Apr 5, 2022 4 min read

Now that the North Strabane Township Fire Department’s substation in Eighty Four is nearly complete, the township is turning its attention to the next phase of building and recreation projects.

“The public safety building on (Route) 19 – that’s the next one,” township manager Andy Walz said Monday. “That will include the building that the fire station is in right now on Route 19. There’s a … block building to the right of that, if we’re looking at it, then there’s the old Planet Bounce. All three of those will be demolished.”

Demolition bids open April 7. Walz said designs for the new public safety building, which will sit where the three buildings currently stand, are nearly finished. He expects ground to break this summer, and the project should take between 18 and 20 months.

When the public safety building is complete, both the fire and police departments will move into the space.

“Our police department has terrible ventilation. There are no windows in the police department,” Walz said. “North Strabane has grown significantly in the last 20 years. We have more officers than we’ve had in the past … and we’re just busier. We just need an update to, specifically, the police station.”

Walz also noted the fire station along Route 19 is “not conducive” to running a modern-day fire department. The new public safety building will provide a safe, updated space from which the township’s safety departments can operate effectively.

The public works building, which sits on a hill between the current township building and North Strabane Park along Route 519, is also undergoing renovations. Walz said that building has not been updated in more than 20 years, and the township is in the process of upgrading the building’s IT system, installing a women’s restroom and giving the space a facelift.

When the safety building construction and public works building renovations are complete, the township will focus on creating a new municipal building that serves as both administration offices and a community center.

The new township building project is in its preliminary stages, Walz said. The township does not yet have a cost estimate for either the public safety or municipal building projects.

But Walz does have a vision for the new municipal building, slated for completion by the end of 2025.

“We’re working to finalize the new administration building design and layout. The engineers are still doing site layout. The goal with that building is for it to be administrative,” Walz said. “We also want to have some indoor recreation space for the residents.”

The new municipal building will house administration and offer the community rooms for hosting birthday parties and other events. The township also plans to house indoor sports courts, including a basketball court, for use during the winter months.

“Look at the township building. This was built in the ’70s. We have building codes … that we didn’t have when this building was built,” Walz said. “This meeting room … has bad acoustics. Our microphone system is obsolete. And quite frankly, we do want to add that indoor recreation space, and the only way we can do that is by constructing a new facility. We want to have a building that is more like a community center.”

While the new township building is being constructed near the park, it will be business as usual inside the current municipal building. That building will be demolished when the new building is complete.

“We want it to be a community space, not just a daunting government building,” Walz said. “We want it to be a place that our residents want to come and spend time and appreciate this great community we live in in North Strabane.”