South Strabane supervisors approve conditional use for bus depot
File photo
Freedom Transit will be able to move forward with its planned South Strabane Township facility.
The organization appeared before the township board of supervisors Tuesday evening for a public hearing on its application for conditional use to operate a “bus depot” at 375 Berry Road.
The supervisors approved the application in a 4-1 vote. Supervisor Jeff Bull was the dissenting vote.
Plans for the operations center began to take shape in October 2022 when Freedom Transit purchased 12 acres at the former site of Tower Golf and Amish Touch for $3.2 million.
“We acquired the Berry Road property to construct a bus maintenance and storage facility. We currently utilize two subcontractors who lease facilities that are inadequate to meet our needs,” said Sheila Gombita, executive director of Freedom Transit, during Tuesday’s hearing. “We are looking to construct an 80,000-square-foot facility that will include a bus wash, a fueling center, maintenance bays, indoor storage for both small and larger buses, a training room and offices for dispatch and operations staff.”
Gombita added that the agency’s administrative offices will remain in Washington.
As part of the supervisors’ approval, Freedom Transit vehicles will not be able to operate on Berry Road between Manifold Road and Old Mill Boulevard.
Brian Fincher, the project engineer, explained that peak activity would be in the afternoon and see about 19 vehicles going to and from the facility.
“In the morning it is less than 19,” Fincher said.
Freedom Transit will now have to receive both preliminary and final land development before it can move on with construction.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance establishing a traffic impact fee program.
The impact fee would be levied on developers when they receive a building permit, and would vary depending on how much traffic a project is expected to generate.
Supervisors voted for the ordinance while removing a clause that could have allowed exemptions for residential developments.
“The problem is if somebody is going to put three, four, 500 housing units in with all the traffic that is associated with that, and the roads need upgraded, why should the taxpayers be paying for it whenever the developers should be paying for it?” Bull said.
Supervisors also voted Tuesday to approve final land development for both Costco and Campers Inn RV at the former site of Washington Mall. The votes were 4-1, with Bull dissenting.
Representatives from developer 79/70 Associates continued to refer to the Costco project as a “warehouse club” due to legal obligations. However, county commissioners Nick Sherman and Electra Janis confirmed the business will be a Costco at the county’s Real Estate Expo last month.
The Campers Inn RV will include a dealership at the former location of Toys ‘R Us, and a service center at the old Giant Eagle. The rest of the mall will be razed to make way for Costco. Harbor Freight will be moving to a new building that 79/70 Associates will construct near Firestone Tires and Popeye’s.