STAFFORD — Three-tenths of an acre could delay road improvements to be made ahead of the opening of a new Moncure Elementary School
County officials are having trouble convincing property owners to accept its offer for three-tenths of an acre of property on Juggins Road in North Stafford.
The county wants to acquire the property to widen the narrow road in advance of the opening of the new Anne E. Moncure Elementary School.
The road improvements are slated for an area between Chadwick Drive and the end of Juggins Road.
From county documents:
Juggins Road, in the area of the School, is a narrow road with little or no shoulder area, and unsuitable for heavier school traffic volumes with school busses. The Board recognized this and budgeted local funds to be combined with state revenue sharing to complete improvements to Juggins Road from Chadwick Drive (SR-1766) to the end of state maintenance (Project). The Project will include widening the travel lanes, adding shoulders, and improving horizontal and vertical curvature past the second entrance to the School, and paving the gravel road surface past the second school entrance to the end of state maintenance.
The county offered the Perry Farms Homeowners Association $2,436 for the portion of the property in October. Per the association’s by-laws, 42 of the 101 property owners need to approve the sale of the property. So far, 26 are holdouts and county officials fear they won’t get their approval in time to start the project and have the road improved before the school opens in fall 2019.
“At this point we’eve been unable to move it forward further and we are a bit anxious, we need to clear right away to get in utilities this summer,” said Keith Dayton, with Stafford County Government.
Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Jack Cavalier asked to defer to a decision and offered to step in and negotiate with the homeowners association.
“I know a few people over there,” said Cavalier. “I’d rather do it this way than the heavy-handed way.”
