FAQs About the Black Rock Middle School Fields

Black Rock Middle School (BRMS), which opened in September 2022, serves students in grades 5-8 from the Penn Wynne and Gladwyne elementary school catchments. By moving 5^th grade to the middle level and distributing middle-school students among three schools, rather than two, the District was able to alleviate overcrowding in grades K-8 across the existing elementary and middle school buildings and remove modular classrooms that had been in use on some elementary and middle-school sites.

Black Rock Middle School’s site at 1860 Montgomery is a big hill, which doesn’t have sufficient acreage for fields for all of the PIAA sports in which 7^th and 8^th graders participate. The site does have one multi-purpose full-size field and track, and tennis courts, as well as a courtyard for recess and other outdoor activities.

The District looked at numerous sites for additional playing fields that ended up not working out for various reasons. These included properties on Spring Mill Road, which contained protected wetlands; the area of Stoneleigh that’s currently being used for composting, the acquisition of which was prohibited by Commonwealth laws; Ashbridge Park, the acquisition of which was also not allowed; and other sites that were deemed unsuitable for a variety of reasons, including topography, amount of acreage and distance from the school.

Eventually, the District paid $13 million for the contiguous properties at 1800 W. Montgomery Avenue and 1835 County Line Road, which had both been offered for sale by their owners. Since then, the District has invested significant capital in designing the project and going through the land development process, including a successful appeal of the Township’s conditions of approval.

The properties were no longer for sale at the time when the District initiated eminent domain as the sellers had each signed agreements of sale with Villanova University. This meant that the District could not simply buy the properties without initiating eminent domain. The District did negotiate agreements of sale with each seller as part of the resolution of the eminent domain proceedings at a price equal to or greater than fair-market value, and more than Villanova had agreed to pay.

Fortunately for the sellers, the use of eminent domain allowed the transaction to proceed without the sellers having to pay real estate transfer taxes, saving the sellers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Since the District had no immediate need to use the properties, the agreement also allowed the sellers to remain in their homes on the properties through May 2023, for minimal rent and with no obligation to continue to pay property taxes during that time. Each seller's agreement of sale provided other benefits to the sellers, which they requested. Had the District purchased the properties outright, the sellers would not have reaped these substantial benefits.

The land development plan submitted to the Township shows one baseball field and one softball field as overlays to two multi-purpose full-size fields (soccer, hockey, lacrosse) and two half-size multi-purpose practice fields.

The code-compliant land-development plan submitted to the Township in August 2022 calls for the removal of 538 trees and for the planting of 631 trees. It also takes into consideration the location of wetlands, addresses stormwater issues and maintains the only Class 2 Historical resource on the site, which is a mansion the District hopes to use for future academic purposes.

Most teams will be bused offsite to fields belonging to other LMSD schools or to Township parks for games and practices.

Busing to other fields is not a long-term solution as it puts significant stress on the District transportation system (which is already experiencing a driver shortage) and because it cuts into the amount of time that teams have for practices and games. In addition, playing on “away” fields does not help build the sense of belonging and school spirit that are an important part of the student athletes’ experience.

District Policy allows for the use of District facilities by outside community organizations during non-school hours. Most other LMSD fields and gyms are used by organizations such as Lower Merion Little League, Lower Merion Soccer Club, Ashbee Lacrosse, Main Line Girls Basketball Association, Penn Valley Junior Sports Association, etc. The District anticipates applying the same Policy to the BRMS fields, unless that use is prohibited by the Township.