Feb 7, 2007 By Amy Zalar 3 min read

The Fayette County Redevelopment Authority Tuesday awarded contracts totaling more than $8 million for various projects for infrastructure improvement and demolition throughout the county. The majority of the money will be spent at the ever-growing Fayette County Business Park in South Union Township, including separate contracts for a sanitary sewer extension development, construction of Matthew Drive Extension through the park and construction inspection/management services for the road.

Other contracts were awarded for a water treatment plant improvement project in Ohiopyle Borough and a demolition and site clearance project for the former Masontown School in Masontown Borough.

While the Matthew Drive Extension road project at the business park initially came in over budget, the water treatment plant contract and the school demolition project came in lower than anticipated.

For the business park work, Penn Development Services, LP of Uniontown was awarded two separate contracts, one totaling $261,961 for Phase III of the sanitary sewer extension installation, and a $6,995,168 contract for building the four-lane Matthew Drive Extension through the park. Executive Director Andrew French said the company is working out at the site now. “In terms of coordination, it works out well,” French said of Penn Development securing the contracts.

French said the sanitary sewer extension project would be funded through a $2 million allocation received from Gov. Ed Rendell. He said the project would install 4,500 linear feet of 8-inch sewer line. French said the first phase was construction of a pump station and the second phase included installation of gravity forced main lines.

Cedarwood Development, which is constructing a Wal-Mart Super Center, a Chili’s Restaurant and other stores at the park, is funding 32 percent of the cost of the project, French said.

Dick Corp. of Pittsburgh was also awarded a $450,639 contract for construction inspection and management services of Matthew Drive Extension at the business park. Dick Corp. was selected last September to perform the services, but the contract amount had not been finalized.

For the water treatment plan improvement at Ohiopyle Borough, Kukurin Contracting Inc. of Export was awarded a $575,575 contract to improve the water that serves 77 people in 34 households. French said the project will be funded using a competitive $500,000 Community Development Block Grant allocation and a $250,000 Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant. “It came within the budgeted amount,” French said.

French said the grant application was made more than a year ago, but requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection had to be met. He said although there are only 34 households that will benefit, between one million and two million people visit Ohiopyle State Park each year. He said the existing water system is so outdated that a DEP official compared drinking the water to playing Russian roulette.

For the Masontown School demolition, Ritenour & Sons Construction Company, Inc. of Connellsville was awarded a contract of $126,000. French said the authority is working with Threshold Housing Development, using a 2005 grant obtain for Brownfields for Housing to demolish the old school.

Plans are to build a 31-unit elderly housing “high-rise” unit of two or three stories.

French said the low bid came in lower than anticipated and additional site improvements may be done at the site. Each of the awarded contracts were the lowest bidder for the respective projects.