The Mt. Lebanon School District's $113.3 million renovation of its high school has effectively been halted, after the municipality's zoning board denied two variances the school district had requested.

School board president Ed Kubit said at last night's school board meeting that he was "disappointed" in the outcome of Thursday's hearing.

Zoning requirements mandate that the lot coverage, or the percentage of the high school land covered by buildings, pavement and other non-permeable surfaces, be no more than 50 percent.

The school district currently has lot coverage of 54.57 percent. Under the proposed high school design, the lot coverage will be decreased to 54.43 percent.

Zoning requirements for the lot also require 528 parking spaces. The high school currently has 502 parking spaces and under the new design will have 505 spaces.

The school district had argued that it should receive the variances from the municipality because the design proposal has "less non-conformity than the current condition," Mr. Kubit said.

But the zoning board denied both variances by votes of 3-0 Thursday. The school district will explore options to move forward with the high school plan, including a possible appeal to the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Kubit said.

The school board has been discussing a high school renovation project for more than two years and last month held a state-mandated Act 34 hearing about the project. The next architect's update on the proposed high school design will be on April 12 in the high school library.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.