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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; At least one city councilman isn&#8217;t happy with a proposal to build a senior living project in the Pine Ridge Estates development.</p><p>Councilman Bill Barrett expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of the development and said the housing project wasn&#8217;t a good fit. He spoke up during council&#8217;s work session Tuesday after attorney Frank Hoegen offered a few details about an estimated $15 million project to construct a three-story building with approximately 120 units on eight acres of the development in the Miners Mills section.</p><p>In the short term, Hoegen asked for permission to hold a public meeting. Looking longer term, he said the Clover Group Inc. would be asking for the project to fall under the state&#8217;s Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance program. LERTA provides incremental tax breaks for 10 years on improvements to the land while still taxing the property.</p><p>&#8220;Tonight, I&#8217;m really just asking you for the authority to hold a public meeting at which time we will present much more information about the project,&#8221; Hoegen said. He has to make the same pitch to Luzerne County and the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, the other taxing bodies involved.</p><p>Council agreed to put Hoegen&#8217;s request on the agenda for a vote at Thursday&#8217;s public meeting.</p><p>But Barrett wasn&#8217;t in favor of selling land in Pine Ridge because the development has stalled short of the first phase of a three-phase process to build upscale homes on the reclaimed mine-scarred site.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see this quite candidly as part of the original plan,&#8221; Barrett said, adding if the city wants to give tax incentives, &#8220;give it to somebody who wants to build a house there which is what it was originally supposed to be.&#8221;</p><p>In other business, none of the five council members voiced any concerns about forgiving $27,498 in taxes, penalties and interest on the former Irem Temple mosque on North Franklin Street for the years 2006 and 2007.</p><p>Wico van Genderen, president and CEO of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, said the building was placed on the tax rolls through a clerical error. It was tax exempt before the chamber&#8217;s real estate arm, the nonprofit Greater Wilkes-Barre Development Corp., bought it in 2005 for $992,000 to protect the historic landmark and after it transferred it for $1 to the City of Wilkes-Barre Industrial Development Authority at the end of 2007.</p><p><ins>&#8220;What I&#8217;m basically trying to do is just clean up all the books,&#8221; van Genderen said. Efforts are underway to determine the cost to restore the Irem Temple building and identify future uses.</ins></p><p><ins>Among the other issues on the agenda for Thursday is approval of a liquor license for the Turkey Hill convenience store at 1037 N. Washington St.</ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre city council will vote on a resolution Thursday night to forgive approximately $27,500 in taxes &#8212; levied through a clerical error &#8212; on the former Irem Temple mosque on North Franklin Street. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_irem2tljpg.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes-Barre city council will vote on a resolution Thursday night to forgive approximately $27,500 in taxes &#8212; levied through a clerical error &#8212; on the former Irem Temple mosque on North Franklin Street. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre council discusses senior housing, Irem Temple tax forgiveness