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Yahoo
06-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Luzerne County Council to discuss tax break alteration and coyote hunting request
Apr. 5—Luzerne County Council is set to discuss a tax break alteration and coyote hunting request at its Tuesday work session. A council majority had approved the tax break for Hazleton Creek Commerce Center Holdings in 2021 for a $500 million project on 400-acre site badly scarred from past coal mining and two dumps. The tract is along Routes 309 and 924, mostly in Hazleton and partly in Hazle Township. Bethlehem-based Hazleton Creek plans to build five warehousing and manufacturing structures totaling 5.5 million square feet. Hazleton Creek's agreement with the county contained a clause saying the break would be forfeited if the company becomes delinquent on non-exempt real estate taxes at the site. Company representative Bob Kiel said he has absolutely no objection to this condition. But because the tract will be subdivided into six sections, he is asking council to change the wording to ensure the occupants of all parcels would not be penalized and lose the break if one becomes delinquent. Kiel said he expects Hazleton Creek will continue owning all six subdivided parcels throughout the break and going forward, unless an occupant determines it wants to purchase its parcel. As standard industry practice, companies leasing the buildings constructed by Hazleton Creek would be responsible for paying the real estate taxes and also receive the tax break incentive. The revision on Tuesday's work session would apply the stipulation to each lot and says nonpayment by one lot owner would "not in any way affect" the exemption of other lots. The break is under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance (LERTA) program for blighted properties, which means the property owner pays real estate taxes on the land throughout the break and receives a discount on taxes for the new development. Bethlehem-based project developer Robert Kiel convinced a council majority to grant full forgiveness on the new buildings for a decade because the tract had been surface and deep mined, requiring the company to complete state-mandated environmental reclamation work and cap old landfills before construction could begin. Kiel said last week that much of that work has been completed — including landfill capping and earth-moving — following an extensive permitting and regulatory process. Hazleton Creek has invested millions of dollars in the project to date, he said. The company is in the process of demolishing an old automobile business along Route 309, and one of the five building pads has been completed, Kiel said. Kiel stressed Hazleton Creek is committed to the project and not looking to sell the tract. "We're not walking away. We're excited about this project and have been working on it almost five years now," he said. When he last appeared before county council in 2021, Kiel said he had constructed about 70 million square feet of property in Pennsylvania and other states during his more than 30-year development career. He said he was drawn to the Hazleton project for the challenge and reception he received from city leaders. Tuesday's work session follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. A link for the remote attendance option is posted under council's online meetings section at Council would have to approve the change at a future voting meeting for it to take effect. Coyotes Council also is set to discuss a request from Ronald Yaron to hunt coyote on county-owned property near the Eagle Rock Resort in the Hazleton area to eliminate a nuisance to the housing development, the work session agenda said. His communication said he will follow all safety requirements and Pennsylvania Game Commission regulations, including carrying a license, wearing safety apparel and hunting 151 yards away from any dwellings. If a coyote is harvested, the carcass is considered residual waste and will be properly disposed, he said. His submission included a photograph of a deer that had been attacked and killed by a coyote at Eagle Rock Resort. Consolidating departments The county administration is seeking a council resolution authorizing the combination of the county Mapping/GIS Department with Planning and Zoning, the work session agenda said. This merger would enhance decisions related to planning and development, it said. Planning and Zoning is part of the operational services division. Mapping/GIS would move from the administration services division to operational services. Staff for both departments would remain the same with the exception of reducing department heads from two to one. County GIS/Mapping Director Dan Reese has been serving as acting planning/zoning executive director since Matthew Jones resigned last May. Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Scranton School Board to vote on legal services Monday
Scranton school directors will vote to appoint a solicitor for the district on Monday while formally accepting the resignation of a former director. The district submitted a request for proposals for legal services in February. Two firms — Joyce, Carmody & Moran PC of Pittston and Bethlehem-based King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, the district's current firm — met the proposal deadline, according to a listing for the district on Superintendent Erin Keating, Ed.D., said in an email Thursday that legal services were part of the second tier of requests for proposals the district issued. 'The RFP for legal services was made public, and the process adhered strictly to the Board Operating Guidelines (BOG) regarding the hiring of a solicitor,' she said. John Freund remains the district's solicitor, Keating said. At last Monday's work session, board President Ty Holmes confirmed he instructed the district's administration to begin negotiations with Joyce, Carmody & Moran to provide general and special education legal services. Director Tara Yanni said the board should appoint a firm that is the most cost effective with the most experience in public education law. Yanni, comparing the proposals, said the firm the majority of directors want to go with costs $240 an hour, while the other is $200 an hour. She also said the firm that wasn't selected serves 32 districts and has the most experience. 'For that reason I am not in favor of the firm desired by the majority of this board,' she said. Director Catherine Fox pointed out an attorney from the firm favored by the board majority sent a letter to the board in July 2023 opposing them taking action on any significant contracts, including ones related to the district's execution of government functions — such as legal services, administration and other functions under school code — if they didn't need to be renewed or reconsidered until after a new board assumes office. She wondered if the board could take action on legal services before the contract for the current firm ends in December and a new board is sworn in. Fox also asked that a work-based retainer method be implemented to save the district money. She requested the board deny both bids as the firms aren't based in the city and that the bid process be redone with the requirement that firms be in Scranton. Fox also asked the board to find a solicitor that specializes in ethics or submit for an advisory opinion through the state Ethics Commission because of a conflict of interest between members of the firm favored by the board and other roles they hold in the city. 'I believe that this will ensure we that we do our due diligence,' she said. 'There's a host of concerns that have been raised and they cannot be answered by just us or the people at the table, they have to be raised by somebody with higher knowledge than we hold.' The school board hired Joyce, Carmody & Moran PC as its labor counsel in 2018, but the board shifted those responsibilities to the firm Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams in 2020. The board has used the district's current firm, King, Spry, Herman, Freund & Faul, since 2022, when a Lackawanna County judge ordered the district to rebid for its bus contract. That year, Dunmore-based Pete's Garage filed suit after learning the district negotiated with Krise Transportation of Punxsutawney without giving other bidders the same opportunity. In addition, directors will also vote to accept Katie Gilmartin's resignation as director. Gilmartin, who had served on the board since 2017 and was board president in 2020 and 2021, submitted her resignation Friday. She did not provide a reason for leaving the board in her resignation letter to Holmes, which The Times-Tribune obtained through a Right to Know request. 'You have my very best wishes for the continued success of the Scranton School District,' Gilmartin wrote in her letter. She declined to comment earlier this week on why she stepped down in the final year of her second four-year term. Directors plan to advertise for the vacancy after voting to accept her resignation.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Blakely to begin designing blueprints for community center at former Mid-Valley Hospital
Blakely is about to begin drafting blueprints for an estimated $8 million-plus community center at the former Mid-Valley Hospital. After holding a public input session in January, Blakely hopes to start work in the coming week to prepare technical drawings for its plans to build a roughly 25,000-square-foot community center adjacent to the existing Mid-Valley Hospital building at 1400 Main St., borough Manager Chris Paone said. Bethlehem-based Alloy5 Architecture, which previously created renderings of the community center, will spend about three to five months preparing the technical drawings, with the goal of putting the community center's construction out to bid in November or December, Paone said. Technical drawings are the blueprints contractors will use to bid on the project, and they're the plans the borough will use to actually construct the community center, including the building itself and its electric, plumbing, HVAC and fire-suppression systems, Paone said. If all goes to plan, construction would then take at least 12 months, he said. * An aerial view of the former Mid-Valley Hospital in Peckville Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * An aerial view of the former Mid-Valley Hospital in Peckville Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) * An aerial view of the former Mid-Valley Hospital in Peckville Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Show Caption 1 of 3 An aerial view of the former Mid-Valley Hospital in Peckville Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) Expand Paone estimates it will cost $8 million to $9 million, though the borough will have a clearer picture of the cost with the technical drawings, he said. During the Jan. 20 community meeting, the borough received positive feedback from residents, Paone said. Some raised concerns about traffic, but the borough is already working on traffic studies at Main and Hospital streets, he said. Others asked for activities aimed at seniors, whether it's chair yoga or card tables, and Blakely plans to make sure they have available space, Paone said. He noted the potential of using the top floor of the existing hospital building, which is currently available. * A rendering of the entrance of Blakely's proposed community center from the perspective of First Street in Peckville. (Courtesy of Blakely Borough and Alloy5 Architecture) * A rendering of Blakely's proposed community center at 1400 Main St. in Peckville at the former Mid-Valley Hospital. (Courtesy of Blakely Borough and Alloy5 Architecture) * A rendering of Blakely's proposed community center at 1400 Main St. in Peckville at the former Mid-Valley Hospital. (Courtesy of Blakely Borough and Alloy5 Architecture) Show Caption 1 of 3 A rendering of the entrance of Blakely's proposed community center from the perspective of First Street in Peckville. (Courtesy of Blakely Borough and Alloy5 Architecture) Expand Blakely purchased the former landmark hospital for $700,000 in May, acquiring it from a subsidiary of Commonwealth Health's parent company, Franklin, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems. The sale included the surrounding parking lots on Hospital and First streets. Community Health Systems bought the Mid-Valley Hospital, which emerged from an early 1900s community-driven project to have localized health care to potentially save the lives of injured coal miners, in January 2012 when it purchased the Moses Taylor Health Care System. Community Health shuttered the hospital in July 2014 and reopened it as a walk-in clinic. It then demolished portions of the former hospital in December 2014, leaving the 3½-story addition from 1982 that is now owned by Blakely. Commonwealth Health closed its urgent care at the site about two years ago, followed by its primary care clinic in early February 2024. Located next to the existing hospital building, the community center will have two full-size PIAA basketball courts that could be used for other sports like pickleball, volleyball or soccer practice; an elevated track around the courts; a batting cage; a party room for renting out the center for events like birthday parties; concession stands; conference spaces, and an area for activities like yoga. The center will be three stories tall to accommodate the basketball courts, which will have bleachers on either side and a drop-down curtain to separate them for simultaneous games. A rendering of the interior of the Blakely Borough Community Center at 1400 Main St., Peckville. (Courtesy of Blakely Borough and Alloy5 Architecture) Blakely would also look at getting wrestling mats for the center, and the borough would love to get a projector to hold community movie nights, Paone said. 'The more that this facility is used, the better it is for everybody,' Paone said. 'We need people there to make the facility worthwhile and functional.' Next door to the community center in the hospital building, Wayne Memorial Health System is leasing the basement and first floors, paying Blakely $340,000 annually for a five-year lease that began Feb. 1. Wayne Memorial plans to have X-rays and lab work in the basement, Paone said. On the first floor, the health system is looking at having doctors offices, urology, pulmonology and orthopedics, he said. State Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-112, Blakely, relocated his district office from the Burke Bypass in Olyphant to the ground floor of the hospital, opening his new office Feb. 3. A borough native, Mullins chuckled as he recalled getting his first stitches at the Mid-Valley Hospital, never expecting to run a district office there as a state representative. Mullins' lease is $2,100 per month, or $25,200 annually. 'It's really great to see that building that meant so much to so many over the years being put back to meaningful use,' Mullins said. 'It not only will have a new use in being a center of the community and a point of access to your state legislator, it will retain a health care component critical to our area with Wayne Memorial moving in.' Borough officials have spoken with Mullins and state Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-40, Middle Smithfield Twp., about grant funding for the community center, Paone said. Officials also plan to sit down with U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8, Dallas Twp., to explore federal funding, he said. Mullins said he and Brown will work together to 'secure any and all funding that can be brought to bear.' Both Paone and Mullins described the impact of the community center on not just Blakely but surrounding communities. 'We know that the facility is going to be housed within Blakely borough, but we are really hoping that this has a big impact throughout the entire Midvalley,' Paone said.
