Meadow Ridge Directional Sign Gets Nixed by Peters Officials

Last Updated on Saturday, 03 January 2015 17:36

By J. R. Brower

In early December, Peters Council overruled a request by Brian Colella of Brian Homes to be allowed to keep a directional sign intact on Valley Brook Road. The sign had been permitted during the lengthy closure of a portion of the road to construct the new intersection at Route 19.

The new Brian Homes at Meadow Ridge in McMurray have been a little hard to find. Here is a map of the plan at its entrance on Merlin Drive.

He said that the 2013 to 2014 closure of Valley Brook as a result of the new intersection construction at Route 19 hurt sales of his new Meadow Ridge development, as it was. Direct traffic of prospective buyers from Pittsburgh and West Hills was stymied by the closure that, essentially, stopped the flow of cars on eastbound Valley Brook at Friar Lane, the location of the sign.

"The sign raised awareness of our new plan when the road closed," said Colella, "but the township won't let us keep it anymore since Valley Brook re-opened again."

He said that there are 26 new homes in the Meadow Ridge plan close to the end of half-mile Friar Lane, which goes right past St. Benedict the Abbot Catholic Church. Friar Lane ends at Merlin Drive, where a right turn takes you into the entrance of the plan. A left turn at that point would put you on Maplewood Drive, which reconnects to Valley Brook Road, well over a half-mile down the hill.

Prospective buyers did manage to find Meadow Ridge during the road construction, because Colella said that he sold at least 13 of the new homes that are priced at over $600,000 each. During the detour of the Valley Brook/ Route 19 project, many open house viewers from Allegheny County approached the new development via Thompsonville Road, where the plan is very close but inaccessible directly near Elm Grove Park.

Drivers to Meadow Ridge from Route 19 have to go all the way up Thompsonville close to East McMurray Road, the turn right on Hoover Lane then Hoover Drive, which used to be a private roadway near its intersection at Friar Lane.

Township Manager Michael Silvestri said that the Meadow Ridge directional sign on Valley Brook Road was only intended to be up during the intersection construction. Colella said he can live with the township ruling, and hopes his remaining new homes sell quickly in 2015, because they were very expensive to build.

Click on "Gallery" to see more photos of Meadow Ridge homes decorated for the holiday season.