State and county officials said they are trying to broker a deal between two businesses to keep more than 600 cars off a residential street.
State Sen. Sean Logan, D-Plum, said tax dollars could be used to resolve the problem, but the state and county could offer their services to help one business market 500,000 square feet of empty office space.
"There's a whole host of ways to do this," he said.
The Elmhurst Group, Downtown, is expanding the former Bessemer and Erie Railroad office building on Jamison Lane in Monroeville to accommodate Bechtel Plant Machinery, which plans to employ about 600 people there.
Monroeville council approved the developer's site plan with the condition that Elmhurst could get an occupancy permit for the expansion after it improves access to the site -- either by adding a right-turn lane to Jamison or by finding another access route.
Elmhurst wants to provide access by using a private road through the Tech One Business Park. Buffalo, N.Y., businessman Victor Liberatore owns the park and doesn't want traffic on property he's trying to lease to businesses. He offered an alternate road, but Monroeville officials estimate it would take about $2 million to upgrade that route to municipal road standards.
The front access to Tech One park has a security gate. Bob Hurley, Allegheny County's deputy economic development director, said few businesses are interested in that level of security, and the county hopes to persuade Liberatore that his property would be more marketable without a gate. They hope to convince him to allow Bechtel employees to cross Tech One's property.
Logan said it's clear neither Elmhurst nor Liberatore will pay to upgrade the alternate access road, and Elmhurst is unlikely to agree to pay to use Liberatore's Tech One access road.
On the other hand, Elmhurst failed to negotiate the purchase of property on a former Eckerd pharmacy site that it needs in order to add a turning lane to Jamison Lane. The developer asked Monroeville to use eminent domain to take the property from its current owner.
Jamison Lane residents oppose Elmhurst's request and the idea of using Jamison Lane as the main access for the Bechtel facility.
Logan and Hurley said they oppose the idea of using eminent domain.
"We would prefer never to go that route, if possible," Hurley said.
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