Middle school not for sale despite rezoning effort

Move would add value, officials say

Gateway School District has no plans to sell Gateway Middle School even though it is seeking to change the zoning of the property from residential to commercial, the superintendent said.

“All we are doing is rezoning the property to C-2 status,” superintendent Bill Short said after the school board meeting on Tuesday.

“We feel it adds value to the property, but that is no indication we are going to sell the property,” Mr. Short said, adding that decision is far into the future.

He described the 26-acre site as a “prime location” in Monroeville and said the rezoning would open up the possibility of using the land to attract commercial property buyers.

If the property is sold down the road, the money would be used to construct a new middle school near the current high school campus, he said.

However, he repeated, there is “no plan to sell it. We’re just lining up our options.”

In April, the school board voted to hire R.F. Mitall and Associates Inc. of Plum to survey the school site at 4450 Old William Penn Highway. The board also hired the 360 Group of Pittsburgh to aid the district in advancing the sale or lease of the property, although no decision has been made on what to do with the site.

On Tuesday, district solicitor Bruce Dice updated the board on the status of the rezoning effort, saying the district and surveyors are putting together an American Land Title Association, or ALTA, survey, which encompasses more than a traditional survey, including zoning setbacks, easements and names of owners of adjoining properties.

He said it will take a couple weeks to get the title work done, but in the meantime, he said, “we certainly have enough evidence to go forward with the zoning request.”

The district must get approval from Monroeville council for the rezoning. The request will first go to the planning commission, then to a public hearing before council takes a vote. The process could take about three months, Mr. Dice said.

He, too, said the district has no plans to close the school.

“Gateway Middle School is going to be open all next year,” he said, adding that the rezoning is simply “preparing for the future.”

“I think it really adds a significant amount of value to that property,” Mr. Dice said of the commercial zoning, calling the property a “substantial asset” for the future.