Weinberg Memorial Library accepting book donations for annual sale

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Volkswagen to pay $1.2 billion or more to U.S. owners of big diesels

<p>DORRANCE TWP. &#8212; A zoning hearing for a real estate development plan for a property adjacent to the Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course will go into a third night.</p><p>Still a decision is at least several weeks away.</p><p>The supervisors had to schedule a third night of testimony after sessions on Monday and Tuesday were not enough for all the witnesses will be heard.</p><p>A third night of testimony will begin Thursday at 6 p.m.</p><p>But don&#8217;t expect a decision Thursday night. The township supervisors have scheduled a site inspection for Feb. 11.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re three or four weeks away,&#8221; said township Solicitor Don Karpowich when asked about when a decision might be made.</p><p>At issue is a request by TFP Limited for the supervisors to approve a private realty development plan that encompasses 211 acres. The plan calls for the construction of 108 two-family units and 85 detached single-family dwellings. In addition, TFP is seeking a conditional use variance for property which currently is zoned conversation and agriculture.</p><p>Thus far, the issues have remained the same: surface water runoff, sustaining wetlands, potable water supply, traffic, roads, connections to the Mountain Top Area sanitary system and impact on the environment.</p><p>And on Tuesday night, Don Kotarski raised the issue of emergency services.</p><p>Kotarski, a captain in Dorrance Township&#8217;s emergency medical technicians unit, said the development has the potential to create pressure on emergency services that a small group of volunteers will be hard pressed to sustain.</p><p>Kotarski said a 25 percent increase in population emanating from 193 housing units will result in the need for more manpower in age when volunteerism is on the decline. The development, he added, could also cause monetary problems that the fire department and the EMTs, as well as township taxpayers, will be stressed to finance.</p><p>Thus far, TFP has called a trio of expert witnesses who have presented a positive view of the proposed project.</p><p>A group of about 12 township residents who are opposed to the development are represented by attorney Mark McNellis, of Hunlock Creek.</p><p>McNellis has challenged many of the comments from the expert witnesses, including contending that a 2008-ruling in Luzerne County Court by Judge David Lupas didn&#8217;t favor TFP in its previous development plan and, furthermore, didn&#8217;t give the supervisors the primary authority to make a determination on land usage.</p><p>At the outset of the session on Tuesday, the supervisors asked TFP officials to obtain and deliver to them a letter from PennDOT stating that TFP can cross a PennDOT right-of-way that they said exists along land leading to a sewage pumping station off Prospect Road. In the past, the supervisors contended, PennDOT has rebuffed attempts to have sewage pipelines installed along, or across, this right-of-way.</p><p>However, Tim Connolly, the civil engineer who has devised the site plan, said TFP doesn&#8217;t plan to infringe on state land, rather it will have its sewer lines merge with the Mountain Top system at a point which is in close proximity to the pumping station.</p><p>Connolly, nevertheless, agreed that a letter from PennDOT officials will be sought and directed to the supervisors.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Huntington</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Dorrance Township supervisors mulling real estate development