Pitcairn will use state grant to update borough sports complex
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Youth baseball is not what it once was in Pitcairn, according to Borough Manager Mike Bolen.
“Unfortunately, like a lot of other areas, we’ve kind of seen it go away,” Bolen said. “Our Little League fields haven’t been used in five or six years.”
But with more than $121,000 in state grant funding headed their way, borough officials are making plan to revamp the Markosek Sports Complex.
At present, the sports complex is a set of baseball fields and basketball courts.
“With those fields not being used anymore, we have a nice green space with a concession stand already in place, and we’d like to maybe put in a pavilion as well as restroom facilities,” Bolen said. “We’d also like to build a recreational walking trail around the whole complex, something that would continue behind the old Little League fields.”
The grant — just under $122,000 from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program — may also go toward parking improvements.
“We originally applied for about $240,000, and ended up with half, so some of our original plans will get scaled back a little,” Bolen said. “We wanted to add about seven parking spots near the basketball court, a double-vault handicap-accessible restroom, and an additional 18 spots at our parking facility.”
Bolen said borough council will ultimately decide whether to go with the parking improvements, or use some of the funding to create a new road running behind the complex. Choosing the parking improvements could also lead to some environmentally-friendly construction as well.
“We’d do that with some kind of permeable pavement, so we don’t have to deal with a lot of run-off,” Bolen said. “We can enhance it, add some greenery and potentially get the parking lot fixed up.”
There is also the possibility of future trails linking up with the complex.
“There’s some work happening to try to connect the Westmoreland Heritage Trail in Trafford with the Great Allegheny Passage,” Bolen said. “It would come through several boroughs in the Turtle Creek Valley, including Pitcairn and part of Monroeville. It could come right through the sports complex, and we have enough room there to create a nice trailhead.”
Bolen said he’s hopeful that a future trail will bring some economic development along with it.
“We’d love to see something here like what’s been happening in Export (as the trail came through),” he said.