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Leaders of the Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple in Monroeville plan to expand several parts of their complex on Abers Creek Road, including building a new two-story temple and a 50-foot spire.On Wednesday night, the Monroeville Planning Commission made a unanimous recommendation that the project be approved.The temple was seeking approval for site plans and several other aspects of the project, including a proposal to revise lot lines in order to create parcels of roughly one, 22 and 36 acres for the project.
New construction would include the spire, which exceeds the 35-foot height currently allowed, the new temple with more than 15,000 square feet of space, a connecting wing and four gazebos.

The existing building has been in use by the temple's congregation since 1991, but it is nearly 100 years old, according to Streamline Engineering President Martha Frech, engineer for the project.“It's an old structure; they want to modernize it for their congregation,” Frech said.The new temple would be an 81-by-81-foot two-story building, reduced from previous applications that outlined a three-story structure. The application has undergone numerous changes since originally coming before the commission in August 2011.
Monroeville resident Robert Serafini, who lives near the property, had concerns about stormwater management, particularly related to the roughly 1,400-foot proposed driveway, which would come off of Northern Pike.

“The water runoff situation on Northern Pike is already bad, and this driveway is going to make it worse,” Serafini said.Frech told the commission that stormwater flow from the driveway would be directed to a PennDOT drain near the proposed entrance, and that a stormwater pond and rock bed would help alleviate water flow from the wooded area of the property.The temple is located within conservancy and single-family residential zoning districts.Planning commissioners voted 4-2 in favor of conditional use for a cut-and-fill operation moving just under 25,000 cubic yards of earth as part of site preparation and construction.

Several residents expressed concern about the potential for landslides on the slope above the proposed temple, which would be buttressed by a number of retaining walls. Serafini suggested that the commission require temple officials to carry an insurance policy in the event of a landslide. Municipal solicitor Chelsea Dice said that is not within the commission's authority, but could potentially be worked out privately between temple officials and adjacent property owners.Doug Beitko, with municipal engineers Garvin Boward Beitko, said the presence of “Pittsburgh red beds,” a layer of red shale and claystone, mean there is an inherent risk of a landslide regardless of whether the temple expansion and construction proceeds.