Deerfield Manor Street Connections Defeated by Another Tie Vote

Three-plus hours into the Upper St. Clair commissioners’ meeting Monday, board president Robert Orchowski expressed his thoughts on the issue at hand.

“I’ll tell you, it’s one of the most vexing things I’ve encountered in 15 years on the board,” he said. “The reality is, something, someone, has to give. So we’ll see what the future holds.”

The board had just deadlocked on a revised preliminary subdivision for the residential Deerfield Manor Plan No. 9, repeating a situation that occurred in March, when a tie vote effectively defeated the measure.

In both circumstances, at the heart of the matter was connectivity vs. cul-de-sacs.

The first time around, developer Williamson & Jefferson Inc. submitted a proposal that called for retaining the cul-de-sacs at the end of Turnberry and Circle drives, as residents of the affluent Deerfield Manor community have known them for decades.

After that failed to pass muster, the developer returned with plans to connect three streets: Turnberry, Circle Drive in Upper St. Clair and the separate Circle Drive in Peters Township.

Now, it’s back to the drawing board again for Williamson & Jefferson. Prior to Monday's vote, USC commissioners asked company vice president Jesse Thomas about a possible course of action should the measure be defeated.

 “We’ve don’t have any plans other than what’s before you this evening,” he responded. “We’re kind of on our last leg here. We’ve tried everything we can. We’ve tried to work with everybody. But we can’t make everybody happy.”

Perhaps Deerfield Manor residents opposing the latest plan are smiling after Monday’s result: Orchowski, Russell Del Re and Nicholas Seitanakis voted for approval; Mark Christie, Glenn Dandoy and Daniel Paoly were against. Donald Rectenwald Jr. abstained, citing a business conflict, as he did in March.

Citing reasons in favor of connecting the streets was Scott Brilhart, township director of community development.

 “The township code and our ordinances encourage connectivity,” he said, with potential benefits including:

• Improved emergency access by providing direct routes and more than one option to reach destinations
• Lessened congestion by spreading traffic among more roads
• Reduced travel distances

Mark Magalotti of Trans Associates, a civil engineering consulting firm that specializes in transportation project development, provided his opinion.

“I think making the connection is the really the best plan for the neighborhood,” he told commissioners. “By making this connection, those additional homes are provided two access locations, so traffic gets distributed.”

Expressing a dissenting opinion were several Deerfield Manor residents who addressed commissioners with concerns focusing on the potential effects of more traffic cutting through their neighborhood, especially with regard to a new Giant Eagle Express to be built at the intersection of Route 19 and the Peters Township Circle Drive.

A Turnberry Drive couple, Bill and Connie Karis, sent a letter to commissioners (see PDF) addressing key points. Other residents’ comments at Monday’s meeting are summarized here.

One possible alternative noted by some residents and commissioners is a possible Turnberry connection only to the Upper St. Clair Circle Drive. Following the Plan No. 9 vote, Orchowski asked township solicitor Irving Firman whether it would be appropriate for the board to discuss such a course of action by the developer.

“There are so many issues that go into every plan, as you know,” Firman replied. “There are a lot of issues that are reviewed by your township engineers, by your staff, by the planning commission before it gets here.

“To ask for a ‘pre-sense’ of the board on an application that may be forthcoming is a very difficult thing, I think, to ask of anyone,” he continued. “I would say to you that those kinds of questions are not best suited in this environment for that reason, because you don’t know what you’ll be seeing.”

The latest Plan No. 9 proposal called for five lots to be developed, reduced from the 12 as submitted previously.

The township planning commission recommended both versions for approval, in February and July.