BVA approves deal for housing development
The school district will receive $24,000 in annual payments from WCHA over the next 40 years.
The school district will receive $24,000 in annual payments from WCHA over the next 40 years.
The Belle Vernon Area school board voted Tuesday to approve the final cooperative agreement with the Westmoreland County Housing Authority for a senior housing development in Rostraver Township.
Board President Stacey Livengood and members Janis Niemiec, Michelle Callaway-Rodriguez, Jason Gross, John Habel III, Josh Pollock, and Stephanie Quinn voted in support of the agreement. Robert Harhai and Tara Jurczak voted against it.
The agreement is for a 50-unit, four-story senior housing development for those 62 or older that is being planned on a 6-acre property next to the Willowbrook Plaza along Route 51.
On Dec. 4, the board rejected a previous agreement, but in conjunction with the district administration and WCHA, they created a new one. In December, eight of the nine members voted against the agreement, with Habel being the sole yes vote.
Under the new agreement, the district will receive an annual payment of $24,000 a year. WCHA will be required to make the payments for 40 years.
The district will collect nearly $1 million over the life of the agreement. Board members voted against the previous agreement because the district received less funds.
WCHA will also provide a one-time goodwill payment of $30,000 to the district once it secures the necessary project financing.
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“Ms. Clark has worked on an agreement where we were going to make peanuts and she’s turned it into something for us. She negotiated a very good agreement.”
STACEY LIVENGOOD Under the previous agreement, the district would have only received an annual payment of $7,000, making around $270,000 in the same contract period according to Crystal Clark, BVA’s chief financial officer.
Before Tuesday’s vote, board members had a lengthy discussion on the proposal, with Harhai and Livengood going back and forth regarding their disagreements. Livengood argued that the new agreement got the school district more money and that the project would continue even without their approval.
Harhai called the agreement “rushed” and said Clark could have negotiated a better contract in which the district received more money.
“We’ve been given an option to at least have a say in how much money we can make off this,” Livengood said. “It’s not rushed, we’ve had months to discuss this. Ms. Clark has worked on an agreement where we were going to make peanuts and she’s turned it into something for us. She negotiated a very good agreement.”
Michael Washowich, WCHA executive director, has previously stated that the housing authority is tax-exempt, but it still extended cooperation agreements to BVA and Rostraver Township to provide the taxing bodies compensation for their services.
Harhai has strongly opposed the agreement with WCHA since December and has stated he doesn’t want the housing authority in his community.
“I think this is very fishy, they’re trying to rush something, they brought it to us,” Harhai said. “Two months later all of a sudden they want to give us another ($600,000) to $700,000 or more. Apparently, they need our agreement for some grant, that we don’t even know what the grant is. There’s gotta be more to this story that has not been communicated to us and the board.”
During their discussion, Harhai asked to table the agreement but the motion failed. Quinn, Callaway- Rodriguez, Habel, Livengood, Niemiec, and Pollock voted against tabling, with Gross, Jurczak, and Harhai voting in favor.
“Ultimately we are getting more money than the county and the township has gotten for our stakeholders,” Livengood said. “That ultimately is what I was concerned about, we got more money for our taxpayers here in this district.”
Rostraver Township commissioners approved their cooperation agreement with WCHA on Dec. 4 and approved a zoning change for the senior housing development in October.
School time changes
The board also approved changing the district’s school start and end times for the 20252026 school year.
Teachers will now begin at 7 a.m. at the high school, 7:40 a.m. at the middle school and 8:30 a.m. for the two elementary schools. Doors will open and bus drop-off will begin at 7:05 a.m. for high school, 7:45 a.m. for middle school, and 8:40 a.m. for elementary schools.
Classes will officially begin at 7:25 a.m. for high school, 8:15 a.m. for middle school and 9:05 a.m. for elementary schools. Students will be dismissed at 2:19 p.m. at the high school, 2:55 p.m. at the middle school, and 3:30 p.m. for elementary schools.
Teachers will also have a time change, with their days ending at 2:30 p.m. if they’re in the high school, 3:10 p.m. for middle school and 4 p.m. for elementary school teachers.
Superintendent Timothy Glasspool stated that the changes are an effort to make sure students are properly supervised when they arrive at school, specifically at BVA High School. The district announced the proposed changes to families in early January.
In other business, the board approved:
• The creation of a BVA clay target team club that will receive zero financial taxpayer support.
• The high school program of studies and the calendar for the 2025-206 school year.
