BY ROBERT SWIFT (HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF)
Published: October 6, 2010
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HARRISBURG – A bill authorizing a $500,000 sale of the former Scranton State School for the Deaf to neighboring Marywood University cleared a major hurdle Tuesday on its track to final passage.
The House voted 193-3 to approve the bill containing a number of transactions involving state-owned properties, including the 10-acre deaf school campus in Scranton’s Green Ridge section. It goes to the Senate a second time for concurrence on amendments dealing with other land transfers as the legislative session winds down.
The measure will start a new chapter in the history of the property, which for decades housed a state-run residential school for deaf students until state budget problems led to its closure last year. The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, the successor institution to SSSD, is leasing the campus this year, and plans to move its Scranton campus to the Lourdesmont school in South Abington Township.
The state Department of General Services and Marywood agreed on the $500,000 sale price in negotiations earlier this year despite an initial estimate putting its appraised value at $2 million – a decision that led Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Scranton, to vote against the bill. Murphy said he has no doubt that Marywood will be a good steward of the property and could possibly offer the best option for its future use, but he said it’s unacceptable to sell the property at a lower price than its appraised value.
DSG real estate manager Bradley Swartz told a House panel last month that a $2 million estimated appraisal is offset by other estimates that it will cost $25 million to $30 million to rid the campus of environmental problems like asbestos and lead paint and rehabilitate selected buildings. The $500,000 sale price is based on the underlying value of the land, he said.
Murphy said he believes the property sale could have been resolved in a more transparent and equitable manner by DGS and the state Education Department.
Rep. Ken Smith, D-Dunmore, supports the bill. He said the issue should be weighed in the context of the property’s future use in a residential neighborhood, the environmental remediation problems, a recession-troubled real estate market and Marywood’s community standing.
Rep. Mike Peifer, R-Honesdale, said the dispute shows what can happen when amendments are tacked on to a bill. He initially sponsored this measure to authorize a property swap between the Canaan Bible Chapel and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in Wayne County. The swap will give students at Western Wayne High School easier access to the DCNR-run Varden conservation area and give the chapel room to expand, he said.
Sen. Robert Mellow, D-Peckville, inserted the Marywood sale provision into the legislation when it reached the Senate the first time last June.