will be extremely honored to represent the citizens in Purcellville and look forward to continue to work on the Western Loudoun Recreation Center. Because we expedited this project in the FY2022 budget we will have $14 million in FY2024 to begin project design. We need to be ready to go so the residents can start enjoying the benefits of this facility.

“The Recreation Center will bring amazing amenities to Western Loudoun including the Aquatics Center with a competition pool, diving pool, leisure pool, spa and spectator seating areas.  A number of other amenities can also be included like a rock-climbing wall, outdoor fitness area, running track and sports courts. 

“Our priority right now is land acquisition. We are not at the juncture of deciding what happens on the rest of the property at the moment.  

“Preservation of our open space and agriculture in Western Loudoun is critical to me so that is always in the back of my mind. However, in my opinion it is too early to make those decisions.” 

The property is located west of the Town of Purcellville and borders Catoctin Meadows and Country Club Estates on one side. The property has a floodplain, wetlands, and the South Fork of the Catoctin Creek traversing the northeast quadrant of the property. The property is across from the Loudoun Golf and Country Club on business Rt. 7 where west Main Street ends, just outside of the Town’s boundaries.

According to Kraig Troxell Communications Manager for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services the Western Loudoun Recreational Center was part of the New Park/Facility Visionary Projects in the Loudoun County Parks, Recreation and Community Services Master Plan released in 2021. 

The project was accelerated by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors during the FY2022 Capital Improvement Program development process.

Funding for the Western Loudoun Recreation Center is slated for FY 2026 (July 2025). The bidding, procurement, and pre-construction phases will occur in late 2025 with the estimated construction to start following the pre-construction phases. 

For more information on the phases of construction visit the Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure Phases and Milestones page.

For construction of a recreation center, it is estimated to take 30-36 months for the center to open to the public. The design of the building and the site of the building will dictate the schedule. The entire project’s schedule from planning to completion is several years.

The County standard for recreation centers is an 83,000 Square Foot facility (per the FY2021-2030 Adopted Capital Needs Assessment), but the final size of the Western Loudoun Recreation Center will be determined during the design process. 

The major difference between the proposed Western Loudoun Recreation Center as opposed to the existing facilities is that it will not have preschool classrooms as there is already a preschool program serving the Purcellville area at Loudoun Valley Community Center. Claude Moore, Dulles South and Ashburn are a combined Recreation Center and Community Center. 

The size and features of the Western Loudoun facility will be developed through a series of public input sessions with community stakeholders. Otherwise, the features and amenities present will be similar to other PRCS recreation centers.

As public outreach efforts begin, a project page will be launched at loudoun.gov/capitalprojects.