CRANBERRY TWP — Community leaders from Cranberry Township and neighboring Marshall Township and Franklin Park, both in Allegheny County, detailed how their communities are handling growth and how the poor economy has affected development.

They spoke Thursday at The CHAMBER's Community Update Series event at the Cranberry Highland Golf Course.

The CHAMBER hosts four community updates a year for the 16 municipalities that it represents in North Pittsburgh, northern Allegheny County and Cranberry areas.

Cranberry Township

Jerry Andree, Cranberry manager, said the township continues to grow as several major traditional neighborhood projects are under construction and several shopping plazas are about to break ground.

Andree attributed some of Cranberry's continued growth to Westinghouse Electric's move to the Cranberry Woods office park off Route 228.

Andree said Cranberry is in sort of an economic bubble and hasn't been hurt by the poor national economy as compared to some areas of the country.

The traditional neighborhood developments under construction include Park Place off Powell Road and Bellevue Park off Rochester Road. Both developments include a mix of housing and some small retail and office businesses.

The Village of Cranberry Woods will develop in the shadow of Westinghouse and also will have residential and business areas, including several hotels.

Construction on the first phase of that project could begin later this year, Andree said.

Several other development projects on the horizon are:

• The Century Business is proposed as a 79,697-square-foot development to include 74,700 square feet of office space and a 4,997-square-foot service station near the intersection of Ehrman Road and Route 19, Cranberry Promenade

• A 70,000-square-foot development at the intersection of Route 19 and Ogle View Road will be a mix of shops including an Aldi supermarket

• The relocation of the Con Yeager Spice Co. from Magill Road in Jackson Township to a new 53,360-square-foot distribution warehouse/office on Progress Avenue near the Traco production facility.

Marshall Township

Nichole Zimsky, planning director for Marshall, said the township is in the middle of a large sanitary collection sewer line project in the Big Sewickley Creek watershed.

The $3.8 million project will increase the township's sewage capacity with Beaver County's Economy Borough Sanitary Authority.

Marshall officials believe the new sewer line will open up the western part of the township for development.

A couple of the township's large development projects have been bogged down this past year by the slow economy.

The developers of the Venango Trails residential development on the site of the former golf course off Freeport Road have been trying to get funds for the development of 497 mixed housing units since last year, Zimsky said.

Last year was a bad year for housing development, as only 15 building permits were issued for single-family homes and eight permits were issued for townhomes totaling 38 units.

But Marshall is seeing signs the housing market is beginning to improve as several building permits have been approved in the first two months of the year, she said.

The Tech 21 technology office park had opened several years ago with the expectations it would become a first-class technology park. However, development there has been slow.

The only tenant at the park off Warrendale-Bayne Road is the world headquarters for Medrad, which develops, markets and services medical devices.

Zimsky said there is a sale pending on the park and she anticipates improved prospects of development with renewed marketing and competitive prices efforts by the potential new owners.

But there is some development in Marshall despite the tough economic times.

• Warrendale Village, a 46,000-square-foot shopping center and the future home of Highmark Caring Place, is under construction along Route 19 just outside the Cranberry line.

• Warrendale Pointe, a development proposed adjacent to Warrendale Village, was originally proposed to be an office development. Zimsky said the developers are now looking at developing multifamily housing on the parcel adjacent to the shopping center.

• The Keystone Summit Office Park is a redevelopment of the former Fore Systems/Marconi/Ericsson property in the Thorn Hill Industrial Park.

The Keystone Property Group of Bala Cynwyd, Pa., bought the property in 2008 and updated the amenities at the site.

Zimsky said the building is 100 percent leased and the new owners are planning a 90,000- to 150,000-square-foot addition.

Franklin Park

Ambrose Rocco, Franklin Park manager, said the borough is in the middle of updating zoning ordinances so it can protect what development it has and can allow some businesses to come into the borough in limited areas.

Rocco said the community prides itself in being a quiet bedroom community and doesn't want to encourage growth.

There still is room for some residential development, Rocco said.

He concluded by saying Franklin Park is a fiscally conservative community with the second-lowest real estate tax rate among Allegheny County's 130 municipalities.

"Our residents get a good bang for their buck," he said.