Oct 8, 2013 2 min read

Lawyers for South Fayette Township outlined their reasons for opposing mining at the former Mayview Hospital property at a continued meeting of the township zoning hearing board last week.

Aloe Brothers LLC, owners of the property on Mayview Road, have requested a special exception to allow mining at the site of the former state hospital and are also challenging the validity of a section of the township’s zoning ordinance for business districts.

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

Upper St. Clair Township’s solicitor, Chris Cahillane asked to intervene because the municipality’s 475-acre Boyce-Mayview Park and community recreation center is adjacent to the proposed mining site. The park borders the mining site on three sides.

“It’s not just an Upper St. Clair park, it’s a regional asset,” Cahillane said. “We join in South Fayette’s opposition of this application. We are concerned about the effects of mining on users of the park and the park itself,” Cahillane added.

Raymond Caruso of PVE Sheffler, the township’s acting traffic engineer, did a preliminary traffic analysis of the Boyce Road and Mayview Road intersections as well as the intersection of Washington Pike and Boyce Road. He testified that a 53-foot tractor-trailer would not be able to safely turn out of either intersection without encroaching into the other lane of traffic.

“The intersections are relatively small,” Caruso said.

Attorneys for both Aloe Brothers and South Fayette Township have until Nov. 6 to submit briefs of submission to Ayoob.

The board will meet Nov. 20 and may make its decision.