Current Site

The Current Site is comprised of 14 acres of improved land, located between Beaver Road and State Route 65 in the Borough of Leetsdale. It is zoned “Commercial” which expressly permits a school to be operated thereon. Seventy percent of the land is in a 100-year Flood Plain which a 2016 QVSD study cites as a major deterrent to redevelopment. What it fails to mention is that all of Quaker Village Shopping Center and most of the Buncher, Leetsdale and Port Ambridge Industrial Parks lie in that very same flood plain. There are limited restrictions to developing land in a flood plain but, some permitting and occasional modified footings/foundations are necessary. The study concludes that further development of the site would be “impractical and costly” without providing any studies or cost estimates in support thereof. Setting aside the risks of rezoning, clearing and grading the Hilltop Site, it seems prudent to challenge that assertion by comparing the cost to prepare the Hilltop Site to bring it to an equivalent “shovel ready” (to the point where buildings can be constructed thereon) state on which buildings can be constructed. The table below compares relevant attributes and estimated costs sourced from publicly available materials.

Based upon the information currently available, the estimated cost to prepare the land for the development of a new high school on the existing site is between $4.5 million to $6.0 million while the estimated cost to prepare the land for the development of a new high school on the Hilltop site is between $30 million to $37 million.  In summary, it is estimated to cost $25 million more to prepare the land for the development of a new high school on Hilltop site before a shovel even goes in the ground for the actual buildings themselves.