Sandra Simpson, left, and borough council member Pat Rinebolt stand in borough-owned land at 416 Aderhold Road. The pair both live near the lot, which is called Roebling Park, and advocated for its continued future as a green-space.

SAXONBURG — Residents of the Green Acres neighborhood will keep their park despite council selling it at the borough's Wednesday night meeting.

Only one person submitted a bid to buy the borough's forested one-acre plot at 416 Aderhold Road. That person, neighborhood resident Wendy Graham, has no plans for the land.

“It's going to stay a park,” Graham told council. “I'm not going to do anything with it. I'll have insurance and I'll maintain it. But I'm not going to build a house and I'm not going to cut the trees down.”

Graham placed a $8,902 bid, she said after the meeting, because it was one dollar more than the borough's recent cost to remove trees on the land.

“So they made a profit,” she said.

Graham said after the meeting the she has the full amount set aside already and plans to close the deal within the next few weeks.

She is willing and able to pay liability insurance costs for the land, she told council.

The council went into executive session to discuss selling the land to Graham, a decision which Solicitor Sean Gallagher said was permissible because they were discussing a pending sale. When the group returned, it voted unanimously to sell the property to Graham.

“I never expected to get it,” Graham said. “I'm amazed.”

Read the full story in Thursday's Butler Eagle.