New Kensington planners recommend proposed community park, garden
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A proposal to build a community park and garden in downtown New Kensington will go to city council for consideration.
Westmoreland Community Action and Wesley Family Services have proposed building the park and garden on vacant lots along 10th Street, with Third Avenue running between them.
The city owns the lots and would lease them to Wesley Family Services, city engineer Tony Males said.
New Kensington’s five-member planning commission recommended approval of the project despite some residents objecting to it. At a meeting Tuesday, commission member Garry Garrison said the groups had not addressed residents’ concerns raised in January or provided the additional details the commission requested.
Garrison said Alec Italiano, representing Westmoreland Community Action, seemed “ill prepared” for the meeting. No one from Wesley Family Services attended.
“You didn’t give us nothing to sink our teeth into,” Garrison said to Italiano.
Plans for the park and garden have been prepared by Canzian/Johnston & Associates. Principal Toni Canzian said Westmoreland Community Action was waiting for approval of the design before incurring the significant cost to fully engineer it.
Males could not say when the project would go before council.
The planning commission recommended approval of the project contingent on lease and maintenance agreements, broken sidewalks in the area being repaired and the park having an enforced closing time.
Four of the commission’s five members voted in favor, and its chairman, Richard Bruni, voted “present.”
Commission members Randi Shank and Marvin Birner each expressed support for the project, saying it would improve the neighborhood. If it is not approved, Birner said the lots will remain empty.
Males said nothing can be built on the lot where the park would be because infiltration chambers intended to control stormwater and sewage overflows are under part of it.
He said issues with the proposal include lighting, noise and safety, especially for the park. He said maintenance is a major concern.
Italiano said Wesley Family Services would be fully responsible for maintenance.
Canzian said lighting would be positioned to illuminate south and away from homes to the north of the lots. He said lighting will be provided for security and designed to not overflow to neighboring parcels, but has not yet been fully engineered.
A dense landscape buffer, 8 to 10 feet high, would be planted to control noise, he said.
Restrooms that had been included for the park have been removed for security reasons, Canzian said. The only building would be a pavilion.
Traffic and parking concerns also had been raised. Canzian said the park and garden are intended to be used by residents of the immediate area who would walk to it, but parking would be available.
Resident Michael Saganis questioned the need for the park and garden. He said there are other parks in the city and there are few children in the neighborhood.
“How many children use playgrounds nowadays?” Saganis said. “It’s a waste of money.”
Saganis suggested Westmoreland Community Action could better spend its money on a water park or to help bring a grocery store to the downtown area.
“There’s so many things this city needs,” he said. “We do not need a playground and a community garden.”