Fairfax hired a real estate advisory firm to help identify possible locations for 50 school buses parked at Eleven Oaks.

Grubb & Ellis Company logged hundreds of miles touring Fairfax, Merrifield and the surrounding areas, and reviewed countless properties online. They came up with a list of just over a dozen potential sites, but they were eliminated one by one thanks to neighbor opposition and cost.

Here is the list of properties once considered to be potential bus lot sites.

• 3603 Jermantown Road: Immediately adjacent to residential housing
• Woodson High School: FCPS rejected due to neighborhood opposition
• Draper Drive Park: Floodplain/conflicts with sports fields
• 3400 Old Pickett Road: Abuts residential area
• 5640 Ox Road: Abuts residential/cost of development
• 11221 Fairfax Station: Fairfax County magisterial district supervisor rejected (old suburban propane site)
• County transfer station at Ox Road: County said no space available
• 3543 Marseilles Drive: Turning geometry unsafe/cost of development/adjacent to residential/school board rejected
• Barcroft Bible Church at Pickett and Main Streets: No interest in selling
• 8549 Backlick Road, Lorton: Too expensive ($3M land only for 2 acres)
• 7644 Dynatech Court, Springfield: Too expensive ($4.2M land only for 2 acres)
• Merrifield at Mayberry and Porter Road: Too expensive ($3.9M for 2 acres)
• 10966 Clara Barton Drive: Too expensive/too small ($2.1M for 1.85 acres)
• Northfax redevelopment area (along Orchard Drive): Immediately adjacent to residential area, site to be redeveloped in near future

Information provided by Grubb & Ellis Company report. Click here to read about the city's plan to move the Eleven Oaks buses to the Motiva tank farm.