Unity's return to Latrobe-area rec board official; planners look for program growth

Jun. 2—Latrobe-GLSD Parks and Recreation is getting a new name, along with an additional municipal member — Unity Township.

Officials from the township, the City of Latrobe and Greater Latrobe School District this week signed a 10-year agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, solidifying their new recreational partnership.

The agreement restores Unity to the regional recreational fold after the township broke away in 2014 to operate its own programs, most recently under the management of the Greensburg YMCA.

The expanded organization legally will be known as the Latrobe, Unity, Youngstown and GLSD Parks and Recreation Commission, since the school district and all three member municipalities are now partners on the recreation board. President Tom Long, a Latrobe board representative, said the panel will discuss a shorter name for general use when it next meets June 17.

The new agreement provides an immediate benefit for Unity residents, who were charged about $10 extra for many Latrobe-GLSD programs. They now will pay the same rate as other member communities.

With the swim season beginning Saturday at Latrobe's Rogers-McFeely Memorial Pool, a family season pass will cost $160 for district residents and $180 for non-residents.

Looking to 2022 and beyond, officials see a greater potential for growth now that Unity is pooling its recreational resources with the other parties.

"We've always tried to do what's right for the community, and this is right," said Craig Shevchik, executive director of the recreation program. "The sky's the limit for us. It's a very exciting time, not only for kids, but also for the adults."

"It's something we knew needed to be done for the greater Latrobe community," said Long.

The rec board oversees a weekly farmers market that opened for the season Tuesday at Legion Keener Park in Latrobe. Shevchik suggested the possibility of developing a second market location in Unity.

He's also interested in expanding a summer youth day camp program, at Legion Keener, to add a second site near the Unity municipal building on Beatty County Road. Camp participants could alternately have access to the swimming pool, in the city, and to recreational possibilities at a small lake next to the township building.

Unity Supervisor Mike O'Barto, reversing earlier attitudes about regional recreation, has said the township has space available at its property where rec board soccer programs might be expanded.

"At one time, when I thought about recreation, I thought, 'What's Unity going to get?'" he said. "The thinking is a little bit different now. We have to think about the whole greater Latrobe community."

Under the new recreational agreement, Unity initially will contribute $100,000 annually toward the regional organization, while Latrobe will see its contribution reduced from $59,700 to about $36,800. Those amounts will be subject to an annual 2.5% increase.

The school district will continue to contribute annually 20% of the proceeds from one mill of real estate tax — currently about $74,000.

With an annual budget of about $50,000, the regional recreational organization serves a core district population of about 30,000 but opens its programs to those who reside elsewhere.

The rec board will expand from six to nine members, with the city, township and school district each appointing three representatives. O'Barto said he and fellow supervisors John Mylant and Ed Poponick initially will represent the township.

Youngstown, with the smallest population of all the rec partners, will not make a financial contribution or be represented on the board.

Unity looks to improve playgrounds

Unity has taken recent steps to upgrade recreational facilities within its borders.

It just completed an improved walking trail, with handicapped accessibility, around the township lake.

The supervisors have applied for $152,000 from Pennsylvania's Greenways, Trails and Recreation Grant Program, to help update playground equipment at Greater Latrobe's Mountain View Elementary School. The school's Parent Teacher Organization plans to cover the 15% match of just under $27,000 while the district agreed to open the playground to the public when students aren't using it and school isn't in session.

The township is seeking additional funding, from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, to update equipment at a playground in Pleasant Unity and to install handicapped-accessible apparatus at a playground near the township building.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@triblive.com or via Twitter .