Murrysville Community Park could soon be outfitted with a 5,000-square-foot playground and splash-style water park, with an amphitheater to follow.

“If we receive council approval, the playground and splash park would go in this summer, and the amphitheater would be more of a fall project,” said Jim Morrison, the municipality's chief administrator.

Murrysville council meets April 4 and could vote then on adding more than $700,000 in new amenities to the park.

The improvements are part of the third phase of a master plan for the park, which has several athletic fields but is short on amenities.

“We want to make sure and provide the facilities needed for everyone who's out there to take advantage of,” recreation director Carly Greene said.

Council consensus was to isolate the amphitheater, placing it in an open area east of the Miracle Field, while the playground and splash pad would be located north and slightly west of the field.

“I like the idea of having it away, having more (area for) parking, handicap accessibility, and it's less expensive (than clustering everything together),” Councilwoman Toni Brockway said.

Municipal engineer Scott Hilty said the area east of the Miracle Field is well suited to the 50-foot wooden amphitheater, which comes as a large kit to be assembled.

“It's already graded and suited to that purpose,” Hilty said. “It's away from the active area of the park, so you can have multiple events and not worry about things getting so congested.”

The improvements would be paid for, in part, through a private donation of about $200,000, with the remainder coming from a $2 million bond issue floated by the municipality in 2017, Morrison said.

Council President Josh Lorenz said he would like to see more information about operating and maintenance costs for the new features and what the potential increase to municipal insurance would be.

Lorenz also asked what revenue might be generated to offset those costs.

“We can schedule concerts and events, but I don't see us scheduling them every Friday night,” Greene said of the amphitheater. “With the playground and splash pad, if it was possible to manage it, you could rent out a pavilion nearby for birthday parties. We could get more creative with that once we have plans in place.”

Shifting the amphitheater away from the other new features would require extending utilities as well, an added cost but also a potential benefit, Councilman Carl Stepanovich said.

“I think the expansion of utilities to that area will be very helpful when it comes to expanding the park in the future,” Stepanovich said.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-2862, pvarine@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MurrysvilleStar.

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