It’s been nearly five years since the Warren County School District transferred the former Allegheny Valley Elementary School to Clarendon Borough. Now, the borough is asking for the oil, gas and mineral rights to the property as well.

When the elementary school, now the Allegheny Valley Veterans Center, was transferred in 2019, it cost the borough $80,000. However, the price tag didn’t include possession of subsurface rights.

On Monday, Borough Mayor Tom Eaton came before the WCSD board during its committee of the whole meeting to request transfer of those rights.

According to Eaton, the building has been used, in part, to house homeless veterans – a use the borough put forth when initially acquiring the building. At present, the facility has space to house 32 individuals, Eaton said. However, heating the space has proven costly.

According to Eaton, there are a number of abandoned wells on the property. He said the borough hopes to drill a gas well and use the output to heat the building.

The board and administration agreed to look into it and discuss the possibility in the future.

Acquiring the building in the first place proved to be a lengthy process.

Clarendon Borough and members of community veterans organizations first approached the district about acquiring the building in February of 2018. The group said they hoped to use it to house the borough government, as space for local organizations and as a shelter for homeless veterans.

Initially, the group asked the district to give them the building outright. Some board members at the time were opposed to giving away a property that could potentially be sold, even for a good cause.

The group countered by offering to purchase 200 iPads, which at the time would have cost more than $50,000.

That summer, the district board approved a transfer of the building pending establishment of terms agreeable to both parties.

It took six more months for the parties to set terms. At one point, the two sides were $75,000 apart on a sale figure. The district offered the building for $150,000, while the borough offered a figure of $75,000.

Eventually, a figure of $80,000 plus up to $5,000 for sale costs was agreed upon and the deed was officially transferred in July 2019.

The subsurface rights were not included in the transaction.