Sep 23, 2017 2 min read

As a resident of McMurray – yes, McMurray, not Peters Township – I am perplexed and angry not only at the township’s planning commission, but at local builders.

First, let me explain: Residents live in McMurray. Peters Township is the school district.

Next, when I graduated from the high school several decades ago, McMurray was projected to be an up-and-coming “premier” community. Well, here we are several decades later, and what is in McMurray? There are few places to have an inexpensive dinner, unless you count the 14 pizza joints.

The planning commission had, and continues to have, no vision and no plan when it comes to controlling traffic. It was never considered that it takes at least 20 minutes to go eight miles on Route 19. By the way, none of the lights in McMurray are synchronized to keep traffic moving.

Residents chose to live here because of the low township taxes. Yet, instead of building another story on the high school, as Mt. Lebanon chose to do, it was decided by the planning commission to build a new high school on a two-lane road. How stupid is that? That land could have been used for affordable, single-level homes.

Many who made this community what it is, the “lifers” who moved here in the 1950s or later, want to remain here. Why do builders insist on building expensive homes, condominiums or townhomes? We need affordable, one-level, single-family homes designed to meet our lifestyles.

For those of you who want a superior school district, go to Mt. Lebanon or Upper St. Clair. McMurray residents moved to the community for the low taxes.

Linda L. Dezack

McMurray