Housing study to be performed in Ruff Creek
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WAYNESBURG – A study will be performed this year to determine what needs to be done to spur housing development in the Ruff Creek area of Washington Township.
The Greene County commissioners unanimously approved a motion Thursday morning to spend $45,000 on the Ruff Creek Housing Study using Act 13 impact fee money.
The study is a cooperative agreement between the county and Redevelopment Authority, although details about how the study will be conducted or when it will conclude were not immediately known.
County Chief Clerk Jeff Marshall said the study will determine what infrastructure is needed, what development is possible and what is expected from the final results.
“We’re investing this money to see if there are ways to improve the housing stock,” Marshall said, adding that they will be working closely with Washington Township officials. “They’re the ones who would be driving the project.”
Washington Township Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Correan Stewart said the municipality’s officials have few details about the study and that they have not signed any documents or invested any local money. The study area will be in and around the Ruff Creek interchange to Interstate 79, Stewart said.
“I’m not sure if that’s a prime spot,” Stewart said. “We have three or four homes going up every year (in the township), but I can’t tell you (housing) would be right off the interstate or where they would be, at this time.”
The biggest issue facing new housing construction is the lack of water service and sewerage, both Marshall and Stewart said. The study would help to target those issues and what is needed to improve the infrastructure.
“There has been a very bad housing problem in the county for many years,” Stewart said. “I don’t believe our township, because we lack infrastructure, can do that without that.”
Also during the meeting, the commissioners approved the low bid from Carmen Paliotta Contracting of South Park to rebuild the historic Pollocks Mill Bridge, which was damaged by an overweight tanker truck in September. The cost to make repairs will be $395,630, which is nearly $150,000 more than what the county received in March through a settlement with the insurer of the trucking company whose driver had caused the damage.
A Community Development Block grant worth $219,150 was also unanimously approved with the money earmarked to extend water service along Happy Valley Road in Morgan Township.