Community Fighting To Keep Playground As School Plans To Sell It
WESTMORELAND COUNTY (KDKA) – A small community in Westmoreland County is fighting to keep a playground in its neighborhood.
But time is running out. The property will be auctioned off Monday morning to the highest bidder.
The Hempfield Area School District owns the four-and-a-half acre lot, but calls it unused and unnecessary property and by law has the right to sell it.
But people who live in the city of Wendel want to continue to use the property as they have for years, as a community space.
"Me and the kids ... cut the grass, rake it, fix it if there's any low spots, make sure there's no twigs or anything out there," said Ron Copeman who maintains the playground.
The problem is Hempfield Area School District already has one offer on the property, of $17,000. But Copeman, and others who want to continue using the lot as they always have, don't have the money and are afraid of what new owners will do.
"I know what's going to happen, no trespassing, cut the hoops down, that's the end of it," said Copeman.
Most of Copeman's family has enjoyed the use of the property dating back to his daughter and his grandson.
"Kids still come up here and play all the time, I still come up -- I'm 20 years old now and I come up at least once a week," said Brandon Fassett.
Although the property was sold to the district by a local family back in 1941 for $400, the district had no idea it owned it until July 2013.
According to the solicitor for the district, that was discovered after Hempfield Township put in a sewer line on the property.
However, the school district has never used the property. And come Monday morning, it will be auctioned off to the highest bidder at the Westmoreland County Court House.
"I thought the school district would turn it over to the community and they said 'we're looking out for the taxpayers,' I said, 'that's us,'" said Copeman.
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