Brackenridge Council will learn within 90 days whether it can move forward with construction of a $1.1 million public works building.

Allegheny County hosted a Zoom meeting Thursday to review the preliminary land development application to replace the current facility that’s nearly 125 years old.

The county oversaw the process because Brackenridge doesn’t have a subdivision and land development ordinance that allows a municipality to approve subdivisions and site plans, said Michael Carroll, public information officer for the the county’s department of economic development.

“This is something that happens on a regular basis,” Carroll said.

“The (county) ordinance only applies in 26 of the county’s 130 municipalities; however, they are mostly small and built out so we get only about 12 to 15 of these applications a year — compared to the 400-plus applications we review in total.”

The meeting was attended online by borough Mayor Lindsay Fraser, engineer Gordon Taylor, county planner Riley McGrath and county planning manager Matt Trepal, among others.

Submitted plans were for a public works facility on Prospect Avenue, next to the existing building. Amenities include more efficient equipment storage, office and kitchen space, and a generator.

The goal is to demolish the 1900s-era building once the new one goes up.

Phases of work include stormwater retention, paving and a salt shed, but money for those plans has not yet been addressed and it is too early to submit plans for approval.

“The salt shed hasn’t even been designed,” Taylor said. “That’s probably up to six years down the road.”

The project’s cost will be paid for mostly through grants the borough received over several years of planning.

A $500,000 state grant was followed by $200,000 from the county Gaming Economic Development Fund and $100,000 through the county’s Gaming Economic Development and Tourism Fund.

The job was bid to Masco Construction of McMurray, which is waiting for approval to start, Taylor said.

Council has been trying to get the project off the ground since before the pandemic. The current facility has outlived its usefulness, officials said.

The property in question is a blockwide area bound by four borough streets. The area houses the water treatment plant and storage tanks.

“There were previously two garages, one was quite old,” Taylor said. “It was so bad, they couldn’t work out of it anymore. That one was demolished a few years ago.”

Carroll said the meeting was for preliminary approval only, meaning plans will need to be resubmitted for review and to address questions or comments from county staff.

Issues that need to be addressed appeared to be minor and included a written certificate from the Allegheny County Health Department, a site location map to scale and the location of outdoor lighting.

There are no plans to add pole lighting, Taylor said, other than the one existing fixture. The doors will be lit.

The county has 90 days to issue a decision, though Trepal said it typically doesn’t take that long.

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