This past spring/summer construction season, Borough Council continued work on capital projects relating to the Borough’s transportation and recreational infrastructure. These included replacement of the Grove Rd. Bridge, reconstruction of the tennis courts at Hamilton Park, reconstruction of the batting cages, installation of the half fence at the basketball courts and additional overall ball field upgrades at the Municipal Center and Hamilton Park. Additionally, Council completed the Borough’s Annual Road Improvement Program and continued work on structural deficiencies in the borough sanitary sewer system. Planning/design and financial structuring continued for the Shannon Station project, along with watershed analysis and drainage improvements for the Killarney Rd. Area.

The Grove Road Bridge
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    The Grove Rd. Bridge is an important component in the overall transportation linkage through Castle Shannon to the City of Pittsburgh. As such, the replacement of this facility has been at the forefront of Borough’s capital planning for some time. This year, with financial support from the State of Pennsylvania ($425,000) and Allegheny County ($180,000), Borough Council entered into a contract with C.H. & D. Construction to have this “vision” become a reality. This process is explained in further detail in other sections of the newsletter, however, it is sufficient to say that persistence does pay off. Official dedication of the bridge was conducted by Congressman Tim Murphy, State Representative Chelsa Wagner, and Mayor Baumgarten with Borough Council on July 6, 2010.

Hamilton Park Tennis Courts Reconstruction
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    As many residents have noticed, the condition of the tennis courts at Hamilton Park have required major reconstruction efforts. Council recognized this and initiated bidding to undertake this complete upgrade. Although material costs and the location of the courts were significant cost drivers, we worked with the Public Works Department to internally address restoration requirements and awarded bids to T.A. Robinson Asphalt. Again we were fortunate to receive support from both Representative Wagner and Senator Fontana.

    The nearly $90,000 rehabilitation project will be initiated this season with line striping completed in early spring. Based on this schedule the court will be reopened for usage next season.

2010 Road Improvement Program (RIP)
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    This year completed the 10 year cycle in our annual Road Improvement Program (RIP) schedule. Folino Construction was the successful bidder this year and undertook the following segmental improvements: McRoberts Rd. from 3097 to the Whitehall Borough line, the alley running from Thompson and Shady Run, Hoodridge Ave. from the Chateguay Apartments to 900 Baldwin St., and Canal St. from Willow Ave. to Castle Shannon Blvd.

    Although the initial estimated cost for these improvements was approximately $170,000, significant cost savings as a result of previous proactive maintenance operations on road sub-base conditions reduced this number to $120,000. These preventive measures have continually decreased this component in our yearly RIP.

    In 2011, in keeping with previously identified investment levels, in order to maintain our twenty 26 miles of Borough roads, we will conduct a two tiered road condition inventory. This will involve utilizing our previously developed improvement schedule and a visual determination by the Department of Public Works.

    Council is anticipating a proposed award date of mid March 2011. Council continues to take early action on bid proposals, which in turn tend to deliver better prices, from vendors.

Administrative Consent Order (ACO)
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    As we have indicated in previous editions of the Borough’s newsletter, the ACO is one of the biggest if the not the biggest challenge that Castle Shannon and over 80 other communities in Allegheny County face for at least the next 10 years.

    One of the major work items in the Administrative Consent Order signed by Castle Shannon in 2004, ALCOSAN and it’s customer municipalities, is the mandate to correct structural system deficiency in our sanitary system. To undertake this task Castle Shannon is divided into five Water Shed areas.

• Water Shed One (the Killarney Area subsystem)- The final project costs for this water shed were approximately $2.4 million.
• Water Shed Two (the Havlock/Sleepy Hollow Rd. subsystem) - The final costs are: sewer repairs $732,470 and manhole rehabilitation $241,450. Total costs $973,920.
• Water Shed Three (the Grove Rd./Mary Pl. subsystem) - Final costs are: sewer repairs-$460,980 and manhole rehabilitation-$ 295,950. Total costs $756,930.

    To complete the structural deficiency corrections in the first three watersheds, approximately $4.1 million dollars was expended on construction costs alone.

Castle Shannon continues to make yearly progress on structural deficiencies existing in our watersheds.

    We have engaged our engineers to begin the establishment of an overall structural listing prioritizing repairs based on their severity level. This systematic schedule for corrections will require annual allocations of approximately $200 to $250,000.

    As noted above, we have estimated that $2 million worth of structural repairs alone remains to be undertaken in Watershed’s Four and Five. Based on these observations, this will be an ongoing component of our Sanitary Sewer Construction/Rehabilitation Fund.

    We continue to strive to keep our compliance costs as low as possible. Nearly 100% of all CCTV activities are done in house. We continually look for opportunities in early project scheduling, joint bidding and other areas where municipal cooperation will minimize repair work costs.

    Due to the nature and the magnitude of this activity, it is my intention to provide annual updates, in the Newsletter, on the progress we are making in our ACO work components.

Shannon Station
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    All participants involved with the Shannon Station are continuing their attempts to bring this idea to reality. Although the developer has committed to financing nearly $18 million in overall project costs the market for commercial based lending has not improved.

    Several major reworks of the site development plan have been undertaken with a renewed emphasis placed on the residential component. This has led to the exploration of alternate financing sources.

    Significant county and state support has materialized to assist with the parking deck development. Officials of the Borough and the School District continue to keep open communications on possible tax incentive programs. This could be the final public sector component in this extremely complex and exciting project.

    Although this statement has been made before, council is still confident that after nearly 12 years of work, the long awaited Transit Oriented Development project slated for the large Port Authority Park and Ride Lot on Castle Shannon Blvd. (Shannon Station) will become a reality. As this project progresses, developments will be reported in the Newsletter.

    In 2010, a variety of long-standing capital projects were undertaken to address community infrastructure maintenance of public facilities within Castle Shannon. Borough Council strives to maintain a “hands on” approach with these issues to ensure public input and involvement.

    The Borough’s Annual Road Improvement Program along with the sanitary sewer line upgrades all function in an inter-related process that improves the efficient provision of municipal services and address community environment, health and safety.

    Borough Council views the challenges posed by the continued maintenance and upgrades of our transportation and recreational assets as potential opportunities and is committed to their successful resolution.

    In closing, on behalf of Mayor Baumgarten and all members of Borough Council, we wish all residents a safe and joyous holiday season.

      Thomas C. Hartswick
      Borough Manager