Mayview plan concerns schools
South Fayette Township commissioners will hire an independent consultant to examine how a proposed housing development at the former Mayview State Hospital site would affect South Fayette School District, which is already pinched for classroom space and approaching its debt ceiling with a major expansion planned at the high school.
The commission’s action came at its Wednesday meeting, where it was scheduled to vote on the rezoning of the former state hospital property so it could accommodate plans by Lancaster-based Charter Homes to construct Hastings-A Great American Neighborhood in South Fayette, which would include 620 units from single-family homes and apartments to mixed-use buildings.
Solicitor Jonathan Kamin said the commissioners would be “well served” to have their own consultant because the district and Charter Homes have vastly different numbers on how the Hastings project would affect district enrollment.
He suggested the board delay action for 60 days and take up the matter again at its November meeting.
“Sixty days sounds like a reasonable time,” Commissioner Ray Pitetti said.
The point of contention between the district and Charter is how many people with children would move into Hastings. Based on numbers from Allegheny County, Robert Bowman, president of Charter Homes, said his company is predicting the development would add an additional 400-plus students to the district, which has an enrollment of more than 3,000.
Enrollment at South Fayette schools increases by an average of 100 students per year.
District officials, however, told Bowman that according to their prognostications, the number of students Hastings could generate is more in the range of 600 students, or 1.04 students per household.
“You can’t build that many homes and not raise school tax,” Philip Makowski, a township resident, said during the commission meeting. “We are building Taj Mahals now, and not the little red schoolhouse. Pretty soon you are going to have to herd the old people up and put them on a reservation.”
South Fayette is in the midst of a $34 million expansion at the high school, which is tentatively set to begin construction in January. The high school opened in 2003 and a year later its enrollment totaled 548. A decade later, the high school’s enrollment is around 900 and could reach 1,068 by 2023, according to a recent study by Carnegie Mellon University.
“We don’t have space, even with this (upcoming) construction project,” said board member Leonard Fornella. “Where are we going to put the students?”
Alan Vezzi, school board president, told Bowman the board has heard similar stories from developers in the past.
“We are already stretching ourselves,” Vezzi said.
Bowman, however, said the board needs to examine the various components of Hastings, such as plans for small businesses, before forming an opinion on the project.
“I am not here to pick a fight,” Bowman told the board.
If Hastings was constructed, Brian Tony, the district’s director of finance, said the district would be forced to buy five, 72-passenger school buses – at a cost of $475,000 – to accommodate the extra students. The district would then have to add five bus drivers, which would total an additional $175,000 in salaries. Plus, the additional buses would cost the district $83,000 in mileage and maintenance costs, he said.