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Decision reversed on permit in Monroeville

Decision reversed on permit in Monroeville

Early this month, Monroeville council voted unanimously to deny Elmhurst Development's site plan, holding up approval of a temporary occupancy permit to complete work on a Jamison Lane property.

Last week, the municipality reversed the decision and granted temporary occupancy.

Monroeville Manager Marshall Bond confirmed that a temporary occupancy permit was approved for Elmhurst on Sept. 15. He said Mayor Greg Erosenko reconsidered council's decision after he was told by Elmhurst Development that the leaseholder, Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc., would consider relocating if it did not receive the permit.

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"He wanted to make sure a major business didn't decide not to locate here because of a short-term, minor issue that is, in his opinion, in the process of fruition," Mr. Bond said.

Bechtel occupies a building at the Tech One Park site with 350 employees and hopes to add up to 450 more workers after renovations on an addition to the building are complete.

But Bechtel Plant Machinery representative Domenic Bonanno said there was no danger of the company relocating or losing any jobs.

"No one stated we were going to lose jobs with the Navy or leave the facility," he said. "We already have about 400 people working in the facility. It would not have been an easy task to think about moving at this time."

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Mr. Erosenko did not return calls to comment.

Council voted Sept. 9 to reject the site plan because Elmhurst had yet to complete an alternate access road to Tech One Park for its Jamison Lane site.

But Mr. Bond said the access road that Elmhurst started, while incomplete, is "capable of supporting traffic," so the municipality decided to grant the permit.

Solicitor Bruce Dice said council's vote was for site plan approval, not an occupancy permit, and the administration and planning commission were within their rights to grant the permit.

"In every major development -- Giant Eagle, Miracle Mile -- there's always an issuance of temporary occupancy before the official permit is issued because there's always a punch list of things, usually minor, that need to be done," Mr. Dice said. "It was determined cars can use that highway, so planning issued the temporary occupancy permit."

Jamison Lane residents said the high volume of traffic from Bechtel employees has endangered children who travel the road, which has no sidewalks, to school bus stops. Another concern was that a signal in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act had not been installed to assist a blind resident in the area.

Many said the area would become more dangerous when more employees are at the site.

But Mr. Dice said funding from state Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, assured that the traffic-calming devices and ADA signal would be installed. He called the situation a win-win for developers, Bechtel, the municipality and Jamison residents.

"I think the positive part of this is, overall, everyone has won," Mr. Dice said. "Residents have won, they're going to get the traffic-calming devices and the signal. But the big win comes with all the traffic coming off of Jamison Lane."

Mr. Bonanno said Bechtel expects the alternate access road to be completed near the beginning of October and plans to bring employees into the addition around November.

First Published: September 25, 2008, 9:45 a.m.

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