North Union reluctantly approves module
LEMONT FURNACE — The North Union Township supervisors on Wednesday reluctantly approved a sewage module for a proposed 10-unit apartment building for low-income renters.
Fayette County Community Action Agency (FCCAA) resubmitted the request for the module for the apartments after the supervisors voted against it last month.
FCCAA wants to construct the one-story building on a 5-acre lot off Youngstown Road for $140,000 in 2009.
A group of residents spoke out against the development at a public meeting the supervisors held in February. The supervisors also said they were opposed to the project.
On Wednesday, Supervisor Curtis Matthews said he believed the supervisors would have faced a legal challenge if they didn’t approve the module.
“I think we have to,” Matthews said, adding he does not believe the property is a good place for the building.
In unrelated business, the supervisors discussed water line extension and storm sewer projects.
This year’s $191,280 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application includes $126,150 for new storm sewers in Lemont Furnace and $20,000 toward a water line extension on Vances Mill Road.
Matthews said the North Fayette County Municipal Authority is installing a water line along Vances Mill Road, but the line wouldn’t reach the last eight homes on the street.
The $20,000 in the CDBG application would help pay for extending the line to those eight homes, he said.
Thomas Kumor, chairman of the board of supervisors, said the supervisors will ask state legislators for a grant for the rest of the money.
The supervisors adopted a resolution to submit the CDBG application. The township would receive $146,150 after $34,430 in administrative fees, $6,400 for housing rehabilitation and $4,300 for environmental reviews are subtracted from the total grant, Matthews said.
North Fayette also is installing new water lines in Leisenring beginning on Monday and in Lemont Furnace starting in January, Matthews said, noting that the work will cause traffic delays.
In unrelated business, the township is trying to have the Bute Road-North Gallatin Avenue intersection added to the state Department of Transportation’s 12-year project list, said transportation coordinator Bill Piper. Supervisors said a traffic signal is needed at the intersection to make it safer.
In other business, the supervisors:
n Scheduled Halloween trick-or-treating from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31.
n Approved yard waste burning from dusk until dawn on Mondays through Saturdays until Nov. 8.