Plum Council Notebook: Highlands Development, Trestle Road & More

Council discussed several items during its regular meeting on Wednesday. Here's a roundup:

The Highlands

Officials OK'd the final phase of the Highlands housing development along Old Leechburg Road.

The last phase includes three culdesacs and 29 single-family homes. To read more about it, click here.

Traffic Calming

Motorists in Plum soon won't be able to make turns onto Trestle Road from Monroeville-Trestle Road during rush hour.

Council passed an ordinance prohibiting turns onto the road from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Fridays. The action will be taken in an effort to prevent speeding on the neighborhood road.

Councilman John Anderson inquired about local traffic and delivery trucks that need to go on the road at that time, but officials said they would have to go via Pierson Run Road.

Councilman Skip Taylor said if the new traffic patterns don't work out for some reason, council always can rescind the action in the future.

Police Equipment

Mayor Rich Hrivnak said the police department has received new equipment to help monitor speeding and traffic patterns in the borough.

Hrivnak said the equipment can be placed on borough roads, and then would collect data based on the cars that travel on them.

In turn, the mayor said that could help police determine "hot spots" for traffic violations.

Municipal Authority

Council has increased the term of existence of the Plum Municipal Authority by 12 years.

Officials said the municipal authority entered into a 40-year agreement with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County for water supply earlier this year. That new agreement will be in place from 2016 to 2056. Officials said if the Plum authority's term is not extended by council, it would cease to exist eight years before the 40-year agreement is over.

The Plum Municipal Authority currently pays $1.19 per thousand gallons of water to Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority. Under the new agreement with Westmoreland, the cost would be $1.10 per thousand gallons in 2016 and $1.45 per thousand gallons in 2056—about a one-cent increast per year.

Solicitor Bruce Dice called the situation "momentus."

Weekend Work

A. Liberoni Contracting will be allowed to work at the new municipal center complex on Sundays.

The contractor currently is working on the new public works facility located between Renton Road and Old Leechburg Road. However, due to the rainy weather, crews are behind schedule.

Though borough ordinances prohibit excavation work to occur on Sundays, officials have made an exception to ensure the work is completed by the end of November.

Mary Street Bridge

Almost $4,000 worth of repairs will be made to the Mary Street Bridge. The repairs are mandatory, per Pennsylvania Department of Transportation inspection findings.

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