Aug 25, 2022 2 min read

South Strabane Township Board of Supervisors decided to hold off on approving a border change Tuesday that would have placed Washington High School Stadium entirely within the city of Washington.

Most of the 11.08-acre parcel owned by Washington School District lies in South Strabane, while the corner near the intersection of Tyler Avenue and Summerlea Avenue is in the city.

In 2016, both Washington City Council and the township board of supervisors approved a plan that would have had South Strabane release 9.41 acres, placing the entire parcel in Washington. The move arose from confusion over whose police force responds to incidents at the stadium.

However, board members expressed reservations Tuesday.

“Is there anything to be said for the mineral rights, and whether we could make such a transfer without the mineral rights? I’m mindful of the fact that the township ceded, with court order, land in Washington Park to the city of Washington, which is now being tapped for gas with all those revenues going to the city,” said Supervisor Bracken Burns.

Initially, board members modified their motion to make the transfer contingent on South Strabane maintaining rights to any oil, gas or minerals under the property, but Mark Murphy called for tabling the matter.

“I don’t know how big this is … How much property am I giving away?” Murphy asked.

Township Manager Brandon Stanick provided an image of the parcel to show supervisors the property, which also includes empty land surrounding the field.

“I don’t mind giving them the football field, but I don’t know why … we’d give them all of that,” Burns said.

Ultimately, the supervisors voted unanimously to table making a decision.

Washington Mayor Scott Putnam was under the impression they were on the same page with South Strabane.

“I don’t know what the confusion is, but we’ll get it cleared up. Everything was ready to go through,” Putnam said. “We’ll do what we need to do.”