Board makes recommendations for projects to receive $8.1 million in gaming proceeds
Jeff Kotula, chairman of the local share committee, discusses $8.1 million in gambling revenues for various projects Wednesday with Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan.
“Oh my God. That’s amazing! That’s amazing!” raved Dr. Michael Lucas, Trinity Area School District superintendent, upon learning his school district became the first to clear a hurdle for local share funding from wagers placed at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino.
“Yeah, we’re excited here,” he enthused.
The $42,198 proposal for a “community fabrication laboratory” made by Trinity in conjunction with the Intermediate Unit I was the only job-training program recommended for funding to the Washington County commissioners, and it is believed to be the first involving a school district.
Western Area Career and Technology Center, supported by several school districts, was funded as a job-trainer in the past as part of the local share program, begun in 2008.
This past September, Trinity became the first district in the region to welcome Intermediate Unit I’s “Fab Lab” for a two-week stay. The technological advancement, made possible through a $1.2 million grant from Chevron Corp., focuses on digital fabrication technology including 3-D printers, lasers engravers, cutters, a wood router and computer software.
Lucas said his district is embracing science, technology, engineering, arts and math initiatives that will be made available to students during the school day and to adults in the evening. The equipment fabrication lab would also be used by students from other districts within the intermediate unit, which includes Washington, Greene and Fayette counties.
He said Wednesday he wants students to learn to “think like engineers, to problem-solve like an engineer to design and create.” Trinity already secured a $20,000 grant from Chevron. Lucas placed the total cost of the project at $138,396, including $84,000 for equipment and the remainder for a staff member supplied by Trinity.
After the intermediate unit’s “fab lab” made its debut at Trinity for a two-week stint, Lucas said the district’s reaction was, “Boy, we would love to have that all the time,” and it applied for local share funding before the early October deadline.
The Trinity Area School District is among local governments and nonprofit agencies that will be receiving up to $8.1 million if state officials concur with recommendations made at the county level.
Jeff Kotula, chairman of the Local Share Account review committee, in a presentation Wednesday to the Washington County commissioners, outlined a list of nine community improvement projects totaling $1.96 million; six economic development projects totaling $3 million; and 19 public interest projects worth $3 million.
The 35 projects on which the commissioners will vote this morning as a package are among 78 applicants.
“Some people will have a merry Christmas while others will blame the Grinch,” said Larry Maggi, chairman of the Washington County board of commissioners as Kotula was wrapping up his presentation.
The single-largest community improvement project recommended is the Washington streetscape’s third phase ($777,870), which will encompass the blocks of South Main Street from Maiden to Washington & Jefferson College’s Cameron Stadium.
In the area of economic development, the largest project is $1 million for a 50,000-square-foot building being constructed on speculation that a buyer will be found who is interested in locating at the Alta Vista business park near Bentleyville. If the building is sold within five years from the date of the occupancy permit, the money is to be reinvested in the local share program.
Among public-interest programs, the Washington County Redevelopment Authority’s countywide home rehabilitation and access projects were proposed as the largest recipient at $394,500.
An informational session earlier this month was closed to the public because it involved real estate, but Kotula revealed details of the former Brockway Glass plant redevelopment project, recommended for $140,000 in local-share funding. He said the proposal calls for a two-lane access road to be built between the property and the Jessop Place exit of Interstate 70. It attracted a private developer, whom Kotula identified as Crossgates.
The project was not recommended for funding in the most recent round because “it was not ready to go last year,” Kotula said.
Other applicants that previously left empty-handed were sure to be buoyed by the news they are on target to receive funding. LeMoyne Center is now eligible for $150,000 in local share funds with $40,000 additional money committed for an intergenerational sports arena. Washington City Mission made the list for $266,000 in local share funds for a veterans’ residence on West Strawberry Avenue, with additional funding of $1.6 million committed.
The City Mission refined its previous proposal for a recycling and donation center on Crile Road with the dual purpose of a vocational training center for veterans and nonveterans.
“We did not have matching funds,” said Dr. Sally Mounts, the mission’s director of development, said Wednesday.
She and Dean R. Gartland, president and chief executive officer, harked back to the devastating fire June 9 and the mission’s commitment to continue its service to the homeless.
“I am extremely pleased that we’ve gotten this far in the process,” Gartland said. “It’s further than we’ve gotten in two years and it’s something the City of Washington can be very proud of to serve our homeless veterans in years to come.”
Those who do not make the list of recommended projects should not give up hope.
“If something’s not ready, we’ll meet with them,” Kotula said, in an attempt to iron out the kinks that are keeping cash from flowing through the local share pipeline. In the case of the LeMoyne Center project, Kotula’s list noted that a proposed water park is excluded from local share funding.
“We are one of only a few counties across the Commonwealth that have the opportunity to have these dollars,” Kotula said. “To my knowledge, the budget impasse (in Harrisburg) has no effect on this.”
The state has been without a budget since July 1.
Fifteen projects totaling $2,355,040 of local share funds were recommended for sewer and/or water line projects in the Pigeon Creek area, Allenport’s Stroall Acres, Besco, McDonald, Donora, Peters Creek area, Charleroi, including Twin Bridge; Mt. Pleasant Township, Mid-Mon Valley Water Pollution Control Authority, Monongahela, Marianna-West Bethlehem, Tri-County Joint Municipal Authority water system, design of a Marianna water main replacement and Union Valley watershed’s first phase.
The state Department of Community and Economic Development has the final say over which projects receive funding, but only a handful failed to make the cut at that level. A thumbs-up or a thumbs-down from DCED is made known over the summer.