Projects Underway: Schenley, Cliffside and Frick Park Updates

The parks as you know them are getting even better.

With four Parks Conservancy Capital Projects currently in the works, areas that you know and love (and maybe some that you don’t!) are undergoing exciting changes. Get the scoop on what’s going on with these projects:

Project: Westinghouse Memorial and Pond

Rendering of the restored Westinghouse Memorial and Pond.

What’s happening: 
Nearly 85 years after its original dedication in Schenley Park, restoration of the Westinghouse Memorial and the surrounding landscape are underway. The $2.5 million plan includes aesthetic and structural improvements to the monument, Lily Pond restoration and aeration system installation, and stormwater projects to better the overall health of the Panther Hollow Watershed.

Parks Conservancy President/CEO Meg Cheever and Mayor Bill Peduto unveil the Westinghouse Memorial rendering at the groundbreaking ceremony.

How to learn more/stay involved:

• Read about the project groundbreaking
• Read this great feature on the memorial and project from Parks Curator Susan Rademacher 
• Check our website for updates

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Project: Panther Hollow Watershed

What’s happening:
For more than a decade, we’ve been working to restore the health and ecological function of the Panther Hollow Watershed in Schenley Park. Most recently, we’ve been working with the community and designers to reduce stormwater runoff along Schenley Drive. The Schenley Drive Green Street Project aims to improve the health and function of the park by curbing stormwater and creating a safe transportation corridor for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers.

How to learn more/stay involved:

• Give your input by September 4th on the concept proposals to improve Schenley Drive
• Come out for a Schenley Park volunteer day to improve the health of the watershed

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Project: Cliffside Park

Rendering of the revitalized Cliffside Park.

What’s happening:
We’re proud to be partnering with a coalition of Hill District partners on a comprehensive plan for green space in the neighborhood. Called the Greenprint for the Hill District, this plan includes a renovation of Cliffside Park, a beloved community playground. This month, community kids are helping shape this project by contributing to a children’s art piece to be displayed at the park.

How to learn more/stay involved:

• Read more about the Greenprint for the Hill District
• Find updates on this project on our website

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Project: Frick Environmental Center

The new Frick Environmental Center, reaching for the sky.

What’s happening:

Currently in the first phase of construction, the Frick Environmental Center will serve as a welcome facility and a gateway to the woodlands of Frick Park where educators use the parks as classrooms. The new Center is quickly taking shape. Designed to meet the Living Building Challenge and LEED Platinum standards for energy efficiency, each feature of this unique building is more exciting than the last. Most recently, a 15,000-gallon rainwater harvesting cistern was brought to the site!

Our Zone Gardener Rosie stands beside the rainwater cistern for scale.

How to learn more/stay involved:

• Take a tour of the construction site on our free monthly hard hat tours
• Stay updated on the progress on our site
• Join us as a volunteer

Get updates on these and other exciting projects and programs in the parks by signing up for email updates here!

Healthy Watersheds, Greener Streets

Imagine for a moment that you’re a doctor. But instead of treating people, you’re charged with healing a watershed.

The meadow at Bartlett Street in full bloom.

Like the human body, watersheds are complete systems; one part of the system influences another. If you get a fever, it’s usually the result of a chain reaction inside resulting from any number of ailments. Likewise, too much runoff, pollution, and chemicals like pesticides cause a ripple effect throughout a watershed.

Keeping watershed ecosystems healthy requires work and persistence. Over the past decade, the Parks Conservancy, along with partners Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, and the City of Pittsburgh, have been nursing back to health an ailing Panther Hollow Watershed. Read more about the history of this project here.

Some symptoms are visible (sediment build-up in Panther Hollow Lake), while others are below the surface (combined sewer overflow, or CSO events after major rains).

Two of the last remaining above-ground streams in Pittsburgh flow in Schenley Park.

So, what’s the prognosis?  With a holistic approach (a comprehensive restoration plan), it’s looking better and better. The recently installed meadow at Bartlett Street and infiltration berms at the Bob O’Connor Golf Course will help absorb rainwater, naturally letting it replenish the water table.

The next treatment to better the health of the watershed involves Schenley Drive.

Making up a large portion of the impervious surface of the park, Schenley Drive acts as a sort of autobahn for rainwater, channeling gushing gallons into the sewer system every year. Estimates for the Schenley Drive Green Street project that 70,000 bathtubs of water would be diverted from the sewer system every year. Plans for this road are just starting to take shape, with the second public meeting having been held on July 29th. Thanks to the feedback of so many park users, bikers, walkers, neighbors, and community members, this project will be shaped not only to better the health of the park, but to better serve as a “complete street,” accommodating all park and road users.

Help us in shaping this next step in the Panther Hollow Watershed restoration — give your feedback on what you’d like to see happen on the Schenley Drive Green Street!

Click here to take the Green Street Survey.

Keep abreast of projects going on in Schenley Park here on our website.

Pardon the Dust: Park Projects in Progress

The new Frick Environmental Center

Back in 2002, fire consumed the much-loved Frick Environmental Center, the learning space that welcomed families and park-goers at the Beechwood Boulevard entrance of Frick Park. This week, twelve years (almost to the day!) after that fire, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, in collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh, brought in the hard hats to begin phase one of construction of the new Center.

Hats off for the rebuilding of the Frick Environmental Center!

The new Environmental Center, to occupy the very same footprint of the old, burnt Center, will be filled to the brim with the awesome spirit of learning that our education staff inspires in everyone who visits the park. Built on a foundation of community input, the design of the new Center works in tandem with its woody setting, incorporating state-of-the-art sustainability design to soften its impact on the land. The building will:

• Meet Living Building Challenge and LEED Platinum standards.
• Use 40% less energy than a typical building of its size in the northeast.
• Power all electrical systems via solar panels.
• Filter and treat all wastewater before releasing it naturally on site.
• Be constructed using materials that are produced locally (whenever possible) and safe for both humans and the environment.

First grade summer campers planted flowers to make the temporary trailers they currently use for indoor camp time a little homier.

We will be posting regular project updates on our website and marking any trail closures around the site as they happen. For general information on the project, we invite you to read our Frequently Asked Questions page and explore our website.

While we work on this exciting project, we will still be teaching hundreds of Pittsburgh-area kids about stream ecology, tree identification, and enjoying the parks. Join in by attending one of our upcoming Urban EcoSteward trainings!

High school Young Naturalists pose with Mayor Peduto on a walking tour near the site of the new Frick Environmental Center.

Schenley Park green infrastructure

Since we last wrote about the bike lane installation in Schenley Park, the Beacon Street demonstration project has really started to pick up steam. After the recent installation of the meadow (establishing itself now), the next step, infiltration trenches, has begun.

The infiltration system that is being installed between Beacon and Bartlett will capture and hold rainwater longer than if that water was allowed to keep rolling downhill. During big rain events, the trenches will help to sop up and slowly percolate this water back into the surrounding meadow, lightening the burden on overworked sewers.

These improvements — the meadow and trenches — are part of the larger effort to restore the Panther Hollow Watershed in Schenley Park. By using soil and plant roots to naturally filter water, we are preventing pollutants from roadways and sewers from finding their way into our water system and helping to address the issue of combined sewer overflow.

Watch as this project moves along quickly this summer! We’ll be posting regular updates of the Beacon/Bartlett site project on our website, as well as updates on greening the Bob O’Connor Golf Course greens, the next step in the Panther Hollow restoration.

Redevelopment of Cliffside Park continues this month as well. Stay tuned for updates on this project!

Members’ support is crucial in park improvements like these. Consider a donation to the Frick Environmental Center!