SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Plans for a major expansion of Parkland High School are not yet ready for land development approval, South Whitehall Township Planning Commission and township staff said Thursday.
The planning commission voted to table the proposal, giving Parkland School District’s representatives some homework.
“At this time, the community development department is not recommending approval due to the number of outstanding issues,” said David Manhardt, South Whitehall’s director of community development.
“We request that those issues get addressed… and resubmit.”
Commissioners did, however, vote Thursday to grant the project a waiver allowing some steeper grading at the site than township rules ordinarily would permit.
Parkland in 2023 proposed the high school expansion, which includes several smaller projects across the 112-acre campus.
Among the school’s three existing wings, the district plans to build two expansions holding 26 classrooms, 12 science and general purpose labs and four large group instruction spaces.
Plans also call for an expanded cafeteria, a new athletics entrance, 49 additional parking spaces and a bus loop with parking for 11 more school buses than the school can currently accommodate.
Roads, sidewalks
At Thursday’s meeting, township officials and Parkland’s representatives hit a snag over deferrals the district requested from rules governing the roads around the high school.
Most significantly, the district asked South Whitehall not to require new sidewalks on roads bordering the campus; planning commission members did not appear inclined to grant the request.
“I think the school district, we need to go back and chat with the board. It’s a large expenditure.”Tony Ganguzza, an engineer with Boyle Construction
Instead of building the sidewalk, the school district may instead contribute the money it would have spent on sidewalks to building the Jordan Creek Greenway, a set of trails on land Parkland donated.
“I think the school district, we need to go back and chat with the board. It’s a large expenditure,” said Tony Ganguzza, an engineer with Boyle Construction working on the high school expansion project.
The township and the school district also will need to finalize an agreement letting Parkland cover the cost of resurfacing half of Ritter Road instead of paying to significantly widen it.
'Need our project to move forward'
In review letters, township planning and engineering staff gave Parkland’s team a handful of additional information it must add to the plans, from plots of existing road signs to drawings of the district’s planned road upgrades.
South Whitehall also will need to see the road upgrade plans submitted to the state Transportation Department as part of the highway occupancy permitting process to determine whether the end result will meet township requirements, planning commission members said.
“We’ll be here probably every month for the next five years."Parkland solicitor Matt Tranter
With a long way to go before construction can begin, representatives for Parkland urged South Whitehall officials to keep the expansion project moving forward.
“We need our project to move forward,” Parkland solicitor Matt Tranter said. “As we sit here today… it’s not moving forward as we stand here today.”
Once the school district and South Whitehall work out some of the remaining questions surrounding the expansion project, Parkland will return to the planning commission to seek land development approval.
“We’ll be here probably every month for the next five years,” Tranter said with a laugh.
