North Penn to survey former WNPV site

The planning process is moving ahead as the school board eyes uses for property purchased last summer.

LANSDALE >> What should the North Penn School District do with the former WNPV Radio property it purchased last summer?

Nothing is near yet, but the planning process is moving ahead, as the school board is taking steps to seek a formal survey of that property.

“This survey would include a boundary survey, and also topographic and existing features,” said district director of facilities and operations Tom Schneider.

“It’s just a good idea to have a survey available to us, if in fact any future ideas were to come to fruition for the property,” he said.

WNPV Radio closed in April 2020 after just under 60 years on the air, citing the faltering economy and reduced support from local businesses in the wake of COVID-19 and the associated business shutdowns. In July 2020 the school board approved an agreement of sale to buy the property, located just north of North Penn High School on Snyder Road, for $2.3 million to acquire the 13-acre property, which included several radio antennae, a cell tower, and the station office building that resembles a house.

At that time, district staff said the property could be used for several purposes, including a possible ninth grade center at the high school, added athletic fields, more parking for the high school complex, a new driveway entrance or exit, and/or to meet stormwater regulations for any high school renovations. In October 2020, staff unveiled another possible option: use as an in-house health clinic, where employees, students, and perhaps even the public could get prescriptions, health coaching, and other medical services.

Schneider told the school board’s facilities and operations committee on Monday night that, while no formal plans for the site are in the works, a full survey will be helpful for staff and the board to have.

“We currently have an assessment from 2019, but it would be good to have a complete and total survey of the property,” he said.

Staff received two proposals for the site survey, and a proposal from Quakertown based Cowan Associates Inc. carried the lower price of the two, for $7,000 to perform a field survey and then develop an existing features plan, Schneider told the committee. Board member Cathy Wesley asked if the proposal would also include bore sampling of the soil below, and Schneider said it would not, for now.

“We will not be performing any type of sub-soil investigation, or sampling — we wouldn’t be doing that until sometime in the future, if something were to occur on the site,” Schneider said.

Wesley then asked if the site survey would help or be required if any belowground sampling would be done in the future, and Schneider said it would.

“The survey is always good to have, just to understand the limits of the property that is owned by the school district, who are the adjoining property owners, things like that,” he said.

“It is an initial step, for anything for the future,” Schneider said.

The facilities and operations committee then unanimously voted ahead that site survey contract, and Schneider said it would be up for a full board vote at an upcoming action meeting. North Penn’s full board next meets at 7 p.m. on March 9 and the facilities and operations committee next meets at 6:30 p.m. on March 29; for more information visit www.NPenn.org.