Plans to put new restrooms at Ron Houben Community Park in the Eldred Borough are on hold –– for now.
The borough didn’t receive a $44,100 Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant, so officials won’t be able to tap into Community Development Block Grant funding totalling $15,000. The money would’ve helped the borough secure its funding match.
Now that CDBG money is being earmarked for housing rehabilitation in Foster Township, increasing that total to $70,000.A public hearing on the reallocation is planned to start at 9 a.m. May 8 at the McKean County Redevelopment Authority Office at 415 W. Main St. in Smethport.
“We’re not giving up on the restrooms. A lot of this is a matter of timing” and grants, Eldred Borough Councilwoman Kimberly Weikert said.
Plans called for restrooms to be built away from the levee at the park on Park Road. The current restrooms were built in 1964 and are not handicapped-accessible.
“The Eldred dike/levee abuts the rear corner of the existing restroom building,” reads information submitted to The Era by McKean County Redevelopment Authority official Gay DeGolier. “The cement-block restroom structure is in bad shape with cracking occurring all around the building, the roof need[s] to be completely replaced, the cement floor is cracking and it needs to be relocated.”
The DCNR grant would’ve allowed for the demolition of the restrooms, the construction of handicapped-accessible restrooms, the installation of a handicapped-accessible water fountain, a parking area with accessible parking and accessible routes to the restroom facilities and other park amenities. The CDBG money would’ve been used for equipment rental and material purchases.
In recent years, CDBG funds were used to purchase playground equipment for the park.
At this point for borough officials, the restroom project is being put on the back burner, and a priority for the borough is the levee, which needs to be federally reaccredited, Weikert said.
“We’re not alone in this. It’s kind of a national thing,” she said, referring to the reaccreditation of the levee.
