SHADYSIDE — Village and school leaders discussed potential funding opportunities and other plans related to a proposed new $60 million school facility.

Shadyside Village Council and the Shadyside Board of Education met Wednesday in a special, online joint session to discuss plans for Hill View, the proposed new facility that will house pre-kindergarten to 12th grade students.

Jerry Miller is vice president of MS Consultants Inc., an engineering firm hired to assist with the project. He outlined potential funding opportunities that could aid with necessary demolition and construction of the new facility.

“This project, in essence, is a $60 million-plus effort,” he said.

That figure includes demolition and construction of the proposed building, which will be built at the site of the current Leona Middle School and on village-owned property known as Hill View. School Superintendent John Haswell said later Wednesday that Hill View is a former park where a swimming pool was located, but that it has “deteriorated down to nothing.” It is adjacent to Leona and right above the high school football field.

So far, financial backing for the project includes 78 percent state funding and a 22 percent local match.

“As part of the project, the state of Ohio has agreed to put 78 percent of the funding for the k-12 portion, which amounts to, give or take, $20 million. The rest will be a contribution made by the district,” Miller said.

Additionally, the district entered into an enterprise zone agreement with PTT Global Chemical America in March that will provide the district with around $38 million over a 19-year period if the company moves forward with construction of its proposed ethane cracker plant at Dilles Bottom.

“With that in mind, John (Haswell, superintendent of Shadyside School District) and his team have been able to explore various third party financing options. That will allow the district to move forward with the entire project. … It will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million,” he said.

The district also applied for a $300,000 BRICK grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist with the initial stages of the project. The grant will cover the costs for the study and engineering services to solve flooding and stormwater drainage issues for the future school. However, the study could also benefit the entire village, as it will assist with flooding issues in the sewer and storm systems.

In order to obtain additional state and federal funding, the village must sign the property over the school district. In order to do this, the two entities discussed signing a memorandum of use contract that will trade the new school property for another district-owned property. Council and district officials discussed possible buildings to include in the trade, including Jefferson Elementary School or the Shadyside High School building.

“There has to be an exchange, basically property owned by the village for municipal purposes for property owned by the school board for school purposes,” Village Solicitor Thomas Ryncarz said.

The board and the village must come to a consensus on which property will be exchanged for the Hill View property.

Haswell said the two entities must work together to move forward.

Construction of the new school will not occur for several years, Miller said. The project is only in the beginning planning stages; however, in order to move forward with the funding opportunities, the property must be signed over first.

Both the school district and council will meet separately next week to sign the memorandum in order to move forward with the project.