Council of the Municipality of Murrysville

THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday May 3, 2023 The Council of the Municipality of Murrysville held a Regular Voting Meeting on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Present at the meeting were Council members Dayne Dice, Jamie Lee Korns, Jason Lemak, Jamie Lingg, Mac McKenna, Tony Spadaro, Carl Stepanovich, and Mayor Synan. Also, present were Chief Administrator, Michael Nestico, Community Development Director, James Morrison, and Solicitor Wes Long. REGULAR VOTING MEETING AGENDA ROLL CALL/VOTING ORDER: Jason Lemak, Jamie Lee Korns, Mac McKenna, Dayne Dice, Jamie Lingg, Tony Spadaro, Carl Stepanovich, and Mayor Synan. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Mr. Dice led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. UNISTED AMENDMENTS: None CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS: 4.A. Approval of April 19, 2023, Council Meeting Minutes. Mrs. Lingg made a motion to approve the April 19, 2023 Council Meeting Minutes. Dr. Lee Korns seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Synan presented the following slides and announcements: Spring Gardening Series continues. The Inviting, Pollinator-Friendly Gardens of Westmoreland County will be Tuesday, May 23rd at 6:30 p.m. Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden will be Tuesday, May 30th at 6:30 p.m. All events are held at the Murrysville Community Library. Register at murrysvillelibrary.org or call 724- 327-1102. Enjoy Life Sunday Morning Yoga at Townsend will be held every Sunday, May 14th – September 10th from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. The cost is $10 per session. Visit SolSpace.love to register. Cash or Venmo will be accepted. Germans to America: Presented by Unlock Your History and The Heinz History Center will be Monday, May 8th at 6:30 p.m. at the Murrysville Community Library. Register at www.murrysvillelibrary.org. May is Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month: Be careful out there! Murrysville Clean-Up Week is from May 8th through May 13th at Pleasant Valley Landfill. The Municipality of Murrysville residents may take items to the Valley Landfill on Pleasant Valley Road: May 8-12 from 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 13 from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Permit passes are available at the reception desk here at the Municipal Building, 4100 Sardis Road, Murrysville. Spring Craft Fair is being held Saturday, May 6th from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Murrysville Community Library. Free admission. There will be over 40 vendors participating. vmp -1- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday May 3, 2023 CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR’S COMMENTS: None COMMUNITY INPUT: Paul Kosko, Westmoreland County Commissioner candidate: Mr. Kosko stated that he is doing a tour of the 65 communities located in Westmoreland County. He wanted to thank Council and the Mayor for their service to the community and pledge that when elected at the County Commissioner level, it doesn’t matter what party you belong to, he will be serving everyone. He is here to listen and learn and will do the same with all the other communities. Rick Fisher, 6612 Italy Road: Mr. Fisher stated that he is a representative with the Westmoreland Heritage Trail and wanted to give Council an update on the trail. They have counters at Saunders Station, Export, and Athena Drive and from mid-December through mid-April, they had 33,000 counts. They are happy with that amount of participation on the trails. The average is about 2,080 per week. Some things accomplished this past year have been replacement of the deck on the Trafford Road bridge, added gravel to a few of the parking lots, installed a new storage container near the sewer authority, a kiosk was added in Slickville, a 750-foot trail extension in Export, and a contractor was hired to clean out some ditches. They received a grant for the purchase of a utility vehicle and a grant for partial purchase of a tractor. Mr. Fisher stated that the question the board gets asked the most is what’s going on with the gap between Delmont and Export. The land east of Route 66 is under contract, which is held up by PennDOT review of Dollar General parking lot. The land west of Route 66 is the White Valley Social Club, which is procured and under review. The remainder of the route through Export is a challenge. Other improvements include a bridge which is proposed from Monroeville Valley Park to the trail. There are 425 trail members. There were over 3,000 volunteer hours last year. There were 10 trail events last year. Coming up Saturday, June 3rd is the Westmoreland Heritage Trail Festival at Trafford’s BY Park. LIAISON COMMENTS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS: Mr. Lemak: The Library met last Thursday. They did see an increase in utilities and expenses. They have formed a committee between the Library and the Library Foundation to go on a tour of different libraries in the area to get different ideas. Mr. Stepanovich: The Planning Commission meets next Tuesday. Park and Recreation Foundation meets on Monday, May 22. Mr. Spadaro: Medic One meets in two weeks. Dr. Lee Korns: Pension will meet next Thursday morning. The quarterly report is in with a total portfolio return of 4.48%. Mrs. Lingg: The next School Board meeting will be this coming Monday. It is the Committee-of-the-Whole and Board Meeting. The Policy Committee meeting is May 11th and Finance Committee meeting is May 24th. Mr. McKenna: The Parks and Recreation meets next Tuesday. Be patient with the closed fields due to the wet weather. Hopefully things will dry up this weekend. vmp -2- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday May 3, 2023 WORKSHOP ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: None ENGINEERING: None COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: None PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 13.A. Approval of the Joint Petition and Stipulation of Settlement under Tax Assessment Appeal No. 4187 of 2020 for the property located at Tax Map No. 49-14-01-0-012 bearing the physical address of 3880 Old William Penn Highway. Mr. Spadaro made a motion to approve the Joint Petition and Stipulation of Settlement under Tax Assessment Appeal No. 4187 of 2020 for the property located at Tax Map No. 49-14-01-0-012 bearing the physical address of 3880 Old William Penn Highway. Mr. Stepanovich seconded. Mr. Long noted that this is the First Commonwealth Bank Building at the corner of Sardis Road and Old William Penn Highway. In 2021 the property owner filed an appeal. The property was assessed at $169,730. The Board denied the appeal. The property owner then appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. The market value of the property according to the County varies because of the ratio year to year, but roughly 1.4 to 1.5 million. The property owner obtained an appraisal of $475,000. Franklin Regional School District obtained an appraisal of $1,300,000. The parties (the School District, the County, and Municipality) reached a settlement for fair market value of $887,500. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 14.A. Authorize advertising Ordinance #1073-23, an ordinance for rezoning of approximately 19.3 acres, tax parcel 49-10-13-0-014, Logan Ferry Road, from R-1 residential to R-2 residential. Mr. Lemak made a motion to advertise Ordinance #1073-23, an ordinance for rezoning of approximately 19.3 acres, tax parcel 49-10-13-0-014, Logan Ferry Road, from R-1 residential to R-2 residential. Mr. McKenna seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 14.B. Authorize/Deny the rezoning of approximately 36.3 acres located at Cline Hollow Road, Redstone Highlands, Tax Parcel 49-15-05-0-013, from R-2 Residential zoning to R-3 Residential zoning. vmp -3- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday May 3, 2023 Mrs. Lingg made a motion to authorize/deny the rezoning of approximately 36.3 acres located at Cline Hollow Road, Redstone Highlands, Tax Parcel 49-15-05-0-013, from R-2 Residential zoning to R-3 Residential zoning. Mr. Spadaro seconded. Mr. Dice stated that there has been a lot of discussion on this. He has thought about this a lot and feels that Redstone does a great job. You hear good things from the people who live there. He really can’t say anything negative about Redstone. The property is already zoned R-2, which is what it was purchased as. It is his belief that it should remain as R-2 and is what the residents are asking for. Mr. McKenna stated that he also has thought about this and looked at this in every way possible. Initially when this came, the public was very adamant about the entrance through Arrowhead. Kudos to Redstone who changed the plans and addressed the issues that a lot of the people in the community had. The one issue he can’t get past is that there is no safety net to the Municipality if Redstone decides to use the non- profit and not pay any taxes at all, they could do that. If Council rezones this, another company could buy this, or anything could happen and there would be no control for anything for the community. If there were no taxes, it would be a lot of stress on the municipality. Trying to weigh the positives and the negatives, Mr. McKenna stated that he can’t get past the possibility of there being no safety net for the municipality or the people in the community. Dr. Lee Korns stated that she will piggy-back on both Mr. Dice and Mr. McKenna. She agrees with the tax issues raised and the feedback from the community was her greatest concern. She has gone back and forth quite a bit with zoning requests in general. We do need to look at our zoning. It is critical for a community to have a commercial corridor if possible and for the community to have some high-density housing. With looking at the zoning map, she would like to keep certain types of development more along the Route 22 corridor. We are getting a little too far away currently to rezone that property to R-3. Maybe down the road, but this isn’t the time. Also, Dr. Lee Korns noted that the Planning Commission did not recommend approval when they first reviewed this. Mr. Stepanovich stated that he grew up on the South Side of Pittsburgh and at that time, he knew the areas of Mount Lebanon and Upper Saint Clair were the places that you would like to live as opposed to the city. He tends to think that if you keep expanding the high-rise situation, then it gets more urbanized, if you will. One thing that so many people have said to him is that we have such a good thing going here in Murrysville. It’s not a suburb, it’s a rural residential mix with a lot of the benefits with the schools, etc. Mr. Stepanovich stated that he would like to keep it that way. Mrs. Lingg stated that she agrees with everything that has been said. She does recognize that there is a need for senior living care. Mrs. Lingg wanted to point out that the Planning Commission did forward this to Council with a recommendation to not approve. Also, looking through the re-zoning application form, there was an argument made by Redstone that she can’t get past. They took a part of our Comprehensive Plan and quoted it stating that the nature of those who live in higher density housing are fewer families with children with less demands on schools and public services than low density housing… That’s true if those vmp -4- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Wednesday May 3, 2023 developments are paying taxes, but they are not. There is a turnover you have to consider, and that argument isn’t a valid one that they made. Mr. Lemak stated that he has looked at this from an engineering or analytical point of view. There are some things that make sense, but for him there are pros and cons. For the community, he believes that the cons outweigh the pros. Mr. Spadaro stated that he agrees with most of the comments that have been made. Dr. Lee Korns added that Redstone has done a lot of great things for the community, and we really want you here and welcome you here and look forward to see what you can do with the property, if the vote goes the way it appears to be going. We all still have a lot of respect and gratitude for you. Upon roll call vote: Mr. Lemak– deny, Dr. Lee Korns – deny, Mr. McKenna – deny, Mr. Dice – deny, Mrs. Lingg – deny, Mr. Spadaro –deny, and Mr. Stepanovich – deny. Motion denied. ENGINEERING: None PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: Mr. Dice stated that this is going to be a very quick Executive Session to discuss a personnel matter and a real estate matter. There was no action anticipated coming out of the meeting. Mr. Spadaro made a motion to adjourn to an executive session. Mr. Stepanovich seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. ACTION ITEMS: None ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. The Regular Voting Meeting was broadcast on local government Channel 21. A true copy of the Council meeting DVD is available for the public to purchase from the Municipality of Murrysville and is in the Murrysville Public Library for review. vmp -5-