Sewickley Herald

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Sewiskley HilSs
Vol. 87 No. 7©
Herald
Wednesday, February 14, >990
19 Gateway Press Mewspapers
SUBURBAN PITTSBURGH'S LARGEST CIRCULATION
At Al&ppo m0&tmg
Proposed lab angers crowd
Heart to heart
VALENTINE’S DAY is an extra special day for a cardiologist. Dr. Kobi^rt Nitzberg of Sewielcley Ilills get«i to the h«art oC the matter mth his son> Michael, showing him a large-scale model ot the organ in question, once thought to be the scat of love. For more about Valentine's Day, see page 3.
(®<hoto by Doug Kaup)
By Greg-Ho5imam
Over, the misgivings of an overflow crovird, Aleppo Planning Commission gave conditional approval last ^eek to construction of a laboratory jpenter where toxic materials and chemicals would be used for testing metals and ailloys at 79 North Industrial Park.
The vote Was 4-1. Board member Don lone dissenter.
A final decision was scheduled to fall at the meeting of Aleppo Board of Gominissioners yesterday, Feb. 13, after,, the: Herald went to press.
Elkem Metals Co., which has a developmental lab and plant in . Niagara Palls, N.Y., has proposed a 40,000^qusare-ibofc lab testing metals ana. alloys on eight acres in 79 North; Elkem wishes to be La cJ Qloser to its headquarters m Moon Township, according to Robert Bridgeman, wha repreSeaU-d tlto firm at the Wednesday meeting.'
Some 35 residents turned out to ask questions about Elkem's lab chemicals. and., toxic ma terialsw ■ The purpose of their use, quart-, titles and me^ns of disposal were points at issue.
Township engineers have approved Elkem’s technical drawings, stormwater-management plan and the proposed treatment of liquid effluent, Bridgeman said an acid-treating holding talk will neutralize hazardous waste before: it leaves the .property.'.'	^
Air pollution would be “minuscule,” according to Charles . Reese, planning commission chairman. Allegheny Gount^’ Health Department, would jnspect the site after con-stru^tibn, Reese said.
Alongside Bridgeman in endorsing the project were W. Theodore Brooks, representing 79 North; Jack Murray, an ■independent engineer representing Elkem and William Pahrter Jr., a representative of the contractors, Repal Construction.
The four repeatedly stressed that Elkem wants to build a lab, not a plant* They also emphasized the small quantities involved.
Despite these assurances, residents, did not seem convinc-
'“Accidents,	was	atf
oft-quoted phrase. One resident said he had heard Elkem's • Norway-based parent company ■ Was one’of ifeal coraitary’s '.vs/orst polluters.
“If'they (the residents) feel
- danger from ffie little rovontitf we will get, I’m against if," said James Addison, the only Aleppo commissioner in attendance.
. One of the preconditions of approval v/as a personal chec-tdy Reese of Elkem's track record in’ Niagara Falls. The company, part of the metals division at Union Carbide until 1983, has been in Niagara Falls since the early 1930s.
“Mkem is informally known as ‘a, good discharger,’” Reese explained after the meeting. There have not been any violar tioiis against them in th6 last four to five years/he said.
■m,
action
By Mike May-
Sevvickley Council held an executive session last flight to evalua:te the latest action m the St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church ejc-pansion controvery.
Judge Alan Penltower of Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas issued an executive order that denies a motion, by Sewicldey Borough to. quash the church’s 1986 appeal of the borough’s denial of its building permit	-
Penlsower’s action tak^ the case back to -Itr^bsglnnings and	a-
later settlement agreement between St. Stephen’s and the borough.-The agreement allowed the church to conslruct a new sanctuary within a 40 percent expansion limit
based on its present size.
Pei&owef set a deadline of Feb, 25 for St, Stephen’s to fUe briefs. Sewicldey will then have until March 30 to file its response.
Ann Dehmaii, a law clerk for PenkOwer, said the judge will rule whether the originalapplicatiottfiled July 18,1986 was legally dr illegally denied. •
The application was filed When an ordinance was pending that changed churches and Other institutions in the'borough from permitted conditional uses to nonconforming uses, which cOuld not expand. The of dinance’Was passed^uly 28,-1^85.
In its appeal at the time, St. Stephen’s challenged the legality of the enactment of the or^nancie, saying the borough faUed to publish adequate notice of the upcoming
action, held an illegal executive session and did not submit' it^ plans to the Allegheny County Planning Commission.
The ordinance was later ameriaed to allow non-conforming tises to expand within the 40 percent figure.
According to Ms. Denman, whatever decision Penkower makes should not interfere with the church’s plans to build. If the judgerules the borough’s action was illegal, toen St. Stephen’s should be able to expand without being subject to the 40 percent restriction. If the borough is ruled to have acted-legally,-then St. Stephen’s-Would be able fo submit another building application, but Would be subject to the 40 percent restriction,
SeWickley Solicitor Gary McQuone said
that from the standpoint of the borough, the original 1986 Ordinance is valid and the pro-Cedurei in passing it were legal.
However, McQuone also said that even if Penkower decides otherwise, he still does
to build according to its original application.
Ironically, McQuone noted, “Part of the settlement agreement was for us not to have to argue this case.’'
He said council now will have to decide What position to take.
'Bie attorney for St. Stephen’s and a
had not responded to a Herald request for comment at presstime.
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