A potential new storage facility might be coming into the old Sears building in the Johnstown Galleria.
The Johnstown Galleria owner, Leo Karruli, posted on Facebook last week that the former Sears location was sold at an auction – and the company that won the bid wants to open a storage facility. Although it’s connected to the Galleria, the former Sears building is owned separately. On Monday, the Richland Township board of supervisors held a regularly scheduled meeting and Karruli and some supporters attended in order to voice their concerns.
“A storage space can cause trucks and trailers to come, it can bring the mall down," said Karruli. "We want to rebuild the mall. To bring the mall back to what it was before”
The township, however, says it is not involved in the issue as they lack the jurisdiction to make a decision between what is essentially a dispute between two private property owners.
“This has been misrepresented," said Bob Heffelfinger, a chairman for the Richland Township Supervisors. "This is not about Richland Township approving or disapproving. We can’t limit the sale of that property. We can’t enforce that agreement.”
We spoke with Heffelfinger after the meeting for further clarification on the issue.
“As a municipal government entity we are in no position to enforce that part of the agreement or contract that exists," said Heffelfinger. "Our responsibility lies in determining whether or not it is necessarily permissible in the C-2, and that’s something that my zoning board would take a look at.”
Richland Township defines C-2 zoning as a general Commercial District that is intended for the conduct of general business to which the public requires direct and frequent access, but which is not characterized either by constant heavy trucking other than stocking and delivery of light retail goods. They tell us that so far, the storage business has not contacted them about any zoning variances.
Galleria supporters tell us that they will now be looking into legal help in order to prevent the storage unit from being constructed.
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