When an underground gas storage facility was installed on a small section of the Shield’s Farm property in the early 1990s, Delmont officials approved it without realizing they were potentially violating the terms under which the farmland was purchased.
“Shield’s Farm was acquired many years ago with Project 70 funding from the state,” borough solicitor Dan Hewitt said.
Project 70, passed into law in 1964, allowed the state to create debt and issue bonds up to $70 million for the specific purpose of acquiring land for parks, reservoirs and conservation/recreation areas.
“It has to be maintained for open space and recreational purposes,” Hewitt said. “But down the hill you have the giant pipe sticking out of the ground, where gas is stored. That pre-dates everyone here on council, but it’s about 4.46 acres that was supposed to be clear.”
Hewitt and borough officials are working with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to try to find additional land to replace the area where the underground gas storage is located. It is on the southernmost part of the Shield’s Farm property, with a small access road that connects it to the Oakford Park underground gas storage facility, co-owned by energy companies Dominion and Enbridge.
Delmont Councilman Stan Cheyne said the issue reared its head during the development of the borough’s recreation plan.
“We wanted to do a site plan for Shield’s Farm because I don’t think it’s been fully utilized to its potential,” Cheyne said. “And DCNR told us they can provide some grant money, but first we have to do this, this and this.”
One of those things is finding just under 4.5 acres of land that the borough can dedicate as recreational space. Hewitt said the borough could potentially use a parcel off Stotler Drive where they were planning to install a sedimentation facility, along with a second nearby property.
“We’ve been dancing with DCNR over this since about 2017,” Hewitt said. “I think if we can add those parcels in, we can pacify them. I’ll keep that conversation going and see what we come up with.”
