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.”
Pat Rinebolt, council vice president and a resident of Aderhold Road, said selling the land would hurt local history and go against the original specified purpose of the lot.
Councilman Scott Herbst argued that the park is desired only by its neighbors, and that it represents potential ongoing costs and liabilities to the rest of the borough.
“Responsible families live within a budget and make adjustments when necessary, so too we must manage the affairs of our borough,” Herbst said.
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.
Two neighborhood residents also mounted a defense of the park. David Hall brought an old map of the area which labels the lot as Roebling Park.
“If we keep diluting our history, we're going to lose our history,” Hall said.
Sandra Simpson, who owns property neighboring the land, asserted that original deed documents specify the park was transferred to the borough with the requirement that it remain a park.
“These are witness trees to the history of Saxonburg,” Simpson said.Herbst reiterated an assertion that items like condoms, syringes and alcohol containers were found at the site by the city's tree contractor. He also disputed Simpson's claims related to the original deed.Solicitor Sean Gallagher said he didn't believe the borough had such an obligation, but that it'd be up to the buyer to make the legal determination and deal with the deed's implications.Rinebolt and Simpson brought up 1990 borough meeting minutes which indicate the borough ran into legal obstacles with the deed when trying to sell the land then. Graham noted that Howard Graham, who is quoted in those minutes attempting to block that sale of the property, is her father.“I'm happy that it was resolved amicably,” Graham said. “My dad would be very happy.”The council went into executive session to discuss selling the land to Graham, a decision which 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.”
