Peoples Natural Gas officials are planning restoration work in Export in the near future.
But the scaling back of those plans has some borough officials wary.
“After repaving those streets, we got notice that the gas company would need to replace lines on Penn Street, Zecker Street and Hamilton Avenue,” Mayor Joe Zaccagnini said. “More recently in speaking with them, I was told that project is now only supposed to be on the portion of Penn Street that we didn’t pave.”
Peoples spokesperson Nick Paradise said the scope of the Export project has changed a few times.
“We finished our pipeline construction work on Penn Street on March 26,” Paradise said. “We stopped at the intersection of Penn Street and Hamilton. Due to recent paving by the borough, we didn’t want to work beyond that point.”
Paradise said restoration work in that area is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026.
“The gap between construction and the start of restoration work on streets, sidewalks and yards is standard procedure to allow the ground to settle,” he said.
In 2023, borough council passed an ordinance mandating that any utility that is performing work on streets paved within the past five years must restore the street to its original condition afterward.
The ordinance came on the heels of several situations where the borough used federal grant money to repave a street, only for a utility company to undo the work less than a year later.
Hamilton Avenue, along with Penn and Zecker streets, was repaved in 2025 using Community Developiment Block Grant funding. Zaccagnini was concerned that gas company officials may wait until 2031, when the ordinance’s five-year limit has passed, and then circle back to perform the work.
“I’d like to revisit our street opening ordinance this year, to make sure we’re not being taken advantage of,” Zaccagnini said. “I don’t want a utility just waiting until they no longer have to comply with the ordinance.”
Paradise said the work changes were the result of communication between the borough and the gas company.
“Peoples worked with Export and their solicitor to memorialize any changes, and we’re in frequent contact with borough officials,” he said.