Installation of playground equipment set to begin at Greensburg's Spring Avenue Park

Work is expected to begin this week to revitalize Greensburg’s Spring Avenue Park, a project that can’t be completed soon enough for families who live nearby.

Sports and Recreation Associates is scheduled Monday to begin installing new play equipment that was delivered recently to the park at Spring Avenue and Grove Street.

The city is paying the contractor about $218,000 for new playground elements at Spring Avenue Park, including swings and slides. The purchase is being covered by federal community development block grant funds.

A gravity rail, priced at $54,000, was eliminated. A similar feature, described as a cross between a zip line and a swing, was installed in 2019 at a playground along Sheridan Avenue in South Greensburg.

For the Spring Avenue site, a gravity rail “was too large, it took up too much space,” according to Glenn Moyer, Greensburg’s parks and recreation superintendent. “That is why we ended up deleting it.”

Sports and Recreation Associates is providing additional equipment at three other city playgrounds, with the city applying other block grant funding toward the cost of more than $175,000.

The Spring Avenue installation will be followed by Lynch Field and then Coulter and Northmont, Moyer said. “We are expecting this to take roughly three weeks, depending upon the weather.”

Plavchak Construction Co. submitted the low bid of about $317,000 to install new infrastructure at Spring Avenue Park, including new walkways and an updated basketball half court.

That work is expected to begin on about Sept. 25, with completion anticipated within four months, Moyer said.

City Councilman Gregory Mertz said the intent is to have the revamped park ready for families to use next spring.

Lisa Roberts, who lives on Spring Avenue near the park, told council this week she was anxious to see progress with improvement of the recreational site.

In the meantime, she expressed concern about people having access to the site through several gaps in a perimeter cyclone fence, suggesting that broken tree limbs felled in a recent storm could pose a hazard.

Roberts also said grass that has not been mowed at the park could foster vermin that might find their way onto neighboring properties, including hers.

“I’m scared of rats, I’m scared of mice,” she said. “I don’t want anything coming out of there.”

Moyer said crews Wednesday added more fencing and posted signs to keep people out of the park construction site. He said anyone who sees someone other than construction workers inside the restricted area should notify city police.