The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Opinion

June 27, 2009

Hermitage leaders correct in OK'ing Quaker Meadows

Hermitage commissioners may not have liked it, but they did the right thing this past week. They unanimously approved the controversial Quaker Meadow development plan.

We were glad to see that some of the commissioners didn’t try to play politics and vote against the plan, knowing it would pass with just three votes.

And we’re especially glad to see that they didn’t bow to prejudiced public opinion and vote down the plan. That could have cost the city a lot of money in a federal discrimination lawsuit.

The Quaker Meadows project will add 40 homes on 26èacres connecting Valley View and North Hermitage roads.

The commissioners did the right thing, which is more than we can say about the city planning commission, which recommended voting against the plan. That was especially strange since about a year ago that same commission had voted to tentatively approve the plan.

But then again, this whole situation has been somewhat strange from the start.

Ironically, a short time after the planning commission gave the original approval, the Hermitage commissioners rejected the preliminary plan under a feeble excuse that there would be traffic problems.

Where was that excuse when Walmart was coming to town?

Of course that rejection vote came after some comments from the public that smacked of racism and social bias.

So the whole thing was handed over to the courts.

Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Dobson at a hearing said he was likely to rule against the city if a settlement wasn’t reached. Again a somewhat strange revelation from a judge — rather that a definitive ruling — although it was a pretty good indication to city officials that they had better approve the plans.

They didn’t, so Dobson ruled against the city as he had indicated.

So it was kicked back to the Hermitage Planning Commission, which had tentatively approved it previously. Slam-dunk, right? Wrong.

The commission reversed itself and rejected it, with member Dr. John Copeland commenting that he didn’t like the judge’s action which pretty much told them what to do. Then again, most people don’t like a judge’s decision when they are on the losing end of a court case.

Copeland probably wouldn’t have liked a federal judge’s ruling either if that ruling for discrimination had cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But the problems were solved when Hermitage commissioners ignored the planning group and finally approved the development plans. After all, solicitor Thomas W. Kuster told city leaders there was no legal basis to reject the plans.

The main thing now is that the city holds the developer’s feet to the fire, making the company live up to all parts of the development plan and produce a housing project that can be a credit to the community.

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