SHARPSVILLE Tour set for new building

The borough is helping out with some changes to ease traffic flow around the school complex.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARPSVILLE, Pa. -- Elementary pupils in the Sharpsville Area School District will get a tour of their new central elementary school before officially moving in Nov. 29.
Dr. Derry Stufft, superintendent, said pupils and teachers from the Seventh Street and South Pymatuning elementary schools will visit the new building Nov. 20 and 21.
The Sharpsville Area Elementary School is adjacent to the middle-high school complex off Fourth Street.
The $13 million project involved gutting and renovating the former Pebly Early Childhood Center and expanding it to house all of the district's elementary pupils.
Seventh Street will become the early childhood center and the location of district central offices; South Pymatuning will become a community center.
Stufft said the project, including some work to be done at Seventh Street and South Pymatuning, will come in under budget at less than $13 million.
Time of move: The new building was to be done in time for pupils to move in over the Christmas break, but things are ahead of schedule; the move will occur over an extended Thanksgiving recess from Nov. 22 to Nov. 28.
It will start with the moving of the libraries from Seventh Street and South Pymatuning on Nov. 20 and 21. Pupils won't be using the libraries those days anyway, Stufft said.
Traffic: Meanwhile, Sharpsville Borough Council is contemplating changes to help the flow of vehicles and pedestrians around the expanded school complex.
Council voted this week to advertise an ordinance creating a three-way stop sign where Fourth Street dead-ends on Milliken Avenue. Currently, only Fourth Street traffic has a stop sign.
The ordinance would also put a three-way stop sign at Third Street and Wakefield Drive. Both streets dead-end at that intersection, which also has an entrance into the high school parking lot.
Officials said there is a need to better control traffic movement at that location, so the high school lot as well as both streets will get stop signs.
Finally, the ordinance creates a right turn only at Fourth Street and Hittle Drive, which will be an entry to the new elementary.
Council also authorized spending up to $10,000 to build sidewalks along portions of Milliken and Fourth to help facilitate foot traffic. The work will include handicapped-access ramps.