Uniontown sells Main Street parking lot for office development
Uniontown City Council on Wednesday agreed to sell a parking lot on Main Street for development of a three-story office building for the Fayette County Housing Authority and the Social Security Administration.
Council voted 3-1 to authorize Mayor Ed Fike to sign the sales agreement between the city, Uniontown Redevelopment Authority and Fayette Assets Management Inc., the non-profit division of the housing authority.
Fike called the deal a “win-win” because the building would be taxable and housing authority and Social Security employees would park in the city’s garages. The parking lot is adjacent to the Fayette County Public Service Building.
About 80 jobs would move to downtown if the deal goes through, said Mark Yauger, redevelopment authority executive director.
The housing authority’s current office is on Route 51 in North Union Township and the SSA is in the Uniontown Shopping Center in Uniontown.
The agreement requires the city to convey the lot to the redevelopment authority and Fayette Assets, solicitor J.W. Eddy said.
If the housing authority approves the deal, Fayette Assets would pay the authority $75,000. Fayette Assets would pay for construction, which would have to be completed by 2013 or ownership of the lot would revert to the city, Eddy said.
The housing authority will decide by Nov. 30 and the U.S. General Services Department, which is handling the deal for the SSA, also has to approve the agreement, Yauger said.
Councilman Gary Gearing voted against the resolution, saying he had a number of questions about the agreement.
In unrelated business, council agreed to advertise to buy a used fire truck to replace a broken down 1982 pumper truck.
Fike and he and Fire Chief Charles Coldren recently test drove a 1992 pumper in excellent condition and for sale for $27,000.
Coldren said it would have cost about $250,000 new and it comes with thousands of dollars in equipment.
The bid specifications council approved matched the used truck Fike and Coldren looked at.
Council will open the truck bids and consider a purchase at a special meeting on Aug. 17 when a zoning ordinance amendment will be considered.
The amendment, which adds social service agencies to the ordinance, was introduced at last month’s council meeting and was supposed to be voted on Wednesday, but last month’s resolution contained an error.
Council rescined last month’s resolution and approved a new one with the correction.
In a seperate matter, council and John Over of K2 Engineering, the city’s building code official and zoning enforcement firm, discussed a letter from the city’s planning commission that said K2 should not have issued a building permit for a gazebo at a restaurant, 30 East Main, before the commission approved the restaurant’s land development plan for the gazebo on July 21.
Over said the restaurant is in the central business district, is a permitted use in that zone and the 15-by-15-foot gazebo is an accessory structure that did not require planning commission approval.
In other business, council:
n Hired police patrolman Jason Fidazzo, who completed a 16-month probationary period, as a full-time officer at $17.79 per hour starting Aug. 12.
n Authorized public works director Phil Mahoney to get prices from three scrap dealers for about 10 old trucks that don’t run and authorized him to get prices to buy two used pick-up trucks for $3,000 to $8,000 each.
n Agreed to block an alley known as Lebanon Terrace at the St. George Maronite Church parking lot to prevent traffic from driving through the lot as a shortcut.