Developer wants to build homes at site of former Mineral Beach pool
The site of a former Union Township swimming pool could become the site of a residential development.
Braun Holdings Mineral Beach LLC in Murrysville is looking to build 113 single-family homes on the former Mineral Beach pool property at 6299 Route 88. The family-owned public swimming pool and picnic grounds operated for more than 90 years before closing in 2018.
Braun Holdings appeared before township supervisors April 16 for a public hearing to request conditional use for a planned residential development (PRD).
Chris Hamm of KDH Consulting Engineers Inc. represented the developer.
“We’ve been on this for six years,” Braun said at the hearing. “This approval doesn’t grant us the right to build anything. The PRD grants the right for the plan; it does not grant us any approvals to build the plan. It doesn’t grant any land development or subdivision approval. If the PRD is approved, we have to come back and get full land development and subdivision approvals.”
Hamm did not have a cost estimate, but did say the project will be done in two phases, with about 75 homes built in the first phase with the remainder built in phase two.
“Sewage planning has been approved for phase one,” Hamm said. “The waterline plans have been conditionally approved based upon the remainder of our planned development approvals.”
Mineral Beach, built in 1924, was named for a well containing mineral water that was initially used to fill the pool. The “Beach” portion of the name came from the sand that once surrounded the pool. According to a post on the Mon Valley Photo Works in November 2020, the pool also served as a snowmaking pond.
The pool closed at the end of the 2018 season. Demolition started in 2023 to make way for the housing plan. The Beach House restaurant on the property remains open for business.
Township Supervisor Suzonne Baynham worked at Mineral Beach in the kitchen in her youth.
“I have wonderful memories,” she said. “It was the place where all of your friends went swimming. I remember meeting friends there, especially the last day of school. After the last day of school, it was a big place for all of the kids to go.”
She said development such as the proposed housing plan is cropping up in many communities.
“I know development is everywhere,” Baynham said. “I’m not against development. It was sad to see such a historical place torn down, but I understand the reason behind it.”
Township engineer TJ Stephens, of Bankson Engineers, said a lot of concerns have been addressed, but some remain, such as a clarification concerning plans for an emergency access road.
The main entrance into the plan will be off Walter Long Road, but the plan calls for an emergency exit off of Beach Lane near the Beach House Restaurant.
“We don’t want to have one ingress and egress out of a housing plan with (113) homes,” said Michalle Dupree, board chair. “The problem is that the Beach House owns (the area) from Route 88 to Beach Drive. They’re going to have to get an easement from (the restaurant owner). They can’t block that exit because it has to be accessible to emergency vehicles at all times.
“There’s an easement for the cellphone tower that used to be owned by the military. The developer wants to move that easement over to Walter Long Road, so he can build houses where that easement is. He has on his plans that he’s building houses, but where he’s building them he can’t because of the easement. So, he’s acquiring Walter Long Road for the township to eventually take it over.”
Stephens also recommended the developer provide documentation concerning agreements for easement relocation, justification for some of the modifications planned such as changes to setbacks and creating smaller turning radiuses to condense the site, and a cost estimate for upgrades to an old culvert over the creek.
Hamm said a fee per building lot with the money to be placed in escrow could cover the funds for the culvert upgrades.
Stephens said eventually there will have to be an agreement with the developer that “outlines everybody’s responsibilities relative to the project.”
Supervisor Larry Speer raised a concern involving traffic on Route 88, and the most recent traffic study was in 2020.
“Conditions have changed considerably since 2020, have they not?” Speer asked. “That seems to be my biggest issue because of the congestion out there.”
“It has been (a concern) for years,” Dupree added. “We’ll see what PennDOT says are the measures that have to be taken. That’s not up to us. There’s been a lot of development since (the last traffic study). ”
Hamm said if the state Department of Transportation requests a new traffic study, one will be undertaken.
Solicitor Dennis Makel asked Stephens if he was recommending approval. Stephens said all applications such as this for conditional use should be sent to the planning commission before ultimate approval by the supervisors.
Makel said supervisors have 45 days from the date of the hearing to render a decision.