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Plans to put a new elementary school next to Renziehausen Park are on hold --- at least for a month --- as McKeesport Area School District officials consider changing their plans to avoid displacing several residents.

Council on Wednesday night tabled its approval of a site plan for the new school on the so-called Palkovitz property off of Tulip Drive in the city's 12th Ward, near Eden Park Boulevard.

The school board "wants to explore other options that will potentially displace as few other people as possible," said School Superintendent Michael Brinkos, who attended the meeting. "Within a month, the board will make a decision on how to proceed."

Mayor Jim Brewster told the Almanac last night he was glad the school district was going to re-examine its use of the 12th Ward site.

"I think everyone's intentions are good here, and sometimes it doesn't hurt to stop and re-visit the issue," Brewster said.

. . .

The unanimous vote to table council's approval was interrupted by City Controller Ray Malinchak, who demanded the floor to question what he called a "financial matter."

Ruled out of order by Council President Regis McLaughlin, Malinchak would not yield until he was escorted from council chambers by a city police officer.

"You don't vote, so you don't get a chance to speak," McLaughlin, visibly angry, told Malinchak when the controller continued trying to ask questions.

At past meetings, Malinchak has told reporters that he has questions about the process used last year by the city's Redevelopment Authority when it acquired the nearly 27-acre Palkovitz tract and resold it to the city.

Malinchak has alleged that he attempted to buy the property, but that his bid was not considered by the authority.

. . .

The proposed building site is a wooded area along Eden Park Boulevard at the south end of Renziehausen Park.

The property is currently owned by the city, which intends to retain part of the site for the expansion of Renziehausen Park.

According to Allegheny County court documents, taxes were long overdue to the city, school and county when the property was condemned and acquired in 2009 by the Redevelopment Authority through the eminent domain process. It had a fair market value of $31,900, according to tax records.

. . .

The school board wants to expand Francis McClure school in White Oak and build two new elementary schools within the city to replace the existing George Washington, Centennial and Cornell buildings, which range from 82 to 94 years old.

One of the new schools would be built on the present Cornell site at the top of Spring Street. The other would be on the Palkovitz tract. Each would cost $25 million to $27 million.

. . .

Besides replacing three increasingly antiquated schools, officials say the new buildings would be safer and would provide better separation between lower and upper grades, offer more modern classroom amenities, and improve the educational environments.

Centennial and George Washington schools, which house kindergarten through third grades, missed their "No Child Left Behind" targets in 2009 because of poor scores on state standardized reading tests, and both received warning notices from the state Department of Education.

Cornell, which houses fourth, fifth and sixth grades, is in the third year of a corrective action plan. Test scores at Cornell were below state standards in reading and math in 2008 and 2009, according to the state Department of Education.

. . .

Under a site plan approved by the city planning commission on May 20, access to the Palkovitz site would require taking several homes along Easler Street by eminent domain.

One of the houses on Oliver Alley has been occupied by John and Helen Dominik since 1951. Both are in their mid-80s. At a public hearing on Tuesday, their sons Larry and Kevin Dominik urged city council to reject the district's plan.

"Why is so much land being taken for the main entrance?" Larry Dominik asked council. "It seems like a wide opening for just a two-lane road. Greenspace is nice, but this seems like overkill."

. . .

City Councilman Darryl Segina also questioned the usefulness of the Palkovitz site, noting that the property was used as a garbage dump in the 1940s and '50s, and asking whether the surrounding neighborhood could handle the additional traffic.

"I don't like to see people's lives disrupted, especially when they've lived there for quite a few years," he said Tuesday. "I think you're going to destroy that neighborhood around Tulip Drive."

But others, including Councilman Michael Cherepko, who is a McKeesport school teacher, said new schools would enhance the marketability of the city.

. . .

"Not only are they going to put a state-of-the-art facility into that area, it's going to beautify that area," Cherepko said. "I'm excited about it, I'll admit it."

Brinkos told reporters Wednesday night that the district is committed to building both new schools, but that board members felt the Palkovitz site deserved another examination.

"The school board is listening to the voices of the public," he said, "but they truly want to move forward, because they believe these new schools are important to the community."

. . .

Brinkos declined to speculate on what the month-long delay would cost, or how the district might decide to change the site plan. Any additional expenditures would require a vote of the school board, he said.

Council by 7-0 vote approved plans for the new school on the current Cornell Intermediate School property. Council and planning commission approval was required for both sites because they are located within medium-density residential zoning areas.

Brewster said he supports the construction of the new schools, but that he'll wait to see the district's revised site plan before he takes any other public positions on the 12th Ward site.

"When you're thinking of the future, you have to think of the young people first," he said. "But relocation is emotional, and remediation is expensive. We'll wait and we'll react to their plan."


. . .

The school board has scheduled a public hearing on the Francis McClure project for 7:30 p.m. June 23 at the district's offices on O'Neil Boulevard near the high school campus.

Hearings on the new 12th Ward and Cornell schools are scheduled for 6:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on July 14.

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