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<\/p>\nThomas Grubbs woke up on Monday, Aug. 3, checked the group chat and felt it in his stomach.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I\u2019m actually trapped,\u201d he said. \u201cLike, I can\u2019t leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Grubbs, 36, lives on a 50-foot houseboat at Diamond Beach Marina, at the end of Lock Way East, a narrow public street that drops off Allegheny River Boulevard, crosses a set of railroad tracks and dead-ends at the Allegheny River. The marina is home to around a dozen people year-round, plus a hub for others who spend leisure time or work there.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260731_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_6-scaled.jpg\")
Thomas Grubbs, a resident of Diamond Beach Marina, prepares food for his 10-year-old dog Simon on board his houseboat at the marina on July 31, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n
Lock Way East is the only way in or out by land, with ongoing construction blocking the access to Lock Way West from the marina. That Sunday, contractors for the Allegheny Valley Railroad closed the east crossing while working on track maintenance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there was an emergency, I\u2019m not sure what would happen,\u201d Grubbs said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260802_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_9-scaled.jpg\")
Contractors work along the railroad on Lock Way East during a pedestrian closure on Aug. 2, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n
The closure was temporary, but for Grubbs and other marina residents, it sparked fears about how another, yearslong construction project might impact their access.<\/p>\n
As the railroad works on maintenance this summer, Pittsburgh Water is building a nearby pump station and needs the crossing as part of its $470 million Water Reliability Plan Projects<\/a>. As the two projects ensue, residents fear more closures could follow.\u00a0<\/p>\n Once the pump station opens in 2029, the water authority has outlined a new configuration for the roadway that would take out the only current public road. While they say residents could access the marina through a temporary permit to cross several properties and reach Lock Way West, some feel this lacks permanence and security.<\/p>\n Marina denizens have turned to Pittsburgh officials in an effort to guarantee long-term road access.<\/p>\n A resolution before Pittsburgh City Council, introduced by Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor\u2019s administration, would authorize the city to enter into agreements with the railroad, the water authority and several private property owners while the two crossings are, in the resolution\u2019s words, \u201cupgraded or removed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The resolution before council does not include guarantees for access to the marina. It hasn\u2019t yet gotten a vote from council\u2019s Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure.<\/p>\n Unique in Pittsburgh<\/p>\n Diamond Beach is, by most accounts, the oldest family-run marina in Pittsburgh, and it runs on membership. About a dozen people live on boats docked in the marina, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar, year round. Others rent space to fabricate metal or store boats, and the population swells and thins with the seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the past two years, the marina, owned by Katie Bowie, has built out bathrooms, stocked kayaks for rent and, this winter, chartered a social club \u2014 the Brilliant Float Club \u2014 so that people without boats can come down to the water. After the 2024 flooding in Asheville, North Carolina, the marina became a collection point, where people all across the region dropped off supplies that residents then drove south.<\/p>\n \u201cThe social club is really a way that we can increase access to the river,\u201d said Emma Honcharski, who sits on the club\u2019s board. The point, she said, is \u201cbuilding community around recreation, joy and rest.\u201d<\/p>\n Gina Favano, an artist and archivist who spent 10 years in a boathouse community on the Mississippi River at Winona, Minnesota, has begun archiving documentation of the community.<\/p>\n Diamond Beach offers something surprisingly lacking in Pittsburgh, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a city like Pittsburgh, that\u2019s a fertile crescent, there\u2019s three rivers here, and it has such limited river access for the public,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a class issue. The people who can afford boats and afford to keep them in a marina, then you\u2019re able to access the water.\u201d<\/p>\n House boats along the dock at Diamond Beach Marina, on the Allegheny River, on Aug. 15. (Video by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n Diamond Beach brings access to an eclectic band of regular river lovers \u2014 some of whom can\u2019t just sail away.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPeople in Pittsburgh crave a third space. There aren\u2019t very many of them, and they come up and then go away. It\u2019s either a landlord problem or a city problem or a money problem or a social problem, but mostly there are limited third spaces because there are so many barriers,\u201d said Katie Bowie, the owner of Diamond Beach Marina, which she sees as a surviving third space for its community.<\/p>\n By Grubbs\u2019 count, his houseboat is one of only two at the marina that can move under its own power. He also owns a speedboat. If a long closure came, he said, he would take it past nearby Lock and Dam 2 and commute by transit. Most of his neighbors could not.<\/p>\n \u201cThere probably would be people who wouldn\u2019t be able to stay here,\u201d he said. \u201cThey would have to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n Honcharski is careful not to overstate the danger posed by the rail and water developments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe marina isn\u2019t under immediate threat,\u201d she said. Asked what it would mean if Lock Way East stopped being a public road, she reached for a smaller comparison. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like if someone just came to your friend\u2019s house and was like, by the way, they don\u2019t have a driveway anymore. It just doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n The road to council<\/p>\n The threat to Diamond Beach\u2019s \u201cdriveway\u201d emerged in May 2025, as documented in a tranche of more than 90 emails between the water company, the railroad, the city, the Army Corps and the property owners, shared with Public Source by marina owner Bowie. Key points:<\/p>\n May 2024: Pittsburgh Water writes to Diamond Beach Land Co. saying the Lock Way West railroad crossing will be rehabilitated at no cost to the marina, and asks Bowie to sign the Agreement to Develop Public Railroad Crossing.\u00a0<\/p>\n July 2025: After over a year of back-and-forth, Bowie refuses to sign, writing in an email that Diamond Beach is \u201cnot prepared to agree to your proposal as written.\u201d<\/p>\n August 2025: The authority\u2019s corporate counsel tells Bowie that if Diamond Beach will not sign, \u201cthe Railroad is proposing granting Pittsburgh Water temporary access via Lock Way West while removing the Lock Way East crossing and terminating all access thereto.\u201d Bowie replies that the marina will not commit to anything \u201cunless and until full compensation is provided to cover our legal and administrative costs.\u201d<\/p>\n September 2025: A lawyer representing the authority tells Bowie, by her account, that Lock Way East would stay accessible throughout the construction.<\/p>\n November 2025: The authority sends what it describes as \u201cthe agreement allowing Pittsburgh Water to pay the $5K\u201d to reimburse Bowie\u2019s legal expenses under which the marina would in return \u201crelease and extinguish any rights it has with respect to the Pittsburgh Water Crossing,\u201d the document\u2019s term for Lock Way East.\u00a0<\/p>\n December 2025: Bowie refuses the authority\u2019s offer and copies three City Council offices, calling the offer an attempt to get her to surrender property rights \u201cunder the guise of a simple administrative payment.\u201d The same week, Pittsburgh Water and the railroad sign a temporary license giving the authority construction access over Lock Way West.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Water wrote in a response to questions that it has been a good-faith partner. It has engaged Diamond Beach \u201csince May 2025,\u201d invited the marina owner to \u201cseveral meetings, discussions and email correspondence,\u201d and is \u201ccommitted to working through their questions and concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n What council is being asked to do<\/p>\n The one-page resolution stuck in council\u2019s Committee on Public Works and Infrastructure since April 24 calls for agreements \u201cfor the purpose of accessing city property while certain railroad crossings at Lock Way East and Lock Way West (Council District 7) are being upgraded or removed, at no cost to the city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Water says that would lock in access to the marina after construction ends. Council\u2019s approval, the authority wrote in a statement, \u201cwill secure future permanent access via a single crossing with safety provisions as required by the railroad,\u201d and will \u201cformalize the agreement providing permanent access for Diamond Beach and other stakeholders at the site once construction is completed.\u201d<\/p>\n At the committee\u2019s June 24 meeting, Councilor Erika Strassburger stressed the water authority\u2019s position.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to put on the record that as a board member of Pittsburgh Water, I\u2019m aware of the fact that Pittsburgh Water is eager to move forward as quickly as possible, because their half-billion dollar project hinges on this agreement going through at this very sort of messy site,\u201d Strassburger, the authority board\u2019s vice chair, told council.\u00a0<\/p>\n Strassburger declined to comment, as did other council members contacted for this story.<\/p>\n Morgan Ress, who rents shop space at the marina and is involved in the effort to preserve road access, called councilors Deb Gross and Khari Mosley \u201cvery receptive. They know who we are. We have strong community connections.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, the water authority indicated that the pump station project is not waiting on council but is already underway through a temporary license agreement between the railroad and water authority.<\/p>\n The agreement spells out plans to remove the public crossing at Lock Way East, which leads directly to the marina. Lock Way West, a private crossing owned by the Allegheny Valley Railroad, licensed to the Army Corps of Engineers, would be rebuilt and made public. Access to the properties behind the railroad, including the marina, would be granted by easements.\u00a0<\/p>\n Records denied<\/p>\n While marina constituents work to protect access through negotiations and advocating to council, some say they\u2019ve struggled to get clear information from the water authority, even as they\u2019ve been pressed to sign the documents.<\/p>\n Ress requested a copy of the development agreement between Pittsburgh Water and Allegheny Valley Railroad under the state Right-to-Know Law. The water authority denied his request, writing that it \u201chas been determined to be anonymous\u201d and lacked \u201csufficient information to establish that the requester is a \u2018person that is a legal resident of the United States.’\u201d<\/p>\n Pennsylvania\u2019s Right-to-Know Law defines a requester as \u201ca legal resident of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnybody who meets the statutory requirements can request a document,\u201d said Adam Tragone, a First Amendment lawyer at the Cornell Law School First Amendment Clinic who represents journalists in Western Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n Ress said he is a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n Tragone said it may have been the appearance of AI-generated text in the request that caused the water authority to balk, or the suggestion of an unverified email address.<\/p>\n The authority\u2019s letter also claimed that release of the development agreement would endanger \u201cthe safety or physical security of a public utility,\u201d but did not detail the risk.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ress filed an appeal to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, which was granted on Aug. 17. That gives the authority thirty days to either provide the requested agreement or appeal to the Court of Common Pleas.<\/p>\n Who closed the road?<\/p>\n Grubbs is an environmental scientist, who said he is familiar with water treatment projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never been on a worksite where they just surprise closed a road that affected people that live in an area that they can\u2019t leave from,\u201d he said, referring to the railroad company.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Aug. 2, a gate through the Pittsburgh Water construction site was open, and residents used it sparingly. By Monday it was locked.<\/p>\n Grubbs called off work. Another resident\u2019s guest, arriving with a child, could not get in and parked across the river. He went and got them in his speedboat.<\/p>\n The water authority \u201cdon\u2019t allow us access through their property, even though they absolutely could,\u201d Grubbs said. \u201cIt would have gone a long way to be a good neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n The railroad, which closed the crossing, asked the water company whether the marina could cut through the construction site, and the authority refused, according to the authority\u2019s statement. The route \u201cwould have required travel through the active construction area that is extremely constrained, with limited space and continuous heavy equipment movement,\u201d the authority wrote to Public Source.<\/p>\n Emergency access during the closure, the authority said, \u201cwould be the responsibility of the railroad because it was their project and their decision to close the crossings.\u201d It added that it was \u201cnot made aware of any formal requests from the marina for advance access, and no emergency access requests were denied during that time.\u201d<\/p>\n The railroad had told residents much the same thing a week earlier. On July 28, Allegheny Valley Railroad Company president John Ashbridge emailed Bowie the schedule of the upcoming crossing closure, writing that only one crossing would be out of service at a time and that Pittsburgh Water had said it could not pilot members of the public through its construction area for safety reasons.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Water said the railroad notified it of the closures on July 23.<\/p>\n Ashbridge did not respond to multiple requests for comment, by email and phone.<\/p>\n The crossing that stays<\/p>\n The railroad company, citing safety concerns, is driving the decision to remove the crossing on Lock Way East.<\/p>\n Local residents have noted their own safety issues at Lock Way West, part of the alternate access route.<\/p>\n \u201cA crossing that Ts into our fence at a 90 degree angle is an accident waiting to happen,\u201d wrote Jody Choder, the owner of Choderwood<\/a>, a recreational site located on Lock Way West, in an October 2025 email to the city. This July, she reported that an 18-wheeler \u201chit the telecom pole that is still in the middle of the crossing zone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Army Corps has also raised concerns in emails that railroad construction activities have sometimes affected its access to the lock and dam. The corps declined to comment on future implications of the two projects, telling Public Source that \u201cwe are continuing to discuss the matter with the appropriate parties.\u201d<\/p>\n Grubbs is not planning to go anywhere.<\/p>\n Thomas Grubbs walks down the pathway toward his house boat at Diamond Beach Marina on Aug. 15, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Video by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n \u201cThat construction project or Pittsburgh Water in general will not affect my commitment to being a resident,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe real potential of the marina is the safe harbor [from the general grind],\u201d said Ress. \u201cIt\u2019s a place where we can define how we want to live for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Feixu Chen is an editorial intern at Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source and can be reached at feixu@publicsource.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jason Alpert-Wisnia was a visuals intern at Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source.<\/p>\n This story was fact-checked by Abigail Nemec-Merwede.<\/p>\n \n\tMORE STORIES\n<\/p>\n Help us continue telling stories like this one.<\/p>\n We\u2019re Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source, an independent, nonprofit newsroom. That means we rely on donations from readers like you to help us report accurate, timely and impactful stories for the Pittsburgh region \u2014 available to everyone without paywalls. <\/p>\n Everyone deserves access to credible information to understand and help shape the region they call home, which is why we work hard everyday to deliver fact-checked stories on education, environment, health, local government and more.<\/p>\n We’ve seen our journalism prompt widespread change<\/a> in the Pittsburgh region \u2014 but none of it would be possible without the support of our community. If you found this story valuable, consider “paying it forward” by making a gift today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thomas Grubbs woke up on Monday, Aug. 3, checked the group chat and felt it in his stomach.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-272494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272494","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=272494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260731_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_5-scaled.jpg\")
The view of Diamond Beach Marina from along the Allegheny River on July 31, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260804_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_18.jpg\")
Tommy Lambert, of Wilkinsburg, sits on the back of his boat as he works on a kayak at Diamond Beach Marina on Aug. 4. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260808_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_29.jpg\")
Family and friends cheer as Katie Bowie and Aaron Lindberg kiss during their wedding ceremony at Diamond Beach Marina on Aug. 8. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260731_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_2-scaled.jpg\")
Thomas Grubbs, a resident at Diamond Beach Marina, fills a fuel tank ahead of a ride on his boat along the Allegheny River on July 31. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"Construction](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260725_JasonAlpertWisnia_MarinaMeeting_13-scaled.jpg\")
A sign pointing toward Pittsburgh Water\u2019s Brilliant Yard site on Lock Way East on July 25, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260725_JasonAlpertWisnia_MarinaMeeting_2-scaled.jpg\")
Katie Bowie, owner of Diamond Beach Marina, and Spencer Carr, a resident of the marina, put up a project list during an Allegheny Woodlands and Brilliant Lands group meeting on July 25, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260725_JasonAlpertWisnia_MarinaMeeting_8-scaled.jpg\")
Pittsburgh City Councilor Deb Gross, of Highland Park, center, speaks with Christine Mondor, chair of the Board of Directors of Riverlife, and John Stephen, a member of Allegheny River Boulevard Preservation Association, following an Allegheny Woodlands and Brilliant Lands group meeting on July 25, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260725_JasonAlpertWisnia_MarinaMeeting_6-scaled.jpg\")
Morgan Ress, a resident of Diamond Beach Marina, addresses community members and others at an Allegheny Woodlands and Brilliant Lands group meeting on July 25. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260815_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_31.jpg\")
The Pittsburgh Water Brilliant Yard development construction site on Aug. 15, in Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260802_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_8-scaled.jpg\")
Katie Bowie and Gina Favano speak to Steve Choder, a resident of one of the homes on Lock Way West, outside Lock Way East during a pedestrian closure due to railroad maintenance on Aug. 2. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260731_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_7-scaled.jpg\")
Workers ride along the railroad on Lock Way West on the evening of July 31. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260731_JasonAlpertWisnia_DiamondBeachMarina_1-scaled.jpg\")
Morgan Ress, a resident at Diamond Beach Marina, swims in the Allegheny River alongside the marina on July 31. (Photo by Jason Alpert-Wisnia\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n