Cranberry Township is planning to defend decisions by its zoning hearing board denying variances for two proposed electronic billboards in the vicinity of the busy Route 228-Route 19 intersection, which have been appealed to Common Pleas Court.

CBR Mars Property Holdings LLC and RT 228 Mars Property Holding LLC, both known as Wolfgate, filed the appeals July 1 asking the court to reverse the board’s decisions and approve the billboards.

The board held four hearings last year and this year on both applications before issuing its denial of both applications on June 3.

“They asked for variances. They don’t meet the criteria for a variance in those locations,” said Dan Santoro, township manager.

Safety concerns about the bright lights and flashing messages distracting drivers were another reason for the denial, Santoro said. The intersection is one of the busiest in Western Pennsylvania, he added.

He said the township will defend the board in the appeals.

On Oct. 10, 2023, Wolfgate submitted applications for variances to construct billboards at both locations, which are in a special use zoning district. Billboards are conditional uses in that district that require board approval.

One location is a small, 2,800-square-foot, 33-foot wide lot at the intersection of Freedom Road, Route 228 and the Interstate 79 exit ramp, and is bordered to the north by Mars Road.

The size and configuration of the lot is the result of highway expansion projects and right of way acquisitions for various construction projects, and does not meet the minimum lot size for the district. Aerial utility lines cross the lot and connect to a pole along Route 228, according to the appeal.

“It is physically impossible to both construct a legally compliant structure on the corner parcel and also to provide parking and loading,” according to the appeal.

The second lot faces Mars and Freedom roads and is surrounded on three sides by Route 228, Mars Road and the Mars Road cul-de-sac, and is larger, measuring 11,588 square feet, or about 50-by-288 feet. The triangular-shaped area suitable for construction is 1,200 square feet, measuring 14 feet at its widest point and 2 feet at its narrowest point, according to the appeal.

It does not meet the minimum lot size for the district and cannot meet the ordinance’s setback requirements. Like the smaller lot, nothing can be built on the larger lot that complies with the zoning ordinance and provide space for parking and loading, according to the appeal.

Other than billboards, no permitted uses can be developed on either property. Neither lot can be developed in strict conformity with the zoning ordinance and any development would require zoning relief, according to the appeals.

During one of the board hearings on the applications, an engineer testified on behalf of the township that drivers must navigate multiple traffic lanes with overhead directional signs and traffic signals where the billboards would be located, and the billboards would create an additional risk of driver distraction, according to the board’s decisions, which are attached to the appeals.

Wolfgate’s expert witness testified that the billboards would not create any safety hazards or adverse impacts on the traveling public, according to the appeal.

Both board decisions said the billboards would endanger public welfare and Wolfgate did not provide a “substantial, serious and compelling” reason to justify relief.