North Strabane supervisor suggests building new township headquarters
North Strabane Township is bursting at the seams with residential and commercial growth.
To keep up with the boom, the township government also needs to grow to meet its responsibilities.
In 1977, the township built its current state-of-the-art government headquarters on Route 519, just off of Route 19, serving as the hub for a mostly agricultural municipality with limited commercial venues and a population of around 5,000.
Now the fastest-growing community in Washington County, the township building is seemingly inadequate to meet North Strabane’s needs to serve a population of nearly 14,000, according to the 2010 Census. It’s for this reason that Supervisor Sonia Stopperich wants to form a working committee to explore the construction of a new township building that would not only provide more space, but be a more resident-friendly facility.
“The building is overcrowded. We’re scrambling for space,” said Stopperich said at Tuesday’s board of supervisors’ meeting. “The township is blessed with a financial position to explore this endeavor without the thought of raising taxes to its residents.”
Stopperich’s suggestion was met with surprise by her fellow supervisors, who said this was the first they’d heard about the formation of such a committee. While they did not object to the idea, the remaining supervisors believed it was something that needed more consideration before putting into place.