Funding deadline causes cancellation of proposed garden, playground in New Kensington

Two organizations will not move forward with plans for a community park and garden along 10th Street in New Kensington.

Westmoreland Community Action and Wesley Family Services had proposed building them on vacant city-owned lots on either side of Third Avenue.

The city’s planning commission in February had recommended approval of the project, which still needed to be reviewed by city council.

Funding for the project would come from a neighborhood revitalization tax credit program, which has to be spent by September.

The organizations are no longer confident they could meet that deadline, said Daniel Giovannelli, vice president of community investment with Westmoreland Community Action, which was leading the project.

“Due to a limited time frame on when our funds can be spent, we have concerns about being able to complete the project on time and in a way that is supportive to community needs,” he said.

New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo concurred: “It takes time to do these projects right.”

“It was decided that there may be several other options that we will discuss that can be done in the near future that would be completed in a timely manner,” Guzzo said. “We will continue to look at other financing options for the park and the garden on 10th.”

The tax credit program in New Kensington is funded by BNY Mellon and UPMC Health Plan.

When the planning commission began reviewing the proposal in January, some residents expressed concerns over issues including traffic and safety, noise, parking, lighting and loitering. Some opposed it completely and questioned the need for either the garden or playground.

Despite recommending approval in February, planning commission members took Westmoreland Community Action representatives to task for not addressing residents’ concerns and not providing additional details they had wanted.

“Anytime we do a project, we want it to be a fit for the community,” Giovannelli said. “One of my concerns was inadvertently rushing it. We realized we should have gotten ahead of it a bit more to address those concerns. We didn’t want to try to push something through and build something wrong that people didn’t want or didn’t turn out the way it should or could.”

In place of the garden and playground, Giovannelli said they will look to use the funding to address other community needs.

Giovannelli said a number of small projects that will not require as intensive or prolonged review as the garden and playground should come out in the city over the summer. Details on those were not immediately available.