Let there be light, at least on the Riverview Raiders football and baseball fields.
After years of ongoing discussion and funding efforts, Oakmont officials have secured funding to carry out a lighting project at Riverside Park, where the Raiders play their home football, soccer and baseball games.
The lights would finally allow the football team to play its home games on Friday nights, like every other public school in the WPIAL.
Tony Lascola, chair of Oakmont’s Parks and Recreation Committee, said during a council meeting last week that there is sufficient funding for the lighting project. He told council time is of the essence regarding approvals for the project.
“Obviously the public wants the lights in as soon as possible,” Lascola said.
The school district rents the field from Oakmont since it’s located in Riverside Park, a space open to the public, which also houses the district’s home baseball field.
The project, as planned, consists of 10 light poles around the perimeter of the football and baseball fields.
While Saturday afternoon football has been the norm in Oakmont, the football and soccer teams’ boosters had been paying for rented, portable lights once a year for Thursday night soccer and a Friday night football game on homecoming weekend.
Lascola made an official proposal to council to add lights in November. He previously asked council to retroactively approve the project contingent on enough funding being acquired for the project.
Borough Manager Scot Fodi previously told TribLive that council’s financial support was limited to grant applications and site engineering since the park is borough property.
Lascola said that upon council approval, the recreation board will be working with the borough’s engineer, LSSE Civil Engineers and Surveyors, throughout the project.
“Everything is in place,” Lascola said.
Shawn Wingrove, LSSE’s representative for Oakmont, said Oakmont Council will be asked at some point to approve a geotechnical engineering service that will test the soil where the lights would be placed and to approve one of the four quotes offered for the project.
The next time council could vote on the project or any of its components would be at its meeting Jan. 20.
Everything is on a tentative timeline, Fodi told TribLive. He said approval for the geotechnical services will likely come before anything else.
“Possibly in February we can finalize which lighting quote we want to go with,” Fodi said.
Ideally, Lascola said, they hope to have the lights installed by the school’s fall sports season.
“There’s an eight- to 10-week lead time on the poles,” Lascola said. “The lights and the technology, the computer parts, all those things are in stock so it’s still doable. We can’t sleep on it.”
Initially projected to cost $990,000, Lascola presented council with four quotes significantly below that cost. Fodi said the quotes range from $550,000 to a bit under $900,000.
“We’ve saved considerable money in talking to a lot of vendors,” Lascola said.
Night games?
Riverview is currently the only public school in the WPIAL without a lighted field.
Over the last year, the project has received a large amount of public support, especially from parents of athletes who play on the field.
“Our students are excited for the opportunity to participate in events under the lights, an experience already enjoyed by all students across Allegheny County,” Riverview superintendent Neil English said in a statement to TribLive.
“This project will bring added energy to our athletic programs and highlight the on-field accomplishments of our student athletes. We are thankful for this investment in our students and the broader Riverview community.”
English’s statement went on to say that the district is grateful for the collaborative effort it took to raise funds.
“We sincerely appreciate the support of the Oakmont Recreation Board, Oakmont Borough, the Riverview School Board, the USGA, Senator Costa, Representative McAndrew, the Riverview Athletic Boosters Association and the many community partners who worked together to support our students and our community,” the statement read.
Some people living on the streets near the park have voiced concerns about the lights glaring into their homes.
The borough has been awarded two grants totaling $275,000 to put toward the project. In addition, the USGA donated $100,000 designated for park improvements after the U.S. Open was hosted in the borough in June.
Other funding sources include a 2024 gambling revenue grant worth $194,000, a $92,000 grant from Greenways Rails to Trails Recreation and a $15,000 donation from the Riverside Park Association.
In November 2024, borough officials applied for a state Commonwealth Financing Authority Local Share Award grant for $750,000. The borough was awarded $450,000 of that money in December after a delayed decision due to the state budget impasse.
The total amount obtained is $852,000. Fodi said the borough will be discussing some of the grants’ required match amounts with the district. The borough agreed to incur the costs of maintenance for the lights in exchange for the district funding any of the project’s costs that exceed grant funding, including the grant matches.
“You make an improvement in the park, you need to maintain it,” Fodi said about the borough’s intention to provide maintenance for the lights.