Built as a reservoir in the 1930s, Peters Lake provides a touch of wilderness in the increasingly urban South Hills.
“It just kind of takes your breath away with the colors,” said Michael A. Silvestri, the township's manager.
The township bought the lake and surrounding area from Pennsylvania-American Water in 1996 to keep it intact.
“Everybody felt that we wanted to preserve the grounds and the lake. There were some proposed residential developments,” he said.
The township has contracted with landscape design firm Pashek Associates PC to study how it can make the nature park more accessible without losing the character that makes it an asset to the community, he said.
The result will be a 10-year plan for all of the township's parks and recreation facilities, said Michele Harmel, Parks and Recreation director.
“We want to see what direction we need to go,” she said. “What the residents of the township would like to see in terms of amenities.”
Scott Betz, 46, of Bethel Park said the quiet beauty of the lake draws him there at least once a week.
“It's kind of its own little Wonderland,” he said.
Betz has documented the lake in numerous photos, but he doesn't go there just to take pictures. Walking the path around the lake or just sitting on a bench and absorbing the quiet is a good way to end the day, he said.
“I love going there. I try to get out there at least one night a week,” Betz said.
The lake recently underwent one improvement, a new dock, courtesy of Joe Grzyb, 14, of Peters. Grzyb built the dock as his Eagle Scout project. He spends a lot of time at the lake.
“It's really nice because it's so close and it's a really nice fishing lake,” he said. “And it's a nice place to run.”
Another improvement with popular backing is replacing the portable toilet with a permanent restroom, Silvestri said, but ironically, given the lake's history, the main obstacle would be running a public water line to a site. There is a nearby sewer line, he said.
Other possible improvements include designing a boardwalk over some of the wetland areas so people can walk out to view them without disturbing nature. Another likely improvement would be add some picnic tables, he said.
A mandatory improvement will be increasing the capacity of the spillway at the lake's dam.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has listed the dam, known officially as Canonsburg No. 2, as “severely deficient” based on a requirement that it be able to handle 26 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, said DEP spokesman John Poister.
“It only handles less than half of what it needs to handle,” he said.
The dam is one of the 767 high hazard dams in the state, but that designation is based on its location rather than its condition. A “high hazard” dam is one whose failure would affect populated areas.
In the case of Canonsburg No. 2, nine homes are in the area that would be affected if it failed, Poister said.
The DEP and the township are working together to come up with a plan, Poister and Silvestri said.
The township believes the standard is unrealistic and wants the DEP to lower it, Silvestri said.
“The spillway was certainly more than adequate for Hurricane Ivan,” he said.
The hurricane's aftermath dropped a record 5.95 inches on Pittsburgh on Sept. 17, 2004. Reducing the criteria would require an improvement to the spillway that would run into “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.
Brian Bowling is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-325-4301 or bbowling@tribweb.com.
