Health & Fitness
What to Do About Westmore
The city is holding a public outreach meeting on Tuesday to discuss options for the Westmore School property.
On Tuesday, the City will be holding a public outreach meeting on what to do with the old Westmore School. As the letter on the city web-site explains, there are four options to consider:
- Lease the property to a private organization (The school previously leased to the Fairfax Christian Academy)
- Renovate and convert to another use
- Demolish the building and convert the entire property into a park
- Demolish the building and redevelop with housing
This discussion is coming up now because the city has recently received inquiries from two entities who are interested in the property. One is a church that wants to lease the building temporarily to house offices and community groups. The second is a developer who wants to rehabilitate the building for affordable senior housing.
In my mind, both of these proposals have merit as long as the undeveloped portion of the property remains as a public park. If a developer is involved, we may even be able to negotiate a deal for them to make improvements to the park. If the building is demolished and the site is redeveloped with housing (option 4), the city will have an immediate cash influx, but we will lose a valuable piece of publicly owned property. If the building is torn down and the entire site is converted into a park (option 3) then we get a bigger piece of public space, but at a significant cost to the city.
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Hopefully the meeting on Tuesday will give us more insight into the benefits and drawbacks of each option. If you are interested in hearing more or want to voice your opinion then try to make it to the presentation on Tuesday night.
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Westmore School Property Outreach Meeting
Tuesday, October 25 at 7:00 PM
City Council Chamber in the City Hall Annex
10455 Armstrong Street