Allegheny County is considering a proposal to strip mine 100 acres in the Sleepy Hollow section of South Park that the county parks master plan identifies as an "important biological zone" and recommends for designation as an Open Space Reserve.

Green Vue Systems LLC of Whitehall, which owns the mineral rights to the coal, submitted the mining proposal for the southern end of the 2,000-acre park, according to Kevin Evanto, a spokesman for county Chief Executive Dan Onorato.

Mr. Onorato will attend an Allegheny County Department of Parks public "informational session" on the Green Vue mining proposal scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday in the South Park High School auditorium, 2005 Eagle Ridge Road. Notice of the meeting was sent to property owners, municipal officials and youth athletic associations in the area, but the public session was not advertised or announced on the county's Web site yesterday.

"The county has been presented a proposal to remove the coal and do some other things with the land," Mr. Evanto said. "We decided to hold a meeting and listen. No decisions have been made yet."

The Green Vue proposal includes a post-mining plan to build soccer and practice football fields in Sleepy Hollow, where an inventory done for the 2002 county parks master plan has identified uncommon plant biodiversity in one of the biggest wooded areas left in the park.

The county parks department also has plans to build a two-mile connector trail through the middle of the proposed strip mine area, between the park's popular Corrigan Drive and Montour trails.

Mr. Evanto said he doesn't know if Green Vue has offered to pay the county for the right to mine its park land.

Green Vue owner Nello Fiore was not available to comment on the mining proposal yesterday.

Green Vue Systems has no previous mining record and holds no mining permits, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection's mining bureau. The company was established on Dec. 3, 2007, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State Corporation Bureau, which lists its address as "Hangar #54, Allegheny County Airport."

Although Green Vue owns the mineral rights to coal on the park land, it cannot do any surface mining without County Council approval.

"At first blush I would say 'no,' but I do want to hear all of the information before I make any judgement," said County Council President Rich Fitzgerald. "Park lands are very valuable and the public has great affection for them, for their recreation, for nature, for the woodlands. I won't support anything that would hurt the natural preserve of the parks."

Mr. Fitzgerald said the mining proposal, which he was unaware of before yesterday, should be subject to public review and comment, and evaluation by the DEP.

County Councilman Vince Gastgeb, who was the original county parks chairman on council, said the new mining proposal is similar to one that was rejected in the late 1990s, when local municipalities and residents actively opposed that plan.

"It was a quagmire of negatives. There was no will for it except for the few who might benefit," said Mr. Gastgeb, who represents District 5, which includes the western side of the park. "I don't think it's a good idea and can't believe in the long run it's something we would want to do."

He said the mining would adversely affect homeowners, some living less than a quarter mile away. He also criticized Green Vue's attempt to link the strip mining to new athletic fields, saying the county already has space in South Park and $100,000 in its capital budget to build new fields.

"Recreation groups should know that we can do fields without strip mining," Mr. Gastgeb said.

"This strip mining is such a square peg to try to fit in this round hole. It didn't make sense then. That's why it wasn't done."