Sally Jo Snyder is about to reach the first of her three major goals regarding the closed Mayview State Hospital.

Next month, an appraiser will be chosen to analyze the value of the hospital's 300-acre site on the South Fayette-Upper St. Clair border, both in light of the current zoning and the best use of the property.

The highest and best language means the appraiser will look at the type of development that would make the property the most valuable, and will include that in the analysis.

"Historically, properties like this have been sold for a song, then developed, and the community makes a killing," Ms. Snyder said Tuesday.

This time around, she instead wants the appraisal to be followed by a sale at fair market value with proceeds going to a fund that will fill the void of Mayview by caring for the mentally ill.

"Let's honor what the true intent of that land is," she said.

Ms. Snyder, a United Methodist minister who heads the Consumer Health Coalition and has taken up the cause of former Mayview patients, has been pushing her agenda at meetings of a task force set up by the state to determine the eventual use of the Mayview property.

About 100 coalition members showed up at last Thursday's task force meeting wearing black and gold T-shirts bearing a quote from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: "The time is always right, to do the right thing."

One problem for the coalition, though, is that the enemy is nebulous. The politicians involved -- task force co-chairs state Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, and State Rep. Nick Kotik, D-Robinson, as well as state Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, and state Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park -- have been supportive of the coalition's goals, and legislation on the use of sale proceeds is in the works.

But precedent, bureaucracy and the state's financial straits all pose challenges.

Ms. Snyder noted that an authority created by Haverford Township in suburban Philadelphia bought the 250-acre Haverford State Hospital site for $3.5 million in 2002, and in 2006 sold 39 acres to a housing developer for $17 million. None of the money went to benefit the mentally ill.

Officials in South Fayette have said that only about 90 acres of the Mayview property are usable; the rest are wetlands, steeply sloped or railroad right-of-way. The property also is fairly isolated, without access to major roads; and the officials are of the opinion that the buildings will have to be razed due to asbestos concerns.

South Fayette Commissioners also took action in October to protect their own rights in the debate by rezoning the Mayview property. Previously zoned for rural residential use, it is now zoned for development as a business park, with offices and service-oriented shops. The township also is looking into creating a new zoning district for the property, possibly aimed at recreational use.

Ms. Snyder noted that she was not a real estate expert, but in her view "that's a sweet piece of land that people will want to get their hands on."

She envisions a commercial/retail mix, "kind of like a SouthSide Works thing" on the property, which fronts Chartiers Creek across from Upper St. Clair.

She said a $2 million ballpark figure mentioned by the state Department of General Services, which administers the site, was ridiculously low.

"That's not in the ballpark," she said. "That's not even on Route 28 on the way to the ballpark."