Leet to host special meeting for proposed Quaker Valley High School project

Leet commissioners have scheduled a special meeting to consider action on a proposed Quaker Valley High School.

It is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 30 at the township building, 194 Ambridge Ave.

The proposed 167,000-square-foot school is on 150 acres of land off Camp Meeting Road. The district property straddles Leet Township, Edgeworth and Leetsdale. However, the school itself will be in the township.

Commissioners’ regular monthly meeting is the second Monday of the month, but officials thought it would be best to separate such a complex project from other township business.

“We didn’t have to do that,” commission president Marty McDaniel said. “We could have put it on the (Sept. 9) agenda and voted it up or down, but we thought in the interest of transparency that people would know we’re meeting on it and give everybody a chance (to comment).”

It also gives McDaniel and his colleagues time to review a recent decision on the district’s proposal.

Township planning commission recommended approval of the preliminary and final site plan Aug. 22.

Those officials attached the recommendation with 15 conditions.

Among those were a highway occupancy permit and other approvals from Allegheny County, a developers’ agreement and stormwater agreements with the township, various state approvals — including those from the Department of Environmental Protection — an agreement with the Leet Township Municipal Authority regarding a sewer system and ensuring a design engineer would oversee construction efforts.

The district submitted a site plan in November and made three revisions in response to various engineering notes and public input.

Adjustments were made to comply with the township’s subdivision and land development ordinance, referred to at the meeting several times as SALDO.

McDaniel said ordinance compliance will be the key focus of the upcoming meeting, not personal feelings on the project.

He added the school district would receive the same considerations as any developer.

“It’s not about whether you want or don’t want a high school,” McDaniel said. “It’s about if it meets the ordinance.

“If there’s a good case and it meets the ordinance, we vote for it. If we vote it down, it’s going to go before some judge. If we vote for it and it doesn’t meet the ordinance, the same thing’s going to happen.”

Commissioners are not under any formal obligation to vote by the end of the month.

The district has waived any timeline considerations.

Quaker Valley superintendent Tammy Andreyko commended the commissioners for their attention to the project.

“I appreciate their effort to still have us in the month of September and come to the meeting with their background knowledge and not rushing,” Andreyko said Sept. 10. “They have time to formulate questions or an understanding of the project. We were very pleased that they were scheduling a special meeting that wasn’t clouded with other topics or other projects at one time.

“We are enthusiastic about this meeting and hope that we continue to move in a timely fashion as we more forward with the work that needs to be done.”

Andreyko said she is very optimistic about the project and received positive feedback from Quaker Valley area residents during the Sewickley Harvest Festival earlier this month.

Charlie Gauthier, district director of facilities and administrative services, said on Sept. 10 no changes to the plan have been made since last month.

He plans to have members of the district’s design and engineering team at the township meeting to answer any questions.

District solicitorDan Gramc is also expected to address commissioners in regard to the project.

“We continue to have ongoing conversations with third-party agencies that will provide focus to the project,” Gauthier said of district actions since the planning commission meeting. “Some of those approvals require final approval from the board of commissioners.”

The next steps in the process would be for the district to hire a construction manager and prepare bid specifications should the commissioners approve the site plan.

School district officials in September 2023 set the maximum building construction costs for the proposed high school at about $72.1 million and the maximum project cost at $105 million.

More information about the project is available on the district’s website under the Blueprint QV section of the “District” tab.

The current high school was built in 1926 and has undergone several renovations through the years.