When a Salem business owner asked if his building could encroach on the township’s established front-yard setback, planning commissioners opted not to make any recommendation and allow the board of supervisors to decide.

The reason? The building is already there.

It is part of the Daniels Concrete business on Route 819 in Salem. Salem supervisors in December voted to approve the development of the concrete batch plant and storage yard, even though it has already been built and has been operational for several years.

Property owners living next to Daniels Concrete are questioning why the business has developed with very little oversight or regulation.

“Our objective is to get this cleaned up and properly permitted,” said Lisa Segina, who lives across Boggs Hollow Road from the concrete plant.

Under typical circumstances, planning commission chair Connie Mattei said the setback modification request would not be approved.

“Had this plan been submitted as part of the normal process, they would have had to show some sort of hardship,” Mattei said at the commission’s Jan. 9 meeting. “Deliberately building into a setback is not something the commission would generally approve.”

A garage on the property encroaches into the township’s front-yard setback by about 16 feet, according to township engineer Doug Regola.

Daniels told commissioners he built the garage using the PennDOT right-of-way as a guide.

“I didn’t know the township setback was that much,” he said.

Despite being operational for several years, Daniels Concrete has yet to receive a highway occupancy permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and only applied for one in November. PennDOT officials said they were previously unaware the business was operating without one, and that any penalty for doing so would need to come from the township.

Westmoreland County tax officials were also not aware that the property had become a commercial operation. Camdon Porterfield, the county’s chief tax assessor, called the Daniels Concrete property an “interesting discovery,” and said that to date, his office has not received any building permits from Salem Township to indicate new construction had taken place. Salem Township office staff also said no building permits had been issued.

Under the township’s own subdivision and land development ordinance, one of the requirements for non-residential development is securing a building permit and submitting a set of drawings for the planning commission and supervisors to approve.

The property’s tax assessment is $3,980, and is categorized in the county’s tax system the same as any other large, unimproved piece of land.

“We depend on municipalities to be timely and thorough in their permit submissions and follow-ups, as stipulated by (Pennsylvania law),” Porterfield said, adding that his office plans to visit the property and update its tax records to reflect a commercial-improved parcel.

Daniels Concrete did not return multiple calls for comment.

The company is in the process of preparing a stormwater management plan to be reviewed by Salem’s engineer; obtaining county and state approvals for things such as on-lot sanitary sewer and erosion control; and awaiting approval of a highway occupancy permit for an entrance that’s being used every day, according to neighbors.

“He still doesn’t have a highway occupancy permit, but the township doesn’t serve him a stop-work order and threaten to fine him,” Segina said.

In a 2016 letter to Lutterman Excavating, located less than a half-mile south of Daniels Concrete on the same state road, Salem supervisors issued a stop-work order and threatened to fine Lutterman up to $1,000 per day until it secured the necessary local and state permits, including a highway occupancy permit.

Mattei said the township’s supervisors need to determine a better process for overseeing development.

“When that (garage) construction was going on, it could have easily been brought to the supervisors’ attention,” she said. “I think we should forward it without a recommendation, since they created this situation by not having code enforcement.”

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