Franklin Estates Residents Association

FERA Business Meeting Minutes

Oct 12, 2006

FERA Business Meeting
Monday, September 25, 2006
St. Mary?’s Church ?– Export


Attendees:
Rich Mickel, President & Acting Treasurer
Monica Diacopoulos, Secretary

3 residents whose names are on file with the Secretary


Meeting held at 7:10 p.m.

Old Business
Secretary outlined minutes from February 2005 meeting, as approved

President read the Treasurer Report which is on file. Current balance as of 9/25/06 is $2,064.47 in National City?’s business savings account.


New Business

President, Rich Mickel invited several members of the Municipality to our meeting, but the new Chief Administrator, John Barrett was not available, nor was Director of Community Development, Chris Rearick. Mayor Joyce Somers provided Rich with information to share with the group.

FE Expansion

IDC has not submitted any additional permits to develop lots at the end of Mt. Vernon or Lexington Court since their initial deadline expired in Summer 2005. IDC will have to go back to council with proposal for confirmation of Plan specifications as agreed in early 2005. The work would then need to be completed within the proper timeframe.

The mayor stated that in July she inquired with IDC reps and was told the development is ?“tabled with IDC to re-evaluate their plans?”. It appears that it will not be a good financial investment for them to move forward with the development. The green space designation between Lexington and Jefferson is a closed issue and it will stay as such. There was a lot swap between Murrysville and IDC which exchanged the former strip mine property for green space. The tot lot/playground will only be developed if the 17 homes at the end of Mt. Vernon are constructed.

Other Housing Developments

The Haymaker Farm development doesn?’t have any further updates since a prior Council meeting where variances were required for the Developer to progress their plans.

Sinan Farms, off of Weistertown Road, has 78 lots and has sold 8 to-date after a 3 year development process.

A developer which is developing townhomes in Westmoreland Farms by Watson?’s Chevrolet, is finding slow sales activity & is even asking Howard Hanna to lease units instead of selling due to high vacancy levels.

The mayor is seeing a trend of a lot of proposals that may taper off in the next 4-5 years due to Murrysville land costs. Additionally, there are a lot of new home developments with not a lot of demand.

Commercial Developments

The B01 project (22 road development) is meeting or exceeding targeted completion expectations. Golden Triangle Construction is doing a good job at hitting construction targets.

There are 2 developers vying to develop parcels of land for Target/Lowes or Home Depot. One developer wants to develop land by Watson?’s for the retailers. While another wants to try to attract the retailers to the Buncher property which is 20 acres of commercial land across from Choice Gas station at Berlin Farm & 22. It is believed that the Echo land may be better suited for those retailers, since the Buncher property would need many variances. No further development plans have been brought to Council by either developer since initial discussions occurred.

Starbucks has been looking to have roots in Murrysville for about 3 years. It is believed that the proposal to build on the former Gulf Gas station property (by the auto store on 22 close to Dick?’s Diner) will most likely be the location. The developer has requested that Council approve some variances to the parcel based on parking lot allocations and landscape issues. No further communication has taken place since then.

With many proposed developments along 22, the mayor contacted PennDot to ensure our newly expanded 22 corridor was sufficient for the type of traffic that would need to support such developments. PennDot indicated that a traffic analysis would need to be done prior to any development of these properties. The one developer is currently conducting the analysis for their proposed development by the Watson property.

Old Town City Center

There are still plans to beautify Old William Penn Highway with sidewalks and flower beds. Funding methods are being developed.

Election of Officers

Rich Mickel and Monica Diacopoulos are the only remaining Board Members and resigned effective 9/25/06. The following positions were filled at the meeting:

President, Rickie Zold
Past President, Rich Mickel
Secretary, Harumi Behnke

Monica and Rich left the meeting with action items to contact 2 individuals who expressed interest in Board positions, but who were not present at the meeting to fill the Vice President & Treasurer positions.

Other Topics from Audience

Rickie Zold would like to form a network for retired residents (who need work done around their homes) with residents of our plan who may be able or willing to help out (teenagers or stay-at-home moms, for instance). The network would provide information on who could tend to lawn care and maintenance like cutting grass, raking leaves, snow removal, etc. as well as rides to the doctor?’s office or picking up groceries. Also a list of referrals or recommended contractors for plumbing and other work could also be gathered for residents to use. Monica Diacopoulos noted that a good repository to house all of this information could be the FERA website. Although some retired residents may not have computer access, their neighbors or people who are willing to help could look there for updated information on such services.

Ulrike Voigt noted that the residents?’ directory should be in paper form and distributed to each home. The new Board can determine if that is the right action to take given electronic methods available, cost to print 300 or so directories, time to attract advertisers to off-set the cost, as well as the time to print manual copies and distribute. Ulrike noted that children could deliver directories door-to-door.

The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.