Nov 22, 2013 2 min read

South Fayette Township’s three-member zoning hearing board voted Wednesday to postpone any action on whether to allow mining at the former Mayview State Hospital site.

After a 90-minute executive session, zoning hearing board solicitor Thomas Ayoob announced that a decision on the matter will be made at a meeting to be held at 7 p.m. Dec. 9 in the auditorium of South Fayette Middle School.

Aloe Brothers LLC owns the former hospital property along Mayview Road. In September, Aloe Brothers requested a special exception to allow mining at the site and also challenged the validity of a section of the township’s zoning ordinance for B-1 business districts.

Aloe Brothers wants the ability to mine coal on about 37 acres of the property and plans on building a business park at the site. Based upon sampling conducted at the site, it is estimated that there is about 330,000 tons of coal that could be mined on the property. The coal is part of the Pittsburgh coal seam.

While the zoning hearing board was in executive session, the township board of commissioners was simultaneously conducting a continued business meeting.

During the meeting, the board voted to appoint two new members to the zoning hearing board: Joseph Gagliardino and Renee Bennett. Their terms will begin in January and run for three years.

They will replace current board members Fred Cardillo and John Alan Kosky, whose terms expire at the end of the year. Steven Knuckles was appointed as an alternate member of the board and his term will run through December 2015.