There will be little time for rest on laurels with the outcome of the November 7 election in the City of Falls Church. Winners in the races for City Council and School Board will be sworn in just after the New Year in early January, and at that time those bodies will elect the Council’s mayor and vice mayor, and School Board’s chair and vice chair for the next two years. But work toward construction of a new George Mason High School will commence immediately, kicking off a 16 month design process for the school and a 16 month marketing process for the development of 10 acres set aside on the campus land for commercial development.

Come May 2019 the approvals for the school construction contracts and commercial development agreements will be voted on, and at that point, the school construction bonds up to $120 million will be sold. School construction, according to the timeline presented by City Manager Wyatt Shields at Monday’s Falls Church City Council meeting, will occur from July 2019 to July 2021, and commercial development on the 10 acres will commence in October 2021.