Developers to Detail Plans for New North Catholic High School

Developers are expected to detail land development plans for the in Cranberry at the township’s next planning commission meeting on Monday.

The meeting, which will be open for public comment, will be at 6 p.m. at the Cranberry Township Municipal Center on Rochester Road.

During a Monday workshop meeting, planning commission members reviewed a rendering , which will be located along Route 228 on 65 acres near Cranberry’s border with Seven Fields.

Besides the building, the plans depicted a new road to be built in the hopes of easing traffic that the school will add to the roads. The yet unnamed roadway would lead from an intersection with Franklin Road and connect with Old Mars Crider Road.

The high school, which will accommodate as many as 1,000 students, is the largest building project that the Diocese of Pittsburgh has undertaken in recent history. In 2010, the diocese announced plans to close the school’s building in Pittsburgh's Troy Hill and move programs to Cranberry in response to population growth and shifts in the North Hills.

The planning commission earlier this month recommended approving the diocese's plans to begin grading 37 acres at the school’s future home. The request will next go before Cranberry’s board of supervisors for final approval on Thursday.

If approved, Michael Arnold, chief facilities officer for the Pittsburgh diocese, has said the plan is to begin grading the wooded land in March and begin building construction by May.

The school is to open in time for the 2013-14 school year, although Arnold said an auditorium, library and other areas not used for classrooms or administrative space might be added in later phases of construction.

Efforts to raise money for new North Catholic,  are ongoing. In the meantime, Arnold said the diocese will continue to move forward with plans for the school.

Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. in Pittsburgh is overseeing land planning for the diocese. Ron Henshaw, Cranberry’s director of community development, on Monday said there still are items in the proposed building plans—including potential locations for a ball field and football stadium— that need to be addressed before the commission can give its recommendation for approval to Cranberry’s board of supervisors. 

Henshaw added the township welcomes any questions or concerns neighbors of the proposed school might have about the property.

Henshaw said he already has met with several Seven Field residents who have homes near the entrance to the school’s new site. Those residents, who also attended a planning commission meeting earlier in January, had concerns of how traffic from North Catholic would affect their property,

Henshaw said he gave the neighbors copies on the school’s development plans. He suggested other residents with concerns about the school schedule a meeting with the township’s staff to learn more about the project.

“We’re trying to open the door and let them know this is public information, so come in and meet with us,” he said.