Baldwin, Pleasant Hills Expected to Swap Pieces of Land

Land Swap

In an effort to cut down on municipal boundary confusion, especially for emergency responders, the Baldwin Borough Council unanimously approved the advertising of a bill on Tuesday night that would swap pieces of Baldwin land with Pleasant Hills Borough land along a portion of Curry Hollow Road.

The bill, if eventually approved as an ordinance, would push a triangular piece of Pleasant Hills property that sits just south of Phillippi Drive and between Brownsville Road and Curry Hollow into Baldwin. It would also take a triangular piece of Baldwin property that sits below Yoder Drive and Brownsville and put it into Pleasant Hills.

See the map included in this article's media gallery for further clarification.

According to 's engineer Larry Souleret, the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas has already approved the swap, and the Pleasant Hills Council is expected to approve it soon, as well.

Baldwin Borough Manager John Barrett explained the impetus for the exchange.

"It makes the municipal boundary more linear and less confusing for emergency responders," Barrett said, such as medical, fire, pest control and police officials.

Local Real Estate Tax Bills to Hit Borough Residents in February

By a unanimous vote, the Baldwin Council has authorized its local tax collector to rein in real estate taxes next year starting on Feb. 1.

Council Vice President Michael Stelmasczyk said that tax collecting will continue to start in August each year, and thus, Baldwin Borough will not be able to share mailing costs with the school district office.

Nevertheless, Stelmasczyk said that collecting taxes earlier will ultimately save Baldwin money since its municipal office will not have to borrow money until August anymore.

"We'll save about $10,000 on this," he said. "I think it's a win for us."

If Bus Stops Can't Stay, Those Signs Should Go

The Baldwin Council agreed unanimously on Tuesday to encourage Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and the state Legislature to preserve Port Authority bus routes in Baldwin Borough and throughout Allegheny County.

But later in the same meeting, Councilman Ed Moeller suggested that the council pressure Port Authority to remove bus stop signs in Baldwin posted near areas of discontinued service.

Moeller said that some of the outdated signs are "starting to become eyesores" and that they're "basically false advertising," especially for prospective homebuyers.

Update on Fire Station Merging Possibility

Stelmasczyk requested that the Baldwin Council revisit next month .

Stelmasczyk would like to see included in discussions on that topic the possible redistricting of the borough's fire departments' response zones.

Landscaping Contract

By a 6-1 vote, council awarded on Tuesday a three-year landscaping contract to  for $103,500, or $34,500 per year.

Council member John Ferris cast the lone "no" vote, arguing that Baldwin's municipal workers should do landscaping on an in-house basis.

Moeller confirmed with Barrett that Baldwin could opt-out of the Red's Lawn Care contract with 30 days of written notice should it indeed decide to assign landscaping duties to its own municipal workers.

Councilman Larry Brown said that it was his understanding that the cost to take landscaping duties in-house would end up being the same as contracting with an outside company.

"It's a wash," Brown said.

Electronics Recycling Event

Moeller promoted a Baldwin electronics recycling event for batteries, printers, monitors and similar items that will be held in the borough's municipal parking lot along Churchview Avenue on Saturday, June 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Other Baldwin Council Items from Tuesday Night:

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