Bedner Estates, flooding concern Bridgeville residents
Although not officially on the agenda at Bridgeville Borough’s council meeting Aug. 12, the topic of the Bedner Farms Estates development was on the mind of several residents, as was the flooding the borough sustained July 10.
Resident Pasquale DeBlasio said during the public comment portion of the meeting, “Wow, did I miss a meeting,” referring to last month’s meeting when the Bridgeville Borough Council agreed to a $70,000 settlement with Bedner Farms Estates.
The settlement was approved July 16 and included a sum of $70,000 to be paid to Bridgeville in various installments. The settlement would allow 33 houses in the new development to tap into Bridgeville’s sewer lines, although sewer service fee would be paid to Upper St. Clair.
DeBlasio said for 30 years the borough has worked hard to prevent traffic, sewage and flooding from Upper St. Clair.
“Asking Upper St. Clair to develop an arterial roadway was a reasonable request,” DeBlasio said. He added, “If there’s a way to stop the connection, let’s do it.”
However, DeBlasio said, if the connection has to be made, then improvements to Main Street need to be done.
“We need to fight for better roads, sewers and flood control,” DeBlasio said, adding that the borough should work with Upper St. Clair and other areas to “fight for funds from the county and state.” DeBlasio added, “We fight hard. Hopefully we can fight to win some.”
Bob Fryer, who is named in a petition for reconsideration of the settlement, presented several alternatives to the proposed Main Street entrance for Bedner Farms Estates.
The group requesting the reconsideration includes Fryer, Neil Lyons, Joel Lakus and Bill Colussy, a member of Bridgeville Council.
Fryer said at the Aug. 12 meeting that there is a path behind the Bedner Farm market that could be used as an entrance to the development.
Fryer also pointed out there is another road near the farm market that was used by Bender Farms from about 1917 until a few years ago. He said the road was used to truck produce and goods to the farm market.
“The Bedners had the good sense to understand this was the logical route,” Fryer said of the road, that he added was still in decent shape. Fryer said using that road would also make for a more grand entrance to Bedner Farms Estates.
Fryer was also concerned about the safety and additional traffic that could come from the development.
“There’s going to be considerably more traffic,” he said. He added there are no sidewalks along Main Street and “there should be.” He said Chartiers Valley students also catch the bus at a stop on the street without sidewalks.
Fryer said he hopes the Allegheny County Common Pleas judge will reconsider the settlement agreement “because of the safety issues involved.” He added, “The essential thing is the sidewalks.”
During his report, Bridgeville Fire Chief William Chilleo said there were 122 calls into the department on June 10.
He said close to 70 firefighters came to Bridgeville’s aid that day including crews from Fairview, Presto, Crafton, Green Tree, Carnegie, Houston and Canonsburg, among others.
“We all dedicated our time that day to everybody,” he said.
Resident Jo Hutchison added during the public comment portion of the meeting, “Between the flooding and Bedner, what are we going to do?” She added that her home was badly flooded last month and her sewer also backed up because of the water. “Our sewer system can’t handle it,” she said. “The sewer system is not going to handle any more houses,” she added.
Borough Manager Lori Collins said Bridgeville is required to make point repairs to the sewer system every year and the borough is poised to spend about $400,000 on those repairs this year. She added that the borough is also part of a consent order requiring sewer upgrades. Collins said the program is ongoing and that eventually McLaughlin Run will have a parallel line added to it. She said the Main Street alley way will also be done.
Collins said when all is said and done the borough’s portion of the consent order will be nearly $10 million. She said Bridgeville budgets about $1.5 million per year for sewer issues.
“We have no choice. We have to do it,” she said, adding that ALCOSAN also has to upgrade its lines.
Jason Ferry, who lives on New York Street in Bridgeville said he has a sewer line that goes down his backyard and that during the July 10 flood his basement flooded with sanitary sewer water.
“Either freshwater or USC sewage is going into the sewer,” he said. Ferry added that his house has flooded three times because of sewer water.
“Our house shouldn’t be flooded because of sewer water,” Ferry said.
Collins said the borough keeps a log of houses that are flooded with sanitary sewer water and that she didn’t know of any calls that came into the office from that area of the borough. She said it was a miscommunication and apologized for it.
Council Member Mary Weiss told the people in attendance to take pictures of the inside and outside of their homes when they flood. “Make a copy and put it in a safety deposit box,” she said.
“Hindsight’s 20/20,” said resident Jared Cotton who also lives on New York Street.