PITTSBURGH – The Department of Environmental Protection denied PDG Land Development Group’s permit application to mine a 613-acre site in preparation for a proposed thoroughbred horseracing track and residential and commercial development in Pittsburgh.
“The application the company submitted is not environmentally sound,” DEP District Mining Operations Director Mike Terretti said. “The department has strict requirements for surface mining and actions that alter the contour of the land, and this application did not meet those high regulatory standards.”
The outstanding deficiencies largely relate to the proposed site reclamation plan and protection of commonwealth waters. Among the problems in the application design: inadequate demonstration of the stability of proposed valley fills, maps that are inconsistent with conceptual designs, inadequate justification for adverse impacts on the ecology of waterways, and failure to submit a post-development stormwater management plan.
The development group submitted its permit application in June 2003 and proposed a total permit area of 613 acres — of which 453 acres would have been affected by surface mining. PDG’s project alternatively has been called the Pittsburgh Project, Pittsburgh Palisades Park and the Hays Run Project.
The proposed site is located in Pittsburgh above the southern bank of the Monongahela River, and it borders a residential section of Baldwin Borough.
The application was the subject of considerable public interest. About 500 people attended informational meetings held by DEP — two in Baldwin Borough and one in the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh — during fall 2003.
