Someday in the future, perhaps 50 years from now, historians will take a new look at the way Cranberry was in the pivotal year of 2012. They may struggle to put in perspective the gravity of all the changes that took place in that year—the ones that catapulted the township into its position as the economic, political and cultural center of southwestern Pennsylvania. I can sympathize with their plight. That’s a lot to get your arms around. For the benefit of those here today, here's my take on what historians will see when they look back on Cranberry in 2012—and the accomplishments that …

Western Pennsylvania traditionally has two seasons per year—bad weather and construction season.  The transitions usually take place early in November and April. So far at least, 2011’s weather has been kind to Cranberry. Temperatures have been mild, snowfall has been miniscule and black ice is rare. Construction season continues to linger on, notably throughout the Wexford flats area on Route 19. At least for the record, that’s fine. No public official wants to be quoted saying he or she would love to see winter’s fury arrive with its blizzards, drifts, ice storms and bone-chilling cold.  In…

I first stumbled across the term "Intelligent Transportation Systems" about 20 years ago.  The U.S. Department of Transportation introduced it with enthusiastic support, which meant it had grant money behind it. It sounded very futuristic, and the promoters of all sorts of new transportation-related ideas and equipment quickly began to hawk their wares as ITS products. Some of them were right.  But ITS really was an abstract concept—one that didn’t refer to any specific transportation mode or vehicle. Instead, it was the idea that if you had the right kinds of information—preferably in real-…

Oh, these pesky local governments.  Their leaders keep trying to tell people where they can and cannot set up Marcellus Shale gas drilling rigs. They want to restrict the hours in which companies may conduct their most intensive drilling operations, and they want to impose night noise limits on industrial operations. They also want to keep heavy trucks off local roads, and they want to keep drilling fluids out of local water supplies.  And blah, blah, blah.  Enough of that, according to Gov. Tom Corbett and the state General Assembly. After all, how could local governments possibly know …

For some time now, visitors to Graham Park have watched as a graceful pond took shape near the parking area of the baseball campus. Earlier this month, the pond’s rim was lined with stone, an aerator was installed to circulate its water and ambitious plans were set in motion for a series of additional enhancements, including a stone plaza and marker celebrating the centennial of Scouting in America.  What most people have been looking forward to, though, is its eventual use as a fishing hole.  Coincidentally, Hereford Manor Lakes—two manmade bodies of water near the Zelienople Airport—had a …

Hey! Want some Kit Kat, Uppers, Bounce, Roids, Acid, Ice, Boo or Slam? Too bad; we’re pretty much out of the street drug business here. Cranberry has a different kind of drug problem through—prescription medicines. We’re not alone. According to U.S. authorities, prescription drug abuse is second only to marijuana use by teens in America. Most of the drugs come from the family's home medicine cabinet. When my father-in-law succumbed to heart failure 10 years ago, he left behind a huge volume of the medications doctors had used to try try to keep him alive. Some of them were pretty expensive, …

It was an unnerving scene. Police said the badly damaged school bus was rammed from behind by an out-of-control van in the Cranberry Business Park, rolling it over on its side, and trapping 15 middle-school students and one adult inside. All three passengers in the runaway van – including an infant – died on impact, the police report said. The risk of a fuel-driven fire igniting and incinerating the trapped students was palpable. Hysterical parents ran screaming to the crash site as they frantically searched for loved ones among the carnage. Deeply concerned for the lives and safety of her …

You can’t always see where Cranberry Township spends its money.  That’s because it has tens of millions of dollars buried underground.  So do a lot of other communities.  Collectively, Cranberry’s water distribution system, its sanitary sewer network and its grid of storm sewer pipelines, along with its buried fiber optic cables, irrigation tubes and power lines, represent a massive outlay on the community’s underground infrastructure. The township’s investment in underground utilities is only the beginning. Natural gas suppliers, cable operators, power companies and other private firms also …

Cranberry deserves some credit – particularly at a time when most people’s credit scores have gone down the tubes. Individual mortgage holders and borrowers are generally eager to refinance their loans any time interest rates go down. Cranberry Township is no different, except that in place of a mortgage, it pays debt service on bonds sold to investors so it could finance capital projects such as the sewage treatment plant expansion and the Cranberry Highlands Golf Course.  Unlike consumers who borrow, however, the township can’t just jump into the market whenever it senses a potential saving…

Design reviews, permits and approvals for construction of a mid-size commercial center on the 24-acre site that was once a KOA campground opposite the Marriott Hotel are advancing briskly.  The Cranberry Crossroads development is set to include an XXL Dick’s Sporting Goods store, a four-story office building and some small retail shops. It also is slated to eventually include a gas station and a restaurant. In the renderings, the buildings all look very nice. Even so, they don’t offer anything terribly different from most of the commercial development already in place throughout Cranberry. …

In his lavishly illustrated 1995 book “Save our Land, Save our Towns,” author Thomas Hylton pointed out a striking paradox: Even though Pennsylvania’s population experienced only modest growth following World War II, it had consumed more than four million acres of farmland to build suburban homes, shopping centers, office parks, and related new development during that same period.  That’s an area larger than the combined sizes of Connecticut and Rhode Island.  The long-term prospects for maintaining that infrastructure, particularly without a corresponding surge in the state’s economy, are …

The Freedom Road zoning issue is back.  Some of us thought it was resolved last year when, after an arduous 18-month planning effort involving all sorts of stakeholders, the board of supervisors enacted a zoning overlay district that allowed limited commercial development along the busy corridor.  Apparently that wasn’t enough, and now it’s being appealed. The struggle goes on.  The stakes are high, but let’s face it: Land-use zoning to regulate development is a pain. Its underlying law is complicated, its formulation is arduous, its administration is confusing, its applications are often …

In 1999, when Cranberry absorbed the formerly independent Municipal Sewer & Water Authority into its Public Works department, it inherited a 160-mile network of sanitary sewer lines along with the Brush Creek wastewater treatment plant, situated at the end of that line.  The main trunk lines in the system are referred to as interceptors. The township’s 17 local interceptors all empty into Interceptor One – the Mother of all interceptors – together with sewage from portions of Marshall Township and New Sewickley. Built in 1973, Interceptor One follows the alignment of Brush Creek for about …

When you add up the police cars, dump trucks, tractors, fire engines and so on, Cranberry has about 100 vehicles in its municipal fleet. And they’re all well-maintained.  To make sure of that, Cranberry’s public works department uses preventive maintenance software to track the servicing of every vehicle and make sure the township gets full value from them all. But at some point in the life of every municipal vehicle, as with every family car, the rising cost of maintenance and down time needed for repairs signal that it’s time to retire and replace the unit.  The township has a formal …

Can you name your neighborhood’s president? Not many people can, but his or her name might be worth knowing.  That’s because almost all of the home construction in Cranberry during the past 20 years has occurred in planned subdivisions -- developments that include not only new homes, but new streets, new amenities and new common spaces.  At least 30 percent of the land contained in each housing plan is required to be retained as open, undeveloped shared space. Those common spaces don’t belong to any individual. Instead, they belong to the neighborhood’s homeowners association – a legally …

I got hit by a car when I was 6 years old.  I was walking to school along a residential street in Forest Hills and, for some reason, I decided to cross the road. I crossed in front of a parked car and didn’t hear another car coming toward me. As soon as I stepped out into the street beyond the parked car, the moving car hit me. In retrospect, I was tremendously lucky. The car was moving slowly when its bumper hit my leg, and I was so frightened that I ran up the front lawn of a nearby house, as far from the street as I could go. I later realized the driver and his passenger were scared, too. …

Nobody gets paid quarterly. Yet from the time it first got into the water and sewer business 12 years ago, Cranberry Township has billed its residential customers on a quarterly basis. Then in late 2004, the township rolled in waste collection fees on top of the other two charges. Although quarterly billing works reasonably well for most households, it has limits. As in the case of once-a-year real estate taxes, big bills that are out of sync with a person’s income can make budgeting more complicated. For people who are struggling from paycheck to paycheck, it can be a whole lot more …

Every year as July 4 approaches, tents and sheds boasting fireworks for sale spring up like dandelions in parking lots and vacant fields all over Pennsylvania. Even mainstream superstores stock big packages of them.  Are they really legal to buy or use? Maybe you’ve heard they’re not. If that’s true, why are the stores allowed to sell them? If you’re confused, you’re not alone. Much of the confusion is the result of the different classes of fireworks – classifications which roadside vendors’ signs avoid getting too specific about. The two main classes include consumer fireworks – relatively …

Over the years, numerous organizations have taken the name of James Audubon – America’s preeminent wildlife artist of the 19th century – for themselves. They include an insurance company, a zoo, a company that sells bird feeders, an oil field engineering company and a bunch of others. They don’t particularly like one another, but they’re often confused as being one and the same.  The best known of these is the Audubon Society, which has worked on preserving and restoring natural habitats to protect biodiversity, with a special focus on birds and other wildlife, for more than 100 years. Its …

If you live in Cranberry Township and earn money, you pay a one-percent income tax, no matter where you work. That’s been true for years, as it has been in most other Pennsylvania municipalities.  In Cranberry’s case, the money is collected by Berkheimer Tax Administrator, the township’s appointed contractor, and then divided evenly between Cranberry and the Seneca Valley School District.  At least for Cranberry, the system has worked pretty well.  Not all municipalities in the state have been so lucky. Tax rates, filing dates, reporting requirements, and employer withholding patterns all …