About 19 acres in the area known as “Butler Junction” could end up being one of the final pieces in a puzzle connecting area trails and expanding an Allegheny County Park.

The land, about 3 acres of which is in southeastern Butler County, would allow Allegheny County to connect the Butler Freeport Community Trail with three others: The Rachel Carson Trail, the Tredway Trail and the Baker Trail.

The land also would be added to the 524-acre Harrison Hills Park in Natrona Heights.

Allegheny County Council Vice President Nick Futules said members of the county’s Parks Committee could take up the land purchase at a meeting today, but need questions about existing oil and gas leases on the property answered.

The committee meets at 5 p.m. today, Futules said.

“I may have to pass it over if they’re not completed yet,” Futules said of any committee discussion on the deal. “If it’s not ready (Wednesday), hopefully it’ll be done before our break.”

Allegheny County Council will meet twice in early July before breaking until August, Futules said.

Attorney Gerald DeAngelis, who represents landowner Dennis Revi, of Freeport, said the prospective deal would preclude future on-site gas drilling.

Revi would retain oil and gas rights to the property if the land were sold, he said, but relinquish surface exploration and extraction rights.

Horizontal drilling from an adjacent area could still be used to extract resources from the property without bringing a drilling rig onto the land itself, DeAngelis said.

“Are they going to drill this property? Not this piece that we’re selling,” DeAngelis said.

DeAngelis said Allegheny County signed an option on the land about a year ago, and has until July to act or pay to extend the option.

DeAngelis said that copies of the old oil and gas leases were sent to Allegheny County’s legal department for review, but he believes they have expired.

The property also contains an abandoned coal mine, DeAngelis said, which is part of an upcoming Department of Environmental Protection reclamation project expected to go out to bid sometime this month.

Both he and Futules called the prospective purchase a positive development for area residents.

“I think what we’re doing is a great thing for trails in this part of the county,” Futules said.

Allegheny County would use $200,000 in funding from the Commonwealth Financing Authority and $40,000 in county money to purchase the land.