Greensburg to consider $290K in recreation upgrades, paving projects

Greensburg wants to continue improvement of its parks and playgrounds and resurface two deteriorating streets with about $290,000 in federal community development block grant funds.

City council is expected to vote Monday on the planned uses of the funding, which is administered and approved by Westmoreland County officials.

The funding proposal includes $140,250 to install rubber surfaces under playground equipment that was updated a few years ago at the Stark Avenue Playground and under new play apparatus at Coulter Playground, on O’Hara Street, and at Spring Avenue Park — where construction is underway on updated infrastructure, including walkways and a basketball half court.

Council also wants to designate $58,520 for additional amenities at the Coulter and Spring Avenue sites and $22,000 for new standardized signs that would identify city recreational sites more clearly for visitors and residents.

Greensburg also is proposing to use $69,269 from the block grant to repave Evergreen Avenue and Unity Way, located in the city’s Eighth Ward.

Council member Sheila Brumley, who oversees parks and recreation in the city, said the rubber surfaces would replace grass or wood mulch under play equipment.

She said the rubber material, while costly, “has a long lifespan. There’s less maintenance for it, and it’s safer for the kids.

“With the wood mulch, you have to replace it every year, and it’s not as giving if a child falls.”

Details of the proposed recreational improvements have yet to be worked out. Brumley said the city is considering adding benches and picnic tables at various sites.

Creation of coordinated signs to better identify city parks and playgrounds was among the suggestions arising from the city’s recent Shape Greensburg comprehensive plan. Brumley said the city is working on ideas for the signs with Greensburg’s Blue Sky Sign Co., which designed and recently installed the city’s new community gateway sign along South Main Street near the GetGo store.

The gateway sign “is a nice welcome to the city,” Brumley said. “It looks great when it’s lit up at night.”

For the proposed new park signs, she said, “We’re trying to make sure they have the same continuity. They would would tell you what type of park it is and that it is a city park.

“We have all these parks, but many people don’t know where they are and if they are owned by the city.”

City public works director Tom Bell said Evergreen and Unity are due for resurfacing because of weathering, development of potholes and spots that previously have been repaired.

He said the city is hoping to tap other funds in order to repave Saybrook Drive.

“There’s been a lot of erosion and breaking away of the asphalt along the curbs,” he said.