Oct 14, 2013 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Borough Council asked its solicitor Monday to review entering a 10-year lease with the county for the borough parking lot on Strawberry Street, which the county agreed to sublease to the developer of the old county office building.

John McNay, owner of the old county office building, and Martin Padezanin, a contractor, proposed converting the six-story building into 28 apartments and need part of the borough lot to provide parking for the building’s tenants.

Their plan for the building was granted the necessary variance last week by the borough zoning hearing board with the condition a long-term lease for the parking lot was agreed to between the borough and county.

The county has leased the parking lot from the borough for several years under a year-to-year lease with an automatic renewal each year. It agreed to sublease the lot to McNay and Padezanin.

Padezanin, who attended the council meeting Monday, presented council with a 10-year sublease for the parking lot signed by the county commissioners.

Council asked solicitor Linda Chambers to discuss a new lease for a 10-year term with the county solicitor.

It was uncertain, however, whether the matter would come back to council for approval.

Chambers said following the meeting, she believed council authorized her to enter a 10-year lease with the county, while several council members said they thought she was only authorized to review the matter with the county solicitor.

Padezanin said he hoped to receive approval Monday for the plan.

He said he would like to begin the project before the end of the year, replacing the building’s roof to prevent further damage to it.

In other business, council scheduled a workshop meeting Oct. 28 to discuss how it would like to address code enforcement and zoning issues.

Council last month hired Bryan Cumberledge for the new position of street foreman/assistant borough manager.

Borough manager Mike Simms said Monday he and Cumberledge would like some clarification from council regarding zoning and code enforcement issues.

Council also asked Simms to look into the costs of repairing the old street sweeper after being given estimates of purchasing a new street sweeper.

Simms said he sought estimates for a new sweeper at the request of several council members.

The borough has not regularly swept streets for about two years.

It was stopped one year when a large amount of road projects were being completed in the borough. The borough at that time also stopped night time parking restrictions on streets scheduled to be swept.

Council members noted street sweeping might have been required by the state Department of Environmental Protection at one time because of the borough’s combined sewer and storm water system.

Cumberledge also said sweeping the streets might help prevent sediment from clogging the borough’s storm water catch basins.