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West Pittston council approves bid to demolish pool at park

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Anesthesiologist joins Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The company offering to buy a vacant factory on South Franklin Street for $100 wants to tear it down and construct a wellness center with a medical marijuana dispensary.</p><p>At city council&#8217;s work session Tuesday night, the co-owners of Keystone Center of Integrated Wellness discussed their plans for the property to be purchased by their holding company, Artanor LLC.</p><p>Mary Pat Julias, an Avoca native living outside Philadelphia, said the for-profit, women-owned business intends to build a 4,000 square-foot building on the 0.45-acre site within two to three months if council approves the sale at the price set by the city assessor.</p><p>&#8220;What we&#8217;re about to do is introduce more jobs into the community,&#8221; Julias said. Initial estimates say eight to 10 positions could be created; within a year, 20 to 30.</p><p>Julias and Krista Krebs, the other owner, said there is competition for the limited number of dispensary licenses to be issued by the state. They were hesitant to discuss specifics due to proprietary information about their business. The submission deadline is March 20.</p><p>Krebs added that she&#8217;s familiar with the area because her other company, Carlisle-based Med Staffers, has an office on Scott Street.</p><p>If they don&#8217;t get a state license, Krebs said there are other programs that can be run out of the center. &#8220;It&#8217;s an opportunity for us to make an impact on the community,&#8221; she said. &#8220;We will make it work.&#8221;</p><p>Councilman Mike Belusko acknowledged he was surprised when informed of the sale price, but agreed it was fair given the condition of the property that formerly housed Panam Silk Mills Inc. Part of it was demolished after an intentionally set fire in May 2001 and it&#8217;s been vacant for years. The Redevelopment Authority of Wilkes-Barre bought the property at 773 S. Franklin St. for $2,000 in July 2001.</p><p>&#8220;I know the building well,&#8221; Belusko said. He changed his mind about the price after speaking with John Anstett, city assessor, who told him it will &#8220;cost them more to demolish the building than the land&#8217;s worth.&#8221;</p><p>Artanor LLC also wants to buy an adjacent vacant lot on Westminster Street at a price to be determined by Anstett.</p><p><strong>More debt talk</strong></p><p>The property sales will be on the agenda for Thursday night&#8217;s public meeting as will the second and final reading of an ordinance to refinance part of the city&#8217;s long-term debt and issue a $5.5 million bond for repairs to the Solomon Creek wall. By a 3-2 vote, council approved the first reading last month on the measure that gives the city short-term relief for two years and sets up another round of refinancing.</p><p>City Controller Darren Snyder presented council members with information from Standard &amp; Poor&#8217;s Rating Services on how the refinancing under consideration could negatively affect the city&#8217;s credit rating and its ability to borrow money at a low rate. &#8220;I just wanted to make sure that council&#8217;s aware of that before their vote this week,&#8221; he said.</p><p>In its most recent rating from December 2015, Standard &amp; Poor&#8217;s revised its outlook to A minus stable from A minus positive based on its concerns about the city&#8217;s weakening liquidity or access to cash to pay its bills. The rating contained a &#8220;downside scenario&#8221; that stated further refundings to defer debt-service payments could weaken budgetary performance and &#8220;the rating could be negatively affected.&#8221; The next rating is scheduled for this year.</p><p>Also on the agenda is the second and final reading of the addition of &#8220;Quality of Life&#8221; regulations to the city code. The regulations, mirrored after those that Scranton implemented in 2014, focus on the improper storage of trash, junk vehicles, high weeds and snow and ice removal. There would be fines and penalties for violations.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Building would be demolished if sale OK&#8217;d</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>For other local news stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/local" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Company plans to raze vacant factory in Wilkes-Barre and dispense medical marijuana from new center on site