Group home for former mental health patients approved in Greensburg

Plans to convert a Greensburg mansion into a group home for former mental health patients at Torrance State Hospital was approved this week over objections from neighbors who claimed the project could lower nearby property values.

The city’s zoning hearing board voted to grant a special exception that clears the path for the property at 320 W. Pittsburgh St. to be sold and renovated for use as part of a $1.4 million county project, funded with state dollars, to allow former institutionalized mental health patients to relocate to a community setting.

The seven-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot brick home sits on 1.43 acres that serves as an entryway to Morey Place, a narrow, tree-lined street dotted with family homes.

Neighbors called on zoning board members to reject the project over safety and parking concerns as well as predictions that the group home’s presence could drive down the value of their properties.

“There are an astronomical number of concerns,” said Alex Mickinak, a Morey Place resident.

Bill Lightcap, another Morey Place resident, said he feared the facility could house convicted sex offenders. “We need to know if Megan’s Law or sex offenders will be in this facility,” he said.

Officials said Southwest Behavioral Health, a private nonprofit based in Charleroi, will buy and renovate the building and operate what it calls a personal care home. Residents will not be locked in the facility, but they will be monitored around the clock by at least three staffers, administrator Lyndsay Burrik said.

No sex offenders are expected to moved into the facility, Burrik said, but she could give no assurances that none would be housed there in the future.

The ages of those expected to initially live in the home range between 40 and 80. The home will serve as their permanent residence, she said.

“We want to give individuals a right to live in this community. It’s a great place to live,” Burrik said. “If there’s anything we can do to make people more comfortable, we are willing to listen.”

John Sweeney, a Greensburg resident and Southwest Behavioral Care Board member, defended the project as one that fills a need for the community.

“There’s this group of people in state homes who have languished in those facilities that really need a stepped-down level of care,” Sweeney said.

Greensburg lawyer Jim Antoniono said he and his family have owned the home for more than two decades. He has been trying to sell it for more than 7 years. It is listed for sale at $650,000.

“This is the first offer we had. We’re moving next week, and this property will not stay as it is. I have enough room to put three or four mobile homes behind it, and if you don’t approve this, I might have to consider something like that,” Antoniono told the zoning board.

The property would be the second group home in Westmoreland County’s hospital diversion program and reduce the number of beds the county is allocated at Torrance, in Derry Township, from 46 to 32. The program’s first group home in Penn Township opened for 10 residents in 2016.