County housing authority project in Irwin raises concerns

Irwin officials are expected to get an update from the head of Westmoreland County Housing Authority on Wednesday on plans for a four-story apartment building for senior citizens, a project that has sparked concern among local officials and criticism on social media.

Michael Washowich, authority executive director, said he plans to attend the July 14 Irwin council meeting to clarify information about the 50-unit apartment building to be constructed on 17 acres of undeveloped property off Laurel Avenue in the borough.

Shari Martino, borough manager, also wants Washowich to “bring some of the plans to show what is going on” with Grand View Senior Residences, which Washowich has estimated to be a $14 million project for low-income seniors.

Eight of the units will be designated for veterans, an arrangement that Washowich said he worked out with the late Donald Kattic, former commander of the J. Howard Snyder Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 781. The authority hopes to begin construction on the apartment building next year.

During a discussion by Irwin officials at the July 6 council meeting, Councilwoman Leslie Savage said “there is a lot of negative interest, comments” on social media about the project and she has been “bombarded” with questions about it.

“I think we really need to look at this, and I think Mike (Washowich) needs to come to us,” Savage said. “We really need a refresher.”

Savage said she is concerned about costs that Irwin might incur, such as subsidizing country transit authority buses that might serve the apartment building.

Part of the 17-acre parcel the housing authority owns near the Norwin Public Library is in North Huntingdon. In the second phase of the plans for the site, the housing authority intends to construct 30 senior citizen cottages on the North Huntingdon portion of the site.

“There isn’t enough communications between us and the housing authority and North Huntingdon,” Martino said at the July 6 council meeting.

The housing authority expects to learn in September whether the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency has approved its application for tax credits for the $14 million housing project, Washowich said. The authority uses the tax credits to obtain financing for its housing projects.

The housing authority in June also secured more than $17 million in low-­interest loans and will seek to borrow another $4.5 million to pay for new construction projects and renovation of existing properties.

Irwin and North Huntingdon have joined Norwin School District in approving a deal for an annual payment in lieu of property taxes. The formula splits an annual property tax payment of about $11,150 for 40 years, based on the millage levy of each taxing body. The property, because it is owned by a government housing authority, is not subject to real estate taxes. In return for the payments, the taxing bodies agreed not to challenge the tax-exempt status of the housing project.

“We’ve have garnered a lot of support for the project,” Washowich said.