New elementary school planned for Glen Allen site

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported that Lavender Fields Farm would relocate as part of this land purchase. In fact, that retail business, owned by Shaun Mercer, will continue to operate on about three acres there. Lavender Fields shares its address with the A Thyme to Plant herb farm, owned by Mercer's aunt and uncle, Nicole and Stanley Schermerhorn, who sold their property to the county and have ceased their wholesale operations. The Citizen regrets the confusion.

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County officials have selected a site for the new elementary school proposed for northern Henrico.

The school, primarily designed to serve the new River Mill community adjacent to Virginia Center on Brook Road in Glen Allen, will take shape on the current site of A Thyme to Plant herb farm on Winfrey Road just west of River Mill along the Chickahominy River, north of Greenwood Road.

The county is under contract to purchase two separate parcels totaling about 35 acres there. Last night the Board of Supervisors approved two separate agreements related to those purchases.

One will allow the farm to lease back its existing 34-acre site for $1 for a one-year period after the sale closes.

The other will provide a similar transition period for the owner of an attached one-acre site – Doreen Gardner – who will have 18 months to vacate that site after her sale closes. The county will buy her land for $319,000 and rent it back to her for free during that time.

A Thyme to Plant, owned and operated by Nicole and Stanley Schermerhorn, has been a wholesaler of plants for two decades on the site. While its operations have now ceased, those of an adjacent retail business that shares the same address – Lavender Fields Farm – will continue, according to the Schermerhorns' nephew, Shaun Mercer, who operates the business on about three acres there.

For more than a decade, Lavender Fields Farm has offered more than 200 varieties of herbs and vegetable plants, lunch by reservation and a gift store. Those activities will continue, as will the classes Lavender Fields offers about herbs and vegetable gardening. Lavender Fields has been purchasing plants from the Schermerhorns but is planning to grow them itself from this point forward, Mercer said.

School system officials announced the need for a new elementary school in the area last fall, saying that the population growth at nearby Greenwood Elementary has far exceeded what they expected. The School Board is requesting about $34 million from the Board of Supervisors for the construction of the school in its proposed budget for the 2020-21 fiscal year.

But during a daylong retreat last week, supervisors expressed concerns about that budget proposal and hinted that they might want to wait until the school system’s redistricting process is complete in late May to see which school construction projects are actually critical needs and which could wait.

It’s unknown how that approach could impact the funding schedules, since supervisors will adopt a budget in April – before the redistricting process ends. The Board of Supervisors provides a lump sum of money to the School Board each year but has no control over how that money is spent.