J
the
ournal-herald THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2022 • Volume 41 – No. 23 ©2022, THE JOURNAL-HERALD. All Rights Reserved
CONTINUING: THE WHITE HAVEN JOURNAL ESTABLISHED 1879–143rd YEAR, NO. 10
SINGLE COPY– 75¢ (USPS 277440)
CONTINUING: THE WEATHERLY HERALD ESTABLISHED 1880–142nd YEAR, NO. 36
WH Council OKs zoning change, Foster agreement by Ruth Isenberg
Sunset over Railyard Park at White Haven Area Community Library.
JH: R. Isenberg
ment with Foster Township was approved to continue as White Haven Borough of February 1, 2022. It will auCouncil approved advertising tomatically renew each year, zoning amendments dealwith a 3% annual increase. ing with signs and setbacks Council voted unanimously in during the January 24 meetfavor of the agreement. ing, to be considered at a pubAnother intergovernmental lic hearing on February 28. agreement was approved with The amendments have already Crestwood School District, been reviewed by Planning which would allow the bus and Zoning, and have been drivers to file citations via forwarded to Luzerne County video against drivers who pass Planning for review. the buses illegally. Local poThe police protection agreeSee WH COUNCIL, page 13
Kidder changes meeting night, oks hearing on solar farm by Seth Isenberg At their regular monthly supervisors meeting, supervisors reset their calendar to have their meetings on the fourth Tuesday of the month. That was a change from their decision at the reorganization meeting, to change to the third Wednesday from the current third Thursday. The new meeting schedule will begin in February, with a meeting on the 22nd. The proposed Mora Solar solar farm on Blue Ridge Real Estate land east of the Turnpike will soon get a public hearing. The developers of the project, on a remote parcel
of approximately 500 acres, seek an amendment to the zoning ordinance to permit a large commercial solar farm. Conditions include that a farm such as this will be on at least 200 acres, will be at least 500 feet away from any homes, will have the acceptance from the power grid to take its output and a transmission line on or through the property, will be under two miles from a substation, will not exceed 50% impervious surface (current rules allow 70%), and will reforest the site after the project’s lifespan is complete. Supervisors gave their conditional approval, and agreed to schedule a hearing for the
public at a date to be announced. Also receiving conditional approvals were Hickory Run State Park’s plan to build new bathhouses / latrines, at three existing and one new site, a lot combination for a Pocono Mountain Lake landowner, and a subdivision on the Mountain Laurel Resort property. A request by the PennEast Pipeline company to withdraw its plan for a compressor station was tabled. In other business, township attorney Casey Gillespie attended her last meeting, as she has accepted new duties with the Luzerne County
courts that will make her unavailable. Supervisors voted to name attorney Robert Yurchak, of Weatherly, to serve as the township’s attorney. Yurchak, shown above, has an extensive background in township work. Supervisors appointed two employees of ARRO Engineering, the township’s engineer, Bill McMullen and Shannon Darker, to be alternate zoning officers. In Ray Gluck’s police report, “it was a nice quiet month… It
was cold.” Jason Bell, a part time patrolman, has resigned. Roadmaster Bruce Berger, in his report, noted that there have no incidents or complaints about the roads during the recent storms. As the meeting concluded, attorney Gillespie thanked the township, its supervisors and its staff, “for being so hospitable.” Township manager Suzanne Brooks in turn thanked her for her work, and speaking for the staff and supervisors, wished her well in her new endeavor (and invited her back to visit).