Compromise may be in the works for GVSD eminent domain lawsuit
By ANNE PICKERING, Special to The Phoenix
(PhoenixvilleNews.com)
09/07/2006

EAST WHITELAND - A compromise may be in the works to allow a neighbor of the Great Valley High School and middle school to keep their home which has been the object of an eminent domain lawsuit by the school district.

School district attorney Guy Donatelli gave an update at Tuesday's school board meeting on the status of the case which has pitted the school district against Patrick and Karen Cassidy whose 1-1/2-acre home the district wants to acquire for a playing field.

More than 75 people attended last month's school board meeting and many spoke out against the Great Valley School District using the power of eminent domain to force the Cassidys to give up their home.

Donatelli told board members that he had talked to Joe London, the Cassidys' attorney and he thought there was a basis for a compromise.

Reached by telephone on Wednesday, Donatelli said, "The basis of the compromise would involve the school district getting the property it needs and the Cassidys being able to stay in their home."

He hastened to add that "there is no agreement." The two parties are "just feeling each other out," at this stage.
The next step is to arrange a meeting between all the parties which Donatelli was hopeful would be arranged soon.

Several calls to London were not returned as well as calls to the Cassidys.

.....If the school district acquires the 1-1/2-acre tract there would be enough space for two regulation playing fields. It would also be used for physical education classes. The district currently buses 170 to 200 students off site for athletic activities.

If the Cassidy parcel is obtained it would cut down on the amount of busing but not eliminate it altogether.

Before the middle school was built in the late 1990s, the 70-acre site held the high school and playing fields.

Once the middle school was built, there was no longer enough playing fields on site.