City council to consider sewage planning module for industrial project

Mar. 9—Hazleton City Council will consider approving a sewage planning module for an industrial center that a developer wants to build on more than 300 acres of mine land in Hazleton and Hazle Twp.

Council will review a resolution Wednesday for approving a sewage facilities planning module for five buildings that Hazleton Creek Commerce Center Holdings wants to construct on property that extends from Church Street in the city to Harwood Road in Hazle Twp.

The buildings would total 5.5 million square feet and are proposed for wholesale, warehousing and manufacturing.

The resolution acknowledges that the state Department of Environmental Protection recently allocated 1,000 EDUs to Greater Hazleton Joint Sewer Authority. An EDU is a unit of measurement that is used for capacity planning and is equivalent to about 230 gallons of flow per day.

The resolution proposes reserving 435 of those EDUs for the Hazleton Creek Commerce project and seeks council's approval of the sewage planning module.

Mayor Jeff Cusat said the city has been in talks with state environmental officials for years about opportunities for making more EDUs available for development.

Although Hazleton Creek Commerce is taking steps to send its planning module to the state, the joint sewer authority must also vote to issue those EDUs, said Greg Olander, operations manager for the authority.

The authority board could vote as early as March 22, he said.

The state allocated the additional EDUs after reviewing the authority's latest flow reports, he said.

Projects the authority completed over the years to reduce the flow of stormwater to the plant have, in turn, helped free up capacity, he said recently.

The 1,000 EDUs are equivalent to about 222,500 gallons per day, he said.

The Hazleton Creek Commerce project will be the subject of a public hearing when council meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The hearing is about a declaration of taking that the city proposes for traffic and stormwater improvements for the industrial project.

Fee increase

Council will consider first reading of an ordinance that increases planning fees for residential, commercial and industrial subdivisions.

The fees were last adjusted in 2016 and set at $100 for a residential subdivision, $200 for a commercial subdivision and $300 for an industrial subdivision.

Amendments that council will consider would increase those fees to $500 for residential subdivisions, $750 for commercial and $1,000 for industrial.

The revised fees would cover costs of advertising and other expenses associated with public meetings, including a stenographer, Cusat said.

The city adjusted zoning fees a few years ago to cover similar expenses, he said.

Business licenses

Council will consider final readings of a revised business license ordinance that keeps the licensing fee at $100 but would require owners of rental properties that are not owner-occupied to get a business license.

Administrators revised the ordinance as part of an ongoing update of the city code.

It consolidates dozens of pages of existing code that pertain to restaurants, manufacturing, food trucks, rental property registration and other regulations into one ordinance.

If council approves the amendments, Cusat said he'll ask to have them take effect in 2022.

Appointments

Council will consider reappointing John Lenchak and Stephanie Pcolinsky to the planning commission. Lenchak's term would run through Jan. 1, 2024, while Pcolinsky's would expire on Jan. 1, 2025, according to the agenda.

Contact the writer: sgalski@standardspeaker.com; 570-501-3586