Final Talleyrand Stage plans get conditional approval in Bellefonte. What’s next?

Final land development plans for a long-awaited outdoor performance venue in Talleyrand Park have been conditionally approved by the Bellefonte Borough Council, although a few tasks remain to be completed before ground can be broken.

The Stage at Talleyrand project, which will be located in the Talleyrand Park Annex behind Pelican’s Snoballs, saw its plans get a conditional green light from the council at its meeting Monday. Rick Jacobs, The Stage at Talleyrand development committee’s co-chair, is eager for the stage to begin to take shape this year.

“We’re hoping this summer we’ll get started on the construction, and with a little bit of luck, maybe we’ll see a concert in the fall,” Jacobs said.

But a few hurdles remain before the stage committee can obtain an occupancy permit for the site and break ground — one of which involves finding a solution to a unique public restroom problem.

According to the borough’s ordinances, a development like the stage requires a public bathroom to be located within 500 feet of the premises, whether it’s built with the project or is pre-existing. Currently, the closest public restroom sits around 1,000 feet away, across Talleyrand Park’s famous swinging footbridge near the visitor’s center, and the plans do not include construction of a new restroom.

Because of this, the stage committee had to come up with a resourceful-yet-temporary solution — renovate Pelican’s Snoballs’ restrooms to be accessed from both the inside and outside, and use them as public restrooms during concerts. Porta-potties would also be brought in for larger events.

Michael Pratt, the director of Keller Engineers’ State College office, said that the business’s owner is OK with the temporary solution as long as they aren’t responsible for cleaning any mess left over in the bathroom by concert-goers, but some council members shared concerns.

Council members Joanne Tosti-Vasey, Randy Brachbill and Doug Johnson were all left unimpressed with what was dubbed “the restroom situation,” and hoped for a more permanent solution in the future.

“I don’t think one male and one female restroom would accommodate whatever crowds you’re producing there,” Johnson said.

Brachbill added that he was “not content” with how the restroom issue was being handled, and Tosti-Vasey requested that a specific timeline be attached to the implementation of a permanent restroom facility, although no timeline was decided upon at the meeting.

Ultimately, the plans were conditionally approved by a vote of 8-1, with Brachbill voting against. The lone condition was that a restroom solution be provided before the borough issues the stage committee a certificate of occupancy. Additionally, Pratt and interim manager Dave Pribulka shared that further solutions to the restroom situation would be looked into.

A look at the plans for the Stage at Talleyrand

As part of the plans, two new walking paths will be built in addition to the 2,000-square-foot stage, and Talleyrand Park’s small municipal parking lot near Pelican’s will be reconstructed. Parking for concerts will also be offered in the large municipal lot near CVS, and along the roads that offer street parking near the park.

According to a memo in the council meeting’s agenda, each concert that’s hosted at the stage is expected to bring around 150 to 200 visitors to the park.

“It’s been a long time coming and we’re happy to finally see [the stage’s approval],” Jacobs told the CDT. “We want to get out and raise a little bit more money so we have a cushion, but other than that the funds are all there and we’re almost ready to go.”

While the plans may have been conditionally approved Monday, it’s been far from an easy path forward for the project, which is estimated to cost around $1.5 million to $2 million. Despite the launch of a fundraising campaign in 2022, funds were hard to come by — that is, until the project was awarded a $1 million state Department of Community and Economic Development grant in 2023.

Following the grant, the committee aimed to break ground in late 2024, but that was held up after the Bellefonte Borough Authority contemplated drilling wells to access the Big Spring’s aquifer. The authority eventually backed away from that proposal though, meaning that stage talks could resume.

Moving forward, while an exact timeline for the stage’s construction was not shared, Jacobs told the CDT that the project would go out for bid in around “a month to six weeks” following the resolving of the restroom situation, and the approval of a final few permits.

For more information about the project, visit its website.