Community Corner

Residents Envision Future Moon Riverfront Park

Trains that run through a waterfront property slated to become a township park could pose difficulty for the project.

One resident suggested a waterfront promenade that could stretch along the banks of the Ohio River. Another proposed a splash pad for children to cool off and a place to dock kayaks and canoes. 

Moon residents on Tuesday night were asked to envision the future of the township's planned , which will be located off University Boulevard. 

Developers from the Somerset-based firm Stromberg Garrigan & Associates, which has been pegged by the township to spearhead the project, met with community members to collect feedback and share initial findings of the park plan. 

Find out what's happening in Robinson-Moonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lance Welliver, assistant director for , said the township will hold another set of meetings before presenting its final plan for the project in December. 

Mary A. King, project manager for Civil & Environmental Consultants, said the site, which housed the defunct RB&W Manufacturing industrial site, contains minor contamination from oils used in the manufacturing of threaded nut bolts. 

Find out what's happening in Robinson-Moonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The factory was demolished in 2006, two years after the township purchased the land. All that remains from the original factory is a large cement slab and dirt foundation beneath it. 

King said the contamination is localized to the soil in the structure's foundation. She said though minor water contamination was detected, it did not threaten drinking water supplies. 

"The next step is determining the clean up of the site," King said. She said the proposed park area is "significantly less contaminated" than other recent area clean-up projects, including the grounds surrounding  Island Sports Center on Neville Island. 

Residents viewed photos of a variety of park activities to rank what features they would like to see included in the park, ranging from tennis courts and sporting facilities to fishing and camping grounds.  

"We're just trying to get an idea of what everyone would like to see in the park," Welliver said. 

Use of the park could be limited by the CSX train tracks that will run parallel to the park area off University Boulevard. 

Land-use planner Sean Garrigan said trains can run on the tracks as frequently as every 20 minutes during some times of the day, which he said could limit use of the park to "passive recreation activities" such as hiking or non-motorized boating. 

"You don't want to have programming at the park that's going to attract 500 people and then have them all waiting behind a train for 20 minutes," Garrigan said. "So think instead of picnicking, pavilions and things like that."

Access to the park will be limited to one entry point next to the Fab-Tec Industries location off University Boulevard and the Moon Municipal Authority will maintain access to its water pumps, which are located on the park grounds. 

Garrigan said a train gate will likely need to be installed at the entrance of the park for motorists and pedestrians. 

"We want to think how can we make crossing [the railroad tracks] safer and upgrade that crossing," said land-use planner Timothy Stromberg. 

Planners at the event compared the property to Point State Park in Pittsburgh, which holds more than 30 acres of passive recreation activity.

No timeline or budget estimate is yet available for the project. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here