Canton moving playground equipment from Wolfdale to new location

The playground equipment enjoyed for the last several years by visitors to Canton Township Park in Wolfdale will be on the move today, heading to a new location a few miles down Jefferson Avenue near the Brownson House.
Frequent flooding at the current park off Jefferson near Mark Avenue has prompted the supervisors to have the equipment moved to property donated to the township by Allegheny Technologies Inc. ATI donated the approximately eight acres to the township in April 2017. The property is behind the United Steelworkers union building in the 1500 block of Jefferson.
Canton converted former Wolfdale ball field into a park about five years ago. But every time Catfish Creek overflows its banks, the park is damaged.
During a major flood in February, not only did the creek come over the banks, but part of Jefferson Avenue was washed into the park, said Stephanie Pettit, township manager. The force of the water pushed over the fence, damaged the railing around the gazebo, and washed away the mulch.
Miracle Recreation Equipment, the company that installed the playground equipment, will relocate the equipment to the new site today. Pettit said the cost to move the equipment is $11,000.
“Every time we have to make repairs from the flooding, it costs us $5,000 to $6,000,” Pettit said. “It is not feasible to keep doing that.”
Most of the playground equipment will be moved, although it was still being decided how to remove the merry-go-round and relocate it.
The new location for the playground is in an area that does not flood. The township also plans to build a recreation center on the former ATI property. The brownfield site was checked as part of remediation and cleared, Pettit added.
“Nothing was found,” she said.
Some of the fencing at the USW building will have to be removed so the township can put a driveway in and build a parking lot at the new site of the playground. A road will eventually be built from there to the new community center.
The township plans to keep the pavilion and picnic benches at the Wolfdale park for residents to use. Pettit said they also will add soccer nets.
“If the (old) park floods, the costs will be minimal to fix,” Pettit said. “We will just have to go clean it up. And kids will still have a place to run around in the open area.”
Pettit said she hopes the new playground will be open later this month.