The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to approve D.C. United’s proposed project for a training facility and 5,000 seat stadium for a USL team to begin play in spring 2019, with 8 of the 9 Supervisors in favor of the deal late Thursday night.

While several steps will begin with the approval, the biggest one is that site development can begin for the more than 50 acres of land located at Philip Bolen Park in Leesburg, Virginia. This includes site clearing, grading and construction of parking for the separate stretches of land within the Park. Additionally, leases will be finalized and signed and ordinances will be amended for the construction and operation of the stadium. The Board of Supervisors also authorized the county administrator to sign the lease with the team, so no further votes are required.

A minor point of discussion in last week’s meeting about an admissions tax was resolved as the County and team will jointly ask the General Assembly for authority on a tax, which would be first used to applied to the debt incurred for the site construction, then would be split amongst the county and team.

Construction on the site should commence in the spring.