LANCASTER - Lancaster City Schools are now searching for a new site to build a middle school. 

Though the district will build the new Thomas Ewing near the intersection of Sheridan and Rainbow drives, they've reopened the search for a General Sherman location. 

Lancaster City Schools announced that they will not pursue the purchase of the site originally proposed for the new General Sherman Junior High after their regular board meeting Tuesday.

The property, known as “TimberTop,” and adjacent Pulte property, located at 2200 N. Columbus St., was too costly to develop due to utility and road access issues.

"It's unfortunate because it's a beautiful setting up there. It would have been a beautiful site," Superintendent Steve Wigton said.

The decision has been in the works for several months after a series of special board meetings and executive sessions discussing the property. 

"Certainly, it's just too costly to develop the site," Wigton said. "We're in the process of trying to obtain the next property." 

Now, the district is looking at its next options and hopes to have a new location in the coming months. Those discussions, Wigton said, have gone well.

The new General Sherman property wasn't just slated for a middle school, though. 

The new property was also going to be the location of Lancaster's new transportation hub. The land the current transportation hub occupies, in between Thomas Ewing and Lancaster High School, is expected to be used for the new high school and relocation of athletic fields.

The former Thomas Ewing site can also be used to relocate the athletic fields or for high school construction, one of the reasons the district has decided to relocate rather than build on the current property.

The current General Sherman location, at 701 Union St., is only 10 acres and is located in a floodplain. The district would need to remediate that land to build in a floodplain.

Wigton said location the bus barn is to be determined. There have been preliminary discussions on the future of the transportation department, but the main priority is General Sherman. 

As it stands, the loss of location does not impact the current construction plans. The district hopes to start construction at Thomas Ewing this fall and start General Sherman in 2018. Both General Sherman and Thomas Ewing Junior High Schools are anticipated to open August 2020.

The building plans are the same for both middle schools and are not impacted by the change. The building plans are separate from the site plans. However, Wigton said the district will need to select a site in the next few months in order to keep the current construction timeline.

Plans are moving forward well, but "we have to have a site plan in," Wigton said. 

“When we are looking at purchases of this magnitude, our priority is to ensure we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Wigton said. “Our initial review of the property was favorable. However, our findings while conducting due diligence during the contract phase of the purchase process determined that it was not financially feasible to develop the property for the facilities we need. Of course, we are disappointed, but we are not discouraged. We are already starting to investigate alternative options and hope to have a new property identified in short order."

Wigton said the cost of the property or donation of the home were not factors in the decision. There were no issues with the property itself, Wigton said, other than access. 

The previous General Sherman site was a total of 83 acres, but the district was only expected to purchase about 75 of those acres. Just over 22 acres had already been purchased from Pulte Homes. About eight acres were going be donated to the district by the previous owners, David and Mary Beth Meuse. The donation included the "TimberTop" home. 

Trista Thurston, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette - tthurston@lancastereaglegazette.com