Deal to keep Chestnut Run Beach open

HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Mercer County Regional Council of Governments will absolve the county of any liability for deficits at Chestnut Run Swim Beach, if the county will sign a new 25-year lease on the property.
The only catch is that COG wants the county to come up with a guaranteed $5,000 in operating funds for the beach and re-allocate $10,000 in grant money the county provides annually for the Mercer County Community Transit program run by COG to the swim beach.
That would provide an additional $15,000 a year to run the beach operation, which has an annual budget of about $60,000, said James DeCapua, COG executive director.
The county leases the beach at Shenango River Lake from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has an operating agreement with COG to run the facility.
The first 25-year lease on the site expired in 2002 and has been extended on a month-to-month basis since then. However, the Corps has told the county to sign a new 25-year lease by May 27, or it will permanently close the beach.
Brian Beader, chairman of the board of county commissioners, said the hang-up has been the deficit liability clause in the operating agreement with COG, which requires the county to pick up 75 percent of any cost overruns at the beach.
The beach operated in the black from 1978 through 1992 but showed some deficits from 1993 through 2000, DeCapua said.