Development approved at former Mayview site
South Fayette commissioners voted Feb. 15 to allow Charter Homes to proceed with its plan for the new Hastings neighborhood development at the former Mayview Hospital site.
The vote to allow the first phase of the project came after several months of discussion and deliberation regarding a settlement agreement involving the township, Charter Homes and the Aloe Brothers, which currently owns the land.
As part of the settlement, South Fayette Township will pay Aloe Brothers $1.1 million plus roughly $1,000 in tax reimbursement. The township claimed eminent domain over surface rights for the nearly 69-acre property adjacent to Fairview Park that Aloe Brothers purchased from the state in 2010.
Township solicitor Robert Garvin told the commissioners he had been working on the agreement until right before the meeting, but he was satisfied with the progress that had been made from a legal perspective.
The $1.1 million will come in part from a $425,000 grant from the Department of Conservation and National Resources that the township received several years ago, according to township manager Ryan Eggleston. The remainder of the money will come from the township’s park improvement fund.
Township staff and the planning commission recommended the commissioners approve the proposal. Commissioner Jessica Cardillo was the lone dissenting vote.
“I understand completely that it’s a win for the township and that it’s going to be good overall,” Cardillo told the rest of the board. “But I have issues with taxing an already over-stressed school system.”
The board also voted to approve the advertisement for a public hearing regarding an ordinance that would rezone a parcel of land owned by Burns & Scalo as commercial.
At the board’s workshop meeting Feb. 8, residents of Freedom Drive South expressed concerns over what type of commercial business a rezoning would bring. Residents compared the potential for bar and restaurant businesses to the South Side, asking if that’s the kind of atmosphere South Fayette wants to foster.
The public hearing will be scheduled for March.