Category Archive: Preservation Alert
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Historic Dorrington Road Bridge in Collier Threatened: Requires New Site
Landmarks met with PennDOT and Collier Township officials today and discussed the possibility of saving and relocating the bridge. Collier Township is open to having the bridge moved to a new park it is creating near Nevillewood, but funding would be needed to support the project.
Landmarks member and 2002 Scholarship winner Todd Wilson prepared a presentation on the behalf of Landmarks that was presented at the meeting. The content below.
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Dorrington Road Bridge
Introduction:
Within the next 20 years, the upgrade from the truss bridges of the 19th century to modern post World War II bridges will likely be completed.
It is crucial to carefully select significant bridges to preserve in order to represent and exemplify the rest of the demolished truss bridges.
The Dorrington Road Bridge, being one of the last of its type in the country, is one such bridge.
PHLF wants to work with PennDOT and Collier Township to find a suitable owner for the relocated bridge.
Bridge Information:
- Pin-connected
- Pratt pony truss
- Single span
- 60 feet long
- 19 feet wide
- Built in 1888 by the Pittsburgh Bridge Company
- Composed of cast and wrought iron (according to the Pennsylvania Historic Bridge Inventory)
- Endposts of bridge are vertical instead of diagonal
Historical Significance:
- Rare cast and wrought iron Pratt pony truss with vertical endposts
- One of 15 truss bridges identified as cast and wrought iron in
- Pennsylvania (as of the 1997 Historic Bridge Inventory)
- Last remaining cast and wrought iron bridge in PennDOT District 11
One of 5 iron truss bridges remaining in District 11 - Only remaining iron pony truss in District 11
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Maintains historical integrity
- Retains builders plates from prolific bridge company
- Unique among the other 861 bridges on historicbridges.org
According to December 2006 data from the Federal Highway Administration:
- 3.3% of PA bridges are trusses (2006), down from 5.5% in 1992; a loss of 40% (482 bridges)
- 2.2% of bridges nationally are trusses, down from 4.3% in 1992; a loss of 47% (11,380 bridges)
- 21 states have 100 or fewer truss bridges; 5 states have 25 or fewer truss bridges
- If that trend continues, all historic truss bridges that have not been preserved or rehabilitated will be demolished within the next 16 years
According to the PA Historic Bridge Inventory, 12% of truss bridges surveyed in 1997 were built before 1890 and 30% were built before 1900 - “Over half the historic bridges identified by statewide surveys have disappeared over the last twenty years” – Winter 2003 Preserving Pennsylvania Newsletter
Expert Evaluation:
Eric DeLony, former Chief of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and author of Landmark American Bridges.
- On January 31, 2007, Eric made the following evaluation regarding the Dorrington Road Bridge:
- Despite the wealth of HBs in Pennsylvania, I’m confident the bridge will be at the top of the list regarding its value, significance, condition and preservation potential.
- The outriggers (buttresses) look like they might have been added to increase lateral stability, but this was well done, and in my view doesn’t diminish its integrity.
- The bridge has many things in its favor for preserving: significance, condition and relatively short span – a structure easily moved to another location.
Nathan Holth, creator of HistoricBridges.com.
- On January 24, 2007, Nathan Holth wrote:
- The Dorrington Road Bridge will only become more rare and significant as time passes and more truss bridges elsewhere are demolished.
- The Dorrington Road Bridge is a pin-connected Pratt pony truss bridge that is technologically noteworthy for having vertical endposts, giving it a distinct rectangular shape that in uncommon in truss bridge design.
- The bridge retains a significant level of historic integrity, meaning features that were present on the bridge in 1888 still remain today. Among the elements that remain in their original form are original lattice railings and a builder plaque, which are elements that are often missing from other truss bridges.
- I strongly feel that relocating and rehabilitating the historic Dorrington Road Bridge is a wise course of action.
Other Reasons to Save Bridge:
- Educational tool
- Tourist attraction
- Community identity
- Feature of a park
- Bridge for a trail
Local Rails to Trails:
- Last 7 miles of the Great Allegheny Passage Trail in Allegheny County to be completed in 2008 at a cost of $7 million
- Montour Trail Council’s Panhandle trail ends in Rennerdale, about a mile away from the Dorrington Road Bridge
- “About 40 miles of the [Montour] trail are completed; but completed miles are not all connected, being isolated by a few large uncompleted sections, as well as some missing bridges requiring at-grade crossings of public roads.”
- $10.1 million conversion of Hot Metal Bridge underway for trail use
Cost Effective Solution:
Funding up to the cost of demolition is available for bridge preservation
With that funding, the cost of relocating a historic bridge is comparable to the cost of a new bridge
Dorrington Road Bridge in better condition than many comparable bridgesCase Study: Bollman Bridge:
- 1871 cast and wrought iron Warren through truss bridge
- 81 feet long by 14 feet wide
- Closed to traffic in 1999
- Bridge currently being relocated to Great Allegheny Passage Trail
- Total cost of project about $200,000
- $80,000 funded by government
Case Study: Henzsey’s Bridge
- 1869 wrought iron bowstring arch truss
- 96 feet long by 17 feet wide
- Closed to traffic in 1986
- Feasibility study and drawings prepared by a civil engineering professor and students
- Restored and relocated to serve Central Pennsylvania College in 2002
- Cost for a new bridge would be “slightly less” than the cost to reuse the old bridge
- Cost approximately $250,000
- Project won 2003 Historic Preservation Award
Michigan’s Historic Bridge Park:
Conclusion:
The Dorrington Road Bridge has served Collier Township for over five generations. Dating from a time before the automobile was invented, it is a rare surviving piece of transportation history. By relocating the bridge to a park or trail, we can preserve this structure and create a “bridge” to the past for many more generations to enjoy.
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Woodland Hills plan would close just East Junior High School
Thursday, March 8, 2007After the Woodland Hills School Board decided against closing three of the district’s nine schools, a new plan is on the table that would shutter just one of them by the beginning of the 2008-09 school year.
District spokeswoman Maria McCool said the school board plans to vote March 14 on a plan that would close East Junior High School in Turtle Creek.The proposal to close only East Junior High arose after a comprehensive school consolidation plan designed by superintendent Roslynne Wilson was rejected by a 6-3 vote at the January school board meeting.
“Although this was part of Dr. Wilson’s original plan, and she supports the idea, these new motions have been offered by board directors as a way to cut the estimated budget deficit,” McCool said.That original plan would have closed Shaffer Primary School in Churchill, Rankin Intermediate School in Rankin and East Junior High School by the start of the 2009-10 school year. The closings would have begun with Shaffer Primary at the end of the current school year.
The comprehensive plan met with opposition from parents who were concerned that the closings were being rushed. The board has been discussing the plan at each meeting since, McCool said.McCool said the board agreed to consider closing East Junior High after the 2007-08 annual budget was presented last month. Its approximately 288 seventh- and eighth-graders would attend Swissvale’s West Junior High School.
The 7:30 meeting Wednesday will be at the district administration building, 2430 Greensburg Pike, Churchill. District residents who would like to speak at the meeting should register with the board secretary, Joyce Sullivan, by 3 p.m. Monday by calling 412-731-1300, ext. 0133.
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‘We want the park to stay a park’
By Brian C. Rittmeyer
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, March 5, 2007Dormont residents rallied in winter conditions Sunday in hopes of saving a summertime favorite.
Efforts once aimed at saving the borough’s landmark pool are now set on saving the whole of Dormont Park from the threat of development.“We want to raise awareness and let council know we don’t want them to develop our park,” said Dormont resident Sarann Fisher. “We want the park to stay a park. We don’t want them to develop the park into retail or more residential.”
The roughly 75 protesters who made their way from the pool parking lot to Banksville Road found support from passing motorists, who honked their horns in response to their signs and chants of “Honk your horn, save our park.” They’re expected to take their fight to the Dormont Council meeting at 7:30 tonight at the borough building.
Two developers have made park proposals. One would renovate the 87-year-old pool in exchange for permission to build townhouses and retail buildings in the park. The other would build a smaller pool and a community center in exchange for retail development in the park.
Opponents want the 25-acre park to stay as it is, and they want efforts to repair the pool to continue.
“We don’t need a strip mall down here,” said John Maggio, president of Friends of the Dormont Pool. “We’re hoping they’ll get the message.”
Karen Gottschall, 40, carried a sign saying “No Walgreens,” which is rumored to be an anchor of a proposed development.
“We need more green space, not less,” she said. “The park is the jewel of Dormont.”
“It’s not about the pool anymore. It’s about the park. They want to pave over our park,” she said. “The developers don’t want to save our park. They want to make money. That’s what they want to do, and they want our land to do it. Our council, unfortunately, might let them.”
The pool remains a focus, however. Pete Popowicz, 57, boasted of the 15 pool passes he had on his car and compared the pool to the likes of Kennywood in stature.
“Even though it’s winter now, we talk about how much the pool means to us in the summer,” 12-year-old Samantha Fisher said as snow swirled about her. “It means so much to me. I’d risk coming down here in the middle of a blizzard just to save this place.”
Donna Rosleck, 68, said the park is a landmark, where her family picnics and her two grandsons come to swim and play.
“I don’t want to see the property sold and the swimming pool go,” she said. “If they take all the property, the kids don’t have any place to go in Dormont.”
This is not the first time Dormont residents have rallied to preserve the park. Fifty years ago, residents fought off a plan to build apartments on the land, said Jim Rutledge, 79, a lifelong borough resident.
Rutledge said he’s confident the latest development proposal can be defeated, too.
Brian C. Rittmeyer can be reached at brittmeyer@tribweb.com or (724) 779-7108.
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Battle over houses heats up – Group says council went against the law when it repealed subdivision OK
By Jan Ackerman,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, February 08, 2007Emotions are running high between historic preservationists and a nonprofit organization that wants to build seven houses on a vacant parcel behind Munhall’s historic library.
Officials of the Mon Valley Initiative are convinced that Munhall council violated state zoning law when it voted to repeal its approval of a subdivision they want to build in the Library Estates neighborhood.
John Bixler, executive director of Mon Valley Initiative, said the organization had gotten legal advice and believed borough council erred when it rescinded approval of the subdivision Jan. 26.
“The rescission was illegal. We have the right to build,” Mr. Bixler said.
Munhall Councilman Michael Terrick doesn’t think that is the case. He said council approved the subdivision, with the understanding that Mon Valley Initiative would comply with historic district standards that were part of a separate ordinance.
“They are hanging their hat on a technicality,” he said.
Munhall’s solicitor, Louis Silverhart, is researching the issue and will have a legal opinion for council, probably this month.
Mr. Bixler cited a letter from George Janocsko, an Allegheny County solicitor, which was read to Munhall council before its vote.
Mr. Janocsko’s letter said Pennsylvania’s municipal planning code prevents local governments from changing local zoning, subdivision and land use ordinances once a subdivision has been approved.
Mr. Janocsko said any attempt by council to amend the borough’s historic district ordinance to include the MVI property would contradict the “plain and clear prohibitions of the municipal planning code.”
As a result, he said, the adoption of the ordinance would provide Mon Valley Initiative with strong legal grounds to sue the borough for a denial of permits and other authorizations.
At a rancorous Jan 26 meeting, council took two actions, voting to expand an existing historic district to include the two-acre tract where Mon Valley Initiative wants to build the houses and to repeal the subdivision approval it had given to MVI.
Several days before the meeting, MVI officials applied for the building permits for the four-bedroom, 21/2-bath houses, which will sell for about $130,000. Mr. Bixler said his organization had every legal right to do so, given that the subdivision had been approved.
That action angered some members of Munhall council, who accused the principals of Mon Valley Initiative of trying to circumvent the desires of council to impose historic requirements on the new development.
The controversy centers on a vacant tract in lower Munhall, behind the historic Carnegie Library of Homestead in a neighborhood called Library Estates which used to be home to mill superintendents.
The neighborhood is mixed. In recent years, some people have bought some of the old mansions around the library, fixed them up and installed globe outdoor lighting. The neighborhood now has its annual Christmas house tour.
Mr. Bixler said the new houses that MVI plans to build would be more expensive than most of the existing houses and would not harm the historic quality of the neighborhood.
Neighbors disagree, saying the new vinyl homes are not appropriate for the area.
Opinions aside, it looks as if the real issues might have to be resolved by the courts.
(Jan Ackerman can be reached at jackerman@post-gazette.com or 412-851-1512. )
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Turtle Creek Mayor to School District: Redistrict; don’t consolidate junior highs
By ADAM R. FORGIE
Mayor, Turtle Creek
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Pittsburgh Post GazetteThis letter is in response to the comments made by Colleen Filiak, of the Woodland Hills school board, who, at the Jan. 10 board meeting, said the students of East Junior High in Turtle Creek were not receiving the same level of education as a student at West Junior High in Swissvale.
As an alumnus of Woodland Hills School District who spent my junior high years at East Junior High, as a social studies teacher of six years at East Junior High, and as the mayor of Turtle Creek, I believe I am highly qualified to voice my opinion and express my disappointment in Mrs. Filiak’s comments.
The children of East Junior High have had and will continue to have an excellent education, which is being taught by a very professional and highly qualified staff. The opportunities and curricula being taught are the same as what is being taught by my outstanding colleagues at West Junior High. If anything, the learning environment at East is much more conducive to learning because it is a smaller and more controllable student body. Consolidating junior highs will create a chaotic atmosphere that will lower PSSA scores and promote a horrible educational atmosphere.
I believe the solution is to redistrict 150 students from West to East. This will lighten the load on both the West staff and the borough of Swissvale and, furthermore, equalize the student populations in both schools. Turtle Creek and its citizens also will get to keep their historic, treasured and beautiful high school operational.
Mrs. Filiak makes me wonder, if I had not gone to East, would I still have ended up just a teacher and mayor? Her comments suggest that if I had gone to West, that I would be a superintendent and our governor.
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Parents worried about historic school buildings
By Karamagi Rujumba,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Thursday, January 11, 2007After celebrating a quarter century of growth in Woodland Hills schools, district officials are worried about the next 25 years.
That’s what lead Superintendent Roslynne Wilson to propose a building consolidation plan that she had hoped would save the district nearly $2.5 million a year.
The school board last night, though, voted down that proposal as well as a last-minute plan pitched by board member Colleen Filiak that targeted the same three schools — Shaffer Primary, Rankin Intermediate and East Junior High schools.
Their votes were in reaction to district taxpayers’ concerns with the closings.
In Turtle Creek, school board members and about 40 people from the community met last Thursday night at Palmieri Restaurant to discuss what the school district’s plan would mean to the community.
Some parents said the superintendent’s plan, in particular, would have lead to the closing and eventual abandonment of historic school buildings in some communities.
The key question for many district parents and others at the meeting was what the school district would do with buildings such as East Junior High School when it is closed. East Junior formerly was historic Turtle Creek High School, and a group has been working for about two years to prevent it from being razed or having its facade renovated.
“That building is very important to many of us,” said Robert Mock, of Turtle Creek, who has been trying to save the school.
“We believe that, if the building is closed, it should be repurposed. What we don’t want to happen is to have the building abandoned,” Mr. Mock said.
Dr. Wilson told the group that the next quarter century would see a much smaller school district, noting that a number of factors such as Act 72 and Act 1 restrictions, declining enrollment and potential teacher retirements would force the district to trim its size, especially the number of buildings it can maintain in tight budgetary times.
“This makes an opportune time to consolidate our buildings,” Dr. Wilson said .
That is why the school district has proposed a three-year building consolidation plan, which would see the closing of three schools in three years: Shaffer, Rankin Intermediate and East Junior High School .
Dr. Wilson said the district’s plan ultimately would save the district about $2.5 million from a reduction in property, personnel and benefits expenses. Without the implementation of the plan or some other cost-saving steps, the district will be faced with some very hard decisions, including possible teacher layoffs, the superintendent said.
School board President Cynthia Lowery said she supported the building consolidation plan because, if it is not implemented, the district would have to consider making cuts somewhere else in its $80 million budget.
“We have to stop deficit spending,” Ms. Lowery said. “We have tried to listen to the community about what they want to see, but there will never be a consensus on this issue.”
(Karamagi Rujumba can be reached at: krujumba@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1719. )
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Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. Keynote Address at the 2006 National Preservation Conference
PHLF News
October 31, 2006“Preservation In Pittsburgh” Keynote address of Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. at the 2006 National Preservation Conference held in Pittsburgh, PA, October 31, 2006
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Woodland Hills gathers data on school closings
By Karen Zapf
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, October 13, 2006A member of the Woodland Hills School Board said Thursday he understands the rationale for taking a look at closing three schools in the district by 2009.
Still, board member Fred Kuhn said he wants to look at all options before deciding whether to close Shaffer Primary in Churchill, Rankin Intermediate in Rankin and East Junior High School in Turtle Creek.“They’re on the table for discussion,” Kuhn said. “But they may all be taken off the table. It (the study) is in the beginning stages. I want to get more information.”
Kuhn said Shaffer, Rankin and East Junior High have declining enrollment.
District enrollment has dropped 3.2 percent over the last four years and total enrollment is projected to be at 5,100 in 2009, Kuhn said. About a decade ago, the district had about 6,000 students.
The reasons for the declining enrollment, Kuhn said, include lower birth rates, people moving because of tax rates, and other educational options, such as private schools and Propel East in Turtle Creek, a tuition-free, independent public school.The district needs a long-term financial plan in part because the teachers’ contract expires in June. The tax rate in the Woodland Hills School District is 23.9 mills.
Deborah Pike, Shaffer Primary Parent Teacher Organization president, said she wants more information from the district about the proposal.
Pike, of Churchill, said enrollment declined from 365 several years ago to 320 this year. Shaffer houses pupils in kindergarten through third grade. It’s a “decent-sized school,” she said. “It’s not like our halls are empty.”
Pike said it would be challenging to move the students at Shaffer to the other district schools because parking is limited at Edgewood Primary, and Wilkins Primary might not have space for more children.
Karen Zapf can be reached at kzapf@tribweb.com or (412) 380-8522.
