13 parks get county funds for upgrades
More than a dozen parks in Butler County will be upgraded in part due to county funds.
County commissioners on Wednesday approved the award of 13 grants to parks around the county to help pay for upgrades, including the replacement of skins on baseball fields, the installation of new shingles on park pavilions and the purchase of new picnic tables.
The grants — most of which will provide municipalities $10,000 for the park upgrades — are going to communities in all geographic areas of Butler County, ranging from Middlesex Township and Seven Fields in the south to Slippery Rock and Marion Township in the north, and from the western Lancaster Township to the eastern Eau Claire.
In total, the 2022 Butler County Local Park Renovation Grant program will allocate more than $120,000 for the recreation areas throughout the county. Commissioners approved a roughly $3,000 addition to the program, for which $120,000 is budgeted annually.
Lance Welliver, county director of parks and recreation, said that’s because one municipality did not seek the full grant amount due to the relatively low cost of the project.
“We wanted to take the remaining balance and move it to the next person in line, towards their projects,” Welliver said.
The county received 21 applications for the grant, meaning eight communities will not receive that funding. Those parks include recreation areas in Buffalo, Butler, Clinton, Cranberry, Fairview and Worth townships, as well as Chicora and Harmony.
Among the selected recipients are the City of Butler, which will receive funding for new playground equipment at Father Marinaro Park. Butler recently received a state grant for various projects at Father Marinaro, including a baseball field, shelters and a concession stand.
Evans City, too, will receive a county grant for new playground border ties, a new fall surface and replacement picnic tables at EDCO Park along Route 68. In Penn Township, the county grant will fund a new swingset and a boundary area for an accessible swingset.
Tom Smith, Seven Fields borough manager, said the county’s grant award will help the community, particularly given the increasing costs of materials.
“It’s a great help to Phase 1 of this project,” Smith said. “It really is going to help in covering the additional expenses.”
Commissioners on Wednesday also gave their approval to apply for a state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant to help rehabilitate Diamond Park.
Welliver said the county’s parks and recreation department does not have final estimates for the grant, but still sought approval for the application as it is due April 6, the same day as the commissioners’ next public meeting.
The county would not find out until the end of the year if it was selected for a grant, as Welliver said the application would be considered for more than one grant.
