Where Do You Put a Middle School? The Search for a New Midlothian Middle Site

Chesterfield has known for years that Midlothian Middle School needs replacing, and since November 2022 it has had $50 million toward doing it. What it does not have yet is a site. Two have been seriously pursued, one on Coalfield Road and one on Otterdale Road, and each has run into the same practical problem: finding 65 usable acres with water, sewer, road access and a willing seller in the most built-up part of the county.

This post explains where the project stands as of September 2026, what has been considered, and what the November 3, 2026 ballot has to do with it. It is a good example of how land, not money, is often the constraint on public building in Midlothian.

The first site the county pursued was an assemblage of about 40 acres, ten parcels with several owners, on Coalfield Road between Midlothian High School and J.B. Watkins Elementary. It includes the roughly six-acre former Spiritos School property. The county discussed buying it as a middle school site around 2021 and 2022, at a price both sides have put at about $10 million, but the deal did not come together; by 2023 not all of the owners had agreed to it and the county had moved on.

The owners then partnered with Stanley Martin Homes on a different plan. Walton Station, case 24SN1115, would rezone 39.93 acres for up to 157 age-restricted homes for residents 55 and older, 111 townhomes and 46 single-family houses. The developer held four community meetings and reported little opposition.

Co-owner Joe Beauchamp, in May 2026: "If the county wants this land for a school, and I think that's the highest and best use for this land, the county needs to step up and honor the bid that they made four years ago." Miller, the same week: "If they were to offer a reasonable price for that property, and we're unable to come to an agreement on the Otterdale property, that's a viable option."

In December 2025 the county announced a proposed purchase of about 99 acres at 1101 Otterdale Road, near the Route 288 and Woolridge Road interchange and about two miles from the current school, from a company affiliated with East West Communities. The price was $10.5 million. The seller had paid $1.5 million in 2021, and the county's own assessment of the agricultural land was $392,000; the county said the price reflected an area "where development is approaching rapidly," in the words of General Services Director John Neal.

About 65 of the acres would hold the middle school, a new elementary school and the James River police precinct, with the balance available for recreation. The county planned to offset much of the cost by selling part of the Old Hundred Elementary School site at 1501 Old Hundred Road, appraised at about $4 million, while keeping the rest for a future fire station. The site is in the Clover Hill District, so the school would move out of the Midlothian District, as VPM noted.

The options the county said it was still weighing in January: buy the Otterdale site after more negotiation, choose a different site, use land the county already owns, or some combination, possibly selling other county land to offset the cost.

The county wants the three facilities together to share access, utilities and site work, which lowers the cost of each. Miller acknowledged in January that "identifying suitable sites meeting these criteria in this part of Chesterfield, with proximity to water, sewer and roads and a willing seller, is a challenge." The Coalfield Road site is central and next to two schools but is only about 40 acres and has many owners. The Otterdale Road site is large enough but sits in the neighboring district and carries a price well above its assessed value. Neither is wrong; each is a trade-off.

The 2022 bond referendum, approved by 77 percent of voters, included $50 million toward a new Midlothian Middle, half of the estimated cost. The county's July 2026 progress report on that referendum lists the schools that have opened and does not mention Midlothian Middle, which is consistent with a project that is funded but has nowhere to break ground.

On July 22, 2026, the Board of Supervisors voted to put "1 For Schools" on the November 3 ballot: a local sales tax of up to one percent, dedicated to school construction and renovation and expiring July 22, 2046, expected to raise $65 million to $70 million a year. The county's list of projects for that money leads with Midlothian Middle, "replacing the aging 1924 facility with a modern middle school" and "completing a project partially funded in the 2022 bond referendum," and also names a new elementary school for the Midlothian and Clover Hill districts to relieve overcrowding at Old Hundred and Watkins elementaries. If the tax passes, the funding side of this project is largely settled; the site question remains.

Early voting begins September 18. The county and the school division are holding district information meetings, including one for the Midlothian District on September 16.

For the business community the stakes are practical. A new middle school and a new elementary school are 20-year assets that draw families to the neighborhoods around them, and the current Midlothian Middle site is a large, central parcel on the Turnpike whose future use, once the school moves, will matter to everyone in the village corridor. We will update this post as decisions are made.

The Midlothian Business Alliance's community affairs contributors include volunteers who serve in county appointed positions, including on the Chesterfield County Planning Commission, which heard the Walton Station case. This post reports the public record and takes no position on the zoning case or the ballot question.

Last updated September 16, 2026.