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Bethel Park breaks ground for Millennium Park renovations

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The municipality of Bethel Park held an Oct. 15 groundbreaking ceremony for renovations to Millennium Park.

“I’m very excited for the upgrades at Millennium Park,” Tim Moury, Bethel Park Council president, said. “As part of our strategic park plan, this will enhance recreational opportunities for all of our residents.”

The upgrades include a new playground, new walking trail, updated Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant restrooms with the addition of a concession stand and the municipality’s first synthetic turf baseball field.

“We’ll also be planting over 76 new trees with the help of Tree Pittsburgh and a generous donation by the Bethel Park/Upper St. Clair Breakfast Rotary,” Moury said.

The new .32-mile, ADA-compliant walking trail outlines the new ball field and runs behind the existing baseball field, now offering guests a .5-mile loop trail to enjoy.

“A storage shed is also being installed in the corner of the grass field to provide more room for equipment and materials storage for Municipal employees to maintain the facility,” Stacey Graf, Bethel Park director of engineering, said. “We’re also reconstructing the lower parking area to meet current ADA guidelines along with the associated asphalt walking trail.”

Other improvements will include multiple pitching and base distances allowing for a variety of age groups involved in softball and baseball to play, and previously installed underground tanks adjacent to the new field area to hold about 49,000 gallons of stormwater.

“These tanks will help manage stormwater and reduce runoff and erosion,” Graf said.

And the playground on the site will also have its own unique identity, as each park in Bethel Park does.

“We again asked local residents for their ideas on the playground structure, and they made the final design decision regarding what would go into the Millennium Park playground,” Graf said.

While portions of the project are complete, the entire update should be wrapped up in November.

The total project cost is $975,000, with part of it funded by a $268,300 grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund through the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Project contractors and organizations include Plavchak Construction Co. Inc., Newman Plumbing Inc., Westmoreland Electric Services LLC and Snider Recreation Inc.

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