Local News
UPDATE: City’s OK of right-of-way deal sought
HERMITAGE — Three property owners are asking Hermitage officials to approve a subdivision to clear up a dispute concerning access to a landlocked parcel on Clarksville Road.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie/Our Lady of Fatima Church, Farrell, owns an 8.6-acre, triangular parcel that is landlocked save for a right-of-way that reaches Clarksville. The vacant property was created in a 1959 Hickory Heights subdivision, with the intention of building a public street to Clarksville, but the street was never built, said Marcia A. Hirschmann, city director of planning and development.
Under applicable law, public rights-of-way that are never turned over to the city become the property of neighboring property owners after 21 years.
The diocese wants to sell its property, but has not given up its claim to the right-of-way, said Edward Winslow, engineer with Winslow Engineering, Hermitage. Winslow represents the diocese.
Meanwhile, the adjoining property owners, Kenneth C. and Laura L. Miller, 1005 Clarksville, and Marian H. Laird, 985 Clarksville Road, have claimed the property citing the 21-year rule, and have maintained it, he said.
The parties worked out an agreement that would allow the diocese to own the right-of-way property, while adding about nine-tenths of an acre of property to each of the rears of the Miller and Laird properties.
“We had a situation with three unhappy people,” Winslow said. “Now, we’ve resolved it.”
Aside from asking city officials to approve the subdivision, the parties also are seeking a waiver — similar to a zoning variance — to allow the right-of-way to be 44 feet wide instead of the required 50 feet wide.
Winslow noted there are drainage ditches on each side of the right-of-way that are 44 feet apart.
Mrs. Hirschmann said that, while the requirement is for 50-foot rights-of-way, there are many 33-foot-wide streets stemming from an earlier city requirement, and there likely would be enough room within 44 feet to build a suitable public street.
Hermitage Planning Commission Chairman Charles E. Rogers noted that it appears any street built along with the right away would curve into the land that would be added to the Miller property.
Winslow agreed, but asked that the plan as proposed be approved.
Mrs. Hirschmann said any development of the property beyond a single-family home would require the property owner to seek a new subdivision with plans for a roadway.
Winslow said he believes the property buyer intends to keep the right-of-way a single-family driveway.
The commission recommended approval of the subdivision and the waiver. City commissioners likely will consider them later in the month.
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
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Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
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City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
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Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
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Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
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City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
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Near-complete addition to let man come home
Although the weather delayed the start of Penny and Paul Strechansky’s construction project by about three weeks, the end of the sawing, hammering and stapling is in sight.
“It should be done by the middle of next week,” Strechansky said of the 15-by-20 foot addition being built onto the back of his garage in Hermitage, which will be the new home of his grandson, David Johnson.
Johnson was critically injured in a car crash June 19, 2009, on what is now Interstate 376 in Lawrence County. The crash rendered Johnson, who just turned 21, blind and brain damaged. He is unable to care for himself.
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Man prison-bound for role in drug buy shooting
It may never be known for certain who fired the two fatal shots that killed a Sharon teen on Nov. 6 on Wallis Avenue during a botched drug deal, prosecutors have said.
But Christopher Swogger, 24, Sharon, was fingered by at least one other suspect as the one whose bullets killed John B. Hosey III, 18, of 422 Meek St. Swogger was sentenced Monday.
Swogger was sent to prison for 1 1/2 to 3 years for having a firearm without a license, ending his role in the criminal prosecutions of the drug deal turned shooting.
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Farrell, Sharon to revisit merger
Times are tough.
In Farrell Monday night, city council heard a grim financial report from City Manager LaVon Saternow.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Mrs. Saternow said. “We could conceivably run out of cash by the end of the year. I don’t know how to put it more bluntly.”
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Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
