Brockway Moving Forward With Intersection

BROCKWAY, Pa. (EYT) – The intersection project in Brockway is moving forward, but it was not an easy road to get to that point.

The council first heard from business owners who would be most impacted by the project. They also got some information from Peter Varischetti, who owns a property in that area, but had not attended any meetings before Tuesday to discuss his involvement.

“I bought a property by that intersection because I saw this abandoned building that I thought was an eyesore,” he said. “I didn’t want people coming into our town to see it. The building has been demolished. I was just going to seed it and plant some trees when a borough council representative approached me about this possible project.”

Varischetti said that residents and businesses back Evergreen say that the intersection is dangerous, and it needs to be addressed. He said that the glass plant knew that years ago, but the offices back Evergreen moved out before anything could be done.

“I don’t think anyone will dispute that it’s an unsafe intersection,” Varischetti said. “I urge the council to do what’s safe and what’s right for the majority of the people.”

A mock-up of an intersection along 219 in Brockway. The map is not an official design and is more of a place-holder until engineers get a chance to study the project.

After some additional discussion, Council President Chris “Smoke” Benson called for a vote.

Army Fortunato, Brian Buesink, Mike Martino, and Ed Horner voted yes while Lu Inzana and Rich Renwick voted no. Benson said he was also on board with the plan.

The acceptance did not come without some discussion. The council had extended its deadline for the money twice. Council members had met with PennDOT, Jefferson County, and other agencies to make sure that the project would involve the borough residents.

However, one sticking point prevented Inzana from voting yes. If, during the process of developing the intersection, the borough wants to back out of the project, the borough will have to repay the costs incurred to that point.

“If we choose not to do this, we have to pick up the price,” Inzana said. “The engineers really haven’t answered our questions.”

“I don’t know what more information we need,” Fortunato countered. “I feel satisfied with what I heard. Unless we want to assume they’re lying to us, they said they will work with us every step of the way.”

Horner and Martino both agreed to the project because the borough continues to have control of Evergreen Street even if it is blocked off and no longer connects to Main Street.

“As long as we go through with it, there is zero cost to the borough,” Benson said. “We have that in writing. We will have say. We will be involved.”

Ron Matson, who owns Brockway Drug, has been attending meetings for the past six months. His business, as well as Rocky Grill, will be affected by the new intersection. The proposed drawing, which is just a place holder and not a real engineering drawing, has his business cut off from Main Street and cuts into his parking lot.

“From the very beginning, no one told us anything,” Matson said. “The borough said it was in the dark about this until about the last six months. This whole process is backwards. My objection to this project is because of that. This isn’t how the process is supposed to run, and [President Benson] knows that. The borough, the businesses, and the residents are all supposed to be involved in the beginning. This may be a great project, but the process is backwards.”

Matson may have had more to say about the intersection, but he did not choose to speak during the public comment section of the meeting and Benson told him that it would be inappropriate for him to speak as the council discussed the matter during the meeting.

The council approved Benson to sign the paperwork for the grant and to move forward with the project.

“The intersection project has been a long time coming,” Benson said. “We’ve had a lot of meetings, we got to the point where we’re going to move forward with it, but the borough intends to be involved every step of the way. We will represent the residents, the businesses, the community the best we can.”