After nine months of debating whether a $30 million sports complex should be built on North Huntingdon’s public works property, township officials Wednesday put a halt to drafting a lease with the developers of the proposed sports complex and terminated any talks with them.
The vote to end the process was 4-3.
Township Commissioners Fran Bevan, Eric Gass, Rich Gray and Tom Hempel voted to end the township solicitor creating a lease with Josh Zugai and David Ponsonby of NHT Investment Partners.
Commissioners Jason Atwood, Zachary Haigis and Ronald Zona favored continuing the work.
The vote puts an end, at least for now, to any plans for a multi-field sports complex with an indoor facility for a Pittsburgh Riverhounds soccer academy on about 40 acres of the land off Public Works Drive that connects to Route 30.
Zugai and his business partner, Ponsonby, had unveiled the plans last May for the sports complex, featuring the Riverhounds soccer facility.
“We’re disheartened,” Zugai said when contacted after the meeting.
Gray said he has been opposed from the beginning to the idea of the township leasing public land for a for-profit business.
Zona and Haigis said they favored having the solicitor complete a draft and present it to the public.
Zugai said he and Ponsonby never had any discussion with the township on a lease since the commissioners voted in November to have the solicitor write the lease.
“We have not seen anything — no pages (of a lease) in 120 days,” Zugai said.
A vote to stop the solicitor from working on a lease was not on the commissioners’ meeting agenda Wednesday, but Gass raised the issue after eight residents voiced their complaints about the proposed sports complex.
Residents’ concerns included the additional traffic a sports complex would generate, safety issues that could be created, noise from the complex and the costs the township could incur.
Several of the residents asked the commissioners to vote to put a halt to writing a lease.
“The township is being held hostage by the same few people (opponents),” Zugai said. “We hear from thousands of people that they want this.”
It was the second time in the past five months the North Huntingdon commissioners voted to end negotiations with the developers.
Residents living near the public works property vociferously opposed the project and complained about a proposed 116-year lease — 29 years with three options — that would pay the township just $116.
NHT Investment did increase the amount of money they would pay the township to $10,000 a year for 116 years, or $1.16 million in total.
Zugai said he did not know if the investors behind the project would be willing to continue working with the township if the situation arises.