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Council requires public‑access easement as it approves 8th Street vacation for Cultural Trust project
Summary
Council amended and approved the vacation of part of 8th Street to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, adding language that requires a recorded public‑access easement for pedestrian and emergency vehicle access before finalizing the sale.
Pittsburgh City Council on Dec. 17 approved a resolution to vacate 8th Street in connection with a Pittsburgh Cultural Trust project, but only after members added explicit language requiring a recorded public‑access easement.
Council members raised concerns that whereas language committing to public access had not been carried into the bill’s operative text. David Geiger, the city’s legislative policy director, said the Cultural Trust and public safety had discussed a design that would permit emergency‑vehicle access and pedestrian movement, but that an easement needed to be inserted into section 3 of the legislation so it would be binding.
Councilwoman Gross offered a verbal amendment inserting a paragraph mirroring the utility easement language already in the bill: the city of Pittsburgh will reserve the right to public‑access easements to maintain pedestrian and public safety vehicle access through the vacated section. The amendment passed by voice vote and the bill received an affirmative recommendation as amended.
City staff and the Cultural Trust will now be expected to draft the easement agreement and record it as a condition of executing the proposed sale. Council members said the change preserves negotiated public‑access commitments while allowing the project to proceed.
