Representatives of a development company interested in purchasing a plot of land in Churchill for use as an Amazon distribution center addressed an array of concerns from residents, many of whom oppose the potential development.
During a Churchill Borough Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, Hillwood Development’s representatives and experts gave a presentation that discussed several concerns regarding their plans to purchase the former site of the George Westinghouse Research Park near the Parkway East and develop it as a distribution center.
Hillwood Development, a Texas-based group that acquired land for Amazon near Pittsburgh International Airport in 2019, has identified the end-user of the Churchill site as Amazon.
Their plans for the 133-acre parcel that formerly housed the Westinghouse Research Park include demolishing blighted buildings on the lot and constructing a new 2.6-million-square-foot distribution and logistics facility.
Jobs, tax revenue touted
The development could bring more than 1,000 full-time jobs with benefits, the borough wrote in a recent newsletter.
But many Churchill residents oppose the idea of putting a large Amazon distribution center in a quiet residential area, where many say they don’t have the infrastructure to support such a site.
Murray Bilby, a Churchill resident who previously described the proposed Amazon site as a “square peg in a round hole,” created a website outlining concerns shared by several residents. Many Churchill residents have expressed concerns and voiced opposition at recent virtual borough meetings.
During the borough’s planning commission meeting on Wednesday night, Hillwood Developers and experts working on their proposal gave a presentation that addressed several concerns frequently raised by residents.
Hillwood Developers said that they believe the development would be a “net positive” for the Churchill community. It would bring between 1,000 and 1,500 jobs to the area, as well as tax revenue that would benefit the borough and the school district.
Taxes from such a development would include between $600,000 and $660,000 in annual property taxes to Churchill and between $2.3 million and $2.5 million in taxes to Woodland Hills School District, a former member of Churchill’s planning commission previously told the Tribune-Review.
Environmental concerns
Residents had repeatedly expressed concerns about the environmental impact of a large distribution center. The developers, however, noted that the existing buildings — which would be blighted under their proposal — contain mold and asbestos and actually pose a threat to the environment in their current state. A representative of Hillwood Development said that in redeveloping the site, they would “end up with significant environmental contamination having been cured.”
Per Pennsylvania state law, the new development would have to reduce the amount of water running off the site during a storm by at least 20%, a metric the developers said they believe they can exceed.
In response to repeated questions about how many trees would be cut down to redevelop the site, the developers said they would lose 290 mature trees in good condition during their development — but they’d plant over 1,000 new ones. IThey also noted that many trees currently on the site are non-native species and many are prone to disease. The trees they intend to plant would be well-maintained native species, they said.
Ken Balkey, a Churchill resident who chairs the borough’s tree committee, said that while he appreciated the developer’s promise to plant trees on the site, it wouldn’t be enough to make up for trees that were cut down for the development.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re going to plant 1,000 trees,” he said. “They won’t make a difference for at least 20 or 30 years.”
Chopping down existing trees, he said, would hurt their tree canopy. The trees that had been dismissed in Hillwood’s presentation as being in poor or fair condition or being invasive species still absorb stormwater and improve air quality, meaning they should remain, he said.
New traffic signals proposed
Hillwood Developers outlined several potential solutions to commonly-raised questions about how a small residential community would handle the influx of traffic coming to and from the site. They proposed new traffic signals — including stop lights at the rear entrance to the site on Greensburg Pike and at a nearby intersection on Beulah Avenue — as well as road widening projects.
Residents unconvinced
But many residents continued to share their concerns with the planning commission, even after a presentation meant to address common questions.
“As a resident, I urge the planning commission to delay or deny the conditional use application,” said Stephen Klump, one of several residents who implored local officials to delay or deny the proposal.
Like other residents, he said there is not yet complete information for making such a major decision.
The Churchill Future group — which uses yard signs and a website to express opposition to the potential Amazon site — has pointed out that the developers haven’t provided geological studies, have yet to receive PennDOT approval for some of their proposals and lack other information that several members of the community have requested.
“I demand that you suspend the decision until complete information is publicly shared and considered,” Klump said.
Resident defends plan
Though most of the public comments during the meeting were in opposition to the project, Churchill resident Eric Grotzinger said he saw benefit to upgrading a site that has fallen into disrepair.
“If the residents want that to just stay up there and continue to be an environmental hazard, I think that’s wrong,” he said, explaining the old facility is “decaying” and “full of asbestos, lead and mold.”
The studies that developers have to produce must meet local, state and federal guidelines, he said, meaning they must prove that the Amazon site wouldn’t pose a danger to the environment or be a significant disruption to the community.
“If these studies demonstrate acceptable mitigations of traffic, parking, lighting, noise, air quality, stormwater and environmental quality, then this is our opportunity to not only reclaim this toxic site, but to reap the benefits that it will provide our community and region,” Grotzinger said.
Those studies and other elements of the plan are available on Churchill’s website.
Nonetheless, several residents said they wanted to see local officials take a more skeptical stance toward the developers or oppose the development outright.
Steve Landay, a resident who had a sign expressing opposition for the potential Amazon site behind him while he spoke via Zoom, said to the committee, “Why aren’t you asking the same questions we’re asking of the Hillwood group?”
Borough explains its role
Borough Manager Alex Graziani had assured residents during a prior meeting that officials were giving proper attention to studying the impact of the proposed development.
“This is something the borough council does not take lightly, nor does anyone on the planning commission take this lightly,” Graziani said at a May meeting. “This is a transformative change project proposal that is generational.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, Borough Solicitor Gavin Robb reminded residents of the role the borough played in these decisions.
“Just to be clear, the borough does not own this property,” he said. “The borough did not solicit or seek out this particular type of development.”
Borough officials are reviewing the conditional use application and related studies to ensure the development would operate in accordance with local and state guidelines.
Their job is to make sure the proposal meets a number of criteria, including a traffic study, a proposal to mitigate additional traffic, a maximum height of 125 feet, a parking study, lighting and sound studies, proposals to mitigate negative impacts of lighting and sound and an environmental study that includes factors like stormwater management and water and air quality.
“This is not a matter of whether the planning commission and ultimately council likes this development or doesn’t like this development,” Robb said, explaining that they are obligated to vote in favor of allowing the development to move forward if it meets all necessary criteria.
Information regarding the development — and the role local officials are to play in its future — was posted in a newsletter on the borough website.
According to that newsletter, Churchill Council currently plans to host a public hearing on the conditional use application on Monday, July 12. The Churchill Borough Planning Commission will have another meeting on the subject on Wednesday, July 7 via Zoom.
Julia Felton is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Julia at 724-226-7724, jfelton@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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