The group behind an effort to stop the development of 45 homes near Peters Lake in North Strabane Township, Washington County, is pushing ahead despite a judge's recent ruling that denied an appeal of the project.

The group, Friends of Peters Lake, is calling the ruling a disappointment, not a roadblock. 

"I really wasn't surprised because they all feel that everything we want addressed needs to be done further down the road," said Matt Maniet, one of the neighbors who brought the legal appeal.

He moved to just off the lake to get away from the city, and he is worried that the very thing he moved there for could disappear. 

"I really don't think we were considered as a community, and our best interests were not put up front to be heard by our supervisors, " said Linda Lopez, another one of the neighbors involved in the legal fight.

Maniet does worry that down the road, they'll have lost control as the development works to get approval from agencies rather than their local supervisors. 

At risk, Lopez says, is the fish and wildlife in the lake and people's ability to use the lake. The reservoir is fed by springs, which sit where part of the development would go.

"Those springs will either dry up or just be full of fertilizer, mud, sludge, all running and draining into this lake, killing this aquatic life," Lopez said. 

She's also worried about traffic on their road and the impact the development could have on the quality of water that feeds the wells that bring the water to their homes.

"We have to have hope, we have to, there's just too much at stake," Maniet said. 

• Washington County