Jun 23, 2016 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Greene County commissioners approved an agreement Thursday to acquire property that will allow the county to extend the length of Greene River Trail another two miles.

The commissioners agreed to buy a section of the former railroad right-of-way south of the existing trail from Leonard Svetz for $32,000.

“We were hoping to extend the trail and this now gives us the ability to do that,” said Commissioner Dave Coder, who also was commissioner back when the trail was first developed in the late 1990s.

With the property acquisition, the trail will now extend more than 7 miles, Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said. The trail, which runs along the banks of the Monongahela River, is currently 5.1 miles long.

The Svetz property, which contains several parcels, is about 7,792 feet in length and 20 feet in width. The county will purchase some of the parcels and obtain the rights-of-way for others. The county had been attempting to acquire the property for about eight years.

In October, the commissioners voted to condemn the property, however, they had been able to come to an agreement with Svetz on a price before following through with the proceeding. The county earlier had purchased 3,500 feet of the railroad right-of-way directly south of Svetz’s land, but could do nothing with it until it came to an agreement with Svetz. With Svetz’s property, the county will now be able to extend the trail by about 11,300 feet, or about 2.1 miles.

“The nice thing about this is we’ll now be able to seek grants for the trail,” Coder said. “It also gives us a project we can ask for help from different foundations and businesses.”

The commissioners also voted to apply for a $250,000 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Economic Development’s Greenways Trails and Recreation Program for the trail extension. The grant will be used for construct, chief Clerk Jeff Marshall said. The engineering design of the extension already is completed, he said.

The county began constructing the trail in 1999. It was last extended in 2007 by about 1.7 miles, from near Rices Landing Borough south through the properties of the former Dilworth and Crucible mines. It now runs from the trail head at the Greene Cove Yacht Club in Millsboro to the site of the old Crucible Ferry near Crucible. The extension will bring the trail to an area near the intersection of Jacobs Ferry Road and Stringtown Road.

In another matter discussed Wednesday, the commissioners approved an agreement Thursday with Southwestern Pennsylvania Water Authority to lease property at the Wisecarver reservoir to develop into a park.

The proposed agreement calls for the county to lease the property at the 18-acre lake for 99 years for $10. The county’s lease will not cover the lake or the dam, Zimmerman said. The agreement is subject to approval by the county solicitor and the water authority’s board.

The county plans to seek grants to develop the park. A park will not be created overnight, Zimmerman said, but will probably proceed in “baby steps.”

A master plan earlier prepared for a park at Wisecarver called for developing ball fields, pavilions, walking and cross country trails, playgrounds and picnic areas.

Water authority solicitor Dave Pollock told the commissioners Thursday that language in the agreement appears to be settled and the authority now has to determine what part of the property will be leased to the county.

Some of the areas that will be excluded from the lease include a wetlands, area were drilling had taken place and where a mine ventilation shaft had been built, he said.