Aug 18, 2002 By Paul Sunyak 5 min read

Fayette County Commissioner Ronald M. Nehls, who championed the no-cost acquisition of the Federal Building in downtown Uniontown, is “disappointed” at the city Zoning Hearing Board’s decision to reject using it as a juvenile shelter. “My first reaction is I’m disappointed, but I kind of expected it,” said Nehls. “What I’d like to do is have all three commissioners meet (to discuss the county’s next move).”

While Nehls sees three options for the building’s use in the wake of last week’s city ZHB rejection of the plan – including going ahead with the shelter on a legal technicality – the other commissioners aren’t too keen on overriding the city’s wishes.

Commissioner Sean M. Cavanagh, who did not like the shelter idea from the start, said he’s basically put the Federal Building on a low rung on his priority totem pole.

“I never dug the concept,” said Cavanagh. “I never was for this project; it’s a project that I never believed in and felt worthy of spending much time on. I just never liked the concept … I have other, more important projects that I’m working on.”

Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites, said he’s open to new suggestions for using the top floor of the building, including another of Nehls’ options, which is to operate a juvenile “educational facility” during more normal business hours.

Adelphoi Village would have operated the juvenile shelter round-the-clock. Nehls suggested the firm might want to switch gears and focus on “educating juveniles who are not in custody but are on probation.”

“I think that Ron was right in (suggesting) the possibility of other alternatives with Adelphoi Village,” said Vicites.

Nehls’ third option is that the commissioners consider moving the Tax Assessment, Tax Claim and Planning/Zoning offices from the fourth floor of the courthouse to the Federal Building. Nehls would then use the vacated courthouse space to create rooms where clients could meet with attorneys and where defendants and witnesses could be separated so they wouldn’t have to sit and face each other in crowded hallways, as is currently the case.

Nehls said it’s worth a try to see if the federal General Services Administration, which sold the building to the county for $1 with the stipulation that it house some justice system function, would deem the office switch as fulfilling that obligation.

Cavanagh said he hadn’t heard of that idea, while Vicites said he doesn’t favor “scattering our government offices all over the city,” especially the ones that are under the commissioners’ jurisdiction, such as Tax Claim, Tax Assessment and Planning/Zoning.

Vicites said he thinks the county will meet the justice system use requirement via its plan to house the county Juvenile Probation Department in the Federal Building. Nehls said the plan also calls for the coroner’s office to move to the Federal Building on West Peter Street.

Vicites said it’s important to keep in mind that the Federal Building acquisition was a bargain for the county, as it came at no cost to taxpayers and it solved the need for additional office and records storage space.

“This acquisition prevented the county from having to build an additional wing onto the courthouse, which would have cost as much as $20 million,” said Vicites. “We will meet the federal (use) regulations, regardless of whether Adelphoi is there or not.”

Vicites said it’s the city ZHB’s “prerogative” to make the decision it believes is in the city’s best interest.

Cavanagh said the city “has a right to zone their property the way they want,” adding, “I’m not going to argue with the city on that. I personally didn’t think that was the place for a juvenile detention facility.”

However, Nehls said it remains possible that the county and Adelphoi could use the building for the planned juvenile shelter, because the city did not notify the county of its initial denial of the zoning variance being sought within the required time period.

“Depending on how our solicitor would interpret that, that could be an option,” said Nehls, who thinks the county deserves some credit for saving the Federal Building and the post office that continues to operate on its first floor.

“It’s just another building that could have been empty in downtown Uniontown,” said Nehls. “We are creating some jobs over there. We saved the post office. And we tried to do it in a way that was very economically efficient (for county taxpayers), in providing occupants that will pay (rent) for rehabilitation to put the building in state-of-the-art condition.”

While stressing that the project “was not meant to offend anyone” and that the county wants to work in partnership with all interested parties, Nehls said he doesn’t understand some of the shelter project’s opposition. He said those who opposed the juvenile shelter on grounds that it might make the area unsafe should take a closer look at some of the adjacent rental properties and nightspots in the immediate area.

“There are frequent domestic violence calls in buildings that are adjacent to that (Federal Building), in large numbers and frequency,” said Nehls. “There are also disturbance calls made to a building that’s within 50 or 60 yards of that (proposed facility). The police have been called there many, many times.

“The (neighborhood) would become safer because of what we are trying to do there.”