Clifton Heights Borough and the Upper Darby School District are going to try to mediate a dispute over the district’s plans to build a new middle school on Clifton Heights’ athletic fields, writes Kevin Tustin for the Daily Times.

Common Pleas Court Judge Barry Dozor signed an order Jan. 6 to allow the parties to enter into five sessions of non-binding arbitration.

The hope is a solution can be found without the need for a trial in civil suits the borough and the district have filed against each other.

“Mediation is not a retreat of interests, but rather a commitment to common public interests,” wrote Dozor in his order.

Dozor is requesting a “timeout” that will allow “both education excellence and a reasonable land development and recreational landscape.”

All petitions, motions, and discovery in the civil cases will be stayed during the mediation period, but hearings will be scheduled on those matters if mediation is not fruitful.

The district wants to build a 167,000-square-foot middle school on district-owned land in the 200 block of North Springfield Road. Borough Council approved ordinances that block that plan.

Read more about mediation efforts in the Clifton Heights Middle School dispute in the Daily Times here.

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