Donora unsure of rails to trails project
By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
It’s been almost four years since Donora began working on the potential rails to trails project pitched by state Rep. Bud Cook, R-West Pike Run Township, in the early months of his first term. However, borough officials are less than enthusiastic about the results thus far.
By June, Donora will have spent $100,000 in grant funding on the project, but council members said this week that — aside from doing all the work related to applying for grants, overseeing the payments and paperwork — there hasn’t been much in this project for the borough itself.
“The only thing we’re getting is a conceptual drawing of what the park could be,” said borough Administrator Terri Petroske.
Councilwoman Jane Ackerman wanted to know what happened to the $20,000 that was supposed to come back to Donora from the grant money and go toward upgrades to the bathrooms at Palmer Park. She remembered there was also supposed to be $20,000 going to one of the other municipalities involved in the proposed trail.
Solicitor Steve Toprani and Councilwoman Cindy Brice also remembered that there was supposed to be money for restroom upgrades. Council President Mike McDowell wasn’t sure if there was supposed to be an actual dollar figure attached or not.
“I don’t mean to make a big deal out about this, but we were sold a bill of goods,” said Ackerman. “They were also supposed to reimburse us for our matching portion of the grant.”
In March 2017, then-councilmen Dennis Gutierrez and John Conger presented information to council about a conversation they had with Cook and Cindy Adams Dunn, secretary of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, about a possible 75-mile network of trails connecting the borough to trailheads in Bentleyville, Cokeburg and Marianna.
At the time, Donora was asked to apply for a DCNR grant of $30,000 that would pay for a feasibility study for the project. The idea was to find out if Palmer Park would be a suitable site for a trailhead that would likely feature restrooms, showers and maybe space for hikers and bikers to camp.
The Donora access in Palmer Park would be similar to the trailhead West Newton offers along the Youghiogheny River Trail, part of the Great Allegheny Passage. None of the trails for this proposed project were in place at the time and they haven’t yet begun that work, but it was proposed as the “Mon Valley Coal and Steel Heritage Trail.”
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