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Opening day of the Luzerne County Fair has much to offer

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<p>PITTSTON &#8212; After two years of existence, the North East Land Bank Authority is making strides in acquiring properties within the Greater Pittston area.</p><p>At the authority&#8217;s public meeting on Wednesday, Executive Director Joe Chacke announced the acquisition of one property in West Pittston and adding that the deeds to 11 more will be acquired in the coming weeks.</p><p>The properties include three in Jenkins Township, seven in Pittston and one in Duryea.</p><p>Chacke said of those 11 properties three will be demolished and the rest will be refurbished.</p><p>&#8220;They need to be cleaned up because they&#8217;re overgrown,&#8221; he said.</p><p>All properties, Chacke said, are insured through Joyce Insurance.</p><p>Of those properties, one was donated by a mortgage company and the others were purchased from the county repository.</p><p>&#8220;The county is technically responsible for those properties,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They have a list, and you can offer to purchase those properties form the repository &#8212; which we did. They&#8217;re just properties that are limbo.&#8221;</p><p>Chacke said he&#8217;s happy to see the authority go in the direction it&#8217;s meant to go in and looks forward to the authority doing good for the community.</p><p>In other business the authority members approved a Local Share Account agreement of $30,000 with Jenkins Township and the Redevelopment Authority to be used by the authority to purchase property within Greater Pittston.</p><p>The next North East Land Bank Authority public meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 30 in the Pittston Memorial Library John P. Cosgrove Center, 47 Broad St., Pittston.</p><div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Will acquire 11 more within the coming weeks</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jimmy Fisher</p><p>jfisher@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jimmy Fisher at 570-704-3972 or on Twitter @SD_JimmyFisher</p></shirttailMeta></div>

North East Land Bank Authority property acquisition begins