Overlay District and New Senior Living Facility Lead Discussions at May 4 Whitehall Borough Meeting

Formal Study of a Route 51 Overlay District Given a Green Light

After a thorough investigation of legal details at the request of council members, solicitor Irving Firman presented a resolution at Wednesday night’s council meeting that would begin the overlay-district project recommended by Director Greg Jones at .

The resolution would authorize Economic Development South to apply for a grant to study the creation of an overlay district for the Whitehall and Brentwood Borough sections of the Route 51 corridor. This overlay district would provide continuity of ordinances along those sections, regardless of the municipality, which would hopefully encourage new businesses to open on Route 51.

Included in Firman’s resolution was municipal contribution of matching funds for the project, not to exceed $6,250.

“Should we decide not to adopt the proposals (that result from the project), the borough would reimburse the county for funds used,” Firman said.

The Whitehall council eventually passed the resolution unanimously. McKown told the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch earlier on Wednesday that Brentwood’s council had already passed a similar resolution.

“At the end of the day,” Firman said, “it’s up to (both) council(s) to adopt the ordinance.”

Later in the meeting, council member Kathleen N. DePuy reminded the council of a Route 51 corridor meeting for Thursday and encouraged a representative from the council to attend.

“There’s people from all over the county involved in this now,” DePuy said.

Seniors May Take Over Old Country Club

Responding to emails from Jones, council member Philip Lahr shared with the council that All Pittsburgh Real Estate’s John Thatcher has been making inquiries about the now-closed Whitehall Country Club on Provost Road. Thatcher has expressed an interest in building a senior living facility on the grounds of the old country club.

Council member Harold Berkoben objected to such inquiries being raised at council meetings.

“I think they’re just looking for some feedback,” council member Robert McKown said.

“This would be a wonderful project,” Lahr said, “and it would bring in a lot of tax dollars.”

Finance for Fire Station

Following up on another topic from the April 20 council meeting, Whitehall Borough Manager James E. Leventry reported that he has received a funding agreement from the borough’s bank to start constructing , “but it can’t be signed until the council passes a debt ordinance.”

This demand by the bank was known and was previously discussed by the council. It is unclear whether it will delay the construction of the new fire station.

A Successful Earth Day

Whitehall Mayor James F. Nowalk announced to the council that the borough’s Earth Day event, held on April 30, was a success.

“This year,” Nowalk said, “we had 25 (participants), including seven members) and 15 students–mostly from (’s) Red Cross Club. It was a terrific turnout.”

Nowalk expressed his opinion that it was better to focus on an “Earth Day” theme as opposed to simply “garbage pickup.” He brought a poster with information about Mt. Lebanon’s Earth Day program with him to the Whitehall council meeting and suggested that Whitehall imitate Mt. Lebanon when planning next year’s “Earth Day” event.

“We need to think about expanding our focus from just picking up (garbage) in the borough,” Nowalk said.

Library News

DePuy announced that the is planning its annual picnic and requested permission from the council to use the for the event, to be held on July 16.

Faustino Dunckhorst, a Friends of the Library member, said that, at an April 28 meeting of the support group, a $20,000 check was written to the Whitehall Library.

“I don’t think we should gloss over that number,” council member Glenn Nagy said, praising the group for its efforts to provide funds for the library.

“The donations have gone up in the past year,” said Chris A. Mooney, another Friends of the Library member. “We should also give a shout-out to the , who has offered discounts to people (donating to the library).”