With Memorial Day on the horizon, a long-planned World War II memorial for the North Shore is getting an awkward reception from city and riverfront planners.

	Online Graphic: Monuments and memorials on the North Shore

The memorial has been in development since 2001, with an artist chosen from a nationwide design competition and a site picked -- briefly -- at a sculpture park east of PNC Park. The memorial committee, composed largely of veterans, was later told to find a different site and settled on a spot in a riverfront lawn by Heinz Field.

This week, officials from the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority and the Riverlife Task Force said that site might not work either. The city Art Commission deadlocked on the proposal, deciding not to vote until it can visit the area.

The latest memorial plans by Washington, D.C., artist Larry Kirkland include a circle of 10 steel and glass spires, each 36 feet tall, placed on a circular granite plate. In the middle is a folded American Flag cast in bronze. The steel panels would be engraved with photo images of those who served the war effort on the domestic and war fronts. Glass panels would be illuminated at night.

More than 3,900 Allegheny County residents were killed in action or from wounds received during the war. Pittsburgh industry also played a vital role in the war.

Todd Johnson, a Denver landscape architect working with Mr. Kirkland, said such a memorial deserves a prominent riverfront spot, as it evokes the "pride and presence" of veterans in the Pittsburgh area.

The proposed site is near North Shore Drive, making access easier for aging veterans, and would intersect with an existing walkway.

Cost estimates are $3 million to $4 million, though that should be reduced through contributions of supplies and labor. Large-scale fundraising is on hold until a final site is approved.

The proposed site is in the northeast corner of the riverfront's "Great Lawn," near existing memorials for Vietnam War veterans and police officers. A $3 million statue and parklet for television icon Fred Rogers is planned for a bridge pier at the opposite end of the lawn.

The city's Arts Commission preliminarily approved the Mr. Rogers statue but did not move on the World War II memorial Wednesday, partially due to concerns that it would not fit into long-term recreational plans for the lawn.

The two-acre lawn is the largest green space in the riverfront park, which was redeveloped with $40 million in public money and $10 million in private funds during the stadium construction drive.

Riverlife Task Force senior architect Fred Watts told the commission it would be "with great agony we would object to the memorial . . . It's just the location relative to the great lawn" that concerns the task force.

The SEA, which oversees the riverfront park for the city, is concerned about the scale of the memorial and wants no significant changes to the lawn, which is frequently used for recreational uses by families, SEA development coordinator Kim Amey told the commission.

Both said another site should be found for the memorial.

Some on the commission also were concerned. Board chair Dina Klavon said the memorial seemed "plopped there, instead of integrated" with the lawn. Doug Cooper, an accomplished artist and Carnegie Mellon architectural drawing professor, said the spires looked "Teutonic" -- or German -- which he said would be worrisome for a World War II memorial.

Other art commission members, including Dennis Astorino and Joseph Serrao, blanched at those criticisms and were largely supportive of the project.

The commission may take up the memorial again at its next meeting June 27. Board members of the World War II Veterans of Allegheny County Memorial Fund -- many of whom attended Wednesday's session -- were just glad the plans are still alive, even if they are in limbo, a fund spokesman said.

"We're not asking for much. We're asking for a compromise," spokesman Bob Bukk said.

But time is an issue -- some site must be chosen soon if the veterans are ever going to see their memorial. The average age of the veterans group is 87.