News (February/March 2004)
Recently, the Westmoreland Conservancy banded together many of our members along with members of other local organization in a drive to save the Murrysville Pleasant Valley Park from being sold to development. The 262 acre park, currently undeveloped, has enormous potential as a passive recreation facility. Our members spoke at three successive Murrysville Council meetings in favor of retaining the park land, as a resource for the future. Our efforts were rewarded when the Council recently voted 5-2 in favor of keeping the land.
Here are a few of the compelling points that were presented:
Reasons for keeping Pleasant Valley property as Park Land
- Chip Brown speaking for the Parks and Recreation Commission on January 21 made his case for selling PVPark on two suppositions. The first was that accessibility from Pleasant Valley Road is inherently dangerous, even if safety improvements were made. The second was that parkland acreage in Murrysville already far exceeds National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) standards for now and the future.
- Accessibility issues: The consensus seems to be that the best use of PVPark is for passive recreation. Activities that include hiking, bird watching, perhaps horse-back riding and such winter sports as cross-country skiing and sled riding. None of these activities develop the traffic densities associated with either baseball or soccer. Consequently, accessibility from Pleasant Valley Road is not essential.
- Currently there is public access through municipal owned property to PVPark from Staymates Court. Parcel 49-19-00-0-045 has frontage on Staymates Court and shares a common property line with PVPark. This 13.3-acre parcel forms a land bridge between a lightly traveled public road and PVPark. No safety concerns here! (see attached plot map)
- Parkland adequacy issues: Murrysville's Comprehensive Recreation, Park and Open Space Plan uses the hierarchy of parks scheme adopted by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) to define the functions and the kinds of recreational activities that parks can be expected to accommodate. Acreage per 1000 population recommended for each type of park service is listed in Chapter 1, p. 25 of the comp plan. These are the numbers Mr. Brown used to conclude that Murrysville has excess park acreage now and for the future. However, as clearly stated in Chapter 4, p 31, "NRPA standards simply reflect a national average or base line for evaluating park systems and cannot be directly applied to Murrysville because of the large percentage of undevelopable terrain." To better reflect the quality of life benefits offered by parks and open spaces, a New Standard was proposed based on the park and open space services available in 1999. This New Standard used the same hierarchy of parks scheme adopted by NRPA, plus an additional category, open space, to recognize the rural character of Murrysville. The New Standard, recommended by the comp plan is 50 acres per 1000 of population rather than a NRPA guide line of 20 (Community Park, 8; Neighborhood Park, 2 and Special Use Park, 'as needed' assigned 10).
- With the acquisition of Cline farm completed, the acreage recommended at build out for the Community Park category is now realized. On the basis of existing park and open space acreage alone, the argument could be made that we can afford to sell PVPark now and buy replacement land later. But how realistic is that? Thirty years lapsed between the purchase of Townsend and PVParks. In another thirty years, Murrysville will be largely developed with little hope of acquiring 262 acres at any price. Even with PVPark, Murrysville will need to acquire over 300 additional acres of parkland and open space at build out just to match the level of service available today. (See Park and Open Space Land Acreage Analysis)
- Greenway and trail system issues: "Greenways are of the first importance in the preservation of the nature resources which give Murrysville its character and make it a desirable place to live" according to the comp plan. The Greenways and Open Space Analysis identifies PVPark as a greenway, open space and trail system resource. It has all of the desirable elements, open space, steep slopes, heavily vegetated areas, wetlands and environmentally significant waterways.
- The object of a municipal-wide trail system is to establish pedestrian/bicycle connections between community focal points and concentrations of Municipal residents. And to link it with regional trail systems serving the greater Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania area. One of the proposed trail corridors includes PVPark. It is a loop that begins at the Community Center, goes through Duff Park to Staymates Park and then through PVPark and back to the Community Center.
- The area surrounding PVPark is largely undeveloped with the potential for becoming a major greenway system. PVPark can establish a pattern of development that resolves the environmental issues in Lyons Run valley. These issues need to be addressed before further population growth reduces options. For example, the size of riparian buffers areas needed to control sedimentation, to minimize pollution associated with runoff, to affect air and water temperatures, and to provide habitat for wild life supported by streams. While greenways benefit human populations in many ways, recreational use may endanger habitat and infringe on greenway systems. Understanding this interplay between conflicting uses will insure that natural resources are protected. PVPark is a natural laboratory for resolving these issues that would be difficult to replace.
