D Bonnie | NCN |
A Catholic priest wanted to make two train cabooses into a weekend resort for himself next to the Shenango Industrial Park, but a board of four township judges derailed his plans.
The Rev. Edward R. Schleicher, pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Muse, Washington County, applied to the township for a special exception to locate his renovated railroad cars on property zoned for industrial park use.
The township zoning hearing board conculcated a public hearing last night and after hearing his request voted 4-0 against granting it. Board members Anthony Perrotta did not attend the meeting.
Residence in attendance did not voice any opposition to Schleicher’s plans.
The board members did not recess to discuss the matter before castings their votes, and they declined to publicly state their reasons for rejecting Schleicher’srequest. They told him their reasons would be sent to him in writing.
After the meeting, however, chairman Madeline Rice said the board wants to keep the industrial park as an industrial park use.
“It doesn’t conform with surrounding properties,” she said of Schleicher’s proposal.
She pointed out that the additional industrial park property may be needed in the future, and using the land for that purpose “would be more important than using it for a retreat.”
Schleicher has made a hobby of collecting train artifacts since he was four years old. He recently bought two cabooses from CSX Railroad that he is having refurbished by Kasgro Rail Corp. in Mahoningtown. He intended to place them together as a mobile home-type retreat.
He has an option to buy a piece of right of way from the Allegheny and Western Railroad/CSX Real Properties of Baltimore. The lot is about 100 feet wide by 3/4 miles long, encompassing about 10 acres along the edge of the Shenengo Industrial Park, and is part of a railroad line that was abandoned between 1978 and 1981.
The right-of-way, part of the Big Run Branch, originally ran from Moravia to Hickory Township.
Sections of rail right-of-way abutting either end of the land have been sold off to other people by the railroad. Schleicher told the zoning board.
He said he intended to use the land “essentially as a recreation area, as a hunting cabin without hunting.”
He wanted to seek refuge there on his days off from the ministry, where he could find solitude and possibly work toward earning his doctorate degree.
He told the board that he believes city water, electrical power and public sewer service all are within reach of the lot. He planned to place about 100 feet of track on it, and put the rail cars on top of it.
He contacted CSX, which offered to sell him two pieces of land, the one in Shenango and another parcel in Hickory Township, he said. His purchase of the land depended upon the zoning board’s decision.
“This piece of land to the railroad was essentially worthless,” Schleicher said, because the connecting parcels had been sold. The property has wetlands on either side of it, he pointed out, and is near a lake owned by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
“It’s my intent to preserve the integrity of that land,” he said, noting he wanted to use the rest of it as a walking trail.
He pointed out that someone has been using the rail property illegally as a right-of-way for access to a farming area, and someone also has removed the railroad’s “to trespassing” signs.
Schleicher’s attorney, Augustine Leone, told the board that the cabooses legally would not interfere with continued development of the Industrial Park.
“Why would you want a retreat where it’s marshy?” Rice asked.
“Because no one’s going to get in there around me,” Schleicher responded. “… It’s a nice quiet secluded place.”
He explained that although the Catholic Diocese affords him money for retreat, “it’s hard to live where you work and work where you live.”
The priests in the dioceses are supposed to provide for their retirements, he said, noting that the property has many things to offer him — “a study center, privacy, a place to hide on a day off, and it’s a hobby.”
Schleicher, 55, a native of Pittsburgh, said he is a Vietnam veteran and social worker and has been a priest for 13 years. He moved to Muse in 1993 from New Castle, where he was pastor at St. Michael’s, St. Margaret’s and Holy Cross churches.
He grew up living near a railroad and thus gained a keen interest in collecting artifacts.
The railroad caboose met its demise about three years ago, but historiucally the caboose is a good item to have, he explained. He got a call from the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, saying they had some to get rid of. He bought four cabooses and with the help of a friend at Western Pennsylvania Steel, he is having one of them refurbished currently.
He was unsure last night whether he will appeal the zoning board’s decision to the Lawrence County Court of Common Pleas, or whether he will pursue use of the Hickory Township parcel.
That land is “very inaccessible,” he said.
