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Wednesday, July 16, 2003

TOWNS

Bethel Park

Council voted 8-1 Monday to appoint Joseph Kletch to the Police Civil Service Commission. Donald Harrison dissented.

Council President Timothy Moury received an award from the Allegheny County Library Association honoring his support of the local library.

Its upgrade cost $500,000 and council provided half the cost, with the library closing in July and reopening in January.

Dormont

Councilwoman Maggie Mitro questioned AT&T wireless service charges at council's July 7 meeting. The borough was charged $372.69 for the use of 13 phones by administration officials.

She asked for copies of bills for the previous three months and a list of personnel who have been issued a phone for borough use.

Green Tree

The borough's newsletter placed second in the 2003 contest of Borough News, the official publication of the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, in the 2,501-5,000 population category.

Council voted to permit the Hale family, who are nonresidents, to reserve Hale Park Pavilion for July 26, at the standard rental fee. The borough bought the park property from the Hales in the 1970s. Council expressed interest in revisiting borough policy, which prohibits renting to nonresidents, at a later date.

A public hearing will be conducted during council's Sept. 8 regular meeting on a request to rezone property at 2735 Noblestown Road from Residence A to the local business district.

The 2003 road paving program will consist solely of the complete repair of McKinney Lane. Plans to repair Poplar Street will be put off until next year.

Council authorized the borough manager to proceed with sidewalk repairs along Wilson Park on Rhodes and Sheldon avenues. Estimated cost is $22,000.

Council adopted an emergency operations plan for the borough that has been updated using a mandated state outline.

Mt. Lebanon

Mt. Lebanon commissioners finalized plans Monday for renovations to the municipal building at 710 Washington Road. Namely:

The municipality sold $5 million in 20-year project bonds, which have an interest rate of just over 4 percent.

Nello Construction was awarded the general contracting bid for just over $2 million. The contract includes several upgrades, including new windows in the whole building instead of just the front, cleaning of aluminum pieces on the facade, additional landscaping and lighting and restoration of the terrazzo floor.

Scalise Industries won the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning contract for $735,000 and the plumbing contract for $299,000. Westmoreland Electric will do the electrical work for $669,000.

The municipality, the school district and Continental Real Estate Co. have settled on the value of the Galleria on Washington Road. Its developers appealed the assessment. The 2001 value will be $24,256,000, while the value for 2002-05 will drop to $17 million.

Peters

Council unanimously approved the transfer of a liquor license from Washington, Washington County, to restaurateur Frank Yocca, who plans to open a 5,200-square-foot Italian-American restaurant called Bella Piatto at 102 McDowell Lane, near the intersection with Route 19.

But the action prompted a discussion by council that concluded with a directive for Township Manager Michael Silvestri to write a letter to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board protesting its lack of limits on the number of liquor licenses a municipality must approve.

Since a change in the liquor law in 2000, limits are placed countywide with no more than one license per 3,000 residents. But there are no limits placed on individual municipalities.

Since the change in the law, Peters council has had five applications to transfer liquor licenses into the township and there are currently 22 liquor licenses there, with two of them inactive. That means there is one license for each 850 township residents.

"Is there somewhere where we can draw a line on how many liquor licenses come into the municipality," questioned Councilwoman Jacqueline Campbell.

A similar discussion was held last month after council approved a license transfer for Harry's of Hartford pizza restaurant that plans to open next month in Waterdam Centre.

The replacement of the trail bridge over Bebout Road in Peters, a project in the works for several years, will be delayed a while longer because it has now been identified as a historic structure, Township Manager Michael Silvestri told council on Monday.

He said the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation notified the township that in order to qualify for state funding for the $350,000 project, it would have to have an archaeologist or historian document and archive details of the structure.

The township wants to replace the bridge, which connects sections of the Arrowhead Trail, because it is narrower than the trail and causes a bottleneck.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. tomorrow in Peterswood Park for the new Community Recreation Center.

Local and state officials have been invited, as well as all sports program directors and others involved in the project or who supported grant funding.

Brief presentations will be given by township Councilman James Schafer, Frank LoCastro, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Board; Doug Shuck, from WTW Architects, and state Rep. John Maher, R-Upper St. Clair.

An organizational meeting to form a Peters Township Friends of the Trail Group to maintain and improve the Montour Trail will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday in the Venetia Community Room at 800 Venetia Road, the former Venetia Elementary School.

The first Peters (non-Arrowhead) segment of the Montour Trail recently opened from Brush Run Road to the county line. The new group will be involved in extending the Arrowhead Trail and Montour Trail westward toward Cecil, and eastward toward Library.

For information, contact Mark Imgrund, 724-941-6351 or at mcimgrund@adelphia.net.

South Fayette

The South Fayette Volunteer Fire Department has received a grant of $35,775 from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The money will be used for training, wellness and fitness, equipment and modifications to the fire station.

SCHOOLS

Bethel Park

The school board voted to borrow $2.8 million from Mellon Financial Markets to offset a temporary shortfall of funds.

The money will be used to meet the district's operating expenses until enough tax revenue is collected, said Ken Gorton, director of finance and operations.

The note carries an interest rate of 1.12 percent and will cost the district an additional $31,556. The district spends about $4.5 million a month in operating expenses and recently approved a budget of $55 million.