Public offers input into West Mifflin’s proposed community center

Thursday’s meeting was held to find out what community members want to see in the project.

West Mifflin Borough held a meeting for the public Thursday to discuss plans for its upcoming community center project and a feasibility study to see if it can do the multi-phase project.

Last month, the borough announced plans for the community hub along Camp Hollow Road. It will include a new community center, amphitheater and more located at where the old middle school stood before being demolished in 2012.

A new recreation center has been in the works for many years, according to borough manager Brian Kamauf. There’s no final price for the project, even though it was previously estimated at more than $15 million.

“We are here to dispel some of the rumors, to make sure we are transparent with the community about what is going on here,” Kamauf said. “There’s no finalized plans, just a concept.

“We are here for you guys to give input. We are here today for your input, we want to know what the community wants and what we can bring to the project. Activities, and not just looking at athletic programs, and its programs that we think are a benefit to the community as a whole.”

The Pennsylvania Turnpike originally bought the site from the school district and later sold the land to the borough. Kamauf said there is no final estimated cost because each phase of the project is going to be priced differently.

He said it’s finally time to move forward with the project after several years of discussions, and the borough finally has the ground to do it.

The 30 acres of land will possibly include a building with a health and wellness complex, a large conference room, indoor basketball facilities, exercise rooms, a 300-person banquet hall and community rooms for activities.

Thursday’s meeting was held to engage with the community to see what they want. Engineers brought up lounge, circulation and assembly spaces as well as an indoor/outdoor track, fitness groups and exercise facilities.

There will also be parking lots, multipurpose fields and an amphitheater, which has been a discussion point of borough council for several years, with thoughts that the amphitheater would go in the park.

“We are in the initial stages and the conceptual layouts of the building,” said project manager Joe Adiutori.

“Right now, we are very much in a conceptual phase where nothing is really set in stone. It’s just some lines on a piece of paper right now.”

The borough has commissioned AE Works to initiate a feasibility study of the community center. The study should be completed around June after several meetings with the public.

Goals for the project are to be a regional economic driver, a destination point and a multigenerational/intergenerational place for users of all ages. It will also be used for health and wellness as well as recreation destinations and as a community builder.

Warren Bulseco of AE Works said a community center is a “living room” for a community, and that it’s very important to get analysis, analytics and understanding demographics of the area.

“Community centers are a place that serves as a hub for social gathering and interaction — an opportunity for all of us to come together and you are making friends and you are making relationships and ultimately building community,” Bulseco said.

Borough representatives and more than 30 community members attended Thursday’s meeting. Most residents at the meeting wanted a community hub, but they had concerns about traffic on Camp Hollow

Road, whether the project is financially sustainable and the environmental tolls that may result.

Borough members plan to work with local legislators to get some grant money, and the idea of the feasibility is to get a solid plan to be able to apply for that funding, according to Kamauf, who said that leads to traffic studies and more.

“Maybe it’s something that we have to phase or something we can’t afford, then we are not doing it,” Bulseco said. “The idea is the feasibility will say here is all the analysis and how much it will be to come to an end to say, here is what we are recommending that’s going to be sustainable. All of that is part of the study. We are not here to give you a pretty picture.”

Councilman Dan Davis said the borough lacks a gathering space, not just for athletics, but also a banquet hall for bigger events.

Many residents also asked for a library as well as a safe place for kids after school and ways to attract younger seniors. While there are many locations that do that surrounding the area, the borough and engineers involved hope the area will still bring in the community and the region.

Bulseco said studies have shown that people have been moving away from libraries because everyone has been becoming digital and libraries are becoming expensive. However, they are looking into having focus groups to see what people would want in the project.

Carol Shrieve, executive director of the Carnegie Library of Homestead, was at the meeting and said many West Mifflin residents come to their library every month. She said that libraries are not too expensive, and she would like to help the borough as well as many residents raised their hands in support of having a library in this project.

“West Mifflin is our number two patron base behind Munhall,” Shrieve said. “That means more West Mifflin residents use our community center and other facilities. I fully support this project. We are happy to help support West Mifflin in any way possible, but I promise you can’t put some books on a shelf and expect a county or state library association to support that because that’s not how it works.”

Ballard King & Associates, a community recreation center program across the country, has been doing analysis to see how the community center will withstand regionally, Bulseco said, and if people will come out to the area.

Mayor Chris Kelly said there is already a lot of regional draw — including hotels, an airport, preliminary plans for the Century III Mall area, the extension of Route 43, Kennywood, a golf course, a steel mill and more.

“Now you have a meeting place right there,” Kelly said. “The framework has already been set, and there is so much around the area as far as dining that other places mentioned don’t have. We are in a position with the county right now that they will do whatever they can to generate revenues and help the borough be more self-sustaining.”

Council president Scott Stephenson said there will be more than one meeting to discuss the project and the board is constantly looking for ways to keep people in the borough – reiterating that they are only in the beginning phases of this project and the purpose of this meeting was to consider ideas.

“The first thing that factors in is money, and we don’t want to put a burden on taxpayers,” Stephenson said. “When we sit up here and we try to put ideas together, and how we can stop the mass exodus of West Mifflin.

“When we put these ideas together, and it’s been kicking around for several years, we are trying to group those into one and see what we can have. We are here today to see what ideas and what we can come up with, and if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out.”