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Community Bank Park

6 min read

By Katie Green

Photos by Celeste Van Kirk

CELESTE VAN KIRK

Lynn Sokol, State Rep. Bud Cook, Jack Curran and RJ Sokol

It’s a bright, sunny spring day – and although rain is in the forecast in about an hour or so, Community Bank Park in North Belle Vernon is bursting with activity. RJ Sokol stands on the steps going down to the newly-renovated park, beaming at the fruits of his – and his team’s – labor. As he shows off the various amenities and areas of the park, he stops to ask folks where they are from.

Newell. Roscoe. Butler.

Yes, Butler – which is nearly an hour and a half north of this “postage stamp” park (walk its perimeter five times and you’ve just walked a mile). The park itself isn’t new – but the park as it exists today is.

Just a few years ago, it was dilapidated, strewn with litter – including used needles and stamp bags of heroin – and a place where people went to do drugs. The turnaround began with a comment from Sokol’s son, who said, “Dad, what can we do to fix this park?”

CELESTE VAN KIRK

A modern playground on safety turf is one of the many amenities that Community Bank Park in North Belle Vernon offers.

The Reader’s Digest condensed version of the story is this: It wasn’t easy. Funding had to be acquired, plans had to be made, architects and engineers willing to work for a discounted rate or even pro bono had to be found. Equipment and materials had to be donated, they needed to find volunteers to give their time, their talent, their treasurer. The borough’s council had to get on board, as did the county and other local leaders. Mistakes were made – including Sokol vastly underestimating costs. “What I thought would be about a $320,000 project ended up coming in around $800,000,” he says.

The vision became a reality in 2016. Today, the drugs and crime are gone, and North Belle Vernon now has a beautiful park, complete with a dek hockey arena, soccer field, playground and pavilion. It’s also more than handicap accessible – there is adaptive playground equipment, including a wheelchair-accessible glider, wheelchair swing, adaptive car seat swings and two expression swings that allow a parent and toddler to ride facing each other, all built on safety turf.

The park is completely fenced in and security cameras capture “every inch of the park.”

“Our philosophy is simple: we bring good people in, and that forces the bad people out. When you’re doing your drugs, pushing for drugs, the last thing you want to be around is good people,” says Sokol, who also sits on North Belle Vernon council and is currently the chair of North Belle Vernon Parks and Recreation.

The residents of North Belle Vernon have witnessed the change first-hand. Those living on Graham Street have gone from being scared to go outside to having trouble finding parking spaces, thanks to the clean-up. And for Sokol, that’s a good problem to have. He also notes that property values near the park have risen dramatically.

CELESTE VAN KIRK

Hanna Lent of California swings with her children, Camilla and Kaison, on one of the expression swings.

While folks to indeed come from all over to visit Community Bank Park, there still is some work to be done in terms of awareness. Enter State Rep Bud Cook (R-West Pike Run Township), who actually doesn’t have North Belle Vernon in his district. But, he’s active in tourism and recreation at the state level, and is working with Sokol and his team to spread awareness. “We need to make this a regional destination. The person driving down Interstate 70 has no idea what county or borough they are in – 50,000 cars a day are driving right by here, but they have no idea that there’s a special-needs facility right here.”

Part of spreading the word is connecting the revitalization of Community Bank Park to North Belle Vernon’s Broad Street business district. Fellow councilman Jack Curran says the first part of the project is to get streetlights on two of the alleys that connect Graham Street with Broad Avenue – a safe, direct path from the park to the shops, restaurants and businesses of the borough. Paving those alleys is also part of the plan. “You have to be persistent,” he says of the initiative that also includes paving the alleys. “If all of this comes to fruition, I can just see the economic development it will bring.”

The team also includes Sokol’s wife, Lynn, Makin Engineering’s Jamie Protin and Michael Korposh of Innovative Media Group. Protin and Korposh are in the thick of working on the North Belle Vernon streetscape project – which was born thanks to the success of the park. And like the park project, it will be a multi-year undertaking. The end goal is to get the borough’s businesses involved – and then for the improvements and development to spread to other communities.

CELESTE VAN KIRK

Chaz Lent climbs the ropes at Community Bank Park.

“The focal point has to be the business section,” Sokol says. “It can’t be the park – 20,000 people a year come to the park, but if your business section is going bad, what good does it do?”

Makin Engineering has been contracted to develop the project to enhance vehicular and pedestrian mobility. Protin says that traffic calming and pedestrian safety were the prime considerations in designing the connection from the park – in addition to upgrading the aesthetic appeal of the street with decorative lighting, newly-planted trees, sidewalks and benches.

“Phase one of the project should begin this summer, starting at the intersection of Broad Avenue and Fayette Street and proceed west along the avenue with the installation of decorative light poles with fixtures on the south side and the replacement of existing streetlights with matching decorative fixtures on the north side,” Protin says. “An application is being prepared for phase two of the project to be submitted this fall, and the third phase of the project should be complete in 2021.”

So, if everything goes according to plan, those 20,000 visitors to the park will enjoy the park and all of its amenities, and then head to Broad Street so shop or eat. Events like the June 23 Veterans Appreciation Day or July 28 Polka Fest help to bring in even more people from various areas to the park.

Sokol says that next to marrying his wife and raising children, Community Bank Park is what he is most proud of. And hopefully, with time, the Streetscape project will be added to that list.

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