As Allegheny County officials promised in April, the property records of about one-third of Cloverleaf Estates West's homes have been changed from Collier to Robinson, where it appears they should have been all along.
The Allegheny County real estate Web site lists 137 homes -- 11 on Avon Court, 11 on Dover Court, 37 on Windsor Court, 20 on Norwich Court, 19 on Sheffield Court, 24 on Northridge Circle and 15 on Northridge Drive.
Exactly how the development's newest homes, which were built between 1994 and 2002, ended up in Collier rather than Robinson might never be known. One theory is that a "gentlemen's agreement" between the two communities was made before the planned residential development began its first construction phase in 1985. Still another thought is that the boundary line mix-up occurred because of a surveying error in the heavily-wooded terrain.
Because Cloverleaf Estates West is a land-lease development in which people buy their homes but rent the land from owner Rimco Inc., a red flag should have gone up about the obvious disparity between assessing some of the development's land in Robinson while the homes were assessed to Collier. But nothing was mentioned until a new community map was printed in 2004 which depicted some of the newest streets as being in Robinson.
What is known is that some people in the area argued years ago that part of the Cloverleaf proposal would use land which was not in Collier. The land was part of a 125-acre farm owned by the John Holmes family. The farm was destroyed by the construction of Interstate 79, but Robinson continued jurisdiction of land on both sides of the road. For example, Carlynton High School, which serves students in Carnegie, Rosslyn Farms and Crafton, is in Robinson on some of the property owned by the Holmes family.
Last spring, Collier and the Chartiers Valley School District hired surveyor Howard Hartmann to examine the boundary. Despite repeated questions from residents, township officials have said little since then. This month, they were still saying "it's not over," although they did not appeal the county's April 4 court action setting the boundary, even though they had 30 days to do so.
Collier solicitor Charles Means said Tuesday that he could not add any more information about the situation.
On Dec. 9, Montour solicitor Ira Weiss, acting on behalf of the district and Robinson, filed for a writ of summons against Collier and Chartiers Valley for back taxes. The amount of taxes being sought is not known, nor is it clear how many years are involved.
Joining a new community has meant these changes for Cloverleaf Estates West residents:
Robinson police cars now patrol their streets.
There are new municipal officials to meet. To accomplish this, a meeting with township representatives took place Jan. 12. Jack Devlin, Cloverleaf Estates West's Homeowners Association president, said it was well attended.
The polling place has moved. Voters will cast ballots at Burkett Elementary School on Steubenville Pike, which is the site for Region 1. State law specifies that voters must vote within their municipality. Residents had been voting in the Cloverleaf Estates West Clubhouse. "They're resigned to it," Mr. Devlin said of the location change. The county has transferred the registrations of 238 voters.
Taxes are lower. The municipal property tax rate will drop from 3.50 to 2.75 mills and school taxes will drop from 18.6 to 18.3 mills.
Robinson has a swimming pool, an extensive park system and a historical society. A public library is in the works. Though approximately the same size as Collier, Robinson has a larger population and bigger police and fire/EMS departments. Residents soon will be mailed schedules for parks and recreation activities.
Despite those adjustments, Harry Gross, of Windsor Court, was certain that the change in municipalities would not affect Cloverleaf's schedule of community events and activities.
First Published: January 26, 2006, 5:00 a.m.
