The Mayview Land Reuse Task Force essentially has agreed on a vision for the former state hospital property, but faces a new twist in achieving it.

Task force members last night gave positive reviews to a draft report that calls for development on the main portion of the property, for slopes and wetlands to be set aside for conservation and for the upper part of the property to be joined to South Fayette's Fairview Park.

Audience members, many of them advocates for mental health care, were pleased that the draft also calls for most of the proceeds to be set aside for regional mental health care, the main point being pushed by advocates who have tracked the task force's talks.

"It is precedent-setting, and we are aware of that," said Sally Jo Snyder of the Consumer Health Coalition, a leader among the advocates. "It would be a benefit to future installations that may close ... To hear them reiterate their commitment to make it happen was encouraging."

The path to reach those goals, however, is not entirely clear. At the task force's meeting, John Paul Jones of the state Department of General Services proposed creating a local authority and deeding the property over to it, and letting the authority pursue a sale and development.

The idea was not exactly embraced by local officials on the task force, especially after Ford Thompson of the state Department of Public Welfare estimated that security and maintenance will cost $500,000 a year even after the buildings are closed.

"We don't have that in our budget," South Fayette manager Mike Hoy said.

The other possible approach would for the state to retain ownership and solicit development proposals. The proposals then can be assessed for how they meet the task force's goals.

Task force co-chairman, state Sen. John Pippy, R- Moon, said the task force would further explore the options and schedule another meeting in August or September.

He said he believes progress has been made.

"I think there's consensus on what people want to see happen," he said. "The question is how to get there."

The task force is charged with developing recommendations for the disposal of the property, left empty when the state closed the hospital in December.