Published Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 The cheers came from about 50 neighbors vehemently opposed to a request to turn 15.5 acres of office and residential property into a commercial area.
Planners Woody Steele, Gene Campman, Edmund Benton, Lee Stilley, Robert Silverman and James Rollinson voted against the request; Larry Gurrera abstained.
"This is something that is going to last a long time," said Gurrera, a candidate for city commissioner. "We have to consider what is good for you and the good of the community ... I can't make a decision today."
Residents voiced their concerns about the development's ultimate effects on the neighborhood. Besides traffic and noise, they said they were concerned about quality of life.
"This a is a walking neighborhood," said Harry Sheppard, a 37-year resident of 880 Dogwood Lane. "We have no street lights or sidewalks ... children and traffic do not mix."
"Why don't you conduct an impact study?" he asked.
Sheppard said he also worries about truck emissions and changes to the neighborhood. "Commercial areas get clear cut, no doubt about it," Sheppard said.
Mike Joanow, a lawyer who lives at 3550 Morefield Road, compared the situation to the former Westinghouse recreation area. The land in a residential neighborhood along Buhl Farm Drive was rezoned for office and commercial use and sparked continuing battles between residents and developers for more than a decade.
Joanow cited a recent zoning study that calls for maintaining, but not expanding, commercial and office districts along South Hermitage Road, also known as state Route 18.
Joanow said there have been some indicators that developers wanted to put in a grocery store or home improvement center. Joanow said a grocery store in a prime location could threaten other grocers. As for a home improvement center, Joanow reminded planners that Stambaugh's closed its Hermitage Hills Plaza store about two years ago.
"Is there other land available?" Joanow said. "Yes."
Regina Erhart of 810 Koonce Road put GBS Development Corp. on the hot seat about its claims that the land it wanted for a retail center was marketed for office buildings and had no takers. Mrs. Erhart said the Pittsburgh firm had no proof it was marketed that way.
She also told planners GBS Development Corp. does not exist as a corporation.
George Maier, a real estate and business broker for Christo-Maier Co. of Pittsburgh, admitted GBS is not a corporation; it is a limited partnership and he is one of three partners.
"I didn't come here to hurt anybody," Maier said. But, he said, the area is "the central core of the city."
Maier has not yet named the retailers interested in the area. Earlier, Maier said his plans called for two sit-down restaurants in the already commercially zoned part of the property.
Dennis Ranalli, an independent land-use consultant, said the development, estimated at between $15 million and $18 million, would bring about $320,000 in tax revenue to the city. GBS was also willing to put in writing restrictions on the use of land and to study traffic growth, he said.
Don Sebastian, a commercial real estate broker in Hermitage, said the property is the best location for commercial development in the Shenango Valley. The only problem is that in 1991 "it was not properly zoned," he said. "Eight years later the property has sat dormant and vacant during one of Pennsylvania's ... largest growth periods."
Darlene Kilgore, whose family owns the property, asked that any change be a "healthy change for all involved."
Hermitage commissioners will hold a public hearing on the request this month and will vote on it in November.
With the planners' vote, the project has two strikes against it. Last week, the Mercer County Regional Planning Commission rejected a committee's recommendation to rezone the land.
