Council of the Municipality of Murrysville

THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Council of the Municipality of Murrysville held a Regular Voting Meeting and Public Hearing on Tuesday, September 17, 2024, at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. Present at the meeting were Council members Eli Diacopoulos, Dayne Dice, Jamie Lingg Mac McKenna, and Mayor Synan. Also, present were Chief Administrator, Michael Nestico, Director of Finance, Jacie Milchak, Community Development Director, James Morrison, and Solicitor, Wes Long. Council members Jason Lemak, Matthew Olszewski, and Carl Stepanovich were absent. PUBLIC HEARING FOR CU-2-24, A CONDITIONAL USE APPLICATION FOR EXCAVATION IN STEEP SLOPES AND POOR SOILS, 10.6 ACRES, THE TOBIN SUBDIVISION AT 5351 CLINE HOLLOW ROAD, TAX PARCEL 49-15-00-0-245, R-2 ZONING. A Public Hearing was held at 7:00 p.m. for CU-2-24, a Conditional Use Application for excavation in steep slopes and poor soils, the Tobin Subdivision at 5351 Cline Hollow Road. A stenographer was present to record the hearing. Mr. Chris Kerns, ECO Land Solutions, gave a brief summary of the Tobin Subdivision plan. The property is 10.6 acres, just across from Barrington Heights on Cline Hollow Road. They are proposing a private driveway onto the property to access the flatter part of the areas in the rear, which will have three lots. The purpose for the Condition Use is due to the presence of steep slopes on the property. A geotechnical engineer from ACA Engineering did their testing and submitted a geotechnical report with their recommendation. There are some poor soils on site, but it is all able to be remedied in the field with over excavation and bringing good material in. There is good material on the site, but there are some poor soil areas that will be addressed. This will all be monitored during construction. Mr. Morrison stated that the Planning Commission recommended approval with conditions. Mr. Kerns agreed to the conditions proposed by the Municipality which he said were standard relating to the issues. Hearing no comments from Council or the audience, Mrs. Lingg made a motion to close the Public Hearing. Mr. McKenna seconded. All those present voted aye. The hearing was closed at 7:05 p.m. REGULAR VOTING MEETING AGENDA ROLL CALL/VOTING ORDER: Dayne Dice, Carl Stepanovich-absent, Jason Lemak-absent, Mac McKenna, Eli Diacopoulos, Matthew Olszewski-absent, Jamie Lingg, and Mayor Synan. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Council President, Dayne Dice led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. UNISTED AMENDMENTS: None CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS: A. Approval of August 20, 2024 Council Meeting Minutes B. Accounts Payable C. Cash Investments and Transfers vmp -1- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Mrs. Lingg made a motion to approve Consent Calendar Items A through C. Mr. McKenna seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. MAYOR’S COMMENTS: Mayor Synan presented the following announcements. Murrysville Farmers’ Market will be coming to a close soon. The last one will be September 26th. They are held Thursdays from 3:00-7:00 p.m. They have live music, weekly food trucks, local vendors, and more! It is located by the Medic One and Murrysville Fire Station, 3235 Sardis Road. Glass Recycling “Pop-Up” Collection Event will be Saturday, September 21st from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. at Veterans Field parking lot. Sponsored by the Municipality of Murrysville and Republic Services. Residents are also encouraged to support the Loaves and Fishes Emergency Food Pantry by donating non-perishable food items. The Fall Curbside Leaf Collection Program will be on the following Saturdays: October 19th, November 9th, November 16th, and December 7th. You must schedule a pick-up by completing the Curbside Leaf Collection Program Form on the website. There is a 20-bag limit. The deadline to sign up is the Thursday before the pick-up date. School is open! Drive carefully not only around school buses, but also around your neighborhood. CHIEF ADMINISTRATOR’S COMMENTS: Mr. Nestico noted that Peoples Gas is finishing up the project on Tarr Hollow and North Hills Roads. The road will be open tomorrow and will be wrapping up the project by the end of the week. COMMUNITY INPUT: Ronald Wolf, 3644 Forbes Trail Drive: There is a little lot at the corner of Gun Club Road and Logan Ferry Road that is being used to dump landscaping material. Now there are building materials there, carpeting, and it’s starting to look like a landfill. It would be nice if someone would go up there and check on that and find out what’s going on. It is very unsightly. Mr. Wolf stated that he has several articles from the paper where grants, loans, and money to build sewer systems were granted to other communities. Why hasn’t FTMSA gotten any money to do the Haymaker Run line and get it straightened out so when it rains, he doesn’t have a yard full of feces. Why hasn’t Council required FTMSA to have their meetings televised here at the Municipal Building? Has FTMSA been here to give an update on what’s happening at Haymaker Run? Mayor Synan noted that last week he did have a discussion with Mr. Kerr at FTMSA and asked him what the holdup was. He stated that they were waiting for DEP approval. As soon as they have DEP approval they will move ahead. Mr. Dice stated that he will take these concerns to FTMSA on Thursday. Melonie Mills, 6025 Forbes Hollow Road: Ms. Mills stated that a number of neighbors came to her to get clarification from Council concerning the parcel on 6027 (the westerly parcel) and 6037 (the easterly parcel) William Penn Highway. Which of those properties have sold and which is still on the market? vmp -2- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Attorney Long stated that the western parcel was sold for the Caliber Collision project. The eastern parcel is not sold. Ms. Mills stated that on the GIS map, that property is listed as only 2.74 acres which is less than what Victory had originally proposed as 3+ acres to develop. Has that development received PennDOT approval? Mr. Nestico answered no, not for their Highway Occupancy Permit. Ms. Mills asked if the sewer tie-in had been approved. Mr. Dice answered that tonight Council is voting on the sewer aspect of the it. Ms. Mills stated that just for Council’s awareness, the neighborhood is still very curious on how Council is going to continue to look out for them in the future. Mr. Dice stated that is very fair to hold Council accountable and let them know if they see anything that shouldn’t be there. LIAISON COMMENTS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS: Mr. Diacopoulos: There is no update on the pension fund. Mrs. Lingg: The Planning Commission met on September 10th. Public comment included Summerhill residents still concerned about Phase II of construction. The Planning Commission did not forward that on to Council yet. Parking lot paving at CoalTech is on the agenda this evening. Basically, they just want to take their gravel lot and turn it into pavement. The General Business Overlay was discussed. The next meeting is October 8th. Mac McKenna: Parks and Recreation meeting was scheduled for last week, but it had to be cancelled because they didn’t have enough members who were able to attend. The meeting will be rescheduled. Mr. Dice: FTMSA meets this Thursday at 6:00 p.m. WORKSHOP ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: None ENGINEERING: None COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 11.A. General Business Overlay Discussion Mr. A.J. Schwartz, Environmental Planning & Design (EP&D), the consultant that has been working through this process with the Planning Commission, updated Council on the progress of the zoning evaluation. Mr. Schwartz gave a slide presentation showing the current and proposed general business overlay boundaries. His task at hand was to update the general business overlay district to: a) stimulate (re) development; b) “right size” land use permissions, develop patterns and neighborhood adjacencies; and c) create a more responsive and utilized zoning scheme. The Planning Commission still has some work to do before the ordinance is presented to Council. The GBO has been on the books for almost two decades now. Some of the parcels have been studied multiple times and multiple proposals made and there have always been some issues raised by property owners and developers, so it was probably time to take a step back and see what changes might have to be made. One of the first things the Planning Commission wanted to do was go vmp -3- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 back and evaluate whether the boundaries we always known as the General Business Overlay still made sense. Some of the parcels on Route 22 were eliminated because of size, which didn’t make sense. Some of the parcels between Route 22 and Old William Penn can’t actually take advantage of the overlay because they can’t meet the criteria. The Planning Commission said to just remove them from the boundary itself. The Planning Commission wanted to break the overlay into three distinct areas. There are currently five districts which eventually will be consolidated into three subdistricts. Retail isn’t the same as it used to be. The Planning Commission wanted to “right size” things and adjust standards based on that. There are some new uses that don’t fall within the current ordinance. The Planning Commission also wanted to look at potentially some additional controls and some additional regulations that would be attached to the Business Overlay. It has no bearing on the base zoning. The anticipated next steps would be for the Planning Commission to review the preliminary draft and have a draft to Council by the end of the year for them to review and have another briefing with Council at the beginning of 2025. Thereafter, to distribute it to the County for review, then schedule and advertise a Public Hearing for the public to review. Mr. Diacopoulos asked how EP&D went through the process of creating these new districts. Was there public input or public investment in making the recommendations? Mr. Schwartz stated that he has been fortunate to work with Murrysville for a number of years and has worked with several property owners and developers on some of the properties. Sitting down with staff, previous Council, as well as Planning Commission members, they talked through some of the issues that people have expressed over the years. They did not go to property owners or directly to developers and ask them about this. The public review will come in once they have something and words are on a page. Mr. Dice commented that everything sounded good in terms of exploring all the options. PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS ADMINISTRATION: 13.A. Approve the 2025-2029 Capital Improvements Program Mr. Diacopoulos made a motion to approve the 2025-2029 Capital Improvements Program. Mrs. Lingg seconded. Ms. Milchak stated that no changes were requested in her August presentation. This approval would then allow her to use the CIP as the basis for the 2025 Capital Budget. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. vmp -4- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 13.B. Approve Ordinance #1091-24, an Ordinance amending Chapter 157 of the Code of the Municipality of Murrysville, establishing noise standards and requirements for all land use activities within the Municipality of Murrysville Mr. McKenna made a motion to approve Ordinance #1091-24, an Ordinance amending Chapter 157 of the Code of the Municipality of Murrysville, establishing noise standards and requirements for all land use activities within the Municipality of Murrysville. Mrs. Lingg seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that the Municipality contracted with Babich Acoustics as a consultant to assist with the preparation of a revised Noise Ordinance. They took the existing Noise Ordinance, identified noise level limits that cannot be met, and simplified the ordinance for portions of the code which were difficult to interpret. This is the completed product which Babich has reviewed. Mrs. Lingg questioned that in the previous ordinance, there were different hours for weekday versus weekend. Now this is a straight 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and asked what the motivation was behind that. Mr. Nestico answered that the timing was decided through court decisions. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 13.C. Approve the 2025 Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) for the Non-Uniform and Police Pension plans in the amount of $594,685. Mr. Diacopoulos made a motion to approve the 2025 Minimum Municipal Obligation (MMO) for the Non- Uniform and Police Pension plans in the amount of $594,685. Mrs. Lingg seconded. Ms. Milchak stated that this is the annual calculation prepared for budgeting purposes to determine the amount of funding required to meet the financial obligations of both pension plans. The total MMO is $5,525 less than last year due to the change in police pensions. Two officers retired and the Chief also retired. The new officers coming in have lower salaries than the senior police officers. Longevity has also decreased. The Non-Uniform Pension MMO will be $2,235 more due to the increase in wages in 2025 per the CBA, as well as the addition of a new employee in 2025 to support the increased roadways. State Aid, which ranges from $325,000 to $407,950, will be coming and those figures will be included in the Budget. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: 14.A. Approve Resolution #791-24, an amendment to the Municipality of Murrysville’s Act 537 Plan, Caliber Collision. Mr. McKenna made a motion to approve Resolution #791-24, an amendment to the Municipality of Murrysville’s Act 537 Plan, Caliber Collision. Mr. Diacopoulos seconded. vmp -5- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 Mr. Nestico stated that this is the sewage module for the Caliber Collision project. FTMSA and the DEP have reviewed the sewage module. The proposed plan meets all of the requirements of the Municipality’s ordinances and policies. They are waiting on PennDOT HOP to move the project forward. Mr. Diacopoulos asked if PennDOT approval was due to construction that will have to happen, and will there be a lane closure? Mr. Nestico stated that the sewage line will run down through the PennDOT right- of-way – that’s where the HOP comes into play. Solicitor Long stated that FTMSA has to be the permittee for the HOP. The HOP application has been reviewed by PennDOT and was sent back to FTMSA because of some additional issues that needed to be addressed. FTMSA will have to post a bond to insure proper restoration of the property. The bond will be posted by FTMSA but reimbursed by the developer. Lane closures are heavily restricted to very low traffic times if they are needed at all. The Developers Agreement has been approved between FTMSA and Caliber. Mrs. Lingg had a question regarding a paragraph in the ordinance stating that… “the approval for construction purposes will not be granted by the Municipality until the issuance of a Water Quality Management Permit by the DEP”. We were talking about PennDOT, HOP and FTMSA; the DEP is also involved somehow. Solicitor Long stated that the DEP is involved, PennDOT is involved, the Municipality is involved and FTMSA is involved along with the developer. Everything has to come together for the construction to be able to proceed. He does not know what the current status of the Water Quality Management Permit is. That technically won’t hold anything up – it just has to be issued. Ms. Mills stated that the residents were under the understanding that PennDOT Highway Occupancy Permit was due to the safety of people coming off of Route 22 and turning into Caliber Collision. This seems to be related to how traffic will change based on the installation of a sewer line. Are those two different permits? Mr. Nestico answered that it falls under one permit. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 14.B. Approve a minor site plan, SP-4-24, CoalTech Parking Lot Paving, 3102 Braun Avenue, tax parcel 49- 14-05-0-03, Business zoning district. Mrs. Lingg made a motion to approve a minor site plan, SP-4-24, CoalTech Parking Lot Paving, 3102 Braun Avenue, tax parcel 49-14-05-0-03, Business zoning district with the Planning Commission’s recommended stipulations. Mr. Diacopoulos seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that this business currently has a gravel parking lot area with a garage/office building. They are proposing to pave roughly half an acre parking area with bituminous pavement. The Planning Commission recommended approval with their recommended stipulations. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. vmp -6- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 14.C. Approve the conditional use application, CU-2 Tobin Subdivision, Cline Hollow Road, 10.5 acres for residential development, tax parcel 49-15-00-0-245, R-2 zoning Mr. McKenna made a motion to approve the conditional use application, CU-2 Tobin Subdivision, Cline Hollow Road, 10.5 acres for residential development, tax parcel 49-15-00-0-245, R-2 zoning. Mr. Diacopoulos seconded. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. ENGINEERING: 15.A. Consider awarding the DPW-4-24, Crack Sealing project, in an amount not to exceed $30,000. Mr. Diacopoulos made a motion to approve awarding the DPW-4-24, Crack Sealing project to Matcon Diamond in an amount not to exceed $30,000. Mrs. Lingg seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that the project went out for bid. Bids were open on August 28 th. Only one bid was received from Matcon Diamond in the amount of $60,000. The bidder did agree not to exceed the $30,000 which was the amount budgeted for this project. They will provide as much crack sealing, at that price, as possible. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. 15.B. Consider awarding the DPW-6-24, Old William Penn Bridge Rehab project. Mrs. Lingg made a motion to award the DPW-6-24, Old William Penn Bridge Rehab project to Kukurin Contracting. Mr. McKenna seconded. Mr. Nestico stated that this is the Old William Penn Bridge repair that is near Griff’s Ice Cream Shop. Bids were open on September 9th. There were four bids received. The low bidder was Kukurin Contracting in the amount of $170,000. The project will begin this fall and is estimated to be a 45-day repair with a full closure with detours in place. All those present voted aye. Motion approved. PUBLIC WORKS AND PARKS: None OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: None EXECUTIVE SESSION: 19.A. Potential Litigation Mrs. Lingg made a motion to adjourn to Executive Session. Mr. McKenna seconded. All those present vmp -7- THE MUNICIPALITY OF MURRYSVILLE Regular Voting Meeting – Tuesday, September 17, 2024 voted aye. Motion approved. There was no action anticipated coming out of the meeting. ACTION ITEMS: None ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. The Regular Voting Meeting and Public Hearing were 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 -8-