Bristol Twp. Council Approves Final Land Development for Mary Devine School

Bristol Township Council approved final land development for a new 1,300-student school at the 22-arce Mary Devine Elementary School site in Croydon.

The final land development for the project was approved 6-1 by council. Amber Longhitano, who has been an outspoken opponent of the new schools, voted against approval.

Bids have been received for the project and site work could begin before the year is out, according to project officials.

District officials previously said the school could be open by September 2016, if the district’s timetable works out.

Although the school board has not officially voted to close Mary Devine, all indications point to that happening now that  final land development has been approved by the council. Earlier this week, Superintendent Dr. Sam Lee told LevittownNow.com there was no firm demolition date for the school.

The new state-of-the-art building is expected to cost about $39 million. The entire project is expected to cost the district more than $120 million.

What makes the Devine project different than the current construction of the new 1,300-student buildings at the sites of Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School on Mill Creek Road and James Buchanan Elementary School on Haines Road, both in Levittown, is that the Devine school has to be taken down before work can begin due to the size of the site.

In June, the council approved the preliminary land development plans and told the district to come back when they had all required permits. The missing permits were obtained in recent weeks by the school district.

Roughly 440 students were relocated from the Devine school in Croydon to the first floor of the Benjamin Franklin School, which also currently houses the administration offices, until construction is done. On Monday, parents raised concerns about the condition of the Levittown school building.

Residents near the Mary Devine site have previously raised concerns about flooding, additional bus traffic on River Road and area infrastructure.

The Bristol Township Council made an offer in August to the school district that they would cut thousands in permit fees for the new schools if the board would begin broadcasting their meetings live for residents to view. Rebroadcasts of the meetings would have to happen at least three times within 30 days. The council offered the township board room for use. The only cost to the district would be the videographer. However, township officials made clear the meetings would have to be broadcast live for the deal to go through.

In September, the district did begin broadcasting taped meetings. District officials have been working on airing meetings for a while and insisted their move was not because of the council’s offer.