Loudoun County has identified roughly 199 county- and school-owned parcels that could potentially support attainable housing, according to a staff analysis presented to the county’s Transportation and Land Use Committee. But officials caution that most of those sites are not simply shovel-ready — many would require policy decisions, new partnerships, or even the formal conveyance of school property before a single unit could break ground.
A County-Wide Land Audit Years in the Making
The findings stem from a presentation detailing the results of a suitability analysis of publicly owned land, as outlined in a Loudoun County meeting record. The results were also made available through a public ArcGIS dashboard, giving residents and developers alike a map-based look at where the county and Loudoun County Public Schools hold land. Of the parcels flagged, about 199 were deemed potentially suitable, though the same analysis determined that most parcels are either not physically developable or would only become viable if redevelopment or plan changes occur, according to reporting from Citizen Portal.
Nearly half of the flagged sites were reported to carry environmental encumbrances or conflicting planned uses, per the same account, underscoring just how much work remains before any of this land could translate into actual rooftops. During the committee discussion, Chair Randall asked staff to pin down a full definition of what counts as “land for public use,” while Supervisor Glass requested information on mixed redevelopment that would blend public facilities with attainable housing on the same site, the meeting record shows.
A Project Already Underway in Sterling
The clearest example of the concept already in motion is the former Arcola Elementary School in Sterling, described in county records as the county’s first multiclassroom school before it sat dormant and fell into disrepair. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved an amended $4.9 million loan to Wellington Development Partners, LLC and Cornerstones, Inc. to build Old Arcola School Apartments, which is slated to provide 73 one-, two-, and three-bedroom rental units, according to a Loudoun County announcement.
Beyond Arcola, a joint venture between Enterprise Development and LT Development Group has floated apartments on a county-owned commuter parking lot in Ashburn, after an earlier, larger proposal for the same site fell through, as Washington Business Journal reported. According to the seed reporting from Bisnow, county officials are also discussing redeveloping the Cascades Library and senior center in Sterling into senior and family attainable housing, part of a broader push to deploy public land to help developers build more housing, particularly for lower-income households.
Why Land Costs Matter So Much
Ben Miller, a principal at Wellington Community Partners, an affordable housing developer based in Virginia, said not having to pay for land removes a substantial cost from a housing project, per Bisnow’s reporting. His firm is involved in ongoing discussions with the county about public-land development, but Miller also cautioned that free land does not resolve all development challenges, and he said he gets frustrated when building permits are delayed even on projects where the county itself is a partner…