Quaker Valley School District responds to Leet zoning hearing board's formal denial of proposed high school application

The future of a proposed Quaker Valley High School may be settled in Allegheny County Court.

School district officials announced Wednesday they plan to appeal the Leet zoning hearing board’s denial of its special exception application for the school to the county court sometime in early April.

The proposed $95 million school would be on part of 150 acres of land off Camp Meeting Road. It straddles Leet, Edgeworth and Leetsdale. About 650 students would eventually be enrolled.

The preliminary plan for the school would use about 48 acres for the building and grounds. The site already has 10 acres cleared out, but the district wants to leave a lot of existing growth as a buffer.

Public hearings began late last June. There were several hearings in the evenings and at least two all-day events, resulting in about 40 hours of public discussion.

Leet’s zoning hearing board unanimously voted to deny the district’s application following about 90 minutesof public deliberation Feb. 9.

Its decision and findings of fact, along with other related documentation, was posted Tuesday on the front page of the township’s website, LeetTownship.org.

Copies were also sent to district officials, attorneys on both sides of the issue and others who testified.

District officials expressed their disappointment via press release the following day.

“We have been flexible and working in good faith throughout this lengthy process,” said Superintendent Tammy A. Andreyko. “We are disappointed we could not reach an agreement with the Leet Township Zoning Board, but now we are exploring the appeal process. Our communities and children should have access to a new high school that is an integral part of the future of the Quaker Valley School District.”

The appeal is expected to be filed in early April. The district has 30 days from March 28 to file it.

The major reason for denial of the special exception involved an emergency access road, one specifically for use by police, fire and EMS.

The board had held out hope the district would amend its application to include such a road. It had scheduled a hearing March 9 should that adjustment occur.

District officials declined to make such changes, claiming such a road would be better introduced as part of the land development approval process.

The hearing was canceled and the zoning hearing board’s formal denial was sent out a few weeks later.

“It is an abnormal risk for a school not to implement an emergency management plan that included an emergency-only road (EOR) if reasonably recommended by the first responders,” board documents read. “If an EOR reasonably recommended by first responders is not implemented by Quaker Valley School District, the risks to public safety and welfare would be substantial, serious, highly probable and virtually certain.”

District officials had said they would consult with emergency responders to include such a road.

District Solicitor Don Palmer doubled down on the decision not to do that at this time.

“For procedural reasons, we do not believe that it is appropriate to amend the application 11 months after filing it and after the evidentiary portion of the hearing had ended,” Palmer said via news release. “This has been an unusually lengthy process, and the district is disappointed that this request to amend was made so late in the process.

“Any attempt to amend the application at this stage is likely to result in an extension of the hearing before the zoning hearing board and further delay the application process.”

Charlie Gauthier, district director of facilities and administrative services, said they will continue to work on other aspects of the project as the legal process continues.

“We think it’s prudent to continue working on parts of the project such as schematic design and listening to feedback from teachers and high school staff,” he said. “Additionally, we seek local and federal grants to assist with project funding.”

The school board recently rehired Pittsburgh-based firm Thomas & Williamson LLC to provide professional consulting and program management.

They will act as Quaker Valley’s representative and work with the district’s architectural and civil engineering teams, assist in the bidding process, review construction cost estimates, bid documents and specifications, as well as other work related to the project.

There is no end date for the contract. Cost is not to exceed $444,016, with payments taken from the district’s construction fund.

The total estimated project costs for the proposed school is about $95 million.