Published Thursday, April 15, 1999 |
Suggestions for Route 18 Here are some of the suggestions for land use from a study of the Route 18 South corridor:
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An anonymous leaflet recently circulated to neighbors stated the study recommendations would "allow the city to steal our lands" and residents would "have to pay the expense of sidewalks, greenways (shrubs, grass and tree buffers), service roads and more."
The unknown critic isn't the only party to voice opposition to the results of a study that began in March 1998 to examine zoning, future development and traffic along Route 18 from the Shenango Valley Freeway to the Shenango Township border. The study was spurred by the widening of the road to five lanes in 1997 and the mix of commercial, residential and institutional zones in the area.
"You are burdening your property owners," Jonathan Karmelita told a group of city commissioners, planners and steering committee members who met to release the study. Karmelita, of 3946 Cambridge Drive, who owns property along Route 18 and sat on the study's 19-member steering committee.
The committee was made up of business leaders, property owners and hired consultants Herbert, Grubic and Rowland of Butler County.
"Everything here circumvents our rights," Karmelita said. "There is no compassion here at all."
Karmelita said he has wanted to rezone his property at 960 North Hermitage Road, which he has owned for six years, from residential to commercial. But if the suggestions made in the study are put into place, he said making the change will be costly and difficult.
The study suggests zoning changes and recommends that as the area develops, property owners should plant shrubs and pay for sidewalks along the highway.
That's going over the top, Karmelita contended, arguing that the city should pay for the improvements. He cited publicly funded improvements along the Broadway corridor.
Karmelita said the study should also call for widening of roads off Route 18 such as Emilie, Michael, Carol lanes and Armstrong Way, which he said are too narrow for school buses and emergency vehicles. Studies should also be looked at to see how much environmental damage was done to the neighborhood when Route 18 was widened, he said.
Karmelita said there was no consideration in the study of what he sees as speeding problems along the roadway. He was opposed by several in the meeting who said the 40 miles per hour limit was strictly enforced.
Several people in attendance, primarily city commissioners, addressed Karmelita's concerns and added their own.
Hermitage Board of Commissioners' President Dr. John Coupland said he mostly worried the suggestions in study were "aesthetic" and "beautification" efforts.
He questioned whether the city could even put them into practice. "Who's to say I can impart these rules on anybody?" he questioned.
City solicitor Tom Kuster replied by saying they were all right if adopted as design standards. As for suggestions about widening the roads, Coupland said that PennDOT refuses to change them because of the loss of land to property owners.
"We are not stealing your land," Coupland said, referring to the suggestions made by the leaflet.
Commissioner Joe Augustine said the recommendation that property owners pay for shrubs and buffers was not out of the ordinary, adding that homeowners wanted the greenery. "If I want to put trees and shrubs in my yard, I pay for them," he said.
City Manager Gary Hinkson said commissioners now will have to decide whether to add the study's results as an amendment to the 1991 Hermitage Comprehensive Plan -- which would require public hearings and approval by both the planning commission and Board of Commissioners -- or take the quicker approach of adopting the results as a resolution.
