3 blighted Shaler properties receive county funding for demolition

Three blighted properties in Shaler can now be demolished thanks to a $45,000 grant from Allegheny County. The properties are at 503 Little Pine Creek Road, 1076 William Flynn Highway and 1037 Saxonburg Blvd.

Township engineer Matt Sebastian visited the three properties and presented photos showing their deteriorating conditions at a hearing March 14 during the regular meeting of the Shaler Board of Commissioners. Sebastian said that all three properties were “dangerous to the life, health, property or safety of the public” and recommended they either be repaired or demolished within 10 days.

It’s part of a stepped up effort by Shaler Township to address blight in the community.

“We’ve had a list of abandoned, unsafe structures that we’ve kind of been working through over the last few years. These particular properties were the next highest priorities on our list,” Sebastian said.

The Allegheny County Real Estate Portal website lists the property owner of 1037 Saxonburg Blvd. as John T. Helsel, who purchased it in 2005. The portal shows county taxes haven’t been paid since at least 2019.

The portal website lists the property owner of 1076 William Flynn Highway as Von J. Ferber, who purchased it in 2007. The portal shows county taxes haven’t been paid since at least 2019.

The portal also lists the property owners at 503 Little Pine Creek Road as Harry H. and Clara Mae Meier, who purchased it in 1964. The portal shows county taxes haven’t been paid since at least 2019. Clara Meier’s 2010 obituary said that her husband, Harry, had passed before her.

Also, a 2023 road paving program bid to Shields Asphalt Paving for $1,337,143.30 was unanimously approved, as was a resolution to permit a property owner to apply to the state Department of Environmental Protection for permission to build a “sewage treatment plant” on Middle Road.

“It’s necessary because the individual house cannot obtain normal sewage access, whether it be with a grinder pump … it’s in a position where it can’t be accessed to the local sewer,” commissioner Conrad Wagner said. “So, what they have to do is basically build their own Alcosan plant on the property, which would discharge into a small stream, probably located on or near the property where they can discharge clean water from the sewer system. It’s in the house itself. So, for them to build a house they have to build this plant first.”

According to Wagner, it will consist of two underground tanks and a small chlorinator that requires adding chorine tablets and other chemicals to the water that then discharges into a small stream. Wagner said it was a very common system.