The Warren County School Board may not build a maintenance facility on the former Avtex Fibers plant parking lot without the Front Royal Town Council’s approval, the Board of Supervisors said Tuesday.

School Superintendent Nancy C. Vance asked the supervisors to let the School Board buy the 10-acre parking lot and build a school bus maintenance facility to replace the East Criser Road facility that burned down in 1997.

The board needs the entire 10 acres to accommodate a facility large enough to house the county’s 59 buses, growth and a town-required 30-foot buffer between the proposed facility and nearby residential property, she said.

The supervisors have promised the School Board they could have the lot several times since the original facility burned down. Last month, supervisors Chairman James L. McManaway said the supervisors would arrange for the School Board to get the lot after the Planning Commission rejected a proposal to use the Architectural Millwork building on U.S. Route 340-522.

South River District Supervisor Stuart L. Rudacille and Happy Creek District Supervisor B.H. "Brack" Bentley supported selling the School Board the entire lot. The School Board has gone too long without a permanent maintenance facility, they said.

Front Royal-Warren County Economic Development Authority Director Stephen A. Heavener said that, according to a town-county agreement governing the development of the Avtex Superfund site, the county cannot sell any part of the land without the Town Council’s approval.

The town and the authority plan to use portions of the lot and don’t want to hand over the entire 10 acres, he said.

Heavener said he has informally promised to sell less than an acre at the east end of the lot to David Fararr for more parking at the Kid’s Place Daycare on Massanutten Avenue for $15,000.

The School Board has suggested that it pay only $7,000 an acre, he said.

Front Royal Vice Mayor Tony F. Carter said the town’s comprehensive plan includes the extension of Monroe Street to Kendrick Lane through the lot. The town is also interested in using some of the lot for commercial development, he said.

"The council has different ideas about what should be done with that property, but, speaking for myself, I think the School Board could get by with just five acres," he said.

Heavener said the authority’s plans call for splitting the lot at the projected Monroe Street extension, leaving 5.31 acres to the west for the School Board, 3.91 acres to the east for the town, less that an acre for the Monroe Street extension and about three-quarters of an acre for the daycare lot extension.

On a motion by Fork district Supervisor Matthew A. Tederick, the board delayed action on Ms. Vance’s request until more information is obtained from the council.

Rudacille and Bentley voted against the motion, saying the School Board shouldn’t have to wait any longer for a maintenance facility.

Ms. Vance said she is becoming increasingly frustrated by the delays.

"They’ve been promising us Avtex for two years," she said. "Now it seems like they’re carving it away piece by piece until there’s not going to be anything left for us. Meanwhile, we’re paying $2,000 a month in rent for a temporary facility. That’s money we could be putting into the schools."