Carbon County Commissioner Wayne Nothstein, chairman of the board of commissioners, and project engineer Ron Tirpak discussed the Packerton Yards project with Mahoning supervisors Monday, asking for a spirit of partnership in moving the project forward.

The county officials promised a new level of transparency and a willingness to work with the township, Lehighton Borough and other municipal entities to make the project successful."I'm here tonight because we inherited a project with the change of commissioners and we find ourselves in a dilemma," said Nothstein. "We will have a hard time selling (lots) without access to the property and at this point we have almost $1.3 million invested in the project. Our main priority for being here tonight is to come up with an agreement on the issues (we need to resolve) to move the project forward."He said he wants to organize an open meeting with all of the municipal entities including the township, Lehighton Borough, the municipal authorities and all stake holders to create an open environment toward resolving the issues impeding progress. He acknowledged the previous board was less than forthcoming with these organizations as partners and he wanted to make a fresh start.Nothstein said he wants to sit everyone down together in a kickoff meeting to move the project forward, something he said has not yet been done in the years the project has been under way."This should have been done years ago and I want to do it now so we can move forward on this," he said.Wieczorek told Nothstein that in the past the township was kept in the dark about progress in the project and had to repeatedly make requests to get even the smallest amounts of information about the project. He pointed out they had to formally request former Chairman Bill O'Gurek to attend a meeting to get any information from him and he never did follow through on his promises of an open dialogue.Nothstein told the supervisors that some of the grants, which total $5.1 million, are in danger of being lost if the highway occupancy permits and access to the site do not lead to construction shortly. Economic Development director Dawn Ferrante, also in attendance, said she is trying to obtain extensions for the various grants but some of those are in jeopardy due to the inability to move forward because of lack of approvals in some areas.Complex projectFerrante acknowledged the previous board's lack of inclusion of municipal entities and their inability to manage the project successfully created some of the problems they are facing, but also attributed it to the highly complex nature of the project."In talking with my colleagues throughout the country, I have found that this project is highly complicated due to the large number of variables. We have to deal with wetlands, two different railroads, brownfields and access to a state highway among other issues, which is much more complicated than many similar projects," she said."The lack of project management and rigor in administering it (by the previous board) has caused problems, but there is a definite agreement between the new board of commissioners and my office," Ferrante added. "We want to make information available now as you need it and when you want it and we hope that this new fresh approach of this incoming administration has greatly increased our chances of completing this."Chairman John Wieczorek told Nothstein and Ferrante that in the past the board asked to be kept in the discussions held by the previous commissioners regarding the project, but they were shut out of the process."I understand why you are here. Nothing seemed to be planned out before and now we are racing a clock (to complete this work)," said supervisor Franklin Ruch. "We spent two years asking for information and no one ever came to us until four months ago."Supervisor Linda Benner added that it seems everywhere the commissioners turn, there has been a roadblock.Wieczorek asked Nothstein to regroup and provide the township with the list of outstanding issues that are currently required to move the project forward."I have a file a foot thick and I have no idea what the current needs or milestones are for this project," he said.Pressing issuesCounty engineer Ron Tirpak told the supervisors that at this point there are three outstanding issues that need to be addressed to obtain the highway occupancy permit for the project."The curb and sidewalk waiver, the centerline radius on the entry road and the centerline grading which depends on the decision about the sidewalks are the issues right now that deal with the permit," Tirpak said.When Wieczorek inquired about the waiver request that dealt with the neighboring Marks property, Tirpak said that solicitor Tom Nanovic was sent the letter that attested to Marks granting his approval of the waiver."The county needs to get his land appraised as well as some land we need from the Kovatch property so we can purchase it," Nothstein said.Nothstein also said they need to deal with the property owned by the Lehighton Water Authority that parallels Packerton Dam Road. He indicated the county would like to acquire that parcel and close the road on it.Supervisor Bruce Steigerwalt said he believed there would be a difficulty in doing that since the road was purchased with Act 70 funds and that would bar the authority from selling it. Tirpak said the authority's solicitor said that she believed as long as the property was sold to another municipality, it would be legal to sell the property.Nothstein said his hope was to be able to add the infrastructure with the existing grant money and then sell the property to a professional developer who could deal with it. Ferrante said the infrastructure had to be in place before this type of sale could occur or the grant money would be forfeited.Ruch pointed out that the need for the waivers Tirpak was requesting would be alleviated if the railroad crossing was moved from its current location. Tirpak said he agreed, but nationally the railroads have refused to allow new crossings and any attempt at establishing one seems to be avoided out of fear it would create a precedent.With regard to the sale of the lots and the property, Steigerwalt questioned what would be installed as infrastructure. Tirpak said the sewer, road and water lines would be in place for the existing lots, but if the size of the lots changed those laterals would need to be adjusted."We wouldn't be able to move them east and west, but the adjustments would need to be north and south and would only be the lot line itself," Tirpak said.Township inclusionWieczorek stressed the need to be included on matters that deal with the township, especially in meetings that deal with the engineers and PennDOT regarding the roads.Nothstein said that would not be a problem. He also asked about what provisions would be added before the necessity of meeting conditions requiring a stop light. Tirpak said the access road would have stop signs and the road at the ends of the project would have signs warning about the intersection.Wieczorek asked if stop signs would be added to Route 209, but Ruch pointed out he was opposed to a stop light and would not support stop signs either. Supervisor Travis Steigerwalt said he was interested in seeing the signs Tirpak mentioned being added to the road to warn the motorists of the intersection.Steigerwalt also suggested to Tirpak the county consider providing an alternate route through the yard project in case an accident would shut down Route 209. Tirpak said that would be something they would need to consider and that possibly instead of closing the road they are seeking from the authority, they might be able to gate it in case of emergencies.Before Nothstein ended his presentation Benner commented that she hoped the commissioners would be able to successfully negotiate the myriad of roadblocks they seem to run into."Do you think this project will be completed?" she asked."I believe it will." Nothstein answered."In our lifetime?" Benner responded."I believe so," Nothstein answered. "We have had interest in the property.""I wish you a lot of luck because you seem to have been kept in the dark almost as much as the rest of us," Benner said.