Meeting set for Giant Eagle liquor license

The Seven Fields council will hold a public meeting to discuss the prospect of Giant Eagle obtaining a liquor license to sell six-packs of beer and malt beverages from inside the supermarket. The chain has also applied for liquor licenses at six other locations around Pittsburgh. More from the Post-Gazette and KDKA.

Giant Eagle has entered into an agreement to purchase a liquor license, but Seven Fields is required to hold hearing to allow residents to voice their opinions on the issue.

The public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. July 13 in the Seven Fields borough building.

The Seven Fields' Giant Eagle currently has a wine and liquor store adjacent to the grocery store.

Local Domenico's is now open

A carry-out/delivery version of Cranberry's Domenico's is now open in the new strip next to the Fitness Factory.

I'm going to be trying something new - restaurant reviews. Vote in the poll (which should be added shortly) and add your review to the comments if you wish.

Missing any Halloween decorations?

You may not be the only one. A local woman faces charges for stealing "truckloads" of Halloween decorations from Cranberry and Seven Fields.

Police say a local woman took truckloads of Halloween decorations and potted plants from a number of residents' homes in the Cranberry Township and Seven Fields areas over the last few weeks.

Cranberry Township police responding to a call of a minivan driving with its lights off on Waterview Drive last Friday night, found a vehicle matching its description speeding on a nearby road.

After a brief chase, officers stopped the vehicle on Rochester Road. According to police, the 44-year-old woman's minivan was filled with Halloween decorations and potted plants.

A search of the woman's house revealed "several truckloads" of decorations and flower pots.

The woman, who has not been identified, is facing charges. The investigation, however, is still ongoing.

In the meantime, Cranberry Township Police say anyone who had items stolen can pick them up at the police station after identifying them.

As for the woman's motivation, Cranberry Township's Public Safety Director Jeff Schueler says she apparently just wanted to decorate for Halloween.

Road development updates

In an effort to save the Rt 228 Project and the new Simon Property Group mall, Cranberry Township has resubmitted a scaled down proposal for upgrades to Rt 228. A $20 million gap in funds have created a risk that the mall project will be abandoned taking the entire Rt 228 Project with it. From the Post-Gazette:

The current proposal is to [focus] improvements between Route 19 on the west and Castle Creek East Drive in Seven Fields on the east. The eastern terminus in the original plan would have been Myoma Road, farther east, in Adams. Also, Route 228 would be widened only between Franklin Road and Castle Creek, instead of adding through-lanes in each direction throughout the project area. In addition, construction of a loop road from Route 228 to southbound Interstate 79 would be delayed.

Those cutbacks would translate to a fully funded status for the remaining $65 million worth of work, including intersection improvements along the corridor, elimination of the tapering of the road east of Franklin, and construction of an overpass ramp from I-79 to the Simon development, as well as a ramp from westbound Route 228 to northbound I-79.

On the western side of Rt 19 is the Freedom Road bottleneck. To address the problems with that corridor, a public forum will be held to discuss the issues. Again, from the Post-Gazette:

There are two primary concerns: Those who own residential and business property immediately adjacent to Freedom Road want the land to be rezoned to a more intensive and economically valuable commercial use. Those who own residential property just beyond that are fearful of being next door to an even busier commercial corridor with no buffer between them.

A public meeting will be scheduled to seek input from property owners in the vicinity, and separate meetings will be set for the three study committees. Ultimately, their recommendations would be presented to the township's planning advisory committee, then forwarded to the township supervisors. No dates are set.

[Township planner John Trant Jr.] said all options will be on the table, from the extreme of a four-lane expressway to a roadway flanked by sidewalks and bike lanes. "It's all up for discussion,'' he said.

Seven Fields woman admits to arson

About a year ago, a suspicious house fire occurred on Dorchester Drive on the northern side of 228 in Seven Fields. A woman found unconscious in the home was "considered a person of interest" in the fire. She was later formally charged with torching her own home.

Today, the woman finally admitted to the arson.

Kimberly Barnes, 51, of Indianapolis, pleaded guilty to arson in Butler County Court. The terms of her plea bargain call for probation. She will be sentenced July 2.

The fire at her Dorchester Drive home, which had been for sale, occurred May 19, 2007.

Seven Fields municipal crew changes hours

In helping their workers save gas money on their commutes, the Seven Fields municipal crew has switched to a four-day work week for the summer. The Post-Gazette has an article about this change and a change in their health care contributions.

Starting next month, municipal workers in Seven Fields will move to a four-day work week for the summer under a plan partially motivated by high gasoline prices.

Workers in the public works department will switch from a five-day week to a four-day work week with staggered days off. Their new work day will begin at the regular start time of 7 a.m. but will finish at 5:30 p.m. instead of the 3:30 p.m. quitting time under the five-day regimen.

Workers will continue to have weekends off, but three employees will be on duty every day, Monday through Friday.

"Council felt it was in a position to provide the workers with an extra day off while also enabling them to ease up on the gas prices," said borough Manager Thomas B. Smith. "We have people traveling from Hopewell, Crafton, Mercer and Valencia. Unfortunately, times are getting tough, and we all need to pull together and start thinking out of the box."

The public works department consists of one supervisor and three laborers.

The new schedule will continue through August when the program will be re-evaluated.

Justin wins Disney competition

Seven Fields resident Justin Muchoney won the voting for the Disney "Chief Magical Official" this morning and was crowned the first CMO during a ceremony at the Magic Kingdom. In fact, Justin clobbered the other two competitors, receiving about 200,000 of the total 280,000 votes cast.

More information from the official Disney press release:

The votes are in! Disney Parks and CareerBuilder.com today announced that Justin Muchoney from Seven Fields, Pa. has been named the first-ever Disney Parks Chief Magic Official (CMO) – emerging victorious from a field of 1,300 candidates nationwide. Muchoney was inducted as CMO in a special ceremony with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.

Muchoney was one of three CMO finalists who traveled to the Walt Disney World Resort to compete in a series of creative in-Park events, ranging from stroller derbies and face-painting to tests of overall Park knowledge. Videos highlighting Muchoney and his fellow finalists participating in the events were posted on www.DreamCMO.com for a final round of online voting April 14 through April 21. Muchoney received nearly 200,000 online votes, surpassing David Hawley of Roseville, Calif. and Tripp West of Powder Springs, Ga., who generated close to 50,000 and more than 30,000 votes, respectively.

“Justin has a true passion for Disney Parks that came through online and during the in-Park competitions,” said Craig Dezern, Vice President of Global Public Relations. “He seemed to have a personal supply of pixie dust that helped him secure this magical position.”

As CMO, Muchoney will first go through Disney’s Traditions Trainingwhere he will learn the ins and outs of being a Cast Member. This training will help prepare him for his first assignment: the opening of Toy Story Mania! at Walt Disney Worldand DisneylandResorts.Throughout the next year, he will create magical experiences for guests, participate in special events and work behind the scenes with the Walt Disney Imagineers as part of the “Year of a Million Dreams.”

“I can honestly say that all of my CMO abilities have been put to the test, and I am ready to begin my duties as the first-ever Chief Magic Official,” exclaimed Muchoney. “All I have ever wanted is to be a part of the magic and now I can help create lasting memories for guests, which is my ‘dream come true.’”

The Post-Gazette also picked up on the story this afternoon:

Justin Muchoney of Seven Fields is the new Chief Magic Official of the Disney Parks.

Disney announced his victory this morning after he competed against 1,300 applicants for the newly created post.

Mr. Muchoney, 28, is director of music and fine arts at Ingomar United Methodist Church in Franklin Park. He will be able to continue those duties when he assumes the part-time, yearlong Disney position during its Year of a Million Dreams Celebration. As Chief Magic Official he will visit the Disney parks to spread good will and attend special events.

Congrats to Justin!

Vote for Justin!

Mentioned earlier, Seven Fields resident Justin Muchoney is one of three finalists for the Disney Dream Job of Chief Magical Official. Voting is underway and will run through April 21st.

Beginning April 17th, in-park competition videos will be made available on the main Disney CMO website.

Vote early and often! There's no limit to the number of times you can vote. I will keep a little reminder on the top right of the page until the contest ends. Good luck Justin!

Seven Fields resident a finalist for Disney Dream Job

Local resident Justin Muchoney has become one of three finalists for Disney's CMO Dream Job competition. The three finalists will participate in a two-day competition taking place at Walt Disney World April 17 – 18 where they will face tests designed to challenge their CMO abilities including towel-folding, stroller repair, noise-making, park smarts trivia and face painting.

Starting April 17, the in-Park competition videos will be posted on www.DreamCMO.com for a final round of online voting. The ballots will remain open through April 21 (11:59 p.m. ET), and the top vote-getter will be named the Disney Parks Chief Magic Official.



I'll keep Justin's video and link on the front page through the competition. Please vote for him!

Lake Buena Vista, Fla., April 7, 2008 – After three captivating weeks of online voting for Disney Parks’ Top 10 Chief Magic Official (CMO) candidates, Disney Parks and CareerBuilder.com today announced the top three CMO finalists: David Hawley of Roseville, Calif., Justin Vance Muchoney from Seven Fields, Pa. and Tripp West from Powder Springs, Ga. The CMO search generated more than 1,300 entries and nearly 500,000 online votes.

After launching creative campaigns to drive the most votes, David, Justin and Tripp will have 10 days to mentally and physically prepare themselves for a two-day competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The events will begin Thursday, April 17, and end Friday, April 18. The winner will be crowned CMO on Tuesday, April 22, in front of Cinderella Castle in Magic Kingdom.

During Disney’s “Year of a Million Dreams,” the first-ever CMO will travel to Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts and help create magical experiences for guests, participate in special events and work their wizardry behind the scenes with the Walt Disney Imagineers.

“Each finalist should be proud of making it this far – the top three candidates out of 1,300 entries,” said Craig Dezern, vice president, Global Public Relations, Disney Parks. “We are excited to see who will lead the Park challenge, earn the most votes and ultimately be named the first-ever Disney Parks Chief Magic Official during ‘Year of a Million Dreams.’” [more]

Thanks to Laurie for bringing this to my attention.

Huntington Bank

It was a rumor last September and the latest Seven Fields newsletter has confirmed it. A new Huntington Bank will be built along 228 next to Bruster's.

Officials search for Rt 228 funding

The Post-Gazette today had some information about the funding of the 228 improvements. Much of the discussion centers around the proposed Summit at Cranberry planned by the Simon Property Group. More about Rt 228 development can be found at the Route 228 Improvement Project website.

"This is definitely a positive because you have multiple municipalities communicating and getting on the same page and trying to solve problems in unison instead of everybody operating in their own little kingdoms," said Seven Fields Manager Thomas Smith, who called everybody together two weeks ago to begin the discussions.

At issue is $83 million in improvements to Route 228 from Route 19 in Cranberry to Myoma Road in Adams, said Mark Hillwig, community relations coordinator for District 10 of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The improvements are needed to accommodate growth, most particularly a mall planned by Simon Property Group near the intersection of Routes 228 and 19.

"The funding gap is significant, significant to the point that Simon has put its project on hold," said John Trant Jr., chief strategic planning officer for Cranberry.

The improvements include widening part of Route 228 from four lanes to six and another part from two lanes to four. An additional northbound ramp is planned from Route 228 to Interstate 79. Another southbound ramp is planned onto Route 228 from the interstate, Mr. Trant said.

Improvements to the intersection of Routes 228 and 19 include additional through lanes on Route 19 and additional turning lanes in all directions, he said.

Simon added a few improvements of its own to accommodate its mall, including a flyover ramp, which is essentially a bridge over Route 228 connecting the north side of 228 with the east side of I-79, Mr. Trant said.

The mall is planned on the north side of Route 228 across from the Pittsburgh Marriott North and could be anywhere from 750,000 to 1 million square feet, he added.

Simon is bringing the bulk of the funding to the table, officials said. The developer has put together a package of $40 million in public and private funding. "That's a nice chunk of change" from a developer, Mr. Smith said.

Changes at local medical office

This information came from a Seven Fields' resident that wanted to get the word out on some changes with a local medical practice.

Just recently six doctors from Greater Pittsburgh Ob/Gyn at the 300 building of Northpointe Circle decided to break away from their affiliation with Mercy hospital and start their own practice affiliated with Western Pennsylvania Hospital. A large amount of the patients are also residents of Seven Fields and I'm concerned that people are not aware of the change. The doctors that are leaving are Dr. Christine Gallis, Dr. Christina Labella, Dr. Andrew Sword, Dr. Larry McNulty, Dr. John Mellinger, and Dr. Karen Roperti.

More to come, but for further information call 1-888-528-3824.

March 4 - Added information:
There's a temporary office until June at:
Two Landmark North
20397 Route 19
Cranberry Twp, PA 16066
(Next to Verizon Wireless Store)

After then, the permanent site will be:
Brush Creek Commons II
125 Emeryville Drive
Cranberry Twp, PA 16066
(Behind Bravo's and Kinko's)

The new office number is 724-772-5545.

The Region's Housing Market

The Tribune-Review recently had an article that examined the housing price trends over the past few years. Included was an interactive map with local prices, as well a two PDFs that listed the top markets in terms of price and growth.

Two local municipalities were listed amongst the top ten for new single family homes: Adams Township (78 new homes) and Cranberry Township (72 ).


As for local housing price trends, here's a rundown of the three local areas listed:

Seven Fields

47 homes sold 2006-07
3-year % change: 11.34%

Median Price History
July ’03 - June ’04: $269,450
July ’04 - June ’05: $284,000
July ’05 - June ’06: $274,625
July ’06 - June ’07: $300,000

Cranberry Twp.

536 homes sold 2006-07
3-year % change: 17.39%

Median Price History
July ’03 - June ’04: $230,000
July ’04 - June ’05: $247,900
July ’05 - June ’06: $264,900
July ’06 - June ’07: $270,000

Adams Twp.

188 homes sold 2006-07
3-year % change: 15.59%

Median Price History
July ’03 - June ’04: $299,345
July ’04 - June ’05: $310,973
July ’05 - June ’06: $327,740
July ’06 - June ’07: $346,000

More on Stone Pepper's Grill

Over in the Shoppes at Adams Ridge (across 228 from Giant Eagle), there is a restaurant being built called Stone Pepper's Grill that will be opening in the next few months. Stone Pepper's will be opened in two locations in the Pittsburgh area. Currently, their website doesn't have much information, but an architecture firm has a PDF with the proposed layout and design of the 3,500 square foot restaurant.

From the brochure (PDF):

StonePepper’s Grill is a new family restaurant/sports bar with a modern European atmosphere. The concept features a pasta bar, brick oven, bar and restaurant and offers patrons takeout services as well as an elegant dining experience.

The interior has been developed with a modern European atmosphere featuring stone walls and exposed structural elements.

StonePepper’s Grill also utilizes display cooking to entertain and entice guests with steam kettles in the pasta bar and the featured stone clad pizza oven.

The bar area is relaxed and refined with decorative concrete floors, a cherry wood and granite bar and flat screen monitors.

Armstrong Cable expands HD listings

For those of you with Armstrong Cable's HD service, you may have noticed like I did that there's a few more channels. In addition to the ones listed on their website, they've since added the following channels:

• 124 The Discovery Channel HD


• 126 The Learning Channel HD


• 127 The Science Channel HD


• 128 Animal Planet HD


• 130 History Channel HD

Besides the History Channel, the others are all part of the Discovery networks. It's nice to see them expand the basic HD lineup and try to catch up with other services (like DirecTV) that offer a much larger selection of HD channels. Armstrong also recently added ESPN2 HD to its "Advantage" block.

I'm curious why Armstrong doesn't publicize their HD channel additions. I haven't seen any mention of these channels and they still aren't on their channel lineup. For people like me that are considering switching services, some advance notice of these types of lineup changes could sway me one way or another.

Shopping updates

Two minor updates on local developments and their stores:

The Shoppes at Heritage Creek (across 228 from the Springfield Grille) hasn't announced its store lineup yet, but one store has registered with the Cranberry Chamber of Commerce: The Fig Tree, which is filed under the category of Specialty Food Market.

It has been confirmed that McGinnis Sisters special food store will be expanding to the Shoppes at Adams Ridge, as previously noted. They are hoping for a Spring 2008 opening.

I'm not sure what's with the overuse of the word "Shoppes".

Election results

Here's links to election results from the region at various levels:

Butler County

Seneca Valley School District

Adams Township
Cranberry Township
Mars
Seven Fields

Other locations can be found here or through Butler County here.

Captain's Pizza?

The Stefano's Pizza location in Seven Fields has a large banner up announcing that Captain's Pizza is coming soon. Is Stefano's rebranding itself or are they closing shop and making way for the next in line? Stefano's opened last year after Pizza Joe's closed up. It's not apparent if Stefano's has closed yet. There is one other Captain's Pizza in the Pittsburgh area.

Halloween times

Here's the neighborhood trick-or-treat times as posted in the Post-Gazette. Most neighborhoods in the area are from 6pm to 8pm the night of the 31st.

Tuesday

6 to 8 p.m.: Frazer

Wednesday

5 to 8 p.m.: Millvale

5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Reserve

5:30 to 8 p.m.: Etna

6 to 7 p.m.: Butler City, Butler Township, Connoquenessing Borough, Evans City

6 to 7:30 p.m.: Adams, Aspinwall

6 to 8 p.m.: Aleppo, Avalon, Bellevue, Ben Avon, Ben Avon Heights, Brackenridge, Bradford Woods, Cheswick, Cranberry, East Deer, Edgeworth, Emsworth, Fawn, Fox Chapel, Forward, Franklin Park, Hampton, Harmar, Harmony, Indiana Township, Jackson, Kilbuck, Leet, Leetsdale, Marshall, McCandless, Middlesex, O'Hara, Ohio Township, Osborne, Pine, Richland, Ross, Seven Fields, Sewickley, Sewickley Heights, Sewickley Hills, Shaler, Sharpsburg, Springdale Borough, Springdale Township, Tarentum, Valencia, West Deer, West View, Zelienople.

6:30 to 8:45 p.m.: Blawnox

Geeks arrive

1-800-905-GEEK has opened its first of 15 franchises in the area. From Pop City:

Formerly known as Geeks on Call, the company recently changed the name to its phone number to help it emerge from “a sea of sameness,” other technicians using the "geek" word to bring in business, explains Matt Nelson, spokesperson for the corporate office in Norfolk, Virginia.

Pittsburgh native Gary Motor, a 27-year computer industry veteran, purchased five of the 15 franchises available in the Pittsburgh area and has hired two technicians, a client service rep and a territory manager to start. He hopes to expand, adding more franchises in time.

The Pittsburgh operation will provide IT support to Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas, including Evans City, Zelienople, Cranberry Township, Mars, Seven Fields, Renfrew, Wexford, Warrendale, Bradfordwoods, Harmony, Mt. Oliver, Castle Shannon, Upper St. Clair, Baldwin, Mt. Lebanon, Dormont, Bethel, Scott and Bridgeville.