Citizen group looks for other Franklin Regional towns to join Sloan project appeal
A group of Franklin Regional residents challenging Murrysville council’s approval of the school district’s Sloan “elementary campus” project want to get the district’s other two towns involved.
Former Murrysville Council President Joan Kearns, a member of the Sloan Project Concerned Citizens group that filed an appeal in late November with the Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court, requested Export council add its voice to those challenging the project.
School district officials plan to renovate Sloan Elementary into a school serving kindergarten through second grade, and build a second school on the property housing grades 3 to 5.
While some Export council members were ready to jump on board at their meeting Tuesday night, solicitor Wes Long urged caution, at least temporarily.
“We ought to do further investigation before we make a determination on being a partner to this appeal,” Long said. “It’s premature at this point to really make that decision.”
Kearns said the attorney representing the citizens’ group felt it was important for a group like Export Borough to join the appeal, “because you are affected very much by this decision.”
Export council members sent a letter to their Murrysville counterparts in early October, urging them not to approve the project.
Kearns also encouraged borough officials to attend the state-mandated Act 34 hearing on the Sloan project, which is set for 6 p.m. this Thursday, Dec. 6, at the Franklin Regional Senior High School auditorium at 3200 School Road in Murrysville.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MurrysvilleStar.