Work is expected to begin Monday on a project to revitalize Apollo Plaza.

At the same time, borough officials are working to save enough money on the project to have a memorial that was removed because of cost put back in.

The general contractor, Santa Maria Construction, is expected to bring equipment to the site on Thursday and Friday, the township's engineer, Ron Olsen of Olsen & Associates of Butler, said at a council meeting last night.

Residents and visitors to the plaza can expect some parking spaces to be off-limits, Olsen said. Work on storm sewers will be first.

Plaza businesses, except for a few that were closed, were told yesterday that work would begin soon.

The work, costing about $714,000, is expected to take until the middle of next summer to finish, Olsen said. The project includes repaving the parking lot, in stalling new lighting and curbs, landscaping and planting trees.

Savings being sought in various parts of the project could help to restore an "In the Line of Duty" memorial that Olsen said is central to the plaza.

Potential savings by making changes and removing other items now total about $67,500, Olsen said. The memorial is estimated to cost $117,000.

The memorial would honor the military, police, firefighters and the astronauts of Apollos 1 and 11.

Apollo 1 was the mission in which three astronauts died in a fire that destroyed their command module. Apollo 11 was the successful landing on the moon.

Borough could take over former fuels plant

The borough this morning could become the owner of 4.6 acres on North Warren Avenue that had been the site of a now-demolished nuclear fuels processing plant.

Council last night passed an ordinance accepting an agreement with BWX Technologies, the legacy company of Babcock & Wilcox, through which the borough will drop its attempt to take the property known as 609 N. Warren Ave. by eminent domain, and the company will transfer its interest in the property to the borough by deed in lieu of condemnation.

The borough could receive the deed in Armstrong County court this morning, Solicitor Allan Opsitnick said.

The transfer of the property comes with a number of environmental and use restrictions. Under the agreement, parts of the site could be used for parking and a paved bicycle and walking trail.

Prohibited uses include any permanent or temporary residential use; any commercial, industrial or government buildings or uses; any child-care facility, school or playground; extraction of any minerals, ore or other materials; and withdrawal or use of any groundwater.

The BWX property was home to the nuclear fuel processing operations of the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., starting in 1957. The company continued under its successors, the Atlantic Richfield Co. and B&W, until operations stopped in 1983.

The borough wants to use an adjacent14-acre site it already owns for economic development. The BWX property could be used for recreation and/or parking for the other parcel.

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