Baseball, softball field at War Memorial Park in Sewickley to be moved

A Sewickley area youth baseball and softball program may be playing on a new field next year.

Todd Hamer, borough councilman and coach of the 10 and younger Quaker Valley Softball & Baseball teams, said no games have been played on the War Memorial Park field along Blackburn Road since 2019 due to multiple floods. Teams travel to other communities for their games.

“The field’s been washed out for years now,” Hamer said. “My son, (Tenzig, 9,) never got to play on it. It’s not just for the league. It’s a community field. We don’t have a baseball field on this side of (Route) 65. You’ve had over 50% of your kids having to drive when they could walk previously (to play ball). It’s tough.”

There are about 60 youths throughout the Quaker Valley School District involved in the recreation program. The majority are from Sewickley.

Fall season is from early September through the end of October. Spring is April through May.

The hope is to have players back on their home grass after the field is moved north from near the main entrance to close to the playgrounds.

Council voted 7-0 on Aug. 8 to authorize borough engineer Mike Galet to craft specifications and send the relocation project out for bid. Project costs have not been finalized.

Councilmen Thomas Rostek and Todd Renner were absent.

Galet said it will involve moving bleachers, dugouts and some grading of what is currently green space.

Bids may be opened in September with the project starting late fall.

Hamer believes War Memorial Park will get used more once the project is completed.

“It will be a community asset with the (Sewickley Valley) YMCA being right there (a few blocks away),” Hamer said. “Kids can play kickball, and baseball, and people rent the pavilions.”

The future of the flooded field is unclear.

The project was not on the paper agenda at the meeting or the online version posted on the borough website.

Council president Cynthia Mullins said council opened the agenda at the start of the voting session to add that item, as well as an agreement for a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center research project.

Mullins said they consulted with the borough solicitor, and not having the motions on the agenda prior to the meeting was “just an oversight.”

“We had fully expected to take those two items up,” she said.

Motions added to an agenda must be open to public comment prior to a vote. No one commented on either issue.

The motion about the research project passed via 6-0-1 vote. Councilman Brian Bozzo abstained, saying he felt there was not enough time to analyze the project and subsequent borough agreement with Pitt.

In other business

Council adopted a resolution to be included in the Allegheny County Community Development Block Grant and home investment partnership programs through 2026.

Borough manager Donna Kaib said the resolution was a formality to have something on file in case of an audit.

Such grants are available for economic development, municipal public improvements and housing development projects, according to the county’s website.

Sewickley has been a part of the county program for years. It received at least $150,000 in grants for pedestrian-related improvements and traffic calming upgrades the past two years alone.

“People like to walk here,” Mullins said.”They like to be out exercising. They like to be able to walk into the Village. Anything that we can do to make walking and getting around the borough easier and safer is an important thing for us to do. These grants help us with that.”

Allegheny County director of communications Amie Downs said the resolution was a “ministerial step that municipalities need to take every three years.”

Many county communities are involved in the programs. Outliers are Penn Hills and the cities of Pittsburgh and McKeesport.

“CDBG is a heavily regulated program. For some municipalities, the cost of compliance and monitoring — both in dollars and staff time — outweighs the benefits from participating in the program directly,” Downs said via email. “That is why so many municipalities participate in the county program.”

Council approved a request to close Centennial Avenue between Straight Street and Nevin Avenue from 1-6 p.m. Oct. 15 for a neighborhood block party.

Council approved a request to close the 600-800 blocks of Maple Lane from 3-9 p.m. Sept. 17 for a neighborhood block party. This party is expected to have catering trucks provided permits and required insurance and certifications are obtained.