Leet officials have hired special legal counsel and approved a meeting attendance agreement with the township engineer in preparation of professional reviews of the proposed Quaker Valley High School project.
The proposed school would be on part of 150 acres of land off Camp Meeting Road. It straddles Leet, Edgeworth and Leetsdale. About 650 students would eventually be enrolled.
It is still in its design phase with architects nearing completion of a site plan to be submitted to Leet’s planning commission in the next couple months.
The township hired attorney Harlan Stone as its legal counsel so solicitor Stephen Chesney could focus on other township business.
“He’s like going to your family doctor,” commissioners president Martin McDaniel said. “(Stone) is a specialist. (Chesney’s) got private clients and has got to go to court. He’s got a full plate.”
Stone, a seasoned trial lawyer at Babst Calland, specializes in municipal planning, land use and zoning, according to his profile on the firm’s website.
His fees are about $275 per hour.
McDaniel said the school district would absorb a bulk, if not all, of the legal expense as part of the municipal planning code.
“We’re going to get this money back,” he said.
Stone was selected out of five attorneys vetted by McDaniel, who said he recommended the lawyer based on experience, knowledge of the area and competitive rates.
Stone is the solicitor for Shaler and Aleppo townships, Quaker Valley Council of Governments and Leet Township Municipal Authority.
“I think he would be good at helping us run meetings and keeping them on point and not letting them get all over the place,” McDaniel said. “I think he knows the law. We want to follow the law here. … I think he’s kind of a straight-shooter.”
Commissioner John Stephansky agreed.
“He’s been around this township,” Stephansky said. “He’s been around this valley. He knows us.”
Engineering firm hired
Commissioners also approved an agreement with Lennon Smith Souleret Engineering to have at least one of its engineers at two meetings a month at a cost of $150 per month.
Both moves were made via 4-0 vote at a commissioners meeting Feb. 13. Township commissioners vice president Carolyn Verszyla was absent.
Township officials said the special counsel hiring has nothing to do with an ongoing appeal of an Allegheny County Court judge’s ruling to overturn the township’s zoning hearing board’s decision involving the project.
Senior Judge Joseph James removed a roadblock for the district to move forward with its plans for an estimated $100 million school in late November.
But attorney Louis DePaul filed an appeal Dec. 22 on behalf of residents William Jasper and Michelle Antonelli, who were petitioners and participated in a legal battle in support of the Leet Township Zoning Hearing Board’s original decision last February to deny the district a special exception for the 167,000-square foot project.
That matter is still in litigation.
School district officials said they are not concerned with the appeal and continue to move forward with the project.
Leet gets $300k state grant
Township officials announced they were approved for a $300,000 state grant via the Gaming Economic Development Tourism Fund.
It’s through the Commonwealth Financing Authority. The grant will be administered by the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County.
Township Manager Betsy Rengers said they received grant confirmation in January through the office of state Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-37th.
The grant will go toward a new basketball court, hockey deck, fencing, playground equipment and a war memorial.
Rengers said the project is still a work in progress and there are no designs or engineering documents available yet.
Michael DiVittorio is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Michael at 412-871-2367, mdivittorio@triblive.com or via Twitter .