Pa. Town`s Residents Concerned Over Emergency Services Building Proposal

July 21--Concerns about the cost and possible loss of park space were addressed by residents of Crawford County during Monday night's public meeting about the potential construction of a new emergency services building.

The building would also accompany an approximately 160-foot antenna tower, totaling around $2 million of funds that the county has already set aside. The new emergency services building is proposed to be 5,300 square feet with a 2,700-square-foot garage for county-owned vehicles.

The primary concern of those in attendance was the necessity of constructing a new building on land adjacent to Cora Clark Park off Pine Street when a number of vacated properties are currently available for purchase. The land was part of the former Talon property.

"Why do you have to have a new building?" Denis Alexatos of Vernon Township asked Francis Weiderspahn Jr., chairman of the county commissioners. "There are buildings available that you could buy for a quarter million (dollars)."

Alexatos did not provide information about which buildings could be purchased for $250,000.

MCM Consulting Group Inc., the county consultant on the project, considered a number of vacant buildings, according to Mike McGrady, the group's president and chief executive officer.

County officials and the consultants took a number of factors into consideration when pinpointing a new location. Among them are that emergency cables are run underground, and buying a new property would require raising the floor or renovating the structure in another manner to keep cables out of the way, said Kevin Nicholson, Crawford County's 911 director.

Another issue would be ensuring the building is on high land, given a handful of properties are within areas that are known to flood. The section of the former Talon propertythey are considering using is on elevated land. If the county commissioners look at spaces within downtown Meadville, there is also the question of how tall the antenna tower would have to be, according to Ron Godava, senior consultant and engineer with MCM.

If the land off Pine Street is selected as the location for the new emergency services building, the antenna tower would need to be approximately 160 feet tall, relative to the 180-foot tower at the county fairgrounds. The first 100 feet of that tower, if constructed on the already county-owned land, would be hidden by the trees in the surrounding area as well.

Barbara Newcamp of Meadville wished to speak on the prevention of losing public park space given the proposed foot-for-foot swap of county and city property adjacent to Cora Clark Park.

"We're losing city parks one by one," she said. "I'm just really nervous about this encroaching on our parks."

The potential switch would only serve to expand city park space, if anything, according to City of Meadville Deputy Mayor LeRoy Stearns, who served as the spokesperson for the city's involvement in that land swap. Stearns was present with a few other employees of the city, including Mayor Christopher Soff, City Manager Andy Walker and Assistant City Manager Gary Johnson.

The city, according to Stearns, currently has grant money available that could be used for increasing the park space at that location if the land switch is approved, with Stearns suggesting that a community garden could be a welcome addition.

"The goal is to keep as much money on the tax rolls," Stearns said, identifying that this property is already owned by the county and is not currently taxed. "It only makes sense to put (the emergency services building) there.

"With the city working with the county, we're taking an unused piece of land and actually hoping to expand Cora Clark Park. The last thing that I want is to take land off the tax rolls. If you take too much off, you have to start raising taxes."

Ken Kuhn, president of Kuhn Tool & Die Co., offered up the previous building owned by the company, at 373 Davis St. on Meadville's south side. Kuhn Tool & Die recently moved to the former Heatrex Inc. building at Route 77 and Leslie Road in West Mead Township.

Kuhn does not question the need for a new emergency services center and said that before the vacancy of the Davis Street building, the commissioners were looking at the "best alternative."

"I think it's extremely important that they find a new location," Kuhn said, "but my only interest is that they put it in the best place that serves its functions."

Stearns' concernwith the previous Kuhn Tool & Die Co. building was the fact that it could be taking land off the tax roll. But Kuhn said he would be willing to lease the building such that it remains taxable.

Allen Clark, director of Crawford County Emergency Management Agency, wishes to see the correction of three major problems in the emergency services move, all of which he says the new building would fix: the lack of a permanent and secure operating center, the situation of having four people in one room as is the current setup, and having a unified location for emergency vehicles that are currently spread throughout the county.

"A standalone building is very good as far as fires and flooding," Nicholson said during the meeting. "We have to be very careful where we put this building. It's just not a good idea to have (emergency operations) in the courthouse."

The current Crawford County Emergency Management Agency is housed in the courthouse's basement assembly room, but as the room is a multi-purpose space, emergency equipment cannot be left there. The total area is 1,600 square feet, where the operations have been set up since 1991. The current situation seems outdated, according to Nicholson, who said the county's emergency operations answer more than 48,000 calls annually.

Services housed in the building would include the county 911 dispatch center; emergency management, hazardous materials and Homeland Security operations; geographic information systems and addressing; the coroner's office and a backup site for the county's information technology/computer systems. This space would additionally function as the emergency operations center in the event of a disaster.

Weiderspahn emphasized that the county already has the money for this building set aside and that the project would require no tax increase and no borrowing on the county's part.

Amanda Spadaro can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at aspadaro@meadvilletribune.com.

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