The Zoning Hearing Board of the Borough of Ellwood City has denied the Ellwood City Area School District’s application for special exception to build a softball field on the Ewing Park School property.
The board held a hearing on December 4, 2024, to take the District’s application into consideration and has determined that the proposed use of the property is not a permitted use as a public park/playground in a Low-Density R-1(A) District.
The findings offered by Zoning Hearing Board members Joseph Lamenza, Timothy O’Brien, and David Parker on January 17, 2025, stated that the proposed softball field, its related structures and facilities:
- are not compatible with the adjacent uses of single-family homes surrounding the Property. The use is incompatible to the Low-Density R-l(A) District it is located within. The incompatibility of the entire proposed use is readily discernible from the plans submitted by the Applicant; and
- would adversely affect the adjacent property owners’ ability to utilize their residences within this Low-Density Residential District. The owners’ of single-family homes adjacent to the property will undoubtedly be hampered with risks of harm to person and property, given their close proximity to the field when in use, in addition to the hazards associated with ingress and egress of increased vehicular traffic which is not supported by this Low-Density Residential District and the roadways located therein; and
- will be detrimental to the public welfare, by being located in an area not suited for a sports complex, together with vehicular traffic associated therewith. As noted previously, the Borough streets surrounding the site are extremely narrow and not suited for higher traffic patterns; and
- clearly does not suit any of the existing characteristics within the Low Density Residential area of the Borough.
The proposed softball field
Further findings and information can be found here.
Discussion regarding a softball field began in the summer of 2023. The Ellwood City Area School District’s Board of Directors unanimously approved a plan to commit to improving district softball and baseball facilities in July of 2023. The plan, provided by HHSDR in an athletic facility study, included a newly constructed softball field on the Ewing Park School property, funded via a local athletic capital campaign, at the cost of $1,880,000.
Residents on the three blocks that surround the proposed complex have stood up with strong opposition. Many support a field but not at that location. Numerous residents have continuously spoke out regarding noise concerns, safety concerns, traffic concerns, parking concerns, property damage concerns, and property value concerns.
The opposition is so strong from the residents in the area that in early 2024, they formulated a group The Citizens for Ewing Park Preservation (CEPP).
Chairperson for the group, Karen Mancini, is a resident of Beatty Street, which faces the old Ewing Park School property. She made a statement on behalf of the group during the ECASD Board of Director’s meeting in February, “We are organized and represented by legal counsel and stand ready to oppose any attempt to convert the subject property to a ball field and we hope that the School District will consider a less impactful use of the property that complies with the current zoning regulations.”
Mancini, had told the board that CEPP is made up of about 25 community members. Some of the members of the group don’t live in Ewing Park, but they believe in preserving the green space at the proposed location of the softball field.
The ECASD Board of Directors will consider it’s options moving forward.
“The board will meet and discuss our options and next steps with our solicitor in the very near future,” said District Superintendent Dr. Wesley Shipley.
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