LOWER MERION — Lower Merion School District officials recently said they are having conversations with potential buyers of its Oakwell property.
During a school board meeting last week, Lower Merion Superintendent Steven Yanni publicly indicated that the district has been discussing selling its Oakwell property in Villanova.
“Regarding Oakwell, I will tell you that we have been having very productive conversations with entities about moving closer to a sale of that property,” Yanni said. “We will not be sharing any additional information until we actually have an agreement of sale. So I hope everyone can understand why I’m not going to reference that moving forward.”
Lower Merion invoked eminent domain on the Oakwell estate and a second adjoining property in 2018, planning to use them as playing fields for its new Black Rock Middle School.
In their 2018 press release, school district officials said using eminent domain would prevent Villanova University from purchasing the properties.
“Not only are these combined sites the best available choice for fields for the 21st-century middle school that the District is planning for 1860 Montgomery Avenue, but the condemnation will keep the property in use for the residents of Lower Merion Township and Narberth, rather than enabling Villanova University to take the property off the tax rolls for its private development use,” according to the district’s 2018 press release.
When the Lower Merion School District decided to construct Black Rock Middle School on the former site of the old 22-acre Clairemont Farm/Morris Clothier Estate in Villanova, they said it needed more space for playing fields.
A couple of options for fields were considered, such as the planned purchase of a site on Spring Mill Road. In the end, they took Oakwell and its neighboring property. But building on the Oakwell site has been controversial since the start.
Each month, during the public comment portion of the school board’s business meetings, residents often speak out against the district using Oakwell for playing fields.
Objections to the use of the site included the plans to cut down hundreds of healthy trees.
Late last year, Lower Merion reached an agreement to use the Polo Field in Haverford Township for some of its needed field space.
When the agreement for the Polo Fields was announced, a plan that many Haverford Township residents living near the site opposed, the district said it still needed additional field space.
In an email Monday morning to Amy Buckman, the district’s spokesperson, asking if there were any additional updates on any sale, she wrote, “When there is additional information to share, the District will do so. There is nothing further at this time.”
