County Unveils Plans To Renovate Former Fairgrounds
SOUTH PARK (KDKA) -- Allegheny County has unveiled plans to improve the former county fairgrounds and surrounding areas of South Park.
The park has fallen into states of disrepair and now officials have a plan to bring it back to life.
From unsightly buildings to deteriorating bleachers to a lack of maintenance, there's a laundry list of complaints from patrons of South Park. Now, Allegheny County has a plan to improve it.
"We are starting to chip away at this very large mountain of things that have piled up over the last 30 years," said Jeaneen Zappa, the Allegheny County sustainability manager.
Allegheny County has been working since last fall to get public input on needed changes for South Park, compiling an action plan. Park-goers say it's about time.
"They used to have the county fair down here and that was very fun. So, it's nice to see they're [going to] fix that up," said Nancy Maceil, a local resident.
"With minimum upkeep, these buildings would have lasted 200 years, but they weren't maintained," added Ken Sharo, a park-goer.
The target area will be the fair grounds and surrounding area. Some buildings will be torn down, bleachers remove and catfish run will also see some maintenance to become a better fishing spot. Another big area to tackle is pedestrian and cyclist safety.
"Very high visibility kinds of paving; not particularly expensive measures, but physically separating pedestrians, who walk at one speed from cyclists who travel at another from automobiles that move at another," said Zappa.
The one big road block that still remains though is funding. Allegheny County needs about $15 million to complete the three phases of renovations.
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