Montour Trail-Letter

Volume 12, Issue 5

September/October, 2001

The townships in the Western part of Allegheny County are experiencing tremendous growth. The building of retail, office complexes, and housing continues to occur at a rapid pace. Some of this development is now occurring adjacent to the Montour Trail.

Last year the Montour Trail Council (MTC) was fortunate to purchase the first 7.3 miles of the underlying trail right-of-way from the defunct Montour Railroad. This right-of-way is for the most part 60 ft. wide. While 60 ft. leaves plenty of room for the trail, it unfortunately does not allow the MTC to preserve the entire corridor as green space.

The MTC has received numerous questions recently relative to a couple of adjacent developments. One is a Costco store in Robinson Township and the other is a housing development off Hassam Road in Moon Township. MTC representatives have met with the developers at both sites to gather information about their particular projects.

The Costco development is adjacent to the trail at mile 4.1 near Park Manor Boulevard to the "Volunteer" bridge at about mile 3.9. The property has been cleared from the road leading to Kaufmann's towards the trail leaving a thin line of trees on the hillside cut above the Montour Run stream. A review of the plans with the contractor shows the cleared area nearest the trail by the "Volunteer" bridge is to become a water retention basin. In a meeting with the developer, he stated they are considering setting aside a significant portion of property East of this development as a conservation area. Robinson Township also mentioned the possibility of the developer creating this conservation area.

The second development is for housing in Moon Township off Hassam Road, and is far less obtrusive than the Costco development. This development itself is not adjacent to the trail, but on top of Hassam Road towards Montour Street Extension in Moon Township. Visible to trail users are only two 40 ft. wide tree clearings. The first is at mile 1.4 at Hassam Road and the second is near mile 1.0. The first cut is for a sewer connection under the trail at mile 1.4. The second cut near mile 1.0 is for a new and very interesting forward thinking concept for a housing development in Moon Township. The developer via a walking trail has agreed to connect the housing plan to the Montour Trail.

The Montour Trail Council has highly encouraged these types of connections with most developers, and was pleasantly surprised when the developer decided to make this connection at his own expense.

The MTC will continue to monitor these projects and present updates as appropriate.