On warm afternoons, James Buchanan likes to turn on the radio, crack a beer and watch the cars go by from his garage where Route 356 and Bear Creek Road meet.
The entertainment amps up around rush hour, when shoppers and commuters pour onto the highway cutting through Buffalo Township and traffic goes bumper-to-bumper.
“You wouldn’t believe the wrecks we see here,” Buchanan, 72, said recently.
That’s part of why PennDOT is planning to widen the highway from two to five lanes and reconfigure its intersection with Bear Creek Road.
The repeatedly delayed $28 million project is scheduled to go out for contract bids in fall 2027 and take about two years, expanding the commercial corridor to match the township’s rapid growth.
But Buchanan will lose his perch. His property is one of 12 the state must take all or part of to make the project possible.
Nine homes and three businesses are slated for acquisition and eventual demolition, though PennDOT spokeswoman Christina Gibbs declined to give exact addresses.
“We’ve been here over 35 years, and now we got to pack up and move,” Buchanan lamented. “We raised three boys here.”
Any displaced residents or businesses are entitled to a market-value offer, relocation assistance and reimbursement of related expenses, according to PennDOT.
There’s not much people can do when a government-contracted right of way representative arrives to tell them their land is being taken. The options are usually accept the first offer or negotiate a settlement.
Failure to reach an agreement or outright refusal to cooperate initiates the eminent domain process, through which the state can condemn and take ownership of property.
Most of the time, Gibbs said, the home or business owner avoids that process.
Like the federal government, states are empowered to take private property for public use, provided they fairly compensate the owner.
Pennsylvania’s statute is relatively restrictive, prohibiting the use of eminent domain solely for the benefit of a private entity. For example, the state can’t level a residential block to build a Walmart.
Sometimes, homeowners can litigate their way to a bigger payment, according to Adam Klein, an eminent domain attorney at Faherty Law Firm in Hershey.
But it’s exceedingly rare, he said, for them to successfully argue their home should be preserved, especially for a road-widening project.
“It’s very difficult to challenge the actual taking most of the time,” Klein said. “We focus mostly on getting the most amount of money for the landowner.”
Affected home and business owners who spoke with TribLive are mostly at peace with having their properties acquired, even if they would prefer to stay put.
Buchanan sees it as an opportunity to downsize and ditch a swimming pool he has grown tired of tending to. A ranch-style home in Buffalo Township or a neighboring community would be ideal.
Nearby resident Amy Eddinger will use the situation as a chance to live closer to Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison, where she works as a respiratory therapist. Her fiance, Anthony Chronoski, will go with her as he continues his slow recovery from back surgery.
Marie Douglas, owner of Douglas Insurance Services, takes consolation in avoiding the headache of working next to a construction zone and may move her business out of the township altogether.
Their frustration lies more in PennDOT’s delays.
The homeowners recall first hearing from right of way representatives in 2020. Douglas said it was sooner than that for her.
“Homeowners, as well as business owners, are approached as early as the public involvement stage — when we announce the plans and public hearings,” Gibbs said in an email. “Communications continue during the appraisal process and then finally during the acquisition/relocation process.”
In 2020, work was supposed to be two years out. But it was deferred because of inflation, cost increases on other projects and a desire to simultaneously relocate the Silverview Road bus Park and Ride.
The widening will stretch from Route 356’s intersection with Harbison Road to 1,800 feet north of the Buffalo Plaza intersection and will include improvements to Monroe and Coal roads. New or replacement sidewalks, ramps, traffic signals and storm drains will be installed.
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The start of construction was eventually delayed again, from this year to 2027.
Activity has restarted in recent months. Appraisers showed up to at least some residents’ doorsteps late last year, but even that has been touch and go. PennDOT has blown past several self-imposed deadlines to present an offer, according to Chronoski and Eddinger.
Already frustrated by having to install a water heater a few years back, the couple is in a state of limbo when it comes to maintenance and repairs. New appliances are considered during appraisal, Gibbs said, and can positively impact payouts.
“Things are starting to break down in our home, and we don’t want to fix them,” Eddinger said.
And, despite the advance notice from PennDOT, relocating can be a scramble.
Chronoski and Eddinger are hesitant to look for a new home without knowing how much they’ll be paid for theirs. Douglas hasn’t seen much point in looking, either. She has yet to receive an offer from PennDOT, and she’s concerned the agency might change its terms if she tries to purchase another building before then.
“My hands are tied,” she said.
PennDOT gives property owners 90 days to vacate after an acquisition. The agency meets with people to learn their preferences and help them find a comparable replacement property, with no guarantee it will be within the same municipality or school district.
Gibbs advised people with a looming acquisition to “proceed as if there were no project.” That includes selling their property, if they planned on it, though finding buyers willing to see their purchase demolished in a few years can be tough.
“If the property were to have new appliances, they would be considered during the appraisal and relocation,” she said.
Several of the property owners also fear PennDOT will only take their part of their land, leaving them with a worthless patch of grass by the highway.
PennDOT typically takes what it needs and nothing more. That can create what are known as uneconomic remnants — parcels that are either too small or too topographically challenging to develop.
Sometimes, the agency will buy this land “out of the goodness of their hearts,” Klein said, or include it in the acquisition as long as the owner chooses not to fight it. Adjacent home or business owners may also be interested in the property, but it’s not uncommon for people to get stuck with land of little or no value.
Some Buffalo Township officials are frustrated with the process.
Supervisor Michael Oehling Jr. said he felt shut out of PennDOT’s planning, though local officials did successfully advocate for the project not to include roundabouts in the early planning stages.
When he does have a question, he’s not sure where to turn. Two of his PennDOT contacts, he said, have stopped returning his messages, at least of one of whom has left the agency.
“At this point, I’ve pretty much given up on trying to reach out, because either I get an answer that I don’t like or the person is gone,” he said. “It’s kind of messy. I definitely wish PennDOT would be more transparent about what’s going on.”
It’s not the law but the execution that bothers Klein. Some of his clients are happy to have their land taken, often because they were looking to sell anyway. But most don’t want to leave, and a “jaded attitude” by PennDOT or state-hired representatives can make things worse.
“I think maybe their main problem is the lack of a bedside manner,” he said. “(My clients) feel their was no real sympathy or anything, like it was very business as usual.”
Staff writer Haley Daugherty contributed to this story.