Aug 11, 2017 By Jacob Calvin Meyer 6 min read

South Fayette commissioners during a contentious four-hour meeting Aug. 9 approved a conditional use plan to allow UPMC to build a $211.2 million community hospital at Newbury Market in the township.

Prior to the vote, more than 100 residents gathered for a lengthy public hearing, with more than 25 people speaking about a wide range of issues about the hospital proposal.

Greg Peaslee, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at UPMC, tried to explain the benefits of having the hospital in South Fayette.

“We believe having an adult hospital here will serve the community the same way the Children’s Hospital does,” Peaslee said of the facility built across Route 50 from Newbury.

Peaslee expressed UPMC’s commitment to paying a real estate tax on a minimum of 40,000-square feet of the property, which is the expected size of the out-patient facility and the only taxable portion of the 280,000-square foot, 90-bed hospital. He also promised UPMC will contribute an additional $50,000 to $100,000 a year for community-based programs and projects.

Brett Malky, president of Newbury Development Associates, also spoke and vowed to keep Newbury’s promise of creating a main street at Newbury Market on Presto-Sygan Road.

“The original vision of Newbury was to create a new heart of the South Hills … and to create a main street,” Malky said. “Should UPMC be approved tonight, it is our commitment to build main street and again with confirmation of the two anchors be able to proceed with securing the tenants to build main street for this community.”

Tammy Ribar, counsel for Newbury’s developer, EQA Landmark Communities, explained the need for a second “anchor” at Newbury Market near the Bridgeville exit of Interstate 79, as construction is about to begin on TopGolf later this month.

“I think we’ve made it clear on the record that we need UPMC and in particular this project as a second anchor, along with TopGolf, which we have already secured, in order to add an entertainment and health care component to the concept of Newbury Market,” she said. “We’ve also made it clear that with the board’s approval of UPMC as the second anchor here that the remainder of Newbury Market will be able to be built.”

She also suggested other tenants will be “happy to come here, in fact we may have to turn various tenants down,” before being interrupted by laughter from many in the crowd.

Michael Rynn, like many other residents, brought up Newbury’s slogan for Newbury Market to be a place to “Dine, Shop and Play,” as well as expressing doubts as to whether or not other businesses would follow.

“There’s been a lot of talk saying they’re coming, they’re coming,” Rynn said. “But who? And what? And when?”

Another resident, Chip Davis, urged the board to vote no on the plan.

“You were elected to represent the residents of South Fayette,” Davis said. “Not UPMC, not EQA, South Fayette. Always remember that. Ask yourselves: If this were on the ballot, is this what the residents would vote?”

In contrast, Bob Milacci, a former South Fayette commissioner, urged the board to pass the conditional use plan. Milacci, who was part of the board that first approved Newbury Market plan around the turn of the century, said the original plan was for the township administration building, along with a community center, library and gym to be put in Newbury, all of which would have been tax exempt.

“The economic benefits of that partially tax free property are so enormous compared to what we envisioned originally,” he said. “The UPMC hospital payoff versus what we were originally promised from Mr. Malky and what we envisioned for Newbury, this is going to be so much better than what we originally envisioned.”

At times, the meeting devolved into yelling among in the audience and arguments between residents and the board and staff members.

Unrelated topics like traffic, where UPMC helicopters would fly and land, insurance and the health care provider’s motives to build the hospital were consistent topics brought up by residents. In the middle of the hearing, board president Joseph Horowitz explained the board faced a “black and white issue” with the conditional use vote and that those issues were not pertinent to the vote.

If the board denied the conditional use plan, he said, the matter could then move to court. Horowitz believes the township would “probably” lose that lawsuit, thus losing the township the $50-100 thousand UPMC has promised for additional community based programs and projects.

The board voted unanimously to approve the project, with board vice president Raymond Pitetti abstaining due to being a physician at UPMC’s Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. Lisa Malosh, an employee at UPMC-partnered Presbyterian SeniorCare, was absent.

If the plan goes as envisioned the construction of the hospital is expected to begin in 2018 and finish in 2020. Horowitz ensured residents during the public hearing, though, that the passage of the conditional use plan does not mean the process is over.

“This is just the first stage in the process,” Horowitz said. “This doesn’t mean they can build whatever they want here. They have to come back with their plan and they have to come back numerous times before they open UPMC. There is additional time to negotiate between now and then.”

While the meeting already started nearly a half-hour late, the board then went into a 15-minute “recess to discuss procedural matters,” Horowitz said, which disgruntled some residents. Solicitor Robert J. Garvin confirmed that attorneys from UPMC and EQA were present during the recess. He said the meeting was for “legal matters to discuss how the process of the hearing was going to go.”

Also during the meeting:

Eric Schindler, director of leasing for the Elmhurst Group, said during the public hearing the company has agreed to be in Newbury Market. Construction will begin on the 100,000-square foot office building in conjunction with UPMC in 2018.

The board pushed back a vote for a volunteer firefighter tax credit. Township manager Ryan Eggleston announced that township staff and commissioner Gwen Rodi met with the four volunteer fire chiefs in the township to discuss the ordinance.

The board also voted on a resolution to accept a $77,484 state grant from the Green Light-Go Municipal Signal Partnership Program. The money will go towards the State Route 50 adaptive signal system extension project. This is the second year in a row the township has received the grant.