Murrysville Community Park amphitheater concept proposes long-term vision

Murrysville officials got several different visions this month of what an amphitheater and recreation space in Murrysville Community Park could look like.

Having delayed the project last year during the pandemic — and armed with a nearly $300,000 grant from the state — council hired a consultant earlier this year to create the concept for an amphitheater and related features at the park’s southeastern corner.

After floating a bond issue in 2020 in preparation for the project, council was looking at about a $600,000 budget for consultants Hayes Design Group and Mackin Engineering to work with.

Carly Greene said staff was presented with two versions, “one proposed within our budget and one showing what it could look like in the future, years down the road when there’s funding and time available to expand into a larger space.”

Bob Genter of Mackin Engineering said his goal was to fit the development into the site, “and that’s why we wanted to look at the bigger picture, so you don’t build something and then end up having to rip out half of it because you weren’t thinking about the future.”

Genter and Mark Duane of the Hayes Design Group said their preferred long-term concept was an open-sided amphitheater facing up the hill, with terraced lawn areas that are universally accessible, recreation areas, restrooms and storage off to either side of the performance space, a new road coming into the area that could connect with existing parking and possibly a new parking area for as many as 60 cars.

“We wanted to create a space that could be used throughout the seasons,” Genter said about discussions with staff. “We talked about a play space, habitat for animals up on the hill, trail connections. We thought about how people are going to move through the park walking, hiking, driving. We thought about where food trucks are going to park, where ambulances are going to park.”

The orientation of the amphitheater also was a critical decision, Duane said. “Most events are in the evening, so at sunset, you’re going to have sun coming directly from the west,” he said. “And we didn’t want the sun setting right behind the amphitheater.”

The proposed amphitheater itself is a simple gable roof design, wider in the front than the back, and closed in the rear with open sides.

“You’d be looking at the Miracle Field kind of as the backdrop of the site,” Duane said.

With the future considerations set aside, Genter and Duane proposed a two-phase project that would include the stage, restrooms/storage, a new road and 26-car parking lot connected to the Miracle Field parking area, and potentially the first terraced area as the hillside begins to steepen.

However, it came with an estimated $831,000 price tag.

“We had a budget of about $600,000,” Councilwoman Jamie Lee Korns said. “I’m sure we have a plan. What is it?”

Chief administrator Jim Morrison said staff would continue working to refine the project.

“There is some money available in the capital reserve for recreation funding that could be applied initially to cover the final design costs for the project, because that’s what’s pushing it up over the budget,” he said.

Morrison also noted that while the prefabricated amphitheater itself costs $95,000, the consultant budget puts it at $295,000. “They’re budgeting twice again for construction,” Morrison said. “There have to be footers, a pad and utilities brought to that. But if we could find someone who can construct it for us, that would save us additional money.”

The first phase of work — the area fronting Wiestertown Road and the connector road to the Miracle Field lot — would be done in-house, Morrison said. Public works staff also could eventually work on a proposed upper parking lot that could hold up to 60 cars.

“That’s something we can pick away at during the winter months,” he said. “But I think at this point, it would be incumbent upon all of us to beat around the bush and see if we can find someone who’d like to have their name on it, or who’d like to contribute to the project in some way.”

The state grant, from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, does not expire until 2022.