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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A property in Plains Township near the Susquehanna River being considered for a possible new consolidated high school is &#8220;practically off the table&#8221; thanks in part to being in the flood plain, Wilkes-Barre Area School District Solicitor Ray Wendolowski said Wednesday.</p><p>The school board authorized a review of three additional sites for the high school after the district failed to get a zoning variance from Wilkes-Barre for the chosen location&#8212; the land along N. Washington St. where Coughlin High School currently sits.</p><p>The board had originally looked at seven sites, including where Coughlin and Meyers currently stand, land near Solomon/Plains Memorial Education Complex, and the Coughlin site, the site where Meyers High School sits, and property in or just outside the Wilkes-Barre City boundary.</p><p>Questions arose almost as soon as the district announced the Plains Township property near the river was one under review. Several residents called the Times Leader contending it is in the flood plain.</p><p>Flood plain maps are being redrawn, but Wendolowski confirmed a review by one of the four firms helping the district with the project showed part of the property, just across River Street from Perennial Point Garden Center is within the historic flood plain.</p><p>Wendolowski said that alone is not enough to nix use of the property for the proposed building, which would consolidate grades 9 through 12 from Meyers and Coughlin. He noted the property rises above the flood plain as you go further from the river, and the school itself could be built out of the plain.</p><p>But River Street remains flood prone at the location, and if it were flooded access to the school would be restricted, Wendolowski said.</p><p>The property has other problems, though. Wendolowski said there are some wetlands on it that would have to be mitigated, and there is a gas line that runs under it. He noted the school itself could be built without a gas line running under it, but the line would still run under a parking lot.</p><p>&#8220;That property doesn&#8217;t have a lot of legs&#8221; in competing to house the high school, Wendolowski said.</p><p>The other two new properties under review are well out of the flood plain. One is across from Geisinger Wyoming Valley hospital complex, while the other is along Route 115 across from the entrance to the Seven Tubs Nature Area.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WBA solicitor: Possible high school site is partly in flood plain