Board OKs $3.5M Land Purchase for New School

Photos by Evan Brandt

A sign along Route 724 advertises the 29.9 acres in East Pikeland Township which the Phoenixville School Board voted unanimously Thursday night to spend $3.5 million to purchase. The lot was already approved, through a court order, for the construction of 79 townhouses.

With two members missing and four replacement members coming on board next month, the Phoenixville School Board voted unanimously Thursday to spend $3.5 million on 29.5 acres of land off Hares Hill Road on which a new school is to be built.

The vote occurred immediately after rejecting a motion to wait 10 minutes for board member Lori Broker to arrive at the meeting from a high school concert so she could vote. She arrived five minutes later.

The vote also followed a presentation on the purchase which culminated an 18-month process for seeking a property for a new school, but which included information being seen by the public for the first time.

Map showing the location of the two properties the school board

considered buying.

In the presentation, Tim Gibson, the district's director of operations and technology, said the property in East Pikeland is well suited because it has easy access to major roads and is nearest to the north portion of the township, which is where the zoning has directed the residential growth that's coming.

Over the past decade, more than 90 properties have been investigated for their appropriateness as a
school site and six years ago, the list was narrowed five or six.

That list was eventually narrowed to the site the board voted to buy and 37 acres at the Technical College High School -- Pickering Campus property off Buckwalter Road in Schuylkill Township.

Issues with purchasing the Pickering property instead.

That property, although larger, is further away than the Hares Hill Road property from the area of expected growth.

Further, said Superintendent Alan Fegley, although that property was appraised at $1.8 million, the property owners, the Chester County Intermediate Unit, are asking $4.5 million, a price confirmed this month.

By contrast, in the last year the Hares Hill Road property saw its appraisal go up to $4.8 million while the asking price dropped by $1 million.

Further, the purchase of the East Pikeland property is supported by the township, to the point that they have actually provided a letter of support for the purchase.

By contrast, the Schuylkill Township Zoning Hearing Board rejected the variances the district would need to build on the Pickering site.

The advantages of the East Pikeland site, as outlined by the district.

The East Pikeland site also has water, sewer, electric "right up to the front door," and the road improvements construction there will require less eminent domain takings of private properties along the roadside, unlike the Pickering site, said Fegley.

The need to purchase the property is being driven by the steady 2 to 3 percent annual enrollment growth in Phoenixville. "We are a growing district," said Gibson. In 2019, the student enrollment increased by 100 students.

The school that would be built on the property, most likely an elementary school, would have a capacity of about 600 students, Fegley said. It would take about three-and-a-half to four years before a school is opened there.

Among the first things that will need to be done is to spend about $600,000 to remove arsenic on the site that is mostly on the surface and the result of older agricultural practices from when the property was farmed. Well tests show very little penetration into the groundwater, said Gibson.

Similar contamination is likely at the Pickering site because it too was used primarily as farmland for years, Gibson said.

There was a pretty good-sized crowd at last night's public hearing.

Then it was time for the people to have their say.

None opposed the purchase outright, but many questioned whether it was the right property and what impacts a new school there would have.

John Mraz, a frequent critic of the board, chided them for presenting new information to the public just minutes before voting. "Why does the board have to vote tonight?" he asked, pointing out that Thursday as the last voting meeting of the current board.

The new board will have to live with the current board's decision, he said.

Board President Eric Daugherty, whose term will end next month, said the current board "has been hip-deep in this issue for the last 18 months and we have an attractive offer on the table right now that might not be there in January."

Board member J. Kenneth Butera, whose term is also expiring, said the growth in the district "will require some kind of building project and it will cost money, so if not this site, it will be somewhere else," and the new board will have to contend with that trend.

Fegley replied to other questions by noting that in addition to taking a look at the building formerly occupied by the Renaissance Academy charter school, "which is not appropriate for a school," the district did look at renovating, or replacing other unused school buildings it owned.

The cost to replace the existing East Pikeland Elementary School building, for example, is close to what it will cost to build a new school. Also, in 2012, the district was looking to do just that and the East Pikeland Zoning Hearing Board rejected the variances needed to move ahead with that project.

Fegley said the district has held off selling its existing vacant buildings until this site was secured.

The old East Pikeland Elementary School, worth between $4 million and $6 million and the former kindergarten center is estimated to be worth $4 million. East Pikeland Township officials recently informed the district the price for the old school building there is too high, Fegley said last week.

Fegley also said it is likely a new traffic light will be required at the intersection of Hares Hill Road and Route 23, although much more detailed traffic studies will be required to determine exactly how much work will be needed.

Resident Lauren Clark, who is also a teacher in the district, said she supports the purchase so long as the school that is built is a fifth/sixth-grade center as moving those grades would ease enrollment pressure on the other school buildings.

The issue of taxes was also raised. The board said the purchase of the property will not require a tax hike specifically as it will be financed through a bond. Board member Lisa Longo, whose term is also at an end, said as the developments are built, the additional taxes will help with the bond payments and the cost of maintenance.

And with that, here are the Tweets from the meeting:


Phoenixville OKs $3.5M Land Purchase for School