The organization that developed the AHN Montour Sports Complex is looking to add several more soccer fields to its stable of athletic facilities.
Friends of Pittsburgh Professional Soccer, which worked with the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County to develop the Montour Junction site, is seeking to have its property rezoned from general industrial to special riverfront development, which would allow the construction of more soccer fields.
The rezone request will be the subject of a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Monday before the Robinson Township Board of Commissioners. The meeting will take place at the township Municipal Building at 1000 Church Hill Road.
The hearing will be followed by a second public hearing at 6 p.m. and the regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m.
Notice of the 5:30 p.m. public hearing pertaining to the sports complex was posted in the area near the existing complex, which features three turfed regulation-size soccer and multipurpose fields, one of which is indoors. That portion of the complex opened in 2022.
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC uses the campus as a practice site and it’s also the home base for the Riverhounds Development Academy, which works with athletes ages 4 to 18.
The site, which is at 2419 State Ave. – Route 51 — in Coraopolis, also is home to the AHN Montour Health + Sports Medicine Center.
Matt Grubba, the Riverhounds’ communications director, said that the original plans for the complex called for 10 playing fields – nine of which would be outdoors. Grubba said he didn’t know how soon the additional seven fields would be developed but said the rezoning request – if granted – “would be one of the final steps to clear and grade land.”
The existing complex is in Coraopolis and the occupancy permit was obtained through the borough. But the land earmarked for the additional soccer fields is in Robinson, hence the need for Monday’s public hearing before the Robinson Board of Commissioners.
The proposal has prompted some nearby residents to take to social media to question the potential traffic impacts. One resident said the additional seven fields “would be a traffic nightmare and the roads are not capable of handling this kind of traffic.”
Another said, “I just think it’d be a little too much traffic into an area that the roads aren’t built for.”
Grubba said he wasn’t aware of any additional traffic mitigation measures or PennDOT-mandated improvements that would be required as part of the expansion plans.
“They’ve already improved (Route) 51,” he said. “It was two lanes and they added a left turn lane coming into the (complex). That’s improved the traffic flow there.”
Grubba said the entity applying for the rezone wants to expand the parking area and road access to reach the new fields.
Friends of Pittsburgh Professional Soccer, a registered not-for-profit entity created in 2016 has received funding from several sources, including the Shallenberger Family, the R.K. Mellon Foundation, the U.S. Soccer Foundation and the county.
Even after its opening, the complex has continued to receive funding from the state as well. According to a news release from state Sen. Devlin Robinson’s office dated Nov. 1, 2024, Friends of Professional Soccer was to receive $2 million for the “Sports and Athletic Complex at Montour Junction IV” from a total of $14 million awarded for various Allegheny County projects through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP).
That came a little more than seven months after the Commonwealth Financing Authority approved $500,000 through the Multimodal Transportation Fund to be used for transportation improvements at the Sports and Athletic Complex.
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