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Collier
The township is donating tables and chairs from the community center at 5 Lobaugh Road.
Available to anyone who can use them are about 100 chairs, 16 round tables that are four feet in diameter and 11 tables that are 42 inches square. The tables do not fold.
The items may be viewed and picked up from 8 to 11 a.m. Tuesday. They must be taken immediately and moved out of the center.
Moon
Moon has revised its oil and gas ordinance to comply with state Act 13 and to allow Marcellus Shale drilling in more areas of the township.
Drilling will be permitted as a conditional use at the airport and in open space, mixed use, and research and technology zones. Drilling will not be permitted in residential or educational zones. The board had reviewed three variations of the ordinance prior to a unanimous vote Dec. 5 to approve the updated one.
• A history book is being compiled by Robert Morris University associate professor of history John Mc Carthy, Robert Morris students and the township's Historical Architectural Review Board, which is soliciting interviews with people who lived in the Mooncrest neighborhood in the 1940s and during World War II. They also are seeking photographs from that era. Photos must be submitted to the township before Jan. 8. Mr. McCarthy said the interviews will create an oral history archive of life in Mooncrest.
Robinson, Washington County
Supervisors voted 3-0 Monday to continue the public hearings on two applications for Marcellus Shale drilling until 7 p.m. Jan. 14 in the township building. Range Resources-Appalachia LLC of Cecil is applying to drill natural gas wells on two properties on Midway-Candor Road and Valleyview Road.
• Supervisors on Monday approved a $530,900 budget for 2013 that holds the property tax rate at 15 mills, including 12 mills for the general fund and 3 mills for fire service.
Scott
In the hopes of getting a traffic signal at busy Kane Boulevard and hilly Bower Hill Road, Scott Commissioner David Calabria said Tuesday he will send the signal requirements to all three traffic consultants that have submitted bids for the proposal.
Although the consultants may have different views about solving the traffic issues at the site, Mr. Calabria, who was a traffic engineer with the state Department of Transportation for 33 years, said he will urge them to peruse a recent study by Mackin Engineering that confirmed a 2004 opinion by Trans Associates that a traffic signal is warranted.
The intersection near Our Lady of Grace Church and school is heavily traveled with the recent construction of the Jewish Community Center, the Kane Regional Center and Providence Point, a senior-citizen retirement community. Providence Point will contribute $100,000 toward the traffic light's installation.
About 30 single-family homes also are along the street, which has become a cut-through route for some motorists.
• Officials are still trying to figure out what altered the flow of mine water from Hope Hollow Road to Front Street.
"I fear we're flooding Glendale," Commissioner Bill Wells said.
Although a state Department of Environmental Protection representative suggested that something occurred underground that changed the water's direction, no one is certain what happened. So far, Scott has rejected the idea of spending $20,000 to televise the lines, but township engineer Larry Lennon said he will take another look at the situation. He will be accompanied by Randy Lubin, director of public services.
Resident Al Parente of Magazine Street expressed skepticism that Scott will find out what happened to change the water flow.
"These mine shafts have been here for hundreds of years. The Bureau of Mines will tell you that mines can collapse anytime," he said.
Edward Federouch, owner of the Washington Pike Industrial Park at the top of Hope Street said the mine underneath that area is the Mansfield Mine, which he said closed in 1899.
"We didn't do anything to change the water," he added.
Mr. Federouch's scrapyard operation, however, has raised some concerns recently with the county Health Department and the DEP.
Code enforcement officer Bob Fischer said the county's issues have been corrected, but the state is still waiting for an erosion and sedimentation plan from Mr. Federouch. The state also wants some dirt piles to be sorted and mud on the roadway to be cleaned up.
Mr. Wells noted that people living in that area have complained about not being able to open their windows because of dust.
"We'll try to do what we can," Mr. Federouch said.
• Board president Tom Castello said officials will meet at 6 p.m. Dec. 27 to take action on the 2013 budget and its accompanying property tax rate even though Allegheny County Common Pleas Senior Judge R. Stanton Wettick has granted communities another month to work on their finances for next year because of unresolved reassessment appeals.
South Fayette
South Fayette plans to advertise for the position of parks and recreation director to replace Jerry Males, who resigned in November after more than 11 years on the job.
• Commissioners have invited natural gas drilling firm Range Resources to attend one of their workshop meetings in the next few months to discuss the firm's plans and activities.
In October, Jim Cannon, the Range Resources local government affairs manager, requested a meeting with South Fayette officials.
In a Nov. 27 response to the driller, Deron Gabriel, president of the commissioners, wrote that the public meetings "offer an appropriate, open, and transparent venue" for discussions.
Range Resource's legal challenge of the township's Marcellus Shale regulations has been stayed in the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, pending the outcome of a lawsuit by South Fayette and other parties against Act 13, the state's drilling law.
• The township has requested that the Allegheny County elections department review an imbalance of voters in Districts 3 and 7. Township officials said the polling location for both districts was at the high school, but voters in District 3 had much longer lines and waits in November due to recent residential growth in that district.
First Published December 13, 2012 5:28 am
