View source for State nears decision on Mayview property

'''Thursday, April 01, 2010 By Brian David, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette''' 

[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10091/1047054-57.stm Original article.]

The future of the Mayview State Hospital site should come into focus in a couple of weeks as the state Department of General Services is expected to choose one of two redevelopment proposals.

Exactly what those proposals entail is not known -- the state has not released them to the public -- but South Fayette manager Mike Hoy said they both are close to the township's environmentally sensitive concept for the property.

"I think both proposals are within that vision," he said.

Mr. Hoy and South Fayette Commissioner Deron Gabriel reviewed the proposals in Harrisburg last Thursday with state officials and representatives of state Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, and state Rep. Nick Kotik, D-Robinson.

Mr. Hoy said that based on the meeting, he expected the award to be made "sometime in the middle of April."

Matt Campion, chief of staff for Mr. Pippy, said, "We're moving along," and that Mr. Pippy was hoping to soon schedule a Mayview Land Reuse Task Force meeting.

He said he could not comment on the proposals until the state releases them and that that wouldn't happen until a contract is awarded.

Mayview offered mental health care for decades on its 330-acre campus until being closed by the state at the end of 2008. The state formed the task force to determine the best use for the property.

The determination was to sell it, with proceeds going toward mental health care. General Services, which controls the property, put out a request for proposals late last year and opened the bids Feb. 4.

South Fayette commissioners, meanwhile, changed the property's zoning from rural residential to one designed for business parks, then approved a new zoning definition to allow commercial recreation or low-density residential development based on the desires for the property's future.

The township is interested in adding part of the property west of Mayview Road -- the former geriatric center -- to Fairview Park, and does not want to see the property used for large-scale residential development.

The township ultimately backed off its rezoning plan last fall, however, when the state threatened to challenge it in court. The Mayview property -- less than an acre is in Upper St. Clair and the remainder in South Fayette -- remains under the business park zoning.

The zoning restrictions give the township a certain degree of influence over site development. Mr. Hoy said the township would be giving the state some feedback on the plans, and would eventually work with the winning developer on its details.

The redevelopment process has been watched closely by advocates of mental health care, who want to see as much money as possible go back toward their cause. But Mr. Hoy reiterated that the costs of redevelopment would offset much of the property's value.

"Anyone who wants to come in has a lot of upfront costs to deal with," he said. The hospital buildings date to the heyday of asbestos as a construction material, and will either have to be demolished or extensively rehabilitated. The property also needs to be maintained -- mowed and guarded, if nothing else.

That's one reason for the disparity between the property's assessed value set by Allegheny County -- $33 million -- and the $125,000 purchase minimum set by the state in its bidding documents, something that has been noted by health care advocates.

Two other factors call the $33 million figure into question. One is that the property has long been tax-exempt, so there was no reason to question the figure.

The other is that assessors found no "comparables" when setting the value, and instead estimated the cost of rebuilding the hospital if it was destroyed.

Mr. Campion also said the $125,000 did not necessarily reflect the amount of the actual bids -- that has not been revealed yet -- but was a number set by General Services to cover its costs.