Mt. Daniel Upgrades Will Cost Cool $1 Million More

A stunned Falls Church School Board learned at a work session Tuesday that the cost of improvements at the Mt. Daniel Elementary School now in the final planning stages will cost $1 million more than the $1.7 million authorized as part of the school bond referendum passed by City voters last November.

New Falls Church School Superintendent Dr. Lois Berlin, who inherited this latest headache when she took over this summer, told the News-Press that while careful calculations of cost were made in preparing the middle school construction component of the $25 million bond referendum last year, the same effort was not put into projecting the cost of adding four classrooms at Mt. Daniel.

"The figure of $1.7 million was projected for Mt. Daniel last year without a design in place," she explained, "and the scope of the design has since increased."

In particular, she said, in addition to four new classrooms, unanticipated storm water management issues, the need for more parking, added space in the main building for special education programs, and a bus loop to separate bus from other vehicular traffic have contributed to the added costs.

The School Board's immediate reaction was to ask the Clark Construction Company's Private Public Partnership group to develop a "laundry list" of measures to lower costs for consideration at this Tuesday's regular School Board business meeting.

In addition, the School Board requested a joint work session with the Falls Church City Council and Planning Commission for next Thursday, Sept. 16, in the Council chambers at City Hall to mull both the cost overrun issue and the discontent among neighbors to the Mt. Daniel site about the construction plans.

Over two dozen neighbors sat silently through the lengthy work session this Tuesday. Under the rules of a work session, there is no provision for public comment unless at least one member of the board requests outside input. According to Adrienne Whyte, president of the Mt. Daniel-Ellison Heights Community Association, her neighbors' frustrations are exacerbated by this and the fact that, when public input is permitted at business meetings, there is no provision for School Board response.

"There is no dialogue, no interest expressed by the School Board in reaching a favorable accommodation with the neighbors to the site," she said. "We don't oppose the school, or the improvement of the school, but there are some things were are very concerned about, such as the impact of the bus loop."

Whyte said that another large turnout of her neighbors can be expected at both of next week's meetings. At Tuesday, they will get to use the microphone for public input, and both Whyte and Dr. Berlin said they expect it to be extensive.

"We have tried to appease the neighbors," Dr. Berlin said. "Four members of the School Board spent an entire Saturday morning walking the site with their representatives on July 31. In addition, we've pulled back the parking area on Oak Street, we've left in the egress from Oak to Highland and agreed to a privacy fence for one resident. We've done a lot."

But Whyte said all her colleagues were frustrated at Tuesday's meeting, because despite two dozen of them being there, "the School Board did not discuss our issues at all. They were focused on their own concerns. It is clear to us they have no Plan B or C for this project. They lack a comprehensive plan for spending all this money without being sure where it will lead. They're frustrated as we are, but they're not willing to hear our proposals for a win-win outcome."

Tuesday, the School Board will vote to forward the development plan, possibly with some cost-saving modifications, to Fairfax County, where it will await approval by the Planning Commission there (although a Falls Church City school, Mt. Daniel is located in Fairfax County).

Depending on its vote Tuesday, the School Board will then approach the City Council about funding the shortfall at the work session next Thursday, and will still be able to modify the project after that.