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Fairfax County Public Schools has secured Planning Commission support to replace the former Dunn Loring Elementary School with a four-story building designed for 900 students and 100 staff members.
The commission endorsed the rezoning request on Jan. 15, sending it to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 4. Providence District Commissioner Jeremy Hancock said the project would help accommodate decades of student growth.
The decision followed a contentious public hearing in late October and additional discussions in November. With further delay threatening to restart the process, commissioners faced a critical vote on the proposal for the site at Gallows and Idylwood roads.
FCPS plans to demolish the two-story, 1930s-era building at 2334 Gallows Road, which has served as an administrative office in recent decades. The new elementary school would rise in its place.
Historic Entrance Will Be Preserved
FCPS revised the proposal to address concerns from neighbors and historic preservation advocates.
The school system agreed to preserve the original building’s entranceway and pediment and incorporate them into an exhibit inside the new school. John McGranahan, a land-use attorney representing FCPS, said moving and displaying the large architectural feature would be difficult, but it could fit within a two-story space devoted to the school’s history.
County historic preservation staff and the Architectural Review Board will receive access to the property before demolition. FCPS also agreed to add ethnographic research to the exhibit and give the review board a role in evaluating it.
Sully District Commissioner Evelyn Spain said the revisions adequately addressed the preservation issues raised during the review.
New Conditions Address Neighborhood Concerns
FCPS also committed to several measures intended to reduce the project’s effects on surrounding communities. Those conditions include fencing to discourage pedestrians from cutting through Wheystone Court, construction noise and lighting restrictions, and a $50,000 contribution toward filling sidewalk gaps.
The school system will hold a community meeting during construction and create a process for alerting neighbors about special events. Officials will also attempt to stagger events such as back-to-school nights to limit traffic congestion.
McGranahan said FCPS was open to continued coordination with nearby communities.
Commissioners agreed that the Dunn Loring, Vienna and Falls Church areas need more classroom capacity, though some remained concerned about the project’s neighborhood impact. Franconia District Commissioner Chris Landgraf said the school was necessary while acknowledging residents’ significant concerns.
The commission recommended approval without opposition. Mount Vernon District Commissioner Walter Clarke abstained because he had not attended the October public hearing.
Hancock said replacing the existing structure was the best available approach because the property is the only viable school location in the surrounding area.
The original Dunn Loring Elementary opened in September 1939 after being built through the New Deal-era Public Works Administration. It initially served only white children under Virginia’s segregated school system.
The school was integrated in the early 1960s when some students arrived from Vienna’s formerly all-Black Louise Archer Elementary School. The school board voted in March 1978 to close Dunn Loring at the end of that school year, and its students were reassigned to nearby Stenwood Elementary School.