The push to re-envision some Mon Valley communities continues.

A community forum to discuss the connection between development and health on the Carrie Furnace site in Rankin drew about 20 people to the UPMC Braddock campus last Thursday.

The meeting was called by the Tetra Boro Development Forum, an alliance representing Braddock, North Braddock, Rankin and Swissvale. The group was formerly the Tri Boro Development Forum.

The facilitator was Ron Gaydos, vice president of community and economic development for the Heritage Community Initiatives, a Braddock-based nonprofit committed to revitalizing distressed communities.

The impetus for the gathering was an Environmental Justice grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency awarded to Heritage, the nonprofit Group Against Smog and Pollution and Healthy Home Resources to explore the air quality impact of the Carrie Furnace development.

Healthy Home is a nonprofit, community service organization focused on reducing and eliminating in-home environmental hazards.

"The Carrie Furnace development has the potential to do a lot of good things in the area, like putting land back on the tax roles, and providing a setting for job creation," Mr. Gaydos said.

But a side effect of success at the site would be vehicular traffic, he said, and potential health effects, such a respiratory problems.

In his update on the site, J. Patrick Earley, manager of the Development Division of Allegheny County Economic Development, said the 168-acre parcel where the Carrie Furnace operated for 102 years was owned by the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County.

In a few weeks, the county will begin site development construction of storm water management, and bringing utilities to the site.

To sell the land for redevelopment -- which is the county's goal -- the access problem must be addressed, Mr. Earley said.

Currently, three sets of railroad tracks must be crossed to arrive at the site. One solution is to turn an old hot metal bridge into a vehicular bridge that also would serve to connect all the area trails.

For that project, roughly $30 million is being sought in state and/or federal funding.

The same sources are being explored for roughly $11 million to build a flyover ramp over the railroad tracks and onto Rankin Boulevard, another alternative.

Mr. Earley said the county was looking to partner with a developer who would "take into consideration the neighborhoods' needs and wants."

Those neighborhoods -- Swissvale and Rankin -- will benefit through an expanded tax base, new jobs, and what he termed "flex space," a combination of residential, office, light manufacturing and light industrial tenants on the site.

"We do not want to duplicate The Waterfront but complement it," he said of the former Homestead Works' conversion into a shopping and entertainment complex across the river.

Brief presentations followed on efforts to reduce diesel pollution, and improving the health of children at risk for in-home environmental hazards.

Rachel Filippini, executive director of GASP, in Squirrel Hill, said the group was working to retrofit city school buses with diesel particulate filters and closed crankcase ventilation systems, among other projects.

Michael Tobin, executive director of Healthy Home Resources, on the South Side, said children with asthma or breathing problems might qualify for free services such as in-home inspections, air duct and carpet cleaning, and more through the organization.

Mr. Gaydos said in early 2010 more such forums will be held to discuss emissions and traffic.

For more, visit www.heritagecommunityinitiatives.org.

For more on GASP, visit www.gasp-pgh.org; for HHR, www.HealthyHomeResources.org.

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