PETITION TO VACATE Greenville will keep Cherry Alley despite request

The mayor vetoed a council decision to vacate the alley.
By LAURI GALENTINE
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Cherry Alley will remain borough property and stay open, a decision that pleased one businessman but upset another.
Earlier this week, borough council voted not to overturn a veto by Mayor Clifford Harriger of a council decision to vacate the alley.
In May, council voted 5-2 to grant businessman Paul DeTulio's request to vacate Cherry Alley, which runs past his business, The Greenville Ice Co., and is adjacent to Shenango Street.
Harriger vetoed that decision a few days later.
DeTulio petitioned council late last year asking them to vacate the alley, which he said hasn't been used since 1955.
Under borough code, when an alley or street is vacated, the property reverts back to the original parcel it was taken from.
Needs parking space
DeTulio said he owns 75 percent of the land around Cherry Alley. Getting the alley land back would give him space to park his trucks without using the public lot in front of his building and also allow him to expand his plant, he said.
Michael Yurisick, who also owns property along the alley, felt differently, however. Yurisick owns and operates Advance Bulk and Conveying Systems in Reynolds Industrial Park.
Yurisick said he was never told why DeTulio wanted the alley closed, but he said he needs it open for access to his parking lot.
The alley is overgrown and in bad shape, Yurisick acknowledged, but he said he is willing to pave it when he paves the small lot that has one entrance off Shenango Street and provides parking for his building nearby.
He said the lot is angle parking and is not big enough for motorists to turn around and leave the same way they entered. He plans to make an exit from the lot into Cherry Alley.
Only a part
DeTulio said he petitioned the borough to vacate only the eastern portion of the alley, leaving Yurisick access through the western section.
In a written statement explaining his reasons for the veto, Harriger said his decision was based on the fact that a storm sewer runs the entire length of Cherry Alley. In the event of a future problem, borough employees would have to enter private property to repair that line.
He said under the current ordinance, borough workers are prohibited from entering private property.
Harriger also expressed concerns about closing half of an alley, which he said, would leave the other half without an entrance or exit.
He added that the alley's closing would reduce parking in an area where parking already is at a premium.
DeTulio maintained that there is no storm sewer in the alley. He added that closing the alley would eliminate only one parking space.
He said he hasn't decided whether he will take further steps to have the alley vacated.
Yurisick said, "I'm glad. In the end, the mayor did the right thing, and when the dust settled, council did also."