Confusion shrouds vote to demo defunct bridge at Crown Center mall
A proposed motion by the Washington County commissioners to spend $250,000 in Act 13 funds for the “reconstruction, maintenance and repair” of a defunct bridge leading to the former Washington Crown Center mall will have to be rewritten after it was revealed the span is actually slated for demolition.
The motion, which was read aloud during the commissioners’ workshop meeting Tuesday and placed on today’s meeting agenda, mischaracterized the scope of the project and indicated the dilapidated bridge from Franklin Farms Road in North Franklin Township would be rebuilt after being closed to traffic for many years.
But when contacted by a reporter Wednesday asking about the reconstruction project, North Franklin Supervisor Bob Sabot said the bridge is being razed and the pillars removed in order to allow for better stormwater flow of the stream that runs underneath it.
“The improvement is that it’s got to come down,” Sabot said in a phone interview when asked about the supposed rehabilitation project listed on the agenda. “We’re not going to rebuild.”
One permitted use of Act 13 natural gas drilling impact fee money is the “construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roadways, bridges and public infrastructure,” according to the state Public Utility Commission that oversees the grant program. The funds cannot be used to demolish a structure, although flood mitigation efforts are permissible under the law.
“We have to figure out how to do it (but) Act 13 doesn’t talk about demolition, so we had to go a different route,” Sabot said. “The money is going to come to the township, directly to the township and we’re going to use the money to fix the roads (around the mall). But in the meantime, the mall owners are going to take the bridge down.”
Washington County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman said either North Franklin Township or the property’s new owners, Cleveland-based PREP Funds, will handle the demolition of the bridge deck. A portion of the $250,000 in Act 13 funds will go to the township to remove the pillars in the stream that often catch debris and cause flooding, while improvements will also be made to improve the banks of the waterway and to fix Ring Road that goes around the mall now known as Franklin Crossroads Park.
“When they demo the bridge, it’s just the deck part of the bridge,” Sherman said. “They will be leaving behind the pillars. (The pillars) are one of the reasons we have flooding down there. We will be using the Act 13 money to aid in flood mitigation.”
He could not explain why the wording of the agenda item read aloud during Tuesday’s workshop meeting – attended by the three commissioners and other county officials – said the money would be used for “reconstruction, maintenance and repair” of the old bridge.
“It’s technically to fix the flood mitigation and it should’ve been listed as such. And it will be corrected for (today’s) vote,” Sherman said. “Demolition is not permitted. That’s why the township and mall owners will be accruing that cost. … Anyone who lives in that area knows flood mitigation is critical for economic development in that area.”
County solicitor Gary Sweat said Wednesday they will need to rewrite the agenda item before taking the vote today to “define where the money is to go and what it’s going to be used for” under Act 13 guidelines. The commissioners are meeting at 10 a.m. on the ground floor of the Crossroads Center building.
But Commissioner Larry Maggi said the revelation that the bridge would be demolished and not reconstructed – as he was led to believe during Tuesday’s workshop meeting – made him question what other agenda items might have mischaracterized that he’s voted on in the past.
“I’m not happy about not knowing what’s going on,” Maggi said. “I just thought we were giving (North Franklin) money to help them out to fix that bridge. But I just found out like you, it’s not what it appeared to be.”
Regardless of what happens with today’s vote, Sabot said he thought it was only fair that North Franklin would receive some assistance with the former Crown Center property after the county spent more than $6 million to demolish the old Washington Mall to make room for new development in South Strabane.
“They gave a generous sum of money to demolish the Washington Mall. That wasn’t out of Act 13 money,” Sabot said of the use of the county’s blight funds. “I was pretty upset because we have new mall owners coming in and we have to beg, borrow and steal to get $250,000 to help bring them along to get the Crown Center mall up to snuff.”