No big surprises in county CIP requests

WINCHESTER — Representatives from various Frederick County departments said Monday that they aren’t proposing significant changes in funding requests for next year’s Capital Improvements Plan.

The CIP is a planning document, formed with input from various county departments, that helps the Board of Supervisors determine how to fund building renovations, vehicle maintenance and other capital needs.

Michael Ruddy, the county’s deputy director of planning and development, reviewed the CIP for the coming year — which begins July 1 — during a Frederick County Comprehensive Plans and Programs Committee meeting.

“The Capital Improvement Plan is reflective of those capital projects that are also going to move the [county’s] 2030 Comprehensive Plan forward,” Ruddy said after the meeting. “So for some of the big, community-driven goals, the Capital Improvements Plan is a mechanism for recognizing [that] the projects that [county staff] is putting forward in some way, shape or form are warranted or needed, hopefully through their own individual work [or] as a collective through the Comprehensive Plan.”

Examples of projects requested in the CIP include renovations to Indian Hollow Elementary School, upgrades to baseball field lighting at Sherando and Clear Brook parks and relocation/expansion of the citizens convenience center for trash dropoff in Gore.

Wayne Lee, coordinator of planning and development for Frederick County Public Schools, said after the discussion that his department’s requests for next year are fairly straightforward.

“The CIP is a combination of two kinds of needs. One is based on enrollment growth and the other is based on aging infrastructure,” Lee said. “We anticipate growth in the future and eventually that’ll mean growth at all three [public school] levels.”

While the Plans and Programs Committee and Frederick County Planning Commission will review and discuss the CIP, the Board of Supervisors will have the final say on what projects are funded.

“Ultimately, the Capital Improvements Plan is just a tool that’s out there for the Board of Supervisors to know what their agencies are looking for reflective of what the community’s looking for,” Ruddy said.

The CIP will go before the Planning Commission at its Dec. 5 meeting and the Board of Supervisors likely will begin discussing the plan in January, according to Ruddy.

Attending the meeting in the Frederick County Administration Building were Vice-Chairman Gary R. Oates, Paige Manuel and June Wilmot.

Absent were Chairman Christopher Mohn and members Philip A. Lemiuex, Roger Thomas, Marjorie H. Copenhaver and James W. Golladay Jr.

— Contact Matt Armstrong atmarmstrong@winchesterstar.com