HERMITAGE Officials take steps for housing complex

The city is contribuing $600,000 into the $6.5 million development.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- City commissioners are moving ahead with plans for a 60-unit senior citizen housing complex at Lamor and North Keel Ridge roads.
The commissioners voted Wednesday to approve the preparation of bid documents and advertisements for site clearance at that location.
Hermitage and the Mercer County Housing Authority are building the complex in a partnership effort, and the city is putting up $600,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money to buy the 20-acre site and get it ready for construction.
The housing authority is putting up $187,000 for the development and plans to borrow about $2 million through a bond issue and to seek tax credits from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency to cover the rest of the total $6.5 million project.
Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin late this year.
Tabled action
The commissioners also tabled action on a request to rezone 1.2 acres at 1795 Valley View Road from single-family residential to residential office district.
The request came from Igor Pyatetsky, owner of the land, who lives there and wants to use part of the parcel for a professional office.
City Manager Gary Hinkson said the city expects to have a new "mixed-use" zoning district regulation ready for consideration in three months. That new law could affect the Pyatetsky request.
The commissioners decided to table his rezoning request now but said they will bring it back up for consideration in four months, even if the new mixed use zoning regulations aren't in place.
No objections
In other business, no one showed up to object to a proposal to rezone 5.7 acres near South Darby Road and U.S. Route 62 from single-family residential to residential high-density.
The request came from developer Daniel Leali, who is proposing to build a new armory for the Pennsylvania National Guard at that location.
The current armory is on Pa. Route 18 adjacent to the city building, and the city has expressed interest in buying that structure.
Just how soon a new armory will be built is uncertain.
Such facilities are funded 25 percent by the state and 75 percent by the federal government.
The state money has been committed to this project but the federal money hasn't, said a National Guard spokesman, adding that a push for the federal assistance is expected in 2005.
gwin@vindy.com