{"id":192654,"date":"2026-05-14T21:42:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/192654\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T21:42:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:42:55","slug":"erie-leaders-agree-page-property-near-downtown-should-become-open-space-not-affordable-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/192654\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie leaders agree \u2018Page Property\u2019 near downtown should become open space, not affordable housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Town-owned property just north of Erie\u2019s Old Town that has been the subject of months of debate is likely to become open space after the Town Council on Tuesday directed staff to move forward with a zoning process.<\/p>\n

The roughly 50-acre piece of land lies east of Reliance Park, near where County Road 1 \u00bd turns into Briggs Street, and has been known as both the Page Property and the Village at Coal Creek.\n<\/p>\n

Erie bought the property in 2023 for $6.9 million using about $3.6 million in federal funding along with money from Erie\u2019s Trails, Natural Areas and Community Character fund. According to town staff, Erie\u2019s Open Space and Trails Advisory Board had expressed interest in the property but could not afford to purchase it alone, leading town leadership to use part of Erie\u2019s allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act \u2014 a COVID-era federal relief policy \u2014 to complete the deal.\n<\/p>\n

Around the time of the purchase, the land was envisioned as a place for open space and a mixed-income neighborhood that could include affordable housing. But the land\u2019s future has since spurred disagreement<\/a> among the Town Council, residents and the advisory board after an assessment showed only its middle portion is buildable.<\/p>\n

Erie staff earlier this year heard from St. Scholastica Catholic Church<\/a> about building a new location on the property, but the church has since rescinded that interest.<\/p>\n

OSTAB members have argued that building any development in the middle of the land would leave fragments of open space scattered on its outskirts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOSTAB\u2019s position is that the property should be preserved in its entirety only for appropriate open space uses, and that no development should occur on any portion of the site,\u201d the board wrote in a letter dated April 13<\/a> to the council.<\/p>\n

Residents who identified themselves as living near the Page Property attended Tuesday\u2019s meeting to advocate for the land becoming entirely open space, with one telling the council: \u201cI think it\u2019s worth keeping some nature around us. It\u2019s beneficial for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Andrew Moore said the council has also been receiving emails from residents about the property\u2019s fate, and \u201cthe vast majority of those are about open space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council members unanimously voted to direct town staff to bring forth a zoning ordinance \u201csometime this summer\u201d that would designate the land as open space. (Zoning refers to local government rules that determine what types of developments \u2014 such as residential, commercial, or industrial \u2014 can be built in different parts of a town.)<\/p>\n

Councilmember Emily Baer, who has previously advocated for affordable housing on the site, supported the open space direction but encouraged the council to seek compensation for the ARPA dollars spent on the land purchase that were intended to support affordable housing.<\/p>\n

The town\u2019s finance director, Sarah Hancock, in September said the ARPA money used for the purchase is considered a \u201ccompleted project\u201d in federal reporting terms, and \u201cthe town is not legally required to construct housing on the property.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think it\u2019s important for us to keep our promises to the community, whatever that looks like, so we\u2019re able to make those investments in the future for affordable housing,\u201d Baer said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The council also on Tuesday voted to discuss \u2014 during its process for the 2027 budget \u2014 \u201cARPA funds revenue replacement for affordable housing, possibly with a payment plan from the TNACC fund,\u201d Moore said, referring to the Trails, Natural Areas and Community Character fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cAssuming funding is approved in the budget,\u201d Moore added, the council could explore the feasibility of some amenities on the land, such as a nature or historical center, a trailhead connecting nearby paths, and a paved or gravel parking lot \u2014 though acting Town Manager Meredyth Muth said completing a historical center on the property would be a lengthy process that could take \u201cmany, many\u201d years.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Anil Pesaramelli advocated for the Town Council to create a housing-related advisory board in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m OK with the open space and all of the other ideas, but I want to see a housing needs advisory board which will make sure the efforts are continued. \u2026 Because this is something that came up in (a town survey), and I want to keep it moving,\u201d Pesaramelli said.<\/p>\n

Moore said a potential advisory board could become a discussion point at the council\u2019s upcoming joint session with the Erie Planning Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Town-owned property just north of Erie\u2019s Old Town that has been the subject of months of debate is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1675,1676,7250,6838,136,138,137,1677,241,182,139,21690,708,50,289,1680],"class_list":["post-192654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-boulder-county","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-east-county","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-open-space","tag-outdoors","tag-politics","tag-things-to-do","tag-weld-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}