New borough building proposed in Pleasant Hills

A new borough building has been proposed in Pleasant Hills.

Preliminary plans indicate it would cost around $14 million and be built next to the current facility at 410 E. Bruceton Road.

Borough officials discussed why the move was necessary at a public forum June 8.

Council vice president Andrew Codelka said the office staff and various departments need room to grow and work more efficiently. He also cited practicality with any new designs.

“There are obviously things that are never going to be in this borough building,” he said. “There’s not going to be a swimming pool. There’s not going to be an indoor running track or weight room or things like that for various reasons – most of which deal with added insurance costs, increased staffing and liability issues.”

The existing two-story structure was built in 1963. It is about 18,000 square feet.

Council chambers are on the second floor along with the women’s bathroom. The men’s bathroom is on the first floor along with several administrative offices.

Public works operates out of the basement. The police department’s fitness room is in one of the public works’ bays.

The current building also cannot accommodate technology upgrades such a what’s necessary to live stream meetings.

Borough engineer Jason Stanton said the building lacks functional workspaces, energy efficiency and does not promote the borough well.

“Good talent isn’t going to come to a bad workplace,” Stanton said.

The new building is estimated to be at least 20,000 square feet with 2,000 of that dedicated to public works because it will not have a basement. It will be a two-story T-shaped structure.

There would be a community room and both men’s and women’s bathrooms on the first floor, along with the police department and council chambers.

Administration offices and code enforcement would be on the second floor, along with a multi-purpose room that may be used for special events or rentals.

“I would love to be able to rent a room to teach classes,” resident Denise Schreiber said at the forum.

There was some talk about Pleasant Hills Public Library moving from its Old Clairton Road location to the new borough building.

“What we don’t want to do is build a library and add a municipal building to it,” council president Cheryl Freedman said.

Library board members said they do not plan to move, but would like to see its borough building basement storage space be transferred to the new site.

Plans also include adding 75 more parking spaces to the existing lot.

Planning

Codelka said discussions about having a new building began around 2018.

Council sought proposals from architectural firms. Five were received. Two firms were interviewed and Core Architects was chosen.

Managing principal Ryan Pierce said his team is in the schematic design phase and hopes to have drawings and a final concept plan ready by mid-August for grant submissions.

Pierce, a former Pleasant Hills resident, said there was a study done in 2013 to see how much a new building would cost versus renovating the borough building.

He said it would have cost about $7 million at the time to renovate and $8 million for new construction. Related prices have since gone up significantly in nearly a decade, Pierce said.

“It was 10 years ago that we all identified that this building was in pretty bad shape and ready for a redo,” Pierce said. “Now it’s 10 years later almost and we’re still talking about it.”

The project is not expected to go out for bid for several months. Construction hopefully will begin in May 2023 and conclude sometime in October 2024.

Pierce said the plan is to build about 95% of the new structure before moving and demolishing the current building.

About funding

Codelka said the borough plans to hire a grant writer and seek as much free money as possible for the project. Another funding strategy involved a 30-year loan that would increase the annual debt service payments by about $700,000.

Tax increases were proposed to make those payments.

A 1-mill tax hike would net about $600,000 in new revenue while a 1.25-mill hike would yield about $740,000.

The current millage rate is 7.75 mills with 0.0911 mills dedicated to the community library.

Pleasant Hills median home value is about $143,500.

Borough manager Kelly Theiss said a 1-mill tax hike would equate to that property owner paying about $143.50 more in taxes.

A 1.25-mill increase would equate to about $179.37 more in real estate taxes for the median homeowner.

“We’re still in the preliminary stages looking at all the avenues to move forward,” Theiss said. “Our building is over 60 years old. We’ve experienced so much growth that we’re out of space.”

The project is expected to be discussed at upcoming council meetings as well as facilities committee meetings, which take place at 2 p.m. the fourth Thursday of the month at the borough office.