By MIKE FAHER
For years, Somerset Trust Co. administrators have wanted to build a new bank at a high-traffic site occupied by a vacant school in Westmont Borough.
But with PennDOT approval still a major hang-up, the Somerset-based bank now is looking elsewhere in Johnstown’s West Hills.
The bank has filed paperwork to open a branch at 1739 Lyter Drive in Lower Yoder Township. If all goes according to plan, the office could open later this year.
“We don’t want to delay any longer in providing services to customers” in the West Hills area, Somerset Trust spokeswoman Roberta Lohr said.
The bank has purchased a building in the shopping center between Goucher Street and Westwood Plaza.
The structure is home to Zurilla Financial Services. Owner Thomas Zurilla died in February. His widow, Ann Zurilla, said the business is still open and she is seeking a new location.
The building, which sits between a state liquor store and Pizza Man’s Pizza, also formerly housed a bank.
Somerset Trust leaders want to revive that use. And Lohr said that, if the plans are approved, the bank’s branch at the Goucher Street Giant Eagle would remain open even though it’s only a few miles away.
The grocery-store branch is “a convenience office that allows us to have the opportunity to offer extended (banking) hours,” Lohr said.
She added that the Lower Yoder branch would complement and expand on the bank’s offerings at the small Giant Eagle location.
“It’s a larger space to provide more complete lending and trust services,” Lohr said.
Also, the Lower Yoder location would offer amenities such as a drive-up window and a night deposit, she said.
The move would, at least for now, eliminate the need for Somerset Trust to further pursue building a brand-new bank at the former Stutzman School in Westmont Borough.
The bank bought that site, at the corner of Goucher Street and Menoher Boulevard, in 2001. And in May 2006, Westmont’s zoning hearing board approved demolition and preliminary construction plans at the property.
But the proposal never advanced beyond that point, with bank administrators saying they have not been able to come to terms with PennDOT on a traffic-flow plan at the busy intersection.
“There were issues involving ingress and egress,” Lohr said.
Somerset Trust still owns the former school, but its future now is unclear.
“We’re not discounting use of it,” Lohr said. “But we’re not sure of the direction that will take.”
Before opening a Lower Yoder branch, Somerset Trust needs approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
And if the project moves forward, it would continue the bank’s recent expansion.
In October, Somerset Trust opened its first Westmoreland County branch on County Line Road near Champion.
And last month, a Somerset Trust office opened in the Jackson Township community of Vinco after an F.N.B. bank closed in the same location.
