Apr 20, 2003 By Steve Ferris 4 min read

Uniontown City Council, the Fayette County Commissioners and Fay-Penn Economic Development Council are developing a $6 million capital improvement plan for downtown Uniontown that calls for the city and county to ante up $1.5 million each. The combined $3 million from the city and county would be matched by $3 million from $30 million earmarked in the state capital budget for economic development, Uniontown Mayor Jim Sileo said.

Bob Junk of Fay-Penn said the state’s capital budget contains $3 million for downtown Uniontown but the decision to release that money will be up to Gov. Rendell.

Junk and Sileo said the all the details of the plan have not yet been ironed out.

Sileo and Cerjanec said the city will use unspent Community Development Block Grant money and existing CDBG-funded projects for $1 million of its required matching funds. The remaining $500,000 could come from the city budget and possibly a 1 percent, 30-year bond issue, Sileo said.

He promised that the financing will not result in a tax increase.

“I’m not going to raise taxes,” the mayor said.

The plan involves acquiring vacant downtown buildings and renovating them for reuse. Officials said the buildings have not yet been identified.

Improvements to Morgantown and Church streets, renovating the county-owned Federal Building, converting the city parking on Penn Street into a three-level parking garage, renovating the State Theatre for the Arts and installing a sewage line in Bailey Park are included in the plan.

“This plan is going to work,” Sileo said.

He said it also includes something he has opposed in the past, allowing metered parking on Main Street. He noted that a traffic study would be needed before any decisions about Main Street parking could be made.

In addition to gaining the mayor’s support, it’s also drawing praises from his rival in the May 20 Democratic Party primary, Uniontown Councilman Joe Giachetti.

“The plan is an excellent plan,” said Giachetti. “Money is the issue. The governor must release the money and the city has to come up with money. It’s a great idea if they can get the money.”

City Councilman Bob Cerjanec, the director of accounts and finance, said money not spent, purchases not made and projects not completed from CDBG funds dating back to 1999 as well as 2004 CDBG money and existing CDBG projects will add up to $1 million of the required matching funds from the city.

As examples, he said this year’s CDBG application includes $104,000 for a sewage trunk line in from Dunlap Street through Bailey Park and $70,300 for demolition.

The application seeks $50,000 for new sidewalks, streetlights, sewer lines and repaving Morgantown Street. The project, which also involves moving electrical service lines underground, has about $400,000 in earmarked CDBG money since it was first proposed in 1999.

Its original cost estimate was $1 million and has been delayed several times due to insufficient funding. City Council has discussed scaling back the project to reduce the cost.

Sileo said some the remaining $500,000 needed for the city’s matching funds would come from reduced payroll costs through employee attrition and some would come from reduced debt service. After several buildings and city trucks are paid off in the next few months, money dedicated to those payments can be redirected to the capital budget project, he said.

However, Sileo would not rule out the possibility that the city might have to float a bond to complete its share of the matching funds.

“What ever we do to get our matching funds, it won’t impact any of the citizens of Uniontown as far as rates or tax increases go,” Cerjanec said.

Junk assured members of the Downtown Uniontown Business District Authority (DBDA) at its meeting last week that Fay-Penn will not own any of the buildings acquired in the city.

“We at Fay-Penn have no plans to own any of the buildings,” Junk told the board. “We’re helping the city with an economic improvement plan.”

He said either the city or the Uniontown Redevelopment Authority would own the buildings, but doubts either would want to be landlords.

The city or its redevelopment authority could sell the building on the open market or sell them to an investor.

Junk said Fay-Penn will make a formal presentation about the plan at city council’s May 6 meeting.

He said presented an outline of the plan in an informal meeting with some members of council, the redevelopment authority and the DBDA on June 4.

“We (Fay-Penn) wanted to see if we were moving in the right direction,” Junk said. “There were no negative comments. The focus was on the future. Many of us had the same ideas. There was common ground. It’s going to be a big partnership.”