Recreation, conservation projects in A-K Valley, Westmoreland County to get state grants

Grants totaling nearly $70 million will help fund more than 300 recreation and conservation projects across the state, including a number in the Alle-Kiski Valley and Westmoreland County, Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced.

Included among the more than two dozen grants from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for projects in Allegheny County are three in the A-K Valley.

West Deer will receive $291,000 to rehabilitate and develop Bairdford Park. Work will include construction of a pavilion; tennis, pickleball and basketball courts; a dek hockey rink; walkways; parking areas; and new bleacher seats and fencing.

The project also will make the facility accessible for people with physical challenges and will include landscaping, new signs and other site improvements.

Springdale is slated to get $85,000 to make improvements to Veterans Memorial Park.

Work will include pedestrian walkways, new play equipment, accessibility improvements, landscaping and new signs.

The Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy will receive $47,000 that it will put toward the purchase of about 62 acres of property in East Deer to add open space and passive recreation.

Boyce Park in Plum will receive a $250,000 grant to build tennis and pickleball courts, a pavilion, walkways and rain gardens. The work will include installation of utilities, access improvements, landscaping and other site improvements.

A grant for $367,000 will be awarded to the Allegheny RiverTrail Park (formerly named Aspinwall Riverfront Park) to buy about 2 acres to expand the park.

“Many of the projects being funded — improvements to local parks, trails and river access — bring these amenities closer to home, requiring less driving and expense to experience at a time during the pandemic when these opportunities are recognized as critical to our well-being.”

Other projects in the Alle- Kiski Valley that are slated to receive grants include:

• Kittanning: $30,000 to prepare a comprehensive recreation, park and open-space plan for the borough.

• Kiski Township: $86,100 to the Roaring Run Watershed Association to develop and rehabilitate about 2.5 miles of the Roaring Run Trail between the Roaring Run and Flat Run bridges. The work also will include stormwater improvements, access for people with physical challenges and landscaping.

• West Kittanning: $50,000 for the rehabilitation of West Kittanning Park, including installation of play equipment, access improvements, landscaping and other site enhancements.

Eight of the 317 projects being funded by the state are in Westmoreland County.

The largest award — $1.1 million — will go to the Westmoreland Land Trust to help with proposed purchase of 239 acres in Unity Township.

According to state officials, the property involved is located along Route 30 near Arnold Palmer Regional Airport and would be preserved as open space, protecting 6,000 feet of Monastery Run near the headwaters of the stream, which is a tributary to Loyalhanna Creek.

There would be walking trails with opportunities for passive recreation such as birding, photography, picnicking and plein-air painting.

The county will receive $303,988 that will be used to develop the Five Star Trail in the City of Greensburg, South Greensburg and Youngwood. The project includes construction of approximately 1.8 miles of trail from Penn Street in South Greensburg to Trolley Line Avenue in Youngwood along with stormwater work, rehabilitation of a retaining wall, accessibility improvements, landscaping and related site work.

Unity Township will get a pair of grants totalling $248,000.

The township will use a $146,000 grant to rehabilitate and develop Unity Township Park Playground by building a pedestrian walkway, parking area and new playground. Access to the park, located next to the township municipal building, also will be improved along with landscaping and other amenities.

A $102,000 grant going to Unity will be used to rehabilitate and develop Pleasant Unity Playground by adding a pedestrian walkway, more parking, a playground and other work.

“That’s fantastic,” Unity Supervisor Mike O’Barto said upon learning the grants were approved. “The park at our municipal building is special to me because we are going to put in handicapped-accessible playground equipment.”

As for Pleasant Unity, he said: “The park does need updated. It’s been a number of years since the playground equipment was installed there by myself, my fellow supervisors and volunteers.”

Ligonier Township will receive $21,000 to update a study for the development of approximately 4 miles of trail that would link adjacent Ligonier Borough with several destinations in the township.

It has been about a decade since the last trail study, and much has changed during that time, said Bethany Caldwell, township finance director and assistant secretary-treasurer.

The township has purchased the former Ligonier Beach resort and is working on a plan to develop it as a park, which would be a stop along the trail.

The previous trail plan, heading east along Route 30, stopped at the intersection of Route 380. The revised plan calls for continuing east to Laughlintown, to reach the historic Compass Inn Museum and the Forbes State Forest office, which has its own trail loop.

Another trail segment would head south along Route 711 to the Ligonier Valley branch of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Caldwell said.

“We’re trying to connect the points of interest while providing people with a safe, alternate way to get around if they want to exercise or be out in nature,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful area.”

Each of the grants requires a matching local contribution toward project funding.

Other grants going to communities in Westmoreland County include:

• Scottdale: $36,100 to continue to develop Pittsburgh Street Park by installing play equipment, improving access and other site enhancements.

• Smithton: $70,000 to develop Smithton Borough Park by adding a pedestrian walkway, internal loop trail, parking area and stormwater management measures. The park also will get new play equipment with other improvements.

Wolf said about $196 million in local, county and private funding will be added to the state’s $70 million investment in the recreation and conservation projects to give “every state dollar more power for the public good.”

Money for the grants comes from the Keystone Fund, which is generated from a portion of the realty transfer tax, the Environmental Stewardship Fund, fees for ATV and snowmobile licenses and the federal government.

A list of all the projects receiving funding can be viewed online at dcnr.pa.gov.