Sarah Hertweck, Township Supervisor

08/01/2026

Hi All, just to keep you updated on things folks have been chatting about around town-

The earth work happening over by Fairview Elementary school is a housing development. I’m going to repost a fellow supervisor’s recent post about it, where you can find more information about this ongoing saga.

The gas line project is about to cross Saxonburg and head up toward Dorseyville, should wrap construction by October.

Comprehensive Plan with Deer Lakes is moving forward, myself a handful of others have been appointed to the steering committee. More info to come.

Our August 12th meeting the Board of Supervisors will vote on the Cove Run development proposal by the State Game Lands.

Please also visit Indiana township’s official page indianatownship.com, Indiana Township Hub for more information from a citizen led group.

Pic of my one-eyed poodle for fun.

08/01/2026

🚨‼️Traffic Alert for MONDAY 8/3/26‼️🚨

Saxonburg may see delays between 7am-5pm as the gas line project will be crossing the road way.
South of Klein, North of Berryhill.

Please use alternatives routes or anticipated potential delays in travel time.

06/25/2026

For those interested in our Data Center discussions, please see Supervisor Neumann’s remarks.

Hi everyone. Last night, I attended the Planning Commission meeting, where guidelines for a Data Center Ordinance were discussed. After hearing the presentation and speaking with the Commission members, I am cautiously optimistic that we will soon have a solid ordinance to protect Indiana Township from aggressive data center developers.

While a draft is not yet available to the public, discussion of the proposed ordinance suggested it contains many crucial provisions including: (1) restricting data center development to only the Light Industrial zoning districts as a conditional use that must be approved by the Board of Supervisors; (2) decommissioning obligations put on developers to remove their computing infrastructure if they cease operations, as well as bonding to ensure that those who seek to profit from operations in our township pay for their clean-up; (3) strict safety guidlines that must be followed by data center operators to protect both our citizens and the first responders who serve them. There are still many details to be finalized in the ordinance. I encourage the Planning Commission to regulate noise, sound, vibration, and air pollution from data centers to the maximum extent possible. I would also like to see provisions mandating clean energy sources for backup power, unlike the noisy diesel generators that will plague Spingdale residents living near its proposed data center if the grid goes down. In addition, we should require strict, independent impact studies demonstrating that the data centers will not strain our local energy grid, water systems, and family budgets of residents paying for public utilities.

The sooner the Planning Commission approves the draft Data Center Ordinance, the sooner the Board of Supervisors can vote to protect our Township from the nightmare scenarios experienced by communities across the country when Big Tech-backed developers come to town. Please consider taking a moment to thank the Planning Commission for their efforts and urge them to approve the Data Center Ordinance as quickly as possible, with the strongest provisions possible to safeguard our community's interests. Your messages to the Planning Commission can be sent to our Township Manager, Dan Anderson ([email protected]). If you have any questions or thoughts to share, feel free to message me directly.

06/08/2026

🚨Traffic Alert ⚠️

‼️ This Friday, 6/12/26 between 7am- 5pm the People’s Gas Line Replacement Project will be cutting through Middle Road to put in the new pipe.

Flaggers will be present, but delays could take up to 15 minutes during this maneuver.

Avoid the area if possible to avoid potential wait times.
Between Berryhill Road and Middle Road Inn.

05/25/2026

Two opportunities within the township tomorrow to take a few intentional moments to honor Memorial Day. The services are brief, but meaningful. Please join if you are moved to do so.

05/20/2026

UPDATE: Gas Transmission line replacement project, phase 1

The pipe is here, being bent and the welders are expected to arrive after Memorial Day.

The gentlemen working on this project are hoping to wrap up
This phase when it arrived at Dorseyville Rd in September.
I do not have more information on this time the date and locations of phase 2.

The trees are down on the hillside heading toward Francioni Lane. It will be a few weeks before they reach Saxonburg blvd.

05/12/2026

05/11/2026

A sad week in Indiana Township only gets sadder. A settlement was reached in the Gouwens v. Indiana Township Board of Supervisors case, which allows for the Indiana Trails development to proceed in modified form. If you remember, Indiana Trails was the 99-unit Planned Residential Development (PRD) to be built on Dorseyville Road with an entrance not far from the intersection with Fox Chapel Road. The settlement provides for some moderate improvement to the plan: the 30-unit apartment building has been substituted for 13 townhome units. Nevertheless, after years and years of brave fights by our citizens to stop it, we now face the very bitter reality that mass development will be coming to the Dorseyville Road-Fox Chapel Road corridor, one of the most beloved open spaces in Indiana Township.

During the Public Hearing, not one Indiana Township resident spoke out in favor of Indiana Trails. EVERY CITIZEN WHO SPOKE OUT WAS AGAINST THIS DEVELOPMENT. The Board of Supervisors majority openly defied the wishes of the taxpayers and approved this development anyway. The Board majority claims they had no choice but to follow the PRD law. What they don't tell you is that we do not need to have a law allowing PRDs in Indiana Township. It is their choice to have a PRD law, and it is their choice that PRDs are built at all in Indiana Township. For years, Sarah Hertweck, Township Supervisor and I have been calling for the elimination of Article IV from our Zoning Code, thereby banning all future PRDs and the destruction they inflict on our community.

The Board majority claims PRDs keep our taxes low. But they are only talking about your Township tax, not your School District taxes. They approve these developments without the slightest consideration of the number of new students brought in and how that impacts your School District Taxes or the quality of education in our district. For all the bluster about how PRDs are fiscally sensible, the Board majority has never provided the slightest proof that these extremely unpopular developments lighten the overall tax load of the citizen rather than just add a little padding to the Manager's Budget. It bears repeating: WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE TOWNSHIP ISN’T NECESSARILY GOOD FOR THE TAXPAYER. They have also provided no study on how each development will impact public safety. They approve these developments without any insight into how hundreds of new homes affect our Fire, EMS, and Police services. They are FOUR YEARS late in finishing a new Comprehensive Plan that would at least give us some big picture idea of how we want Indiana Township to look 10 years from now. To make matters worse, the lawsuit that citizens brought to stop mass development on Dorseyville Road was fought by the Township with our tax dollars. There are few examples of local government working so flagrantly against the interests of its tax-paying citizens than the sad story of Indiana Trails.

At this point, we must learn from the mistakes of Indiana Trails and ban PRDs in Indiana Township as quickly as possible. Outside moneyed interests know they have a gullible and compliant Board majority, and they will move to cram as much destructive development into our community as possible before the 2027 election. We need citizen involvement to ensure that the Indiana Township we know and love is not destroyed by mass development in the next 18 months. At the Board of Supervisors meeting this Wednesday at 7:00 PM, we will be voting on the Consent Order in the Gouwens case that gives the Township's approval of the settlement. This is a good opportunity to remind the Board majority that the citizens hate PRDs and the only good PRD law is no PRD law at all. I look forward to seeing you there!

05/09/2026

Thank you to everyone who responded to my initial post about the Trinity fire with so much care and concern for both the congregation and the beautiful historic church they called home. A Restoration Committee has been set up and they will be meeting with experts in the weeks ahead to determine the best path forward for Trinity. In the meantime, an official GoFundMe page has been created to receive community support. If you are inclined to donate please do so through this link.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/gods-story-at-trinity-ucc-does-not-end-in-the-ashes