Residents ask Delmont to consider adding dog park to borough

Delmont residents asked their council to consider some additions to the borough — specifically a dog park, and speed humps on West Pittsburgh Street.

“There are more than 300 dog license applications processed for Delmont, and that’s just in 2023. We want our dogs to be happy and healthy, and I’m hoping Delmont will open an off-leash dog park,” said Becky Kurtz, who lives on Freeport Street and was joined by several residents also in support of her request.

Dog parks have opened in recent years in the neighboring communities of Murrysville, Penn Township and Hempfield. Kurtz said they are low-maintenance and require relatively little investment.

“They’re usually separated into areas for larger dogs and areas for smaller dogs, and they are usually just made with 4-foot-high metal fencing,” Kurtz said. “It would be a good addition to our community, and there are grants available from companies like Purina to help pay for it.”

Kurtz suggested the Shields Farm property near the Delmont Area Athletic Association’s field complex as a potential location.

“We’re working on a master plan for Shields Farm and how we want to use that area in the coming years,” council President Andy Shissler said. “This is certainly something we can look at.”

Speed humps requested

West Pittsburgh Street resident Tom Shoemaker asked whether council would consider installing speed humps on the street, possibly near Monticello Drive, to help slow drivers headed into the borough from the west.

“People just fly up there,” Shoemaker said.

Police Chief T.J. Klobucar said speeding on West Pittsburgh Street is definitely an issue.

“That’s where 90% of our speeding tickets come from,” he said. “There’s quite a lot of traffic moving up that road in the mornings.”

Borough engineer Kevin Brett said his firm, Lennon Smith Souleret in Greensburg, has a good deal of experience installing the speed humps.

“We probably put 10 to 15 in our communities each year,” Brett said. “You have to undertake a traffic study that costs about $2,500, and you have to build them to the right specifications (so that snowplows can still operate).”

Brett suggested the borough’s streets committee look further into where officials may want to install the speed humps throughout the borough, before taking action on just one street.

“Once you do the first one, you’re pretty much guaranteed to have residents coming out to ask for the second, third and fourth ones,” he said.

Brett also suggested looking into a grant for a speed “trailer,” a roadside device that flashes oncoming drivers’ speed, typically in an effort to slow them down.

“Having something like that could really help whenever we’re doing a traffic detail on the other side of town,” Klobucar said.

Council did not take any immediate action on either request.