Monroeville Mayor Dennis Biondo gave his first “State of Monroeville” address at council’s February voting meeting, laying out goals and plans for 2026.
The main focus was a 2026 capital budget built from the municipality’s five-year capital improvement plan — its first such plan in a decade, according to Biondo.
“It includes our municipal building, our public works building, library, senior citizen center, parks, playgrounds and courts, all of which are aging,” Biondo said.
In October 2025, Monroeville’s 911 operators moved to a new location and partnered with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office to open a real-time crime center.
“With this partnership, we continue to be a regional leader in public safety,” Biondo said.
MS4 building
Municipal officials will also move ahead with design plans for an MS4 building. “MS4” is short for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, a program under the federal Clean Water Act that manages stormwater runoff to reduce water pollution.
The program’s goal is to prevent pollutants like fertilizer, motor oil and debris from entering local waterways after being collected by a stormwater conveyance system.
Municipal manager Alex Graziani said the plan is to construct the building on Starr Drive near the Monroeville Public Works Department.
“Right now they are sharing space within the public works building, which is already having its own capacity issues,” Graziani said.
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Open space study
Council also authorized staff to apply for a Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) grant to create a comprehensive open space and greenways plan.
Monroeville assistant municipal manager Makayla Zonfrilli-Lang said the estimated cost of the plan would be $60,000 to $80,000, and it requires a 50% match from the municipality.
“This will be matched with local resources from the sale of the community pool,” Graziani said. “It will enable us to have the kind of ‘cookbook’ that the state wants to see for updating our parks, extending our trails and that sort of thing.”
Zonfrilli-Lang said most state economic development and conservation grants require this type of plan in order to qualify for funding.
In addition to seeking updates at its parks, several small pieces of municipal property have been proposed for inclusion in the Turtle Creek Greenway. This is a continuous, uninterrupted natural area running from Duff Park in Murrysville to the floodplain on the western side of Trafford, connecting the Westmoreland Heritage Trail to several other regional parks.
Mall property
Biondo said the largest indicator of Monroeville’s growth is the purchase of the Monroeville Mall property by Texas firm Cypress Equities, acting in partnership with Walmart.
“They’re moving forward with an investment of more than $300 million to revitalize the mall property and surrounding area,” he said. “We’re anxiously awaiting plans for this site, and we expect them to be presented to the public very soon.”
