Residents frustrated with temporary fix after landslide shut down Harmony Township road months ago

HARMONY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Residents in one Harmony Township, Beaver County neighborhood are beyond frustrated.

“This is a tenuous situation,” said Paul Semonik.

“It’s been ridiculous how long this is taking to be fixed,” added Mike Leisure.

For the last four months, people living on Woodland and Sylvan Roads have been forced to use a 3/4-mile temporary access road through the Harmony Ridge Golf Course property to reach their neighborhood.

A landslide in April cut off the only normal access point.

“My sister has a Mini Cooper. She has to take it to the shop for repairs. I just bought a brand new car and it’s being beaten to death over this stupid road that we were assured would only take 6-8 weeks to be fixed,” said Denise Campbell.

The access road, neighbors say, is leading to costly car repairs, bussing issues for their school-aged children and concerns about being reached by emergency services.

“There are a lot of elderly, my sister is disabled, what if they need something?” questioned Chrissy Parasida.

The one-lane road is also leading to road rage issues.

“Some people say, ‘I had the green light,’ the other one says, ‘I’m not backing up,’ and it can get into a big hassle,” Leisure said.

Harmony Township officials said Columbia Gas has been working to replace 1,000 feet of gas line, which should be completed in about two weeks. Then the township can begin repairing the road.

The entire project is estimated to cost more than half a million dollars.

Township Manager Bob Villella says the township declared a state of emergency in April and desperately needs state or federal funding.

“There are four landslides in Beaver County. Our community is the only community with a landslide where about 150 people are forced to use a temporary access road day in and day out to get out of their homes,” Villella said.

Residents are hoping for a permanent solution -- and fast.

They’re concerned about crews having issues clearing the temporary road of snow and ice and becoming completely stranded.

“It would be a total disaster if this would go into wintertime. It would be a mess,” Leisure said.

Harmony Township officials are set to meet with representatives from the USDA National Resource Conservation Service on Wednesday night as they explore all funding options.

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