Seneca Valley school board takes Monday hike
CRANBERRY TWP — The Seneca Valley School Board took a hike Monday night. It led through overgrown meadows and heavily wooded paths.
In lieu of a regular school board meeting in the intermediate high school auditorium, the board, district administrators, Evans City Elementary and Middle School principals and the project architect took a scenic tour of the district's undeveloped Ehrman Road property.
The property is one of the possible sites for a new kindergarten to sixth grade school that would replace the aging Evans City school building that was built in 1939.
It was likely the only school board meeting where attendees saw a black snake and a deer in the same night. Clad in jeans, boots and sneakers, the group hiked about two miles around the 150-acre property that is split between Cranberry and Jackson townships.
Starting on the Cranberry side on the neighboring PF Cook Brick Property, the group was led by Bob Cook, district director of buildings, grounds and security, through a field onto an overgrown path that could serve as the main entrance for the property.
The entrance at Ehrman Road would be across from the Foxmoor apartment development and lead uphill onto the property before flattening out. Cook said there are stakes along the old path where core samples will be taken next week to determine if the ground is solid enough to support a road.
There is about a 30-acre area on the Cranberry side that is relatively level that could be developed into a flat pad on which to erect a building, said Michael Corb, leader of architecture firm CannonDesign's Pittsburgh office.
The property is bordered by Ehrman Road to the south and wraps around the PF Cook Brick property. It is bordered by Interstate 79 to the west.
The school district bought the property from Harold Schneider, who also owned the land on which the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA was built, for $4.17 million in 2002, according to county property records.
The tour of the property next went down a path lined with brambles and trees near what could be the second entrance off Ehrman Road. This entrance would come out near the I-79 overpass and travel uphill to the level area at the top.
Cook said the property was formerly used by a construction company and possibly for mining.
The second part of the hike took the group to the Jackson side of the property, which is densely wooded and hilly.
Corb and CannonDesign will give an update about the project to build a new school at the next school board meeting, which will be held Monday in its regular location at the intermediate high school auditorium.
CannonDesign was hired in February to design a new kindergarten through sixth-grade school to be built at either the Evans City site or on Ehrman Road, although the board has not committed to any option yet.
