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Murrysville Government

Brief Description

The Murrysville government was developed by local residents and approved by the people through a referendum in 1976. The approved document is Murrysville's Home Rule Charter, which functions as our local constitution. The Charter developed a form of government with the Mayor (elected every two years) as the head of all administrative activities and a seven-member Council (four-year terms) delegated legislative powers. The a mayor has administrative powers, and a seven-member council have legislative powers.

Below is a list of the current council members elected by the residents of Murrysville. These seven individuals need a majority vote to pass any of the ordinances before them.


The Conflict

Council President Nancy Kacin is the wife of local developer Richard Kacin who owns Kacin Companies, and Vice-President Larry Nicolette is the acting CFO of Kacin Companies. Not only has Richard Kacin been involved with many commercial developments in the Murrysville area he is also chairman of Murrysville Economic and Community Development Corporation (MECDC). The MECDC has been involved with the mediation process with Manor Development Group II over the re-zoning of the Buncher Property into the Overlay District. Largely this has been seen as a conflict of interest by many of the residents of Murrysville, however, Solicitor George A. Kotjarapoglus has publically stated otherwise.

John Cardwell, who is the executive director of the MECDC and recently served a 8-year term on the Murrysville Council, recently stated "that concurrent with the Manor development, the municipality is moving forward with a plan that it hopes will transform Murrysville's Route 22 corridor into something more than a series of strip centers".

John Cardwell is also a member of the Fiscal Sustainability Committee, which is chaired by councilman Larry Nicolette.

Manor Development II is planning to build Market Place on Twenty Two, a 550,000 square feet of retail and office space, and is larger than the current retail commercial space which already exists in Murrysville! Council granted Manor Development Group II pre-approval for a large scale shopping center on Route 22 near Berlin Farm Road within the newly zoned "General Business Overlay". The developer's proposal includes a grocery store, home improvement store, hotel and several other shops, restaurants and office buildings.

Council also granted the Murrysville Medical Commons, LP building. Approval for conditional use to construct a 22,000+ square footage medical building on a parcel that is located between Evergreen Court and Beverly Drive in the mixed use district along Old Wm. Penn Hwy. Zoning within the mixed use district was setup to allow structures not in excess of 5,000 square-feet, however, council did approve this structure by their "bizarre interpretation" of the zoning laws. This will no doubt open a can of worms by allowing other developers to construct similar structures mixed use district by setting this precedence.

The "Commercial Developer" influence within our governing body of Murrysville one of the largest issues facing our community. To think otherwise would be unrealistic. They use and twist our Comprehensive Plan to justify their means.


Current Murrysville Council Members:

CPRM PAC Supports the following Candidates for the 2009 Murrysville Council

 

Council Members Residents should know more about our elected officials: In the Thursday, July 24, 2008 edition of the Murrysville Start Newspaper our Murrysville Council President, Nancy Kacin, is quoted as saying -- she hopes the town hall can clarify the proposal for all residents and show that not all residential property in the municipality can be used for business development. "We're hoping we can stop the false rumors and lies", she said. Mayor Joyce Somers said "residents have had chance to submit questions the municipal staff but few have done so.” We're wondering which rumors have been started and what lies have been told? Maybe Mrs. Kacin could clarify this for us? We have yet to hear anyone suggest that “all residential property in the municipality can be used for business development”. We have also submitted many questions about the Overlay to Council and Planning/Zoning members, and many have never been answered. We have been very frustrated as a community that we are not being listened to and having our local officials patronize us in the local newspapers as they have. In the November 28, 2007 Murrysville Council meeting councilman Theo van deVenne made the statements "rezoning this is a betrayal to the people that live around there" in regards to Manor Development Group II's request to rezone 50 acres currently zoned as residential in hopes to rezone the entire area as commercial. Mr. van deVenne is absolutely right, however, his voting record on this ordinance has shown otherwise. As you watch this video clip Mr. van deVenne goes on to state that he "does not want to live next to a garbage dump"... "the same for commercial, it's a lot of impact". Click to play video clip In the May 2, 2007 issue of the Penn Franklin News they announced the candidates for the 2007 Murrysville Council positions. Newly elected councilman Regis Synan position was printed as stating: "I feel it is the duty of those in local government to advocate for property owners who are being surrounded by commercial encroachment. Those who purchase their property with adjacent residential zoning should not fear their neighborhoods turning commercial." On August 6, 2008 the controversial Greater Business Overlay District (GBOD) ordnance was passed by the Murrysville Council with a 5-2 vote. Voting for the ordinance were Nancy Kacin, Larry Nicolette, Jeffrey Franke, Theo van deVenne, Regis Synan.