Quaker Valley School District officials hope to obtain Leet approval of an intergovernmental agreement involving entrances to the proposed high school in the township.
That is going to take awhile as engineers from both parties address issues involving utilities, private property, right-of-ways and easements.
The 167,000-square-foot school is planned on district property that straddles Leet Township, Edgeworth and Leetsdale, but the school itself will be in the township. The maximum project cost was set at $105 million.
District documents indicate the primary access site will be 972 feet with realignment needing full-depth pavement, earthwork and drainage improvements. The secondary site will be 279 feet and will need full-depth shoulder replacement, milling and overlay along Camp Meeting Road, as well as clear sight lines by way of on-site clearing and grading.
Realignment also includes left- and right-turn lanes along Camp Meeting Road into the primary access site and utility relocation work and coordination.
Township commissioners pulled a motion to approve the agreement from its Feb. 9 agenda following a discussion a few days prior with district and township officials.
It was determined more review and language adjustments were necessary, particularly about the primary access site near the top of Camp Meeting Road by the township’s Quaker Heights neighborhood.
Part of the agreement states Allegheny County would vacate a portion of the road and road right-of-way to the township.
All costs and expenses incurred by the township related in any way to the vacating, acceptance and future maintenance of that portion would be covered by the district.
Township special legal counsel Harlan Stone said interest holders such as utility companies and residents impacted by the right-of-way and related easements need to be accounted for.
“I don’t think there are any immediate deadlines for getting this done,” Stone said on Feb. 23. “I don’t know that anybody is concerned with this taking an extra month or two. Everybody just wants to make sure that when we execute the agreement, we know exactly what it is that we’re signing on for. Everybody wants that. It’s not like there’s different opinions about this.”
The agreement was not on the township’s Feb. 23 workshop meeting agenda and may not be brought up for a vote until April.
Commission president Martin McDaniel in early February said he was in favor of the proposed safety upgrades at both locations.
“If they ever build that school there, the county is still going to do the road,” McDaniel said. “It will be good even if the school doesn’t go there.”
School directors voted 7-0 on Nov. 25 to approve an intergovernmental cooperative agreement with Leet and Allegheny County. Board members Kati Doebler and Jessica Webster were absent. It is unclear when county officials may approve its part of the agreement.
Stone said the agreement may have to go back before the school board if there are “substantive” changes to the agreement. That has yet to be determined.
Charlie Gauthier, district director of facilities and administrative services, in December said getting the agreement finalized does not impact the rest of the project’s timeline, and installing sediment and erosion protections may be the first part of high school site construction.
Calls to district solicitor Emily Mueller were not immediately returned.
Quaker Valley officials released a statement via email Feb. 11.
“The intergovernmental cooperation agreement among the County, Leet Township and Quaker Valley School District is being revised by the district solicitor, in order to add language to address certain infrastructure that is located within the portion of the road right-of-way to be vacated by the county,” district spokeswoman Michelle Dietz wrote.
“Once the language is finalized, the district will ask that the agreement be put back before the Leet Township board of commissioners for consideration.”
More information about the project is available on the district’s website under the Blueprint QV section of the “District” tab.
