A proposed multiuse training facility in Carbon County is moving forward.

Nesquehoning Borough Council, on Wednesday, gave preliminary plan approval and approved a number of variances for Carbon County's estimated $10 million training facility for law enforcement, volunteer firefighters, county departments and other emergency responders next to the existing emergency management agency/communications center on the Broad Mountain in the borough.On Thursday, Carbon County commissioners extended its agreement with Delta Development Group Inc. of Mechanicsburg through March 2 at a rate of $3,500 per month.Commissioners voted to apply for a $750,000 Local Share Account grant to be used for the development and construction of the project.Plans call for constructing a 29,045.50-square-foot emergency operations and training center building, two parking areas with 69 spaces, a 1,600-square-foot law enforcement training building, 400-square-foot observation tower, 1,820-square-foot firefighter's training building, 924-square-foot firefighter's training tower, a storage building, concrete burn pad for class A combustible materials (wood and straw materials) for fire training purposes and four concrete pads for other training or storage.Plans also include widening Emergency Lane, the road leading to the center, from 11 feet to 22 feet to accommodate firetruck and larger emergency vehicle traffic; widening the roadway turning radius to Emergency Lane and relocating the existing access driveway to the water treatment building on the north side of the property.In May, the preliminary plan came before the borough planning commission, which voted 3-0 to approve the conditional approval of the project but provided waivers that council had to approve, including that the plan scale be permitted to be over the 1 inch to 100 foot ratio; the sloping requirements for the pond berm dependent on the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approval; allowing the height of the proposed firefighter training tower to not exceed 65 feet unless a variance is obtained dependent on borough zoning officer Gene Kennedy's interpretation of the definition of the structure; and approve the proposed four-story building from the borough's current maximum of 2½-story requirement to allow firefighters to train at different heights.Council said that it saw no restrictions to allowing the waivers because of the location of the proposed facility.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein, on Thursday, said the county is moving forward with the final design phase and permitting applications required before construction could begin, as well as finding funding sources that are available for the project.He said it still appears everything is on target to get the permitting applications in by the end of the year so that phase I of the project, which includes site preparation and road improvements, could be put out for bid next year.Nothstein said the findings of a required timber rattlesnake assessment have been received. The assessment showed the presence of rattlesnakes, which are common in Pennsylvania, but no den was located in the area that is to be developed that would have affected the project.The proposed training facility, which has been in the planning phase since last February, will provide emergency services with various practice sites, as well as classrooms, a 90-100 seat lecture hall, storage for the Carbon County Council of Government and other equipment and new offices for the Emergency Management Agency.The Carbon County 911 Communications Center will remain in the current building on the site, which now houses both the Communications Center and Emergency Management Agency.Carbon County Commissioners have been working to secure the funding through state and federal grants. To date, $413,000 has been secured.The project is expected to be completed in 2019.