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Update as of April 13, 2024 -

Sleepy Hollow Update – March 27, 2024 – Initial Planning Commission Meeting

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS INFORMATION AND PLEASE PLAN ON ATTENDING THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING ON APRIL 24TH AT 7PM!!

First off, we struggle with the contradictory name of this project Majestic Woods. How ironic that this is the name that the developer and township want to call this development. When what we really have here would be the absolute and utter destruction of our own MAJESTIC WOODS that we call Sleepy Hollow. We would suggest a choice between three much more well suited names for this ill-advised and very much universally unwanted development by the residents of South Park and all those who enjoy our county park – South Park.

Let’s call this project one of these instead :

1)    Destruction of the Majestic Woods 

2)    Missing Woods

3)    Broken Political Promises Woods 

Let’s talk a bit more about those political promises – VOTE FOR ME – I want to preserve OUR unique, one of kind, irreplaceable, beautiful green spaces for future generations! Once elected by those they fooled, our newly elected leaders that supposedly have our best interests at heart, quickly forget all those meaningless promises they made to get elected.  In fact, they go from HUGGING TREES while running, TO HUGGING DEVELOPERS once elected.  And PLEASE can we stop having to hear about discussions about our elected and appointed officials regarding comments that proposed projects are a “DONE DEAL” before the first public meeting ever takes place. This certainly has a chilling effect on our confidence in our township leaders. We would strongly suggest the term “DONE DEAL” never be used again!!

For instance, this is what we get from our newest elected Township Supervisor Lawrence Vogel.  On his Facebook post directed to South Park Township on 3/5/23 regarding his request for your vote:

“I am Lawrence Vogel, your candidate for Township Supervisor ……. South Park is something that is beautiful and should be a model for other communities ………  We are fortunate to have our landscapes and the CONVENIENCE OF THE ALLEGHENY PARK THAT WE SHARE A NAME WITH. I know this is something each resident takes great "Eagle" pride in, and something that reminds me of my country upbringing. In the same breath I see several opportunities to revive many forgotten spaces of business especially in historic Library WHILE PRESERVING OUR NATURAL GREEN SPACES ……… I have been representing our Nation and Pennsylvania for 23 years, and NOW I AM COMING HOME TO REPRESENT YOU SOUTH PARK.  Please remember to Vote...YOUR VOICE MATTERS.”

Well then, this should be interesting then right? I’m not sure about you, but based on Supervisor Vogel’s election campaign promises, let’s think about this from another perspective.

If I gave you these clues: 

1.     Preserving our Natural Green Spaces

2.     Convenience of the Allegheny Park that we share a name with (The County’s South Park)

3.     I Represent you, South Park

4.     Your Voice Matters

Could this possibly be referring to any piece of beautiful natural green space other than Sleepy Hollow and this proposed development rightly called “The Destruction of the Majestic Woods” – yes that’s my favorite! – that abuts and infringes upon that famous park that we share a name with!! As you know, this 108 house development will be right up against the county park property.  In a truly ironic twist of fate, the BABCOCK Grove, yes the one named for MR EDWARD BABCOCK, the man known as the FATHER OF OUR ALLEGHENY COUNTY PARKS – will be smack up against this housing development. Could you just image his reaction to this insult? Mr. Babcock personally acquired all of the property for North and South Park and sold it back to the county at cost. He deserves better! Much better!!  I’ll be the first to suggest if this proposed project ever takes place and destroys these majestic woods – let’s petition the county to honor Mr. Babcock with a grove in a more peaceful quiet setting and rename this grove “MAJESTIC WOODS DESTRUCTION” or maybe the “TOWNSHIP GREED” picnic grove – I know no one will ever use it, but it will serve as a reminder of the long-term impact of those we vote for and the result of electing the wrong people!  Hey, I’m headed out to a graduation party this weekend at the “Township Greed” Picnic Grove!  See you out there! Not! The last time I checked, people want to spend their weekends in a relaxing “back to nature” setting – and NOT in the middle of the latest overdeveloped, cookie cutter houses, treeless, housing disaster – that replaced another one of our quickly disappearing green spaces!!

So we ask our elected and appointed officials – If you’ve ever run on or claimed that you promise to SAVE AND PROTECT OUR CHERISHED GREEN SPACE – THIS IS IT – SLEEPY HOLLOW. When you claim OUR VOICE MATTERS and YOU’RE COMNG TO REPRESENT US – this is it!! Hear our voices - 13,000 strong on the Change.Org Petition to SAVE Sleep Hollow. Let’s think about the numbers here – When Supervisor Vogel was elected in 2023 a TOTAL of 4,384 votes were cast, Vogel was elected receiving 2,375 of those votes.  We hope our elected and appointed officials understand these numbers – for their future and ours!

Please tell us all – EXACTLY WHAT CHERISHED GREEN SPACE ARE YOU LOOKING TO SAVE AND PROTECT??  We are waiting for and deserve an answer!

Also in Supervisor Vogel’s 3/5/23 Facebook post asking for your vote, he stated, “We the residents of South Park should have every local code, law, and rule specific to our township easily accessible to everyone without restriction of payment. We demand full transparency of that which is meant to govern our lives.”

Please Supervisor Vogel, please tell us exactly what progress you have made on this very critically important campaign promise that has a huge impact on any resident that attempts to get clarity or information while attempting to figure out what the codes and rules are. It’s a nightmare and so different than our neighboring communities.  How we do not have an online, searchable codified database of codes and ordinances in 2024 is alarming. Please enlighten us how your demand for transparency that you demanded when asking for our vote is going now that you are on the inside?

Information from the 3/27/24 Plan Commission Meeting

Issues with this Developer

Flooding Issues Since 2021 – Zokaites’s Villas of South Park Development – Township officials reported at the meeting that they’ve had no issues with Zokaites previous development – the Villas at South Park – but now contrary evidence includes multiple resident testimonies before our Board of Supervisors outlining substantial damage due to water runoff and flooding that occurred when the land was cleared and continue to the present day.  We have videos of the runoff and flooding.  Damage was severe enough at times to reportedly require emergency rescue of trapped residents.

Buffalo – This Developer LIED to WTAE-TV and WPXI that the Buffalo are 1600 feet from development – please see the detail Google Earth map.  If our developer misrepresents and lies about verifiable facts, how can we really trust anything?  Please see from the Google Earth picture for the 500 feet versus 1600 feet.

And let’s make this clear, there are a lot of people that care about the buffalo – “The Friends of the South Park Buffalo Preserve” has more than 7,100 followers and attracts hundreds each day to the preserve located in the township.  And remember, the Buffalo, our National Mammal, an emblematic symbol of the American wilderness, possesses an extraordinary set of senses that play a critical role in its historical and one of the greatest survivor stories of all time. The buffalo have an exceptional auditory range that allows them to differentiate between a wide array of sounds from miles away. These animals are very sensitive to ground vibrations, such as those created by distant thunder or a stampeding herd. We hate to think about the impact the nearby logging, clearing and construction would have on our National Mammals. Unlike in the wild, they have no place to go to escape it. The buffalo family simply relies on us to help them.

If you’ve ever visited the buffalo on the top part of Sesqui Drive, you understand the peace and tranquility that the buffalo family have enjoyed there for almost 100 years. Just the sounds of the birds, peacocks, turkeys, geese and everything nature that you can imagine. Certainly the buffalo enjoy this setting as much as their thousands of “Friends of the Buffalo” who come to relax and unwind. If you haven’t experienced this yet, cruise down the upper part of Sesqui Drive near the Picnic Shelters.  If the buffalo are on the top part of their Sesqui Field, an area where they spend so much time, do yourself a favor and get out, walk down to the fence and just enjoy this special place and allow the buffalo to relax you!

3/27 Planning Commission Meeting Key Points overview

At the 3/27/24 Planning Commission Meeting many key points were discussed that just need better answers from our South Park Township employees, Planning Board, outside Planning Consultant – Environmental Planning and Design, LLC, our outside hired engineering firm – Dan Deiseroth and Gateway Engineers.  Interestingly enough, in reviewing reports from residents impacted by flooding at the other township project by the Zokaites and Wetzel team, we kept seeing the name Gateway Engineer personnel.  So in our opinion, this definitely has the feel that Gateway and Dan – supposedly the township’s and the residents’ paid expert who review these projects on our behalf to protect us and ensure problems don’t result – is also voting whether or not his firm receives a continued income stream from the approved project. Really?? Our question, has Gateway ever rejected a project and the continued income stream that comes with it???

Here are the issues that were brought up by residents at the meeting.  Please note, the township nor any of our hired professional consultants or engineers, who are paid by us to represent us, HAD NO ISSUES OR CONCERNS WHEN ASKED!! NO CONCERNS OR ISSUES WITH ANYTHING DISCUSSED HERE! REALLY HARD TO BELIEVE AND UNDERSTAND!

South Park Residents raised these issues:

1.     ROAD WIDTH - According to the filed plan application on file, the narrow, very poor condition 14 foot Sleepy Hollow Road will be simply widened and paved to 20 feet. Why only 20 feet wide for the only way in or out for 108 houses? Past precedent finds other area roads much wider. The very narrow Stoltz Road measured 24 feet in most places. Old Post and Westchester, quiet residential streets with very light use, measured 25.5 feet wide.  Very difficult to understand how Sleepy Hollow Road should be anything less than 27 or 30 feet – at 108 houses, this development will have more houses than Westchester and Old Post combined.

2.     PRE-EXISTING NONCONFORMING USE OF SLEEPY HOLLOW ROAD BY THE HORSES - Horses from stables on both Sleepy Hollow and Stoltz Road have used Sleepy Hollow Road as the only way to reach the trails at the end of Sleepy Hollow that extend into the county park for more than 100 years. The continued use of Sleepy Hollow by the horse owners is guaranteed and protected under the concept of pre-existing nonconforming use. The law in Pennsylvania regulating legal, nonconforming uses is well settled. A nonconforming use is a use that predates a prohibitory zoning regulation or development; it constitutes a vested, constitutional property right that must be preserved when this mostly dirt road is upgraded and expended. There must be an accommodation that allows the horses to continue to safely use this road via an included built in horse trail.

3.     MANDATORY REQUIRED SIGHTLINES FOR SLEEPY HOLLOW ROAD - PennDOT also requires 250 foot sightlines for this upgraded Sleepy Hollow Road. This is potentially problematic given the natural existing dips and curves at points on the current road.  Sightlines are determined by a 10 times factor of the speed limit. This assumes a 25mph speed limit.

4.     HOW WIDE WILL SLEEPY HOLLOW ROAD REALLY NEED TO BE? - After a final determination of what will be the actual requirement/need for the road width on the township owned Sleepy Hollow Road, plus developer promised sidewalks on the northern side, plus required road shoulders, plus a horse path as required under the pre-existing nonconforming use law – we are looking at a 500% enlargement to the width of the currently 14 foot road. Any approved deviations from this opens up the township for litigation.

5.     WHO PAYS TO REPLACE THE NARROW BRIDGE CONNECTING SLEEPY HOLLOW AND STOLTZ ROAD? - The developer filed plan indicated that Sleepy Hollow Road will be improved from the bridge to the eastern end of the property where it abuts the county park property. The bridge is another major issue for the township.  The 18 foot wide bridge is challenging at best for two way traffic at this point given the severe turn required to enter or exit Stoltz Road from the bridge. The township cannot in good faith recommend to approve this or any other Sleepy Hollow development before this narrow bridge is replaced and dramatically improved.  The bridge certainly does not seem to meet the township’s minimum right of way width!  It must accommodate what would be the new wider lanes of the improved Sleepy Hollow Road, the sidewalk, the horse trail and a shoulder on both sides of the lanes across the bridge for safety.  Just imagine the dangers that 108 or more new families will face when crossing this very narrow bridge as a fire truck, ambulance, moving truck, delivery truck, or school bus loaded with students is turning into Sleepy Hollow from a quick moving Stoltz Road. This is both a huge potential and very foreseeable liability risk while at the same time being a very expensive undertaking to replace this bridge.  Obviously, the new bridge would need to be multiple times wider that the current structure.

6.     THE RISK OF MINE SUBSIDENCE UNDER SLEEPY HOLLOW IS HIGH UNDER SLEEPY HOLLOW ROAD - The proposed Sleepy Hollow development would be built directly over 100 year old room and pillar coal mine. This type of mining was used in very rural areas where future construction and development was not expected. 57% of mine subsidence in our country occurs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. After the heavy equipment and cranes that were used to build the new county bridge at the other end of Sleepy Hollow, it was clearly evident, that their use on Sleepy Hollow really took its toll on this road.  Sleepy Hollow Road is already showing signs of subsidence with its large sink hole pot holes that fill with water and group together to extend across the width of the road in numerous places in addition to collapsing sides.  And this really should be no surprise because the Mining Report last year from ACA Engineering stated that ‘the risk of mine subsidence for the portion of the site carrying Sleepy Hollow Road” is HIGH – the highest risk of mine subsidence - on the low, medium, and high scale. In addition, the potential risk of acid mine drainage is much higher in this area, needs to be considered and would do not only damage this property and stream, but the county park area, Piney Fork steam, Peter’s Creek and downstream.

7.     AN INFLUX OF GROUND WATER AND SURFACE ACTIVITY CAUSE MINE SUBSIDENCE - The next question is what really causes these 100 year old room and pillar mines to collapse? Two main contributing factors : (1) An influx of ground water – such as when you cut down all of the current water absorbing trees and vegetation from the mountain-like hillside, and (2) substantial surface activity – such as reconstruction of this road to meet all necessary requirements, logging, grading, concrete, construction trucks and equipment.  All of which the Planning Commission will be recommending with this proposal.

8.     ISSUES THAT INVITE COSTLY LIGIGATION AGAINST THE TOWNSHIP - Why would our decision makers negligently invite costly litigation against the township by considering projects like this with all of the current and clearly foreseeable issues with Sleepy Hollow Road and the narrow bridge that connects Stoltz Road?  Typically a township or city are protected from litigation with the legal concept of Sovereign Immunity.  It basically holds that the government cannot be sued without its consent.  One notable exception that would expose the township to litigation, would involve their specific DUTY to keep our roads and sidewalks safe and free from any KNOWN or FORESEEABLE DANGERS!  With all of the issues presented here, clearly they are all known and foreseeable.  Once this duty is understood and the risk of litigation against the township by any injured party becomes real, why would our elected and appointed officials put the township at much greater risk than any potential benefits of this development in Sleepy Hollow?

9.     ISSUES THAT MAY RENDER THIS DEVELOPMENT INACCESSIBLE TO EMERGENCY VEHICLES - How will this proposed new narrow Sleepy Hollow Road at only 20 or 22 feet be able to adequately handle any emergency situation? With a major accident blocking this narrow road and a major fire at one of the 108 homes, how will fire trucks and ambulances ever make it too the fire with no other way in?? How about a major accident on the narrow bridge with life threatening injuries with entrapment while at the same time a family in one of the 108 houses is desperately trying to get medical assistance for the father who is suffering a severe heart attack and time is of the essence. Imagine if any of these situations result in an otherwise preventable death, that was caused by a delay in getting medical personnel to people who desperately needed it because of this dangerously narrow road and bridge as the only way in or out was blocked.  Are these not clearly foreseeable events?  Would you not expect family members to bring a lawsuit against the township, seek huge damages, and please tell me why they wouldn’t and don’t deserve to win?  Please tell me again, how much money this development will bring to South Park. With all the cameras and reporters who covered these township meetings, how many do you think will be back covering a story of how poor planning and greed, prevented someone’s loved one from getting the lifesaving help they desperately needed?? Now THAT’S FORESEEABLE!!

10. SLEEPY HOLLOW’S PERPETUAL STREAM - Why does the developer’s plan as filed with the township describe the stream that runs through this Sleepy Hollow property, continues through the county park, empties into the Piney Fork stream, then to Peter’s Creek and continues into the Monongahela River, the always moving perpetual stream that has been running nonstop for at least the last 100 years, contains fish throughout – classified as ‘NOT A REGULATED STREAM”? This term is a bit scary isn’t it? I guess if it’s not regulated – we can bury it, poison it, do anything we want because it’s not regulated? Just another example where many critically important issues for all of us who care deeply about, are glossed over and minimalized.  This is another landmine that’s about to explode in our face South Park!!

11. MORE HILLSIDE COLLAPSE FOR OLD POST RESIDENTS - Old Post Road residents voiced much concern about this development’s plan for earthmoving, and construction behind their houses.  There has been historic instability of the steep hillside behind their homes and they are worried any activity could threaten their family, kids playing outside, and their homes and property.

12. CLEAN AIR - There was concern that the loss of another 60 acres of trees, trees that act to keep the air that we breathe clean. If you live in South Park, you know many mornings you can smell the Clairton Coke Works that will just get worse with less trees and more development.

13. OLD GROWTH FOREST - This proposed development according to Allegheny County would replace one of the county’s best examples of pristine, old-growth, prime forest. Allegheny County has a strong desire to preserve this area.

14. ENDANGERED ANIMALS - Residents have reported seeing endangered bats on the property and wanted to know if evaluations have been completed regarding the potential for threatened and endangered species and the destruction of their natural habitats on this property.

15. TRAFFIC – for all of those who travel Stoltz Road, or worse yet, live on Stoltz Road or any of the nearby roads, can only imagine the impact of the additional 108 homes will add to the congestion on the narrow well-traveled Stoltz Road. Not to worry, when Senior Traffic Engineer, Joshua Haydo from Wooster and Associates was asked by the planning commission about the results of his “traffic study” Joshua was able to seemingly sum up his study in one word, “FAVORABLE”! Yes, you heard correctly – add 108 homes exiting a very narrow bridge onto an already congested Stoltz Road – and the impact will be FAVORABLE. When pressed by the board to numbers from HIS report, every number he cited needed to be corrected by the board. Watch the video on this one.  And oh, yes! Joshua was not aware, completely unaware as a matter of fact, of the huge 280,000 SQUARE FOOT elementary school complex that is being built nearby by Bethel Park that will certainly impact the traffic on Stoltz Road.  Oops! Sounds like a very thorough job though!

** This is why YOU need to have YOUR VOICE HEARD on APRIL 24, 2024 **  Please email the Planning Commission and call the Board of Supervisors to voice your concerns and issues!!

Tim Foster 4/11/2024  (This document is from my notes from the meeting, other outside sources, and merely expresses my opinions on the issues, topics, individuals and companies)

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