When Mark McCarty arrived in Ohiopyle in 1971, the park surrounding the tiny Fayette County borough along the Youghiogheny River was in its infancy.

The state had grand plans for the park — a 100-room hotel, a golf and ski resort, and other amenities to attract tourists.

But the state decided to keep the park natural. While the tourists came — to whitewater raft, hike, bike, mountain climb or enjoy breathtaking views — the town couldn't handle their numbers.

Now, the 19,000-acre state park that draws 1.5 million visitors a year and the town of just 76 year-round residents are working together on issues confronting the popular tourist destination with limited resources.

"Some people saw that the benefit of the park somewhat hasn't been (fully) developed," said McCarty, the town's former mayor and owner of Laurel Highlands River Tours. "This is the first remake. It's sort of another look at what Ohiopyle is. What it's going to mean is what the people want."

Officials hope that private and public grants will fortify the tiny town's infrastructure.

Long before its incorporation as a borough in 1891, Ohiopyle had been a center for lumbering. Coal mines dotted the surrounding mountains. When the railroad came through in 1871, visitors began coming to view the majestic Youghiogheny River, Ohiopyle Falls and the surrounding wilderness.

Numerous hotels, including the luxurious Ferncliff Resort, offered lodging. But tourism waned when the automobile gained popularity. The hotels closed, and nature reclaimed the resort. In the 1960s, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy sold land to the state and a new era of tourism emerged.

The state bought more land and homes, some through eminent domain, and dedicated Ohiopyle State Park in 1971.

Today, the town's industry is tourism. Most of its 34 residential homes sit atop the hill overlooking the river. A motel, several bed-and-breakfasts, restaurants and the Falls Market general store/restaurant/inn are concentrated near State Route 381, which separates the borough from the park.

Everything is squeezed into a half-mile square. Visitors and residents complain about the lack of parking. The borough sewage treatment plant, overwhelmed by storm water run-off, can't handle more customers. There aren't enough hotel rooms. To get to the park, visitors have to cross busy Route 381, kids and kayaks in tow.

"Our infrastructure takes a beating," said Ed Noll, borough council president.

But the borough's shoestring budget — $30,000 to $35,000 a year — isn't enough to improve roads or water or sewerage.

Most of the borough's revenue comes from property and wage taxes. Last year, the borough got money from a 50-cent fee assessed on the 42,000 rafters who booked trips through four concessionaires. The borough's take was $2,100 — 10 percent of $21,000 raised, said park assistant manager Stacie Faust.

"We have no deep pockets to address some of these issues," McCarty said. "We don't have enough money to pave a block at a time, let alone anything on a bigger scale."

A fresh start

Noll credits the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Ohiopyle Manager John Hallas with spearheading the effort to improve the town.

Hallas "came to us saying, 'We know you need help, and we want to try to help you,' " Noll said.

Two years ago, the department decided to focus on tourism as an economic tool, concentrating on seven areas of the state, Hallas said.

Ohiopyle became the "gateway" community for the Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape Initiative, a partnership with the DCNR, the borough, PennDOT and the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

The organizations, led by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, are fashioning a master plan for the borough and the park that includes environmentally friendly improvements to roads, sewerage, storm water management, energy sources and parking. A new visitors center at the park also is part of the plan.

URS, a planning firm with an office in Pittsburgh, is drafting the plan, seeking input from residents, business owners and visitors. Most importantly, they are seeking grant money.

So far, they've secured a $1.9 million state grant awarded to redesign Route 381 to slow traffic, making it easier for bicyclists and walkers to cross.

"Sometimes people are carrying rafts on their heads," Noll said. "We're trying to make that safer for the pedestrians and the motorists."

The sewage treatment facility, which also serves the park, got a $500,000 update in 2001. But as state and borough leaders were studying the idea of putting a hotel in Ohiopyle recently, they discovered the system could handle few new residential customers, let alone a large commercial enterprise. They are now studying how to make improvements.

The borough is working out a land exchange with the park to open 2.6 acres for new houses.

"The tax base would be helped," Noll said. "The borough's not going to sneeze at that."

Parking squeeze

The goal is to improve the borough for residents, businesses and tourists.

"Some people don't want to see tourists in town, but Ohiopyle is what it is," McCarty said. "Tourism has always been part of Ohiopyle since the first train station. The question is, how do we best address them?"

They need parking. There are about 520 spaces in nearby lots and 100 on borough streets. Visitors park along Route 381 and other roads, adding another 200 or so spots.

That's not enough, said Hallas, the park manager.

"We would love to have visitors arrive at Ohiopyle, knowing where they are going to park and be able to seamlessly transition to whatever recreation they want to do," he said.

A Butler County man told Halas he drove about three hours to get to Ohiopyle, and left without stopping because he couldn't find anywhere to park.

"When they arrive here, they drive around the borough for a half-hour, for an hour," Hallas said. "People are being ticketed. People are being towed. People are parking in the streets. It's an overload, and it's not the experience we want."

Laura Marietta, 26, of Wharton Township, who works at her family's rafting business, White Water Adventurers, hears the complaints from tourists.

"There's a lot of people that come here, and it does get crowded, and they're not prepared for it all the time," Marietta said. "The poor borough doesn't have any tax money. It's good there's help there now, because it is needed."

Hallas said residents deserve better. He would like to see the borough benefit from parking fees. "All of a sudden, that $10,000 repair on the water treatment plant isn't that big of a deal," Hallas said.

Sue Moore, 68, hopes the park's involvement will bring improvements.

Moore, who lives in a house her grandfather built in Ohiopyle in 1917, remembers spending weekends in Ohiopyle as a child, when houses stood next to the 18-foot waterfall. Though her family lost another of its homes to the park, they weren't upset.

"My family was thrilled, because we thought it was a beautiful area and it would preserve the natural beauty," Moore said. "In general, I think the park has enhanced the area. Otherwise, I think private individuals would have bought the land by the falls and Ferncliff Peninsula. It would have been private, and we would have lost a little paradise."

Others disagree.

Charlene Collins, 43, lives five miles away in Stewart Township. Her great-grandmother lost her Ohiopyle home when the state took it for the park by eminent domain. An aunt moved out in the 1980s because of the tourists.

"She would wake up in the morning and find people sleeping in her yard," Collins said. "I just think they act like there's no other river on the planet. It's crazy. I avoid Ohiopyle on the weekends like it has the plague."

Collins doesn't think the planning is worth the money, but she concedes nothing will stop the tourists.

"They found it and they're not going to leave. I just wish they would have not found it, and it would have been my little town," she said.

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