Oct 2, 2017 3 min read

I feel compelled to clarify a few points in Linda Dezack’s Sept. 24 letter in the Observer-Reporter.

I have been a resident of Peters Township for almost 42 years. I’m not sure where Dezack got the mistaken idea that McMurray is where we live. Where we live is Peters Township. It is our governing body, also the name of our school district, and a home-rule community for a very long time. McMurray is just one of the too-many zip codes – there are seven – that we have within our township.

My husband and I initially chose this township for its closeness to Washington, where our business is located. Back then, there were only about three or four stop lights between the Donaldson’s Crossroads shopping center and the entrance to Washington on Route 19. We liked it because of the more rural nature of the community, the closeness of community members and the fact that it had a good school district. We raised our three children here, all getting educated here, all getting into good colleges and all presently in successful lives with their own families. Our high school is not Upper St. Clair or Mt. Lebanon, but it is within a good school district.

Moreover, it has always been on a two-lane road. That would be McMurray Road, the same two-lane road where the new high school will be located.

There are many things you could fault the planning board for, but you can not blame them for Route 19. It is a state road. It is the state that allows all the curb cuts. If the township would have had any say in the matter, all of the traffic could have been directed through the commercial building lots to common points of access and exit. They tried to do this with the Crossroads shopping complex and the Kmart Plaza strip. However, the property management company that owned the Crossroads took them to court and the court found in its favor.

It is true that our township taxes have gone up since 1976 when we moved here. So has the population, with people looking for low taxes and a good school district. Consequently, taxes had to be raised to accommodate all these newcomers. I know many folks who have left our township to find one-level, retirement living elsewhere. They have found happiness in North Strabane, which is a huge township with a lot of room for all types of residences. Perhaps Dezack would be happier there.

Jill Baer

McMurray