Ford City rejects sale of brownfield property
FORD CITY -- A developer who wanted to buy brownfield property owned by the borough to build a technology park had its proposal rejected by council.
Council turned down Ryan Bloser's Rysc Group's offer of $225,000 for 50 acres of vacant former PPG Industries riverside property by a unanimous vote at a public meeting Thursday.
Bloser made the offer June 5.
Council gave two reasons for not selling the land to Bloser's company -- the price was too low, and 17 of the 50 acres, reserved for a riverfront recreational area and trail project, were not for sale, council members said.
"The land is worth more than that," Councilman Homer Pendleton said in making the motion to reject the offer.
"We need to leave that (17 acres) as a legacy. It's the first time that the river bank is open for the community," Pendleton added.
Council said it is willing to continue to negotiate with Bloser.
In a private property matter, council listened to a resident's complaint of an open trench on his property.
Hank Commodore asked council to fix the problem at his parent's property along the 300th block of Fifth Avenue.
"It's an open sewer. All you've done is put boards over it," Commodore said. "They promised to fix it 15 years ago.
"It's terrible. Ridiculous. People have fallen in. It's time to do something," he said.
Councilman Tim Malec said the water that collects in the ditch is stormwater run-off coming from the hill above the property, and not sewer water. Malec said he was concerned over someone falling in the ditch.
Councilman Dan Cousins told Commodore that the borough is looking at putting in a pipe that would drain into the borough's sewer system and covering the ditch. Cousins said there is no guarantee that it will solve the problem.
An executive session was held to discuss a taxpayer matter, a pension and the hiring of a borough manager.
Council said it has four applicants for the manager position. Three persons have sent letters of interest and a fourth was asked to apply by council.
The applicants will be interviewed, council said. Council took no action on a motion to advertise for applicants.
In other business, council:
• Authorized the accounting firm of Maher-Duessel to audit a 1999 state Infrastructure Development Program grant used by the borough.
Council said the purpose of the audit is to close out the grant. The grant was used to renovate the Third Avenue parking lot, council said.
• Granted permission for a local business, Family Home Health Services, to hang flower baskets, plant flowers and place ribbons for a beatification project in the Ford City Park prior to the Heritage Days festival at the end of the month.
