Harrison residents can learn more about a rain garden being built soon at Highlands Middle School and plans for a future, larger project on Burtner Road at a public meeting next week.
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and Merritt Chase, a landscape architecture firm, will display plans and designs for the projects during the meeting being held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. April 17 at the township building.
“It’s pretty exciting to have these projects coming to fruition and actually constructing something,” said Jeff Bergman, director of community forestry with the conservancy. “We want people to understand how these kinds of projects can benefit their community — it’s good for the environment and the economy.”
Construction of the rain garden at the middle school, near Broadview Boulevard and California Avenue, is expected to be done in May, Bergman said.
The garden is part of a $125,000 project funded by a grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation. It also included tree plantings and an inventory and analysis of trees within the township’s public rights of way.
Results of the tree inventory will be presented at the meeting, Bergman said.
The Burtner Road project is only a concept at this time, as no money has been secured yet to pay for its construction, Bergman said.
“We only had so much funding with this particular grant,” he said. “If we decide to pursue it further, it’s really good to have that concept design. This lays the groundwork for it. ”
The site is public land on the southern side of Burtner Road, across from the Burtner House and between Pleasantville Road and JV Manufacturing.
That area was identified as a priority because of stormwater runoff causing erosion and affecting water quality, Bergman said. The area is unattractive and has been problematic.
Including plants and rock to slow and control runoff, the project “would also serve as an attractive and welcoming gateway to Harrison Township,” Bergman said.
Larger than the rain garden at the middle school, the Burtner project could cost between $500,000 and $700,000, Bergman said. Having a concept design will make it easier to pursue funding should the community agree to go forward with it, he said.
The township would need to be involved, but would not have to put up any of its own money, Bergman said. Once it’s built, the conservancy would work with the township on its maintenance.
Once fully designed and funded, construction would take only a couple of months.
“Within a couple of years, if the funding was identified, you could have a really nice project,” he said.
