Politics & Government
Recreation Group Discusses Progress at Bell Acres Athletic Fields
Representatives with Quaker Valley Recreation Association and the borough will meet later this month for a site review with the Allegheny County Conservation District.
Representatives with the Quaker Valley Recreation Association met Monday night in to address council's concerns with a project to build new athletic fields in the borough.
Council sent the non-profit a letter requesting answers about the project after a borough couple, who lives next door to the ball fields, that they’ve had no contact with project leaders since last year. Council also expressed concern over several citations the Pittsburgh-based Allegheny County Conservation District handed down to QVRA and wondered whether the environmental violations had been resolved.
QVRA, a community-based non-profit, has been working to develop ball fields, known as Legacy Fields, in Bell Acres at the intersection of Camp Meeting and Fern Hollow roads.
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Representatives that included Tim Felt, QVRA president, and Scott Smith of SP Smith Construction, assured council Monday that the project is very much under control.
“We’ve passed the wrinkles,” Scott said.
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In the spring the conservation district, which inspects storm water discharge compliance and other laws, found the site in “continued violation” of state environmental regulations, mostly due to retention pond and runoff issues, according to a report. The group was asked to remedy the situation.
Felt and Scott presented the borough Monday with a summary of the work that’s occurred at the site.
Scott said most issues have been rectified and the latest report from the conservation district cites only one problem that deals with the undertow at one of the floating baffles, a system that helps divert waterflow.
"It's controlled," he said.
In the end, council agreed to have borough officials attend the next site review with QVRA representatives. Both sides plan to meet at the grounds July 29, when the DEP is scheduled to perform an inspection. Scott said he expects the group will have everything in line to satisfy the final environmental requirements.
Council President Dennis Young said he wants the borough represented at the meeting to get a better grasp on what's happening.
“These (conservation) representatives make it look like there are a lot of issues. Mr. Scott makes it sound different,” Young said.
Council members commended the community organization for its work to provide an adequate space for children, calling the site a great asset to the community, but cautioned that ordinances must be followed.
“We are a small borough, but we do have ordinances,” Councilman Chris Abell said.
“Obviously we focus on problems and issues," Councilman Dwight Howes said, "but for the next 50 to 60 years, we’re going to have a jewel up there…I just think that it’s a spectacular piece for our community."
“I’m happy to see someone doing something for the kids,” Young added.
An uphill battle
QVRA representatives say they were fighting an uphill battle on several fronts with the development.
Felt said the project would have been completed by September had there been a normal spring season this year and contracting worked out the way it should have.
Members of QVRA said the former contractor abandoned the project last July to perform other work. When the contractor returned around mid-September, the group worked with him to get as much work done as it could. That contractor was later taken off the job in early February. The project, meanwhile, was placed out for bids and a new contractor was hired.
But in addition to contractor problems, Scott said they uncovered clay tiles at the old farm site when they began digging and endured a great deal of bad weather. Scott said he was at the site every other day in April and May monitoring water issues because of heavy rains.
Now that the weather has cleared, officials said the site conditions are ideal, allowing work to proceed. Bulk grading is complete and the site has been hydroseeded, with more seeding planned for Friday. Contractors are now hoping for rain to promote growth at the park to keep the top soil intact.
Felt said trees will eventually be planted because trees can absorb five times the water as grass.
“We want to return the site to its original vegetative state,” he said.
Scott said the ponds are all working properly, and the project's engineer, Kimball Engineering, is "very comfortable with the design."
“It’s been two hellish springs and two pretty tough winters…I think it’s gone a long way.”
Felt said QVRA was under the impression an agreement was reached with affected neighbors and the issues were resolved. In addition to straightening out a roadway, Felt said $20,000 will be spent on fences to provide privacy. He said it’s possible that there was a breakdown in communication on the timeframe to install the fences.
“We’ve been pretty occupied trying to figure out how to get the site under control,” Felt said.
Felt said QVRA raised a little more than $3 million, with fewer than 1 percent coming from public funds, to get to this point. The ball fields aim to solve a 40-year recreation problem for the 11 communities in the district.
“We had to move a mountain and that took $3 million to do,” Felt said.
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