Luzerne County committee to discuss possible train station purchase

Luzerne County Council’s Real Estate Committee is set to meet Monday evening to discuss the county’s potential purchase of the historic former train station in downtown Wilkes-Barre.

Owned by Market Square Properties Development LLC, the 4,000-square-foot station on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard is listed for sale at $625,000.

The county is interested because its tourism office, Visit Luzerne County, has been housed inside the train station since February 2022.

County council had approved the leasing of 2,100 square feet inside the station for the county tourism office in April 2021, agreeing to pay $32,400 annually for five years, with the option to renew for two additional three-year terms. The tourism bureau does not receive funding from the county’s general fund operating budget and relies on revenue from the hotel tax and other outside sources.

As reported last week, county Manager Romilda Crocamo said the matter will be extensively discussed in public if there is any advancement, noting county council authorization is necessary for real estate purchases.

Council’s Real Estate Commission reviews proposed county real estate purchases and sales before they are brought to the full 11-member council for a vote.

It’s expected a plan will be proposed to use existing county funds for a down-payment so the monthly payments to acquire the property would be around the same amount as the current lease.

Monday’s meeting is at 5:30 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for the remote attendance option will be posted under council’s online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.

The four council members serving on this committee: LeeAnn McDermott (chair), Jimmy Sabatino (vice chair), Kevin Lescavage and Brittany Stephenson.

Election Board

The county’s Election Board will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 26) to publicly interview and possibly select a fifth member.

This fifth seat, which is also the board chairmanship, is vacant because Denise Williams resigned in December to run for county council.

Under the county’s home rule charter, the 11-member council appoints four of the five citizen board members— two Democrats and two Republicans. Those four council-appointed members then select someone of any affiliation or no affiliation to fill the fifth seat and also serve as chair.

Five citizens have applied for the fifth seat: Democrats Stacey E. Fiester, Patrick Smith and Christine Boyle and Republicans Vivian Kreidler-Licina and Frank Yamrick.

The board provides general supervision over elections, certifies results and makes determinations on the tallying of flagged ballots during post-election adjudication.

Wednesday’s meeting is in the county courthouse. Instructions for the remote attendance option will be posted under council’s authorities/boards/commissions online meeting link at luzernecounty.org.

Council meeting

County council will hold a voting meeting and work session starting at 6 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 25) in the courthouse.

Council is set to approve two resolutions seeking funding.

One would request funds from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to update the county’s Open Space, Greenways and Outdoor Recreation Master Plan.

Ellen Ferretti, executive director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania land conservancy non-profit North Branch Land Trust, urged county officials to pursue grant funding for the project, saying the existing plan was released two decades ago.

She estimated it will cost $150,000 for a consultant to complete a new plan for the county.

If a state grant is sought and secured, the county would commit up to $75,000 of its Act 13 natural-gas recreation funding to cover the required 50% match, officials said.

The second request would seek Bilateral Infrastructure Law funding through the Federal Aviation Administration and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Bureau of Aviation to install an automated weather observation system at the county-owned Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort and Wyoming.

Although construction plans are not yet finalized, the administration estimated the weather observation system would cost $600,000, which includes the project design, permitting, construction, testing and inspection.

The FAA-certified system would add a real-time, automated weather station to report critical meteorological conditions to pilots landing and departing at the airport, such as wind speed and direction, temperature, dew point, altimeter settings, density altitude, visibility and precipitation, the agenda said.

This system also can share data with the national weather network, contributing to more accurate local forecasts in addition to increasing the overall safety of airspace around the airport, the agenda said.