A new rowing group wants to bring a rowing club to Sewickley's Riverfront Park, where the public could rent canoes and kayaks and enroll in water safety and rowing courses.

"What we'd like to bring to Sewickley is a community-based rowing club, a rowing club that would have the best competitive rowers in the region but would offer programs for the community," said Jon Murcek, executive director of RowPittsburgh.

The facility would be across the Sewickley Bridge from Moon.

Mr. Murcek's partner in the venture is Florin Curuea, the rowing coach at Pine-Richland High School, who's a two-time world champion rower and a 19-time Romanian national champion.

The nonprofit RowPittsburgh was formed about four months ago and has 20 members. They row indoors on Pine-Richland's machines and on the river when conditions are favorable.

They want to build a building that would house meeting rooms, locker rooms, offices and a workout room containing rowing machines. They also want to upgrade and lengthen the docks to 150 feet to accommodate 65-foot, eight-member rowing shells.

If the project is approved, Mr. Murcek said, the docks would remain open to the public and RowPittsburgh would maintain them.

The club wants to move the tennis courts and basketball court in the park for easier access to the river, Mr. Murcek said, and the club would relocate and upgrade them. The site also would include green space.

The club intends to pay for the project with grants and donations, Mr. Murcek said.

RowPittsburgh plans to rent canoes and kayaks and offer water safety programs and rowing lessons for schools, senior citizens and others, he said.

"A lot of rowing clubs aren't busy all day long. The rowers are there in the morning and the late afternoon, and the rest of the day it is empty," he said. "The area could demographically support a rowing club that way. And there are people living on the river who would be interested in the sport."

Six years ago, neighborhood opposition killed a similar proposal from another rowing group.

Mr. Murcek said he and Mr. Curuea are working with neighbors of the site to address concerns.

Sewickley council members told them to work out the details, including addressing neighbors' concerns, before returning to council, said borough Manager Kevin Flannery.

"The neighborhood still has concerns about traffic, noise and parking, and we've come up with some solutions to address that," Mr. Murcek said. "We want to be a good neighbor."

Some of the group's solutions include installing security cameras at the docks to discourage loitering and asking members to sign a "code of conduct" pledging that they will not disrupt the neighborhood.

"We're interested in resolving all the neighborhood issues before we even approach the council," he said.