It took Kilbuck supervisors just 10 minutes to not answer questions or listen to comments about the development of a Wal-Mart-anchored shopping plaza where a massive landslide closed Route 65, a major commuter route into Pittsburgh.

	Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Diane Anderson, front, of Kilbuck, and Sandy Moore, of Aleppo, listen as Tim Frew, chairman of the Kilbuck supervisors, reads his statement. Click photo for larger image.

The first regularly scheduled commissioners meeting since the Sept. 19 landslide was over quickly as Tim Frew, chairman of the supervisors, made it clear to the 40 people in attendance last night that none of the supervisors would answer questions or listen to citizen comments about the landslide that has put the $28 million retail project in jeopardy.

After warning the crowd that anyone causing a disturbance would be ejected from the meeting, Mr. Frew read a prepared statement in which he characterized the landslide as an "unfortunate event," said township officials weren't responsible for it and generally defended the actions of the township's supervisors, engineer and solicitor in issuing the permits and slope grading variances that allowed such a steep-sided development project on the old Dixmont State Hospital property.

Still reading from the four-page statement, he accused the citizens group Communities First!, formed to oppose the retail development, of levying "unsubstantiated accusations" and filing frivolous lawsuits, and criticized the media for reporting those developments.

"Kilbuck will not comment until all the facts are known, unlike other groups," he read.

Mr. Frew finished in less than five minutes. He took no questions and allowed no comments on the subject. Several members of the audience laughed in frustration.

Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Tim Frew, chairman of the Kilbuck supervisors, reads a statement at last night's meeting regarding last month's landslide at the site of a new Wal-Mart. "Kilbuck will not comment until all the facts are known, unlike other groups," he read. Click photo for larger image.

"I'm not going to discuss it because I don't have anything to tell you about the Wal-Mart slide," Mr. Frew said in his only unscripted comment, prior to opening the meeting for citizen comments. Not surprisingly, there were none.

"It was exactly what we expected," said Bob Keir, who had asked the supervisors last week for an opportunity to speak at the meeting but was denied.

"I was told absolutely not. No one from Communities First! would be allowed to speak," Mr. Keir said. "As a result I told the people in our group to not even bother coming."

He took exception to Mr. Frew's characterization of the group's lawsuits as "frivolous," pointing out that none of the cases had been allowed to proceed on their merits but were instead dismissed because the group lacked standing.

Mr. Keir said the group has sent a formal request to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation asking that it revoke permits for the project's road construction, and was looking forward to a fuller discussion of the landslide-prone development at a special task force meeting of the state Legislature's Joint Conservation Committee in Sewickley on Nov. 2.

Brendan Schubert, legislative assistant to state Rep. Tom Petrone, D-Crafton Heights, who asked for the task force, noted the public interest in the topic as displayed by the crowd at the supervisors meeting.

"There's a lot of mud being slung around now. But once the committee gets involved we hope to have a lot more answers," Mr. Schubert said. "There's been a large public outcry on this issue and the people want answers. We hope the task force can produce some clear picture of what happened and why."

The landslide occurred the day after the developer increased the power and angle of blasting it was doing on the 75-acre site where a Wal-Mart Supercenter and other businesses are planned. It dumped an estimated 500,000 cubic yards of rocks and dirt on the highway, also known as Ohio River Boulevard, and closed nearby Norfolk Southern railroad tracks for three days. The highway reopened two weeks after the slide.

PennDOT, the Department of Environmental Protection and Kilbuck have suspended earth moving and grading permits they issued for the project, actions that prohibit any construction-related activity on the site.

The DEP has ordered the developer to stabilize the work site and also said that the developer must start from the beginning in applying for new permits because the footprint of the project has changed significantly. That permit process can take from six months to a year.

Despite the construction problems, Wal-Mart has said it remains committed to the development.

Roseann Domencic, who lives in Emsworth but within walking distance of the construction site in Kilbuck, came to the supervisors' meeting looking for answers but hoping just to ask a question about the blasting that rocked her home the day before the landslide occurred.

"My question was going to be whether Wal-Mart or the supervisors or the developer is going to be responsible if the land starts to shift under my home because of the blasting, which rocked my house from side to side," she said. "I just wanted to know what recourse do we have?"

Mrs. Domencic had to ask those questions in the rain-soaked parking lot of the Kilbuck municipal building after the 10-minute meeting had adjourned.