Advocates for people with mental illness crowded a meeting last night to support the sale of the Mayview State Hospital property at fair market value with the proceeds redirected for community mental health services.

Loud applause erupted as speaker after speaker reiterated those goals at a meeting of the Mayview State Hospital Land Reuse Task Force, which drew an audience of about 80 people.

"This is a much larger group than we were anticipating," said state Sen. John Pippy, R-Moon, who co-chairs the task force with Rep. Nick Kotik, D-Robinson.

Mr. Pippy said he believed that lawmakers from the area would support using proceeds from the sale of the South Fayette hospital for community mental health needs.

But convincing legislators from other parts of the state could be more difficult, he said.

"It would be a new precedent," he said, noting that funds from sales of state property typically are channeled into the state general fund.

Jessica Seabury, executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Consumer Health Coalition, said the meeting, which was held on hospital property, was full of people with mental illness, their family members and advocates, many of them used to uphill battles.

"Please, assume a leadership role. Fight with us," she said.

Representatives from other groups who attended and expressed similar views included the National Alliance on Mental Illness in southwestern Pennsylvania and the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania.

Besides Mr. Pippy and Mr. Kotik, the task force includes other state and local officials and members of community groups. It has been meeting since February and eventually plans to develop recommendations for use of the Mayview property. The state Department of Public Welfare, which has been downsizing Mayview for months, plans to close the hospital by the end of the year and move most patients to community settings.

A state property disposition plan indicates the 335-acre site has an estimated value of $2 million. But officials said last night that figure was very preliminary.

Consumer advocates said they were particularly concerned about winning approval of a bill proposed by Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, that would direct funds from the sale or lease of state-owned facilities to help support the community needs of people with mental illness or mental retardation. A companion bill has been introduced by Sen. Jim Ferlo, D-Highland Park.

Earlier yesterday, Mr. Frankel said that while his proposal has the approval of Gov. Ed Rendell's administration, amendments have been proposed that the governor would not support.

Among other provisions, Rep. Kathy Rapp, R-Warren, wants a moratorium called on facility closures until a study is completed on the prevalence of serious mental illness or substance abuse among inmates of state correctional institutions or county prisons.

And Rep. John Maher, R-Upper St. Clair, has proposed offering the property at nominal cost to municipalities where it is located, or to nearby municipalities, before it could be sold at fair market value.

Mr. Frankel said he hoped to work out any differences with those and other legislators.