Town OKs apartments at old school

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Six conditions attached to special-use permit

By Preston Knight -- pknight@nvdaily.com

WOODSTOCK -- Former students of the old Woodstock school could bring their lives full circle with the building now allowed to become an apartment complex for seniors.

The Woodstock Town Council gave the go-ahead Tuesday night for the Shenandoah Area Agency on Aging to turn the West Court Street building into its headquarters and at least 28 one-bedroom apartments for people 65 and older. The agency works out of Front Royal now.

Council members unanimously approved a special-use permit for the work Tuesday night, with six conditions attached, Town Manager Larry Bradford said Thursday. Those conditions include keeping a Civil War Trails designation on site, submitting a landscaping plan and having a stormwater capacity that can withstand a 100-year storm, he said. The final site plan is not finished, Bradford added.

The project could cost an estimated $2.8 million, and the nonprofit agency is currently trying to secure financing, said Jonathan Price, the group's director of housing development.

The agency's adult day care center and a respite center, which is in Edinburg, will move into the basement, and a health clinic and hair salon are planned there as well. Price said those services will be available to the community.

The building, purchased by the agency along with about 3 acres from Shenandoah County for $1 two months ago, will be environmentally friendly, he said. A Strasburg native, Price said he has a personal affection for the area and its historic structures.

"As an agency, we thought the building was gorgeous and it can't be sitting there rotting," he said. "And getting a piece of property for $1 from the county ... we were very fortunate."

Bradford said the town, which built the school in the early 1900s and eventually gave it to the county, tried to obtain it in 2005 with the intent of making it the new municipal building. The current town hall would have become police headquarters or been sold. Plans never went too far, however, as the town never received the property.

The agency's plan will still benefit Woodstock, Bradford said.

"We think if there's a use of it, this is a good re-use of the facility," he said. "It's creating housing for seniors and bringing 30-40 people into the downtown area."

A former high school, which also served as the learning place for pupils of all ages at times, the building had been used for School Board offices and the Virginia Cooperative Extension until January 2000. That year, the school system and extension office moved to their current locations in the County Government Center, which is in an old middle school.

Until July 2004, the school system housed textbooks and media supplies at the former high school before turning it back over to the county.

Construction could begin next summer or fall, Price said. The apartments would be the agency's first project toward its new goal of developing senior housing.

"We're really happy about it," Price said.

In December, the agency will receive a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Housing Development Authority to go toward senior housing, he added.