A new school

 

At its Tuesday, April 14 meeting the Goochland Board of Supervisors held public hearings on land use matters after setting tax rates and fees for calendar year 2026.

Attendance was unusually robust requiring overflow spaces to accommodate the crowd. The most contentious hearing concerned an application filed by Michael and Katelyn Alsop for a conditional use permit to allow a school to operate on a 7.09-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Three Chopt and Board Street Roads in District 4.  The planning commission voted 4-1 to recommend approval of the CUP increasing landscaping and lighting control requirements.

Proposed new building for Acton Academy West End (Goochland County image)

The CUP was approved 3-1, Board Chair Jonathan Christy, District 1 was absent, with Jonathan Lyle, District 5 voting in dissent citing traffic safety issues. Lyle echoed remarks made by District 5 Planning Commissioner Martin Dean, who cast the sole planning commission dissent on the application. “My heart says yes, but my head says no.”

The application does not change the existing A-2 zoning. The CUP allows the Acton Academy West End, (https://actonacademywestend.com/),which currently operates in the Oilville Village’s “Plum Tree Corner” at Shallow Well and Broad Street Roads, to move the  school to a larger site. The Alsops contend that the reason for the move is that the drainfield there is at capacity.

The property in question has a small barn and silos left over from its farming days that is a local landmark. These structures are to “remain aesthetically unaltered, preserving the historic appearance of a farm in its overall form. Minor repairs and subtle changes to the exterior are permitted to protect structural and visual integrity.”

Conceptual plans included in the application retrofit the existing home and barn for school use. Phase II will add an 11,500 square foot building for more instructional space and another 5,000 square foot space.  Enrolment will be limited to 85 in Phase I and 125 in Phase II.

The fiscal impact statement only indicated the number of employees. It included no mention if the school pays property or other taxes and operates as a business or is organized as a non-profit organization.  Charlie Vaughters, District 4, reported that Goochland Superintendent of Schools Dr. Andrew Armstrong indicated that the county spends $16,595 per student. The current Acton enrollment of 31, assuming all students are Goochland residents, saves the county a half million dollars a year while providing an alternative innovative learning option. Children have different learning XX. Vaughters applauded the Alsops for their commitment to preserve the existing buildings in a world where all too often old structures are razed and their legacies lost.

Existing homes on adjacent properties are less than 100 feet from the property line. A six-foot privacy fence and landscaping will be built to screen the school property from adjacent homes. Lights must adhere to the county dark sky policy and be turned off no later than 9 p.m. or two hours after sunset.

Opponents of the CUP—the virtues of the Acton Academy approach to education were never questioned, just not there—were adjacent and nearby property owners who raised concerns about traffic issues, noise, ground water and septic systems.  The conceptual plan shows access for student drop off and pick up via two entrances on Three Chopt Road. A transportation management plan with stringent controls to ensure that local traffic takes precedence over school traffic at peak hours was part of the application and met with great skepticism by neighbors. A traffic impact analysis and VDOT report were used to support the application’s contention that traffic will not be an issue at the subject parcel, and no turn lanes were required.

Opponents pointed out that the intersection is near 825 acres actively farmed and heavily used to transport large machinery and hundreds of tractor trailer trips hauling grain, beans, corn, silage, and “everyone’s favorite, cow manure," past the school site, exacerbating the public safety threat.

Concerns expressed by nearby property owners about the impact of the school on wells was dealt with by saying that the Virginia Department of Health sanitation regulations—read septic systems—must be met. Curiously, the only mention of well capacity in the application is that the applicant must “confirm well capacity” with VDH.

All supervisors live in homes dependent on private wells, so they should understand these worries. Given the recent difficulty drilling a well on the station 8 site in Sandy Hook—where a dry hole required a second drilling—and the possibility of drought, this needs more attention. There was no discussion of recourse for nearby property owners if their wells fail after the school is in operation. What happens if the school’s well goes dry? There was no discussion about water usage at the current site to gauge, even broadly, how much water will be needed at the new site. No mention was made of the impact of the Grace Chinese Baptist Church, west of the subject parcel, on ground water either.

The county has long needed an independent hydrological analysis of its groundwater to understand the possible negative impact of new wells on existing wells nearby. Before the great recession, most residential rezonings were for land using wells. Developers often used reports from hydrologists they hired to indicate that there would be plenty of water where they wanted to build houses. A recent rezoning application for land on Maidens Road, which the supervisors denied, contended that the developer would drill wells deeper than surrounding wells to ensure enough water without any supporting data.

Charlie Vaughters, District 4 said that the Acton School is an active community partner with an operational history in the county. He contended that Acton has worked with the county to mitigate concerns and that the “horsepower in its community give it a chance to thrive.”

Lyle said that Acton is a great school, but the proposed site is the wrong location for it.

After the decision was rendered, there was grumbling that remarks made by some supervisors indicated that the approval was a done deal. Perhaps they prepared notes both in support and against the application, depending on how the hearing went. Most people who speak during public hearings use written comments or notes to make their point. It is unreasonable to expect supervisors not to do the same.

We wish the Acton School all the best, and hope that it works hard to mitigate negative impacts on its neighbors.