It took the 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.
The first regularly scheduled commissioners meeting since the Sept. 19 landslide was over in less time than it takes to get your car's oil changed, as Tim Frew, chairman of the supervisors, made it clear to the 40 people in attendance that none of the supervisors would answer any questions or listen to any 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 the 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 charged the citizen's group, Communities First!, formed to oppose the retail development, with levying "unsubstantiated accusations" and filing frivolous lawsuits, and criticized the media for reporting those developments.
He 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. The second longest agenda item was the Pledge of Allegiance.
"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 last night's 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 did take 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 state Department of Transportation asking that it revoke the permits for the project's road construction, and was looking forward to a fuller discussion of the landslide prone development at a special meeting of the state legislature's Joint Conservation Committee in Sewickley, Nov. 2.
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 almost two weeks.
The state Department of Transportation, Department of Environmental Protection and Kilbuck have suspended permits they issued for the project, actions that prohibit any construction-related activity or earth moving 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 permitting process can take from six months to a year.
Despite the construction problems, Wal-Mart has continued to say it remains committed to the development.
More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
First Published: October 17, 2006, 4:00 a.m.
