West Jefferson Hills moves forward with turf multipurpose field

West Jefferson Hills School District leaders hope to have a new multipurpose turf field complete behind the new Thomas Jefferson High School by the end of the summer.

The demolition of the old Thomas Jefferson High School, however, could take longer than initially thought, as utilities on the site will have to be replaced to keep the lights on at TJ Stadium.

School board members on Dec. 3 approved an agreement with ELA Sport to complete a design for the new multipurpose field and coordinate construction, at a cost of $56,830.

At the meeting, board members delayed voting on an agreement with Eckles Architecture & Engineering to provide architectural services during the demolition of the old TJ, at a cost not to exceed $15,000, due to questions about the wording in the agreement.

“I think this is more of a project than what we first thought,” Ryan Snodgrass, director of facilities, told the board of the planned demolition of the old Thomas Jefferson High School.

Utilities that power the stadium and parking lot, which remain in use, connect through the old school, Snodgrass said. This means the district needs to come up with a plan for relocating the electrical lines and have West Penn Power execute that plan before it can move forward with the demolition, Superintendent Michael Ghilani said.

After opening the new $95 million Thomas Jefferson High School at 830 Old Clairton Road for the 2019-20 school year, a company expressed interest in salvaging the remainder of the 60-year-old former school at 310 Old Clairton Road for its steel, copper and valuable metals.

District leaders said the process will take a while, but Ghilani said the company is willing to wait.

While there have been questions raised about the reuse of the old building — including a presentation by the Jefferson Hills Recreational Initiative proposing to turn a portion of the former school into a recreation center — the superintendent said district leaders “don’t believe it’s salvageable.” Plans to demolish the building are moving forward.

“We’ve had multiple people look at it,” Ghilani said. “If it was reusable, they would have reused it for the high school. They determined seven years ago that it wasn’t reusable for our high school, so why would it be reusable now?”

Moving forward with the multi-purpose turf field at the new school, ELA Sport will design the facility, which will include a three-lane track, lighting and bleachers, as part of Phase I.

The district talked with multiple firms before selecting ELA, because of its “long history of doing fields,” Ghilani said.

While the company works on the permitting and design process, the district will interview manufacturers in the next few months before selecting a turf company, he said.

The multi-purpose field will primarily be used for soccer and band, along with physical education classes, Ghilani said.