When the father of a student approached the Langley High School athletic director in 2006 and offered to dump the dirt leftover from his latest construction project in the area just beyond the school’s new athletic field, it seemed like a win-win situation. Langley needed some extra batting cages, and the construction company owner needed to get rid of his extra dirt. But what initially appeared to be a mutually beneficial arrangement developed into a financial nightmare for the school.
“They cooked up a deal and they started rolling truckloads of dirt in and dumping it down, and they extended it clear out to the RPA [Resource Protection Area] down near the stream,” said Frank Crandall, a neighbor of Langley High School and co-chair of the McLean Citizens Association (MCA) Environment, Parks and Recreation committee. “Several people blew the whistle on that … they hadn’t gotten any permits from the county to do this, and the county came down on them very hard for it.”
John Goodrow, who lives on Turkey Run Road in McLean, said he and some of his neighbors noticed the hordes of dump trucks entering and exiting the Langley parking lot last summer, but did not realize that the fill dirt was creating a steep slope next to Turkey Run stream until the following winter.
“There were about 200 dump trucks coming in and dumping the trash of developers, but it wasn’t really visible until the leaves were off the trees,” said Goodrow. “Turkey Run empties into the Potomac River. No erosion or sediment controls were in place … neighbors were not informed of the work. There was no site plan, review, permit or inspection of possible toxic soil by county officials.”
The Turkey Run residents alerted the staff of Dranesville District Supervisor Joan DuBois and Fairfax County School Board member for the Dranesville district Jane Strauss, and inspectors from the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services were immediately dispatched to the site.
“I got a call from one of the guys who inspected it and he said he almost got writer’s cramp from writing up all the violations,” said Crandall.
FAIRFAX COUNTY ordered the construction company to remove everything that had been dumped, and it was agreed by all parties involved that the best time to conduct the removal would be during the summer of 2007, when Langley was not in session. But according to Goodrow, he and his neighbors have yet to see any action at all.
“Joan DuBois said that, yes, over the summer of 2007, at Fairfax County Schools’ expense, a lot of dirt would be taken out and this whole dumping would be corrected, but now it’s August and we haven’t seen anything,” said Goodrow. “And as it took three months to put it down, my guess is that it will take at least three months to take it out.”
DuBois said that the county is currently in the process of giving final approval to specifications outlined in an official removal plan.
“Believe me, they know that they have got to fix it in no uncertain terms, and the county [government] is not paying for it,” said DuBois. “We’re just waiting for the county to give approval to a final plan.”
Jane Strauss said she believes that some of the funding for the removal project will come out of the budget of the overall school division, as well as Langley High School’s renovation funds. Strauss added that she was told by county staff that the removal was scheduled to coincide with construction of a new two-story wing that will be added to Langley this year.
“Since they are about to start building the addition, I’m assuming that it will be a part of it,” said Strauss. “But it must be corrected. A mistake was made, it was something that should not have been done, and it will be corrected according to state and county requirements and code – there’s no fudging on this one.”
It is unclear as to whether or not Langley High School principal William Clendaniel was aware of the dumping that went on in the summer of 2006, and Clendaniel did not return a phone call from the McLean and Great Falls Connection by press time. However, Strauss said she does not think anyone had any inkling of just how much dirt and material would be dumped.
“It’s one thing to bring a little dirt from the ground, but I’m not sure anybody knew the extent of it until it was done,” said Strauss. “It was done over the summer and I suspect a lot of people were on vacation, and I certainly wasn’t aware of it.”