Murrysville council members continued to work through a list of voluntary conditions for a national auto-body chain looking to build a shop just east of the Manordale Farms neighborhood.
Over the past few months, council members have had to strike a balance between the private property rights of Caliber Collision, which owns the property, and neighbors upset at having their wooded view replaced with a body shop.
“You all listen to us, but do you really hear us?” asked Troy Smith, who lives on Berkshire Drive next to the proposed Caliber location. “They’re going to take away all the trees and I’ll hear even more noise. Trucks are going to come into our neighborhood to turn around in my yard. We want to be protected from this place.”
Murrysville municipal staff created a list of 26 conditions, each of which was discussed alongside six proposed conditions from Manordale residents. They include:
• An 8-foot solid fence along the western side of the property adjacent to Manordale residents. Attorney Bill Sittig, representing Caliber, said they would be willing to consider building up land between the development and the neighbors which, along with the fence and landscaping, would better obscure the business from nearby properties.
• Adding a fire hydrant near the proposed entrance on Route 22.
• If hazardous materials are encountered during excavation — some neighbors said an old house that had burned down years ago is buried on the property — Caliber will notify the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and work with them to safely address it.
• Hours of operation will be limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Sittig said there are no plans for weekday work to last past 5 p.m., or for any planned Saturday work.
“We’re agreeing to these forever,” Sittig said. “If someone has to go a little past 5 p.m., or has to do some work on a Saturday, we wanted to err on the side of flexibility.”
• Vehicles brought to Caliber will be stored in parking spaces in an orderly way — essentially, that the parking lot will not become a junkyard. Several Manordale residents referenced the poor state of Caliber’s New Kensington location.
“We’re not the council for anywhere but Murrysville, but this condition states that vehicles will be stored in a neat and orderly fashion,” Council President Dayne Dice said.
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The conditions, which are not required by Murrysville ordinance, will also run with the land, so that if Caliber sells the property the future owner will have to abide by them.
Among the residents’ suggestions:
• Move the entrance farther east — Sittig said PennDOT had vetted Caliber’s proposal and that the company would follow the department’s recommendation for an entrance about 200 feet east of Berkshire Drive.
• Replace the 8-foot fence with a wall — “We’ve gone above and beyond already,” Sittig said regarding the fence. “The one thing the neighbors have demonstrated is that it’s already loud because of the highway, and we’re confident the neighbors will not hear this facility.”
• Concerns about chemicals leaking from the facility into the proposed dry-basin detention pond or the nearby stream — Sittig said the company has safeguards in place to keep any leakage or chemicals from escaping the facility, and that any car leaking fluid when brought to Caliber will have a large drip pan placed beneath it.
• Stopping trucks from entering Manordale Farms and making U-turns — “We can’t keep a truck off of a public road,” Sittig said. “The best way to do that is directive signage, but I don’t know that there’s any way we can control people.”
Dice said he wanted to push back against residents’ impression that council was somehow cutting Caliber a break.
“We’re not just going by the book, we’re doing this above and beyond the book, with the acquiescence of the applicant,” Dice said. “I think the thing we have to remember is: This is a permitted use. We’re asking the applicant to agree to these conditions, which were formed through negotiation. They aren’t required to do any of this in our ordinances.”
Dice said staff will work with Caliber representatives on a final list of conditions, and council will take a vote on the application at its April 5 meeting, set for 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 4100 Sardis Road in Murrysville.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.