BUTLER TWP — Township commissioners on Monday pushed back against transit projects connected with the VA's new health center on North Duffy Road, calling the changes rushed and a bad deal for township residents.

Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize township manager Ed Kirkwood to send separate letters to Butler Transit Authority and the state Department of Transportation outlining the board's opposition to the projects.

The letter to the authority will express the board's opposition to changes that will be made to bus route 5 starting in early September. The authority plans to add a bus stop at the Duffy Road VA center and another at the Thompson Greene Apartments complex, which is also on North Duffy Road. Several bus stops also will be moved or rerouted — from Byre Mor Court Apartments to New Castle Road by the Wendy's; from Park Manor Apartments and the Alameda Plaza entrance to the plaza entrance on New Castle Road; and a reroute of the Butler Commons stop to service only Walmart and Panera.

The Benbrook Medical Center cul-de-sac stop will be removed entirely, and the authority also plans to reduce service to bus stops at Butler Crossing.

Commissioners Sam Zurzolo and Dave Zarnick said they were strongly opposed to the changes, which the authority plans to institute starting Sept. 5, calling them a cut in services for township residents. Zarnick said commissioners weren't opposed to adding service for the new VA center, but couldn't abide reducing service to the township to make that possible.

“What they were thinking when they made these changes is beyond me,” Zarnick said. “We knew this was going to be a problem from the very beginning. I think they need to come up with another system to service the VA.”

Zurzolo said he was also concerned that many elderly residents of the township who rely on certain stops, like the Benbrook cul-de-sac stop, could find themselves unable to reach public transit or struggling with longer walking distances to a bus stop.

“It seems like we're getting the short end of the stick,” he said.

John Paul, the authority's executive director, said the route changes won't reduce service to residents in the township.

“There are no cuts of service other than (to) duplication of service,” he said. “We are not eliminating any area or stop to include the VA or the new residential housing on Duffy Road.”

The board also voted unanimously to send a letter to PennDOT officials opposing Center Township's plan to build a new east-west road that would connect North Duffy Road and Lions Road.

Zarnick said the board wants state officials to “decelerate” the plan, and said that commissioners haven't been brought into discussions over the project and are concerned that it amounts to a revival of a plan that would close Lions Road Bridge — something township officials have vehemently opposed in the past, citing concerns about longer emergency response times and increased traffic flow on other roads. “We want to know what the plan is and how we can be a part of it,” Zarnick said.