South Fayette passes budget, launches website
A slide Rob Bowman presented to commissioners showing the layout of the proposed Hastings community at the site of the former Mayview Hospital.
A slide showing the mock-up of neighborhood style and planning Charter Homes representatives say they aim for in each community they build, including park-like elements of tree-lined streets and green community spaces.
The South Fayette township board of commissioners voted to approve a $9.79 million spending budget for 2015 at its Dec. 10 voting meeting, holding property taxes at 3.48 mils. The board also approved three tax abatement plans and listened to a second presentation from Charter Homes to build a 620-unit mixed-use residential plan at the site of the former Mayview Hospital. And, the commissioners saw how residents can use the revamped township website, southfayettepa.com.
“The website now has anonymous crime reporting to police, ‘Notify Me’ alerts via text and email for emergencies and schedule changes, and residents can report issues with roads or infrastructure – anything from potholes, snow removal to a dead animal carcass in the road,” said community development director Andrea Iglar. “And for these services, you do have to register on the site.”
“There’s also a complete directory for all township employees, including police. And the site will now have downloadable attachments under each meeting agenda item with information or the pertinent document,” she said.
Charter Homes’ Rob Bowman presented to the board at the beginning of the meeting his second pitch for a mixed-use residential community along Mayview Road. The concept, called Hastings, would integrate shops and park-like elements, including tree lined streets and other green spaces.
“We’re looking to make this a multi-generational concept plan, with homes attractive for hosting two generations of family, as well as smaller nearby houses that second generations would want to stay in so they could be close to parents or grandparents,” Bowman said.
Commissioners Deron Gabriel and Jessica Cardillo Wagenhoffer asked if the project could be done without displacing residents or disrupting traffic.
“I believe we can do this without closing any roads or forcing anyone out. We don’t have to stop traffic for an extended period of time,” Bowman responded.
Board president Joseph Horowitz asked what next steps would be if they were to proceed with the site currently zoned for small business use.
“We’ve prepared an ordinance, and this could possibly work as an overlay (district) to allow (for mixed-used) construction,” Bowman said. Of the 620 units, 240 would be apartments. Bowman said businesses could expect to have an average 30-50,000 square feet of space.
In other business, the board voted to approve tax abatement plans, Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance, or LERTA, for UPMC, Alpine Sales and EBY Sales, the last of which would be approved for years two through five, according to manager Ryan Eggleston.
“The county now has to set the schedules for the tax plans. We approved all of them, just EBY’s approval would be granted the second year after the county approves it,” he said.
Eggleston also announced the township had hired Paula Simmons as recreation director. She had been serving in the same position at Brentwood borough.
The board also approved setting the 2015 non-union employee pension contribution rate at 8.6 percent.