Lower Burrell didn’t donate the pickleball courts behind city hall to Burrell School District as part of the deal to redevelop the Stewart Elementary School property because the city never really owned the courts.
The city mistakenly built them on land owned by the school district.
City council this week formally approved the donation a 1.6 acres of undeveloped land behind the courts to the school district to include in its sale of the site to a private developer.
Mayor Chris Fabry said the donation caused some confusion online as people thought the city was giving away the courts, but it never owned the land they were built on.
The city unintentionally built the courts on the district’s land years ago and they were part of the original Stewart sale earlier this year, he said.
The pickleball courts eventually will be relocated to K-9 Officer Dereck Kotecki Memorial Park with little down time for public use, Fabry said.
The courts will be relocated on developer David Ziccarelli’s dime after site development is underway. Until then, they are open to the public, Fabry said.
The Stewart redevelopment, he said, is a step forward for Lower Burrell.
“My point of view is that, if we don’t do this, that property could sit there for 20 years,” Fabry said of the Stewart project.
Fabry said a public playground near the site will not be affected by the donation.
Council voted on the donation 4-0, with one abstention, but it still has to be approved by a Westmoreland County judge.
Earlier this year, the district sold the shuttered school to Ziccarelli for $1, under an agreement to reduce the district’s demolition costs.
It will be razed to make way for 46 units of single family, duplex-style condos.
When finished, the development will boost property tax revenue for the district.
The city’s donated land will eventually be turned into a cul-de-sac, which will partially become public land again.
In 2024, the district closed Stewart School because of declining enrollment, expensive upgrades and to better meet student needs. The nearly century-old school has sat vacant since.
Ziccarelli did not immediately respond to request for comment Tuesday.
Ziccarelli has four other condo developments in the city — Gladeview, Puckety Church, Rabbits Foot and Edgecliff — which generate about $500,000 in estate taxes for the district, TribLive previously reported. The Gladeview condos are built on land formerly owned by the school district that held the former Gladeview Elementary School. The original school building remains, renovated into condos.
