BY STACI WILSON

Confusion and miscommunication about the site of a housing development in New Milford Borough prompted Susquehanna County Housing Authority Executive Director Karen Allen to address the issues at the Thursday, April 16 council meeting.

SCHRA developed the former site of the Southern Tier Plastics building on the corner of Church and Susquehanna streets, with a 24-unit senior housing apartment building.

A second phase of development, six garden style apartments, was also planned but funding for that project was reallocated after ground testing at the development had not yet been completed.

Allen reviewed the notifications the borough received throughout the testing process.

She also explained that the funding for the additional units came from the Act 13 PHARE funds – state allocated money from the impact fee to be used for housing.
“We went to the county commissioners and explained that the testing requirements from the Pennsylvania DEP had not been completed,” Allen said. The commissioners approved modifying the grant application that would move the funds to a shovel-ready project in Forest City.

Money not used in the allotted timeframe would have gone back to the state, she said.

Allen said Redevelopment Authority would be applying for PHARE funds this year for the New Milford housing project.

She also explained that test borings done on and around the original development determined there were two separate areas of ground contamination which have been remediated at a cost of about $300,000. Those areas have been documented with a covenant filed as part of the deed so to prevent any future development in those areas.

There is no contamination on the second .99 acre parcel holding up its development, Allen said. Rather, it was the testing on the first parcel that held up proceeding with the additional apartments.

Commissioner Alan Hall said he supported the transfer of the funds to the Forest City project because he didn’t want to lose the money out of Susquehanna County.
Hall said, “The last thing I want to do is lose money back to Harrisburg. It’s not like (municipal) Act 13 funds, PHARE funding is use or lose.”

Several borough residents expressed their disappointment with how the county handled the process – from testing done on their properties to notifications.

In other business, a “sink hole” opened on Montrose Street, Councilman Larry White said. Material was added under the street to keep it from breaking away. The company who performed work in that area will be contacted about the problem.

The borough building is in need of repairs, including a fix of the sagging roof. A new roof was installed about six or seven years ago, according to council members, and may still be under warranty. Before awarding the building project bid, council plans to see if a warranty exists.