Mike Handley works to clear roots near a canoe launch along Connoquenessing Creek. Grant money is being brought to Butler by the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance to fund construction of a new creek access point in the city. It will be located off Kittanning Street.

This year, Butler will get a canoe landing site for boaters drifting down Connoquenessing Creek.

Dean Selfridge, director of Butler's Parks, Recreation, Grounds and Facilities Authority, said $5,000 in grant money is being brought to Butler by the Allegheny Aquatic Alliance, which will fund the construction of a new water access point in the city. Work should begin in May.

The access point will be located off Kittanning Street by the city's road department, he said. The landing will be on city property.

The site is intended to provide a landing point for canoers and kayakers heading downstream on the creek.

It isn't really meant to be a launching point, Selfridge said, as the creek leads to another dam near AK Steel soon after the access point.

“The creek shallows out right after that point,” Selfridge said. “But before that, it's fairly deep and good for canoeing.”

Selfridge's group posted about the grant money on Facebook Monday morning.

A contact at the aquatic alliance was not able to be reached for further details about the money and its sources, but Selfridge said he believed some cash was coming through a tourism grant, while the rest would be from the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

He had more details on another grant the authority announced last weekend — a $30,000 National Fitness Campaign grant meant to help build a fitness park where Butler Memorial Park's former children's pool once stood.

Selfridge said the authority hopes to build the fitness park, which will be full of outdoor workout structures, by the end of the fall.

However, the authority still needs to find another $60,000 to $90,000 in funding for the fitness park.