LAWRENCE COUNTY Official outlines process to buy land

A 90-acre home development has been proposed for Neshannock Township.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County Planning Commission is being asked to declare as blighted a plot of land expected to house a multimillion-dollar business park.
Planning director James Gagliano told planning commission members Thursday the designation is needed to help continue the Millennium Park project in Neshannock Township.
About $30 million in state and local money has been promised to the project for needed roads and water and sewer lines.
Officials have said a semiconductor company promising more than 1,000 jobs has shown interest in the site.
But the county must first gain control of the property.
Gagliano said some landowners have been contacted and are in negotiations with the Lawrence County Economic Development Agency to sell.
Others, however, might not want to sell.
The newly formed county redevelopment authority would then have the power to take the land by eminent domain for private use, Gagliano said.
Process
That authority must first come up with a redevelopment plan for the land, and that includes having it declared blighted by the county planning commission and eventually the county commissioners.
Gagliano said there are several conditions that fall under the state guidelines for a blighted area.
The one that applies to the Millennium Park project is that the property now has an economically and socially undesirable land use, he said.
The land is now zoned for industrial use, but contains mostly homes and some small businesses.
The planning commission will likely vote the blighted status of the property in the next few months.
Housing development
In other business, the planning commission made several recommendations for a proposed 90-acre housing plan off of Mitchell Road in Neshannock Township.
The Villas at Autumn Hills would be located behind the Neshannock High School and the Y Sports Zone. Leo Golba Construction is proposing the housing plan.
The plan calls for 57 single-home lots and 14 extra parcels that could be used for multifamily housing at a later time, Gagliano said.
The county planning commission, which can only make recommendations to townships considering new developments, noted that the property possibly contains deep coal mines that are not recorded in county records. Local residents have maintained that mining was done in that area, Gagliano said.
The commission also questioned road widths and property access.
Neshannock Township supervisors will have the final say on the project.